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Seeking Small Town America: The Road Trip Begins
When planning this road trip out through the Southern states, we wanted our first stay to be in small town America, some off the beaten track small community kind of place where we could delve into how things work and what makes backwaters tick. Somewhere with a ring to the place name would be a bonus, so when we spotted a B&B named “The Wisteria Inn” in a town called Crystal Springs, temptation hooked us in without any further research. Heading north away from New Orleans on the I-55 we get a real grasp of the extent of swampland, the first 20 to 30 miles of the highway is on…
- History, Independent travel, New Orleans, North America, Photography, Travel Blog, USA, Wildlife, World food
New Orleans Is Unique, Y’All
Unique is an adjective regularly used to describe New Orleans, with guide books and websites consistently referring to the city as “unique in the whole of the USA”, a description based largely on the amalgam of cultures which have clashed, fused and evolved into the persona which The Big Easy enjoys today. To us, it feels like this fusion and integration has created a single style: a Nawliner is one particular type of person, regardless of historical cultural background. No barriers, no segregation, joyous inclusivity. You are more from this city than from any one particular background. A big guy is playing Barry White and Bill Withers on his keyboard…
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New Orleans And All That Jazz
“Hey y’all. Y’all havin’ a good time?” Everyone responds. “O’ course y’all havin’ a good time. You is in Nawlins and in Nawlins everyone has a good time. If you ain’t havin’ a good time, den you is in da wrong place” And so the scene is set for our time in New Orleans….. We’ve given ourselves some changes of scene which have bordered on culture shock in the past, but we’re not sure we’ve ever made quite such a leap as this one. One minute we’re in the Amazon rainforest listening to the gentle lapping of the waters of the Rio Negro, the next we’re taking a stroll down…
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Manaus: Industry, Elegant Buildings & The Meeting Of The Waters
“A couple of Englishmen strolling through Brazil, end-to-end, wonderful, friendly, even without speaking Portuguese always sought to enjoy everything in the city”. These words are, unaltered, the review of us placed on airbnb by one of our hosts in Brazil. It pleased us so much that we just wanted to reproduce it here. As if this whole thing didn’t feel strange enough already, we’re finally getting undressed and into bed when the cockerels start crowing to remind us that daylight is only a couple of hours away. Half past ten in the evening seems an odd time for a domestic flight to take to the air, particularly a 4-hour flight…
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Spiders, Snakes & Pink Dolphins: Four Days In The Amazon Jungle
Jim is telling us to be minimalistic in terms of what we take with us tonight, yet at the same time he’s giving us our strict instructions on the essentials which must form part of the minimalist pack: waterproof jacket, mosquito repellent, long trousers, decent walking shoes, sun lotion, waterproof cases for cameras and phones, and drinking water. And then there’s mosquito repellent and, if we still have room, some more mosquito repellent. This promises to be an interesting night. Once we’d made the decision to spend time in the Amazon jungle – which, to be honest, was one of our red lines when we had to redesign this Brazil…
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The Many Faces Of Recife
Brazil must surely be one of the best countries in the world for using the Uber taxi service, certainly the best we’ve encountered anywhere so far. Easy, reliable and cheap. We originally intended to hire a car to explore the Olinda/Recife area, but once you realise that a half hour Uber ride can cost as little as £2.60 there’s just no point taking on the driving yourself. But you know, once you get the hang of Brazil, it’s not altogether odd that Uber works well: this is a surprisingly well developed country in a technological sense. For a start, this is virtually a cashless society, everywhere expects payment by card,…
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The Crazy World Of Francisco Brennand
Picture an artist and sculptor being given a gigantic space in which to let his imagination run riot. Imagine if that space was a disused factory set in substantial grounds with endless opportunities for indoor and outdoor exhibition, and if that sculptor was given enough time to create over 2,000 items in an isolated world of fantasy. And finally, imagine if that guy had a mind full of wild ideas way beyond the norm. Welcome to Oficina Brennand and the life’s work of one Francisco Brennand. First, some context and history. The factory in question, with its many brick built industrial buildings and wide open grassy spaces in between, was originally…
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There’s Something In The Kitchen
There’s flies in the kitchen I can hear them buzzin’ And I ain’t done nothin’ Since I woke up today Lyrics from “Angel From Montgomery” by John Prine It arrives precisely on time. All the weather apps had said that the tropical storm would hit around 9am and, sure enough, rain starts to clatter the roof at 8:55 and five minutes later thunder is crashing and we have to raise our voices to be heard above the sound of the rain. Three hours later it’s still hammering down and we are mopping sections of the floor at various points: this is when you discover that these quaint old houses aren’t…
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Shock News: Brazil Is Really Big
Saturday night in Puerto Iguazu is properly rocking, busier than every previous evening with queues outside several restaurants and music from numerous bars clashing mid street in a melee of bass lines and choruses which succeed only in drowning each other out. Bon Jovi, Men At Work and Gnarls Barkley merge into a disturbing melange which threatens to confuse and confound the ears. Whether it’s like this every Saturday, or whether it’s especially busy because it’s Easter, we’ll never know. Our last night in Argentina And so after our brief 5-day glimpse of Argentina, we head back across the bridge and cast one last look at the pale blue skies…
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Iguazu Wildlife
Our week or so on the Brazil-Argentina border may not have been our most spectacular ever in terms of spotting wildlife, but it had its moments – moments dominated by butterflies. Here’s some nature shots to wind up that part of this trip….
