Celebrating 20 Years

On wednesday this week, Marilze and I celebrated 20 years of marriage. We decided to get away for a couple of days and visit Canasvieiras beach in Florianopolis. Floripa (as the locals call it) is an island and our state capital. It is beautiful and we had a great time.

We stayed right on the beach and our balcony overlooked the ocean. This is the view from our balcony. It was overcast and a little chilly but that didn't bother us.

We were shocked at how few people were there. The stores didn't open until almost 5pm. Most of the time we were the only people on the beach. We felt like we had it all to ourselves.

We've been fortunate enough to have 20 very good years together and I expect to have many more.

A Request From The United Nations

Yesterday I received an email from Franz Dejon of the United Nations Energy Program requesting the use of some of my Pantanal photographs. They have asked to use them for Biodiversity Day which is May 22. They are hoping to bring awareness to issues like global warming and it's effect on different ecosystems.

While I don't agree with them completely about global warming, I am all for anything that increases awareness of the Pantanal wetlands.


Back in the day I was published a few times by the Westview for some sports photos but the photos they have asked for were from my first attempt at wildlife photos.


It's an honor just to be asked to be a part of this event. You can find out more about Biodiversity Day at this link:


http://www.biodiv.org/programmes/outreach/awareness/biodiv-day-2007.shtml

A Blog Can Be A Dangerous Thing

I could write a blog solely telling stories about Mike Christian and never run out of material. Mike is a friend who I've known since college and he is the type of person who will say anything to anybody at anytime. He is more fun to hang out with than anybody I know. "A sense of entitlement" comes to mind when I think about Mike. Not that he thinks the world owes him anything. It's just that he's not going to play by your rules. Or anybody else's.

After working merchandising for a couple of Christian bands (and starving) he got some gigs with bigger groups. He's traveled with David Lee Roth, Alice Cooper, Tim McGraw and many others. He's been on the road with Lynyrd Skynyrd for the last couple of years.

Now he has started writing a blog. This from a guy who wouldn't email me a few months ago because he didn't like typing.

He's blogging about working behind the scenes at the Rowdy Friends Tour, which includes Lynyrd Skynyrd, Hank Williams Jr and .38 Special.

He has some great road stories. My favorite is the one where I guy walked up to his booth and said, "Give me a medium t-shirt and a 2X for my old lady".

I can only imagine what he is going to blog about. He'll probably write something he shouldn't and get fired. Whatever he does, it should be a fun ride.

Check out his blog at:

www.nashvegasvending.blogspot.com

And his Flickr page has some excellent photos of the tour:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/fishbigfish/

That's Bull

Saturday, just two days after my LASIK surgery, I was feeling pretty good so Marilze and I decided to drive to Blumenau, a city about 40 miles from us that was founded by German immigrants.

On our way back I decided to stop at a tourist store. Kind of our version of Stucky's. This place had a small donkey for kids to ride and this huge bull that actually had a saddle on its back. They would let you climb up if you wanted but I wasn't about to do that. I'm still suffering with back problems from a mechanical bull ride six years ago.

They let me hold the reins and Marilze snapped the picture. This is by far the biggest Brahma bull I have ever seen. The hump in the middle of its back is called the cupim and is absolutely delicious. When I first tried it (more than 20 years ago) I thought it would be tough but it is more tender than any other cut of beef.

I tried to get Marilze to climb up on it so I could take a picture. Since I have no picture to show, you can imagine what here response was.

Going Under The Knife

I haven't been writing much this week because I was working updating our fishing video and preparing to update our website. The new website should be up by the weekend and you can see the new video in the post below this one.

I have also been visiting my eye doctor. Just before we got married (almost 20 years ago) I got some fiberglass insulation in my right eye. About 7 or 8 years later, tiny piece of it started working their way back out of my eye. It was a painful as you can imagine and left a lot scars.

I went through a procedure where they shave off the top layer of your eye to reduce the thickness of the scars. More pain. Excruciating pain.

I have had a lot of problems with nightblindness, especially driving at night. I see halos around streetlights and headlights. It can be really annoying. My eye doctor said I was a good candidate for PTK, a type of LASIK surgery.

I will have the surgery in about 3 1/2 hours. He is also going to correct my vision so I won't have to wear glasses any longer. I've been wearing glasses for over 30 years so the idea of not having to wear them is awesome.

I will give regular updates about how I am doing. According to my doctor, my recuperation time is about two weeks.

New Video for Rio de Vida Fishing Excursions

Check out our new video with all new scenes and clips from our Pantanal fishing excursions. Our website is being overhauled as well and should be up by the weekend.

If this gets your heart pumping about fishing the Pantanal, pick up the phone and call us - 1-800-582-2105 and reserve your place for the fishing adventure of a lifetime.

Beach Hopping

Since this week was spring break, we decided to enjoy our surroundings a little and visit several of the beaches around where we live. On Wednesday we went snorkeling at Lagoinha Beach. It was amazing. Swimming with thousands of fish in crystal clear water. I don't have any pictures of that because I forgot to take my waterproof camera but I definitely will next time.


On Thursday we went to Florianopolis. That is the capital of our state (Santa Catarina) and the city is an island. We had never visited the beaches there and they were spectacular. We saw these huge sand dunes where you can rent snowboards to ride down them. Anna and Marilze thought it would be easy to slide down them. It wasn't.


Right next to the dunes was Joaquina Beach. It was beautiful.


There were huge waves and a lot of surfers. They were holding a surfing competition and some of the surfers were excellent.


We bought grilled cheese sticks from this guy. Believe it or not, he had charcoal burning inside that can and would hold cheese on wooden sticks inside the can until they were grilled. It was pretty good.


Florianopolis not only has beautiful beaches but is surrounded by high hills where you can take some spectacular photos.


We had a great time. Marilze and I plan to go back in a few weeks for our 20th anniversary. This time we'll leave the kids at home.

You can see more of my photos at

http://www.flickr.com/photos/westnashvillegringo