If all has gone well, I will have flown 9,620 miles in the last ten days fulfilling a dream trip to the Pantanal, the wetlands of Brazil, where I will have seen wonderful animals and birds in their natural habitats. I’ve cried in Alaska, Africa, and the Galapagos Islands upon leaving similar experiences, and I’ll probably have cried when leaving there too.

I may be a bit old for adventure travel, but if motivation helps, it should have been easy for me.  Having my Portuguese-speaking son and a friend of his with me will have been a huge bonus.  At 80-something, each day is a gift. 

The days in the Pantanal will have been  a dream come true.