Mother Nature Saddles Up
Masaya Volcano Peering into the Abyss
Nicaragua is home to 27 volcanoes. Some shoot ash and gas into the air while others are a seething cauldron of molten lava. Masaya is a thirty minute drive from Granada and much closer to Managua, the capital city of Nicaragua. It erupted most...
Soaking Hot baths on the Rio Grande
Things get new names. Route 66 becomes Interstate-40. Bruce Jenner becomes Caitlyn Jenner. British Honduras becomes Belize. Climate warming becomes a Religion. Kentucky Fried Chicken becomes KFC. Before Truth or Consequences adopted its new name in the...
South Padre Island Sunset Tuesday, February 2nd, 2016
The sky is burning and, if it wasn't, there would be no reason to snap this photo. Joan, Neal's wife, and the rest of us, all stare as we all walk towards the Shrimp Haus, a South Padre Island restaurant that features shrimp, shrimp, and more shrimp -...
Pieces of Eight Morning walk on Padre Island beach
Early, gold hunters show up with wading boots, windbreakers, wide brimmed caps, sunglasses, their gold detectors dipped into frothy water. The sky, water, and beach run together like a tightly edited film. Everything in this landscape moves but seems to...
Sandcastle Art Mermaid and Dolphin
Sand is the most common material on the beach. While we walk on it, draw initials or hearts with arrows through them, there are those who use sand to sculpt fantastic visions. Outside Pier 19 in South Padre Island there is a sand sculpture. There is sand...
Monahan’s Sandhills Where are the camels?
It is Weston's idea to go see the dunes. Passing through Midland on my way to the beach at Padre Island,Texas, I pay a visit to a nephew living in what some call " the armpit " of Texas. Saturday we drive to the sand hills, take off our shoes and climb...
Deja Vu back in time for a storm
Yogi might not have said ", It's deja vu all over, " but, if he didn't, he should have. The day after my trip to warmer climates is in bed, Mother Nature spreads her winter blanket and dumps snow on Albuquerque. In the foothills, east of Albuquerque,...
Boys crossing the Rio Tomebamba boys will be boys
This morning there is a Christmas concert in progress across the Rio Tomebamba, in Cuenca, Ecuador. Two young boys have decided they aren't going to walk up or down the river to either of the bridges to cross so they roll up pant legs, leave tennis shoes...
Orchids Gualaceo, Ecuador
Within thirty minutes of Cuenca, right on the highway not far from Gualaceo, is an orchid farm that grows, cross breeds, and sells orchids worldwide to collectors and aficionados. Ecuador is home to thousands of varieties of orchids and Ecuagenera is a...
Incan Code Pumapungo Museum-Cuenca
Walking through the Museum, and the grounds below, gives footnotes of the past. All that is left of the past here are rock walls of homes and stone walls built to terrace land so crops could be grown on hillsides. The soil is deep, dark, rich, and, with...
Flower Market A big export for Ecuador
You can buy flowers all over Cuenca, but one of the best places to buy is at a small flower market in front of the Sanctuario Mariano, across from the New Cathedral, down the street from Parque Calderone. Daily, under white canvas tents, ladies and men...
River Watching Rio Tomebamba - Cuenca, Ecuador
Our dad liked fishing. His dad liked fishing. So, sons and grandsons like fishing too. The Rio Tomebamba bubbles up memories of trout streams in New Mexico, the Pecos and Jemez in particular. It also reminds me of the Conejos River in southern Colorado,...
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