Togo

Oh, my. We were blown away by the poverty in Ghana earlier this week, but it turns out that Ghana was the warm-up act for Togo. I think many people came in from the tours yesterday afternoon shell-shocked. It has taken a little time to process what we saw. I am going to write about…

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Chocolate’s Dark Secret

  It has been estimated that a billion people eat chocolate each day, so a post about chocolate should be the sweetest story ever told, but this week we heard a lecture that made it all so very bittersweet. The journey from cacao bean to chocolate bar leaves a wide swath of destruction in its…

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The Island Nation of Cape Verde

  Quick show of hands: who has ever heard of Cape Verde? I don’t see any hands, so I will move ahead with enlightening one and all. In the grand scheme of nations, Cape Verde is a new kid in town, only having gone out on its own in the seventies. Before then, Portugal was…

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Tree Huggers

  The Canarians are crazy for their Pinus canariensis and the love is well deserved. I am quite sure I have never written a post about a tree but, as they say, there is a first time for everything. This is an amazing conifer with powers that are nothing short of miraculous. If you give…

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The Benagil Cave

If Fred Flintstone went looking for a new cave after Pebbles was born, Wilma would have gone ape over the Benagil Cave and insisted that they make the move. She would have loved “The Eye,” a large natural skylight. The wide sandy beach would appeal to her, too. Pebbles could play there for hours every day.…

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