Nota Bene

Hola Folks!

And so this here blog of mine has finally caught up with my late-2025 globetrotting escapades to bring me (almost) up to date – at least firmly into this year and its first touristic adventure. And that adventure, as you already know from the title of this blogpost, took place down in South America. But not Rio, and not Iguazu/Itaipu either – though there was a Brazilian installment…

The touristic adventure was an extended vacation – to fill in the lull early in the year, as per tradition. And “extended vacation” can mean only one thing for my blog: an extended series of posts thereon – coming right up! Today – also as per tradition: intro post, to get the juices flowing…

Read on…

A recent post was exclusively about the… exclusive hotel that, by virtue of its… exclusive location, has… exclusive rights to providing tourists with a full-fledged Iguazu Falls experience. This post is less exclusive – well, only just: it’s exclusively (dough!) about two other hotels in Brazil I stayed at recently…

Peak preview pics:

Read on …

As I mentioned last time, after our multiple waterfall-showers, it was time to take a helicopter ride to check out Itaipu and Iguazu from above…

We signed up for the flight, paid, showed up on time, spent about 40 minutes standing in line – and off we choppered!…

Read on…

Still at the Iguazu Falls in Brazil, as per tradition for a stay somewhere in the world that’s unusual/unique, it’s time for a post regarding lodgings – but with a twist: this time, it’s lodging – in the singular…

Here, alas, the choice is stark: you go for either (i) very nice and convenient but expensive, or (ii) not too nice or convenient but cheap – with the “not convenient” bit meaning you don’t get to see sunrises or sunsets from the very best spots to enjoy them. The former option is the Belmond Hotel das Cataratas, whose guests can walk around by the falls any time; the latter option – any other lodgings, whose guests get brought in later and taken away earlier, since the national park closes to visitors. Hardly fair, but I don’t make up the rules…

Read on…

Out of all the waterfalls in the world, Iguazu Falls are unique. Only here do they take you in motorboats right under the streams of a waterfall for the most amazing shower of you’ll ever take! Of course, they don’t take you under the main – biggest – streams of the waterfalls (that’d be suicidal), but under the smaller, gentler ones – no problem. Something like this:

They take you up the river in motorboats, and then dunk you into scenes like these. The next few shots aren’t mine, but from the company that runs these motorboat showers ->

Read on…

The Brazilian city of Foz do Iguaçu has plenty to offer the visiting tourist – and not just the waterfalls and the Itaipu Dam; there’s also a really cool bird park – situated right at the exit from the national park of the same name (Foz do Iguaçu) where the waterfalls are. It’s called Parque das Aves (“Bird Park”), and it’s simply must-see!…

Get ready… Coming up: copious quantities of colorful feathered cuties!…

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My globetrotting catch-up continues. Today we’re in neither Kamchatka, Saudi, nor Brazil, but in… Georgia – in its capital, Tbilisi!

I’d long dreamed of visiting this place, for Georgia and many Georgian things make up a significant part of the essence of my social-cultural-historical backbone in life. There are certain old movies featuring Georgian actors (or directors) that I keep watching over and over, and there are Georgian authors I’ve read and highly respect. Plus, of course, there are the very frequent appearances of Georgian cuisine on the menu chez-moi or in restaurants…

I did manage to visit the Georgian SSR (Batumi) back in 1981 (as part of a school physics‑math contest), but never to independent Georgia – until now…

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As promised, I turn now to the Itaipu Dam – the third-largest hydroelectric power plant in the world. It sits on the border between Brazil and Paraguay next to the Brazilian city of Foz do Iguaçu, which is also famous for the nearby Iguaçu Falls.

So let’s go for a walk inside the power plant – where they actually run excursions!…

A monumentally massive structure! The main part of the dam, where the machine hall, the turbines, and all the other key stuff is, runs to nearly 900 meters long!

Read on…

Back in Kamchatka, and it was time for my favorite installment of any trip there (and there’ve been several, if not a dozen or so): when we head back toward the south of the peninsula…

I was especially thrilled to be heading south this time since, unfortunately, during our northern escapades, the weather was most unfriendly – with none of the sunshine needed to let us enjoy the surrounding sights to the full. But still, we did more or less manage to see the Klyuchevskaya group of volcanoes, visit Uzon and the Valley of Geysers (with a hike to the nearby Valley of Death), trek the rim of the caldera of Maly Semyachik, and even reach all the way to the mightiest northern volcano – Shiveluch.

Before heading south, despite the gloomy overcast skies, some of us still decided to make a short outing from our base – Tumroki Hot Springs – to the glaciers of the Kronotsky Peninsula. I passed on this event, since ice, IMHO, should only be viewed in sunny weather (walking on glaciers in foggy gloom only spoils your mood). So the Kronotsky photos below are those taken by my travel companions…

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Brazil is a huge country that, just like Russia, actually stretches across two hemispheres. The difference is that while Brazil sits across both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, Russia straddles the Eastern and Western ones.

But perhaps what sets Russia apart from Brazil the most is that Russia’s territories mostly lie on permafrost. Brazil is all about tropics and humid subtropics – perfectly suitable for street carnivals with scantily-clad crowds…

Sure – there are differences; where aren’t there any? But we’re also more or less similar. Let’s take a look:

Size: Brazil = eight million km²; Russia = 17 million km² (but permafrost is more than half of that).

Population: though 10–15 years ago the two countries were roughly equal, today – Brazil = 212 million; Russia = 144 million.

Now, for geography and populations, Wikipedia will do for me. But when it comes to economies, I trust – believe it or not – CIA data more!

Here, for example, are the top 10 economies in the world in terms of GDP at purchasing power parity (2024 data):

Read on…