November 23, 2003 I flew from NM to TX, where one bright & cheery morning what did I find just behind my mother's garage door but a sizable (for this part of the world) turtle, or perhaps tortoise. With a shell at least a foot in length, this particular armored amphibian was headed straight for the fence behind which my cousin Robert's dog, Snickers, spends his time. Snickers being mostly inquisitive, and very penned up, he was to me less a concern for the turtle than were the two unleashed dogs on the other side of the hedge. I accordingly lifted that crawling animal and, transporting him or her gingerly, released my captive into the wilds of the back garden. Repeated admonishments over the next hour to proceed west toward the thicket instead of south toward the dogs were either ignored or unintelligible, but eventually the turtle somewhere disappeared, hopefully into a hibernation hole.

After a weekend in Little Rock I headed for Florida, and what should have been a Friday departure for Brazil, which was delayed until the following Monday due to a visa snafu. I took the advantage of this providential postponement Lynda & I gassed up the car for a drive to Kashi Ashram and a visit with Ma Jaya, who was as welcoming and helpful to me as ever. Eventually I did make it to Sao Paolo, and then Florianopolis, where Scott Blossom collected me for a drive to Garopaba, and the Enchanted Mountain Retreat Center. Enchanted Mountain, the brainchild of American Joseph LePage and his Brazilian wife Lilian, is a lovely forested sanctuary that sits on Montanha Encantada, a mount in the midst of a semi-temperate rain forest that lies but a few driving minutes from the beaches that surround the surfing town of Garopaba. Garopaba's biggest employer is the Mormaii company, which does a US$15 million annual business in wetsuits, and its streets are filled with an international coterie of surf enthusiasts. The beaches are beautiful and the greenery captivating, and I embarked on the remainder of the week with a song in my heart, and a mango in my hand. Oi!

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