And I miss you—and all your gang. I just saw the photos over at Bess’ blog. Memories.

I too found passion in the rainforest: her solitude, her danger, her beauty. Go for it.

And please send your e-mail as claireth@cox.net does not seem to work.

I would suggest that you and Elise first head to Antigua, Guatemala for one month of living with a Guatemalan family and studying Spanish 7 hours a day at one of the schools there. When done, you both head for the jungles around Tikal and experience the jungle first hand. If you love her now, young lady, wait until you meet her.

As the Amazon is mainly in Brazil you will sooner or later have to learn Portuguese.

I am jealous. You are on the verge of a lifetime of adventure. I had to wait until I was in my 30s. But God had prepared me beforehand though I did not know this at the time.

I await her again, that vast and ‘wild weird clime lying most sublime, out of space, out of time.’