Nota Bene

Longtime inhabitants of this cozy corner of the internet will remember that if ever one of my posts begins with a photo of the Magadan restaurant in Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport (SVO), it’s done for a reason, and also means that that and upcoming posts sure won’t be boring…

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On the first day of our trek around Los Glaciares National Park in Patagonia most of the potentially awesome views were unfortunately hidden by thick clouds. Come the second day, and we were headed toward the Laguna de los Tres mountain lake, which promised wonderful views of Fitz Roy – somewhere up there ->

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Hola amigos!

Welcome, everyone, to the Argentine Patagonian village of El Chaltén – a place fully deserving of your close attention due to the insanely mind-blowing concentration of landscapes all around it. This mountain village is also where all (or almost all) routes heading to the mountains, glaciers, and multicolored lakes begin – into Argentine Patagonia and the national Parque los Glaciares ->

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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…

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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:

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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!…

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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…

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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 ->

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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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