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Many, many years ago, I was traveling through Amazonias, the northern province of Brazil. I arrived in Manaus on a Christmas day, took a taxi to the harbour, jumped on a small boat, and sailed a whole day up the immense Amazone river, to finally arrive in a jungle lodge, somewhere in the middle of nowhere. Cell phones hadn’t been invented at that time, there was not a normal telephone or fax around. I especially remember my morning shower, on the second or third floor of that wooden hotel, in a very tiny and small bathroom with no glass in the windows, only a screen as it’s called in English. I was completely soaped in, naked underneath a shower with absolutely no water pressure, and all of a sudden I saw a tiny little monkey, with a baby monkey in its neck, both looking at that big naked Belgian monkey! Wow! A perfect start of a perfect day in the Brazilian jungle.

At breakfast, I met a wonderful lady. I will never forget her. She came from Florida, her name was Mary. Mary was very anxious to get started with her day. She had been traveling for several months throughout South America, and finally ended up in the middle of that huge Amazonian jungle. She was telling stories about the beauty of the Chilean Machu Pichu, the wideness of the pampas in Argentina, and didn’t stop talking for one minute, while she was making sure the monkeys of the jungle didn’t steal the breakfast of her table mates. She was looking forward to go and jump in the canoe in order to try to catch some crocodiles. I will always remember her enthusiasm! She was young at heart, she had just celebrated her 87th birthday. Her EIGHTY SEVENTH! And despite her age, she was younger than a lot of thirty year old men and women I know!

Tonight, I had to think of Mary, while I met Brigitte, a French lady, in one of the many beautiful restaurants in the Algarve. She is 74, has lost her husband about six years ago, and bought a brand new mobile home, only two years ago. Since she’s bought this car, she hasn’t been home anymore. In 2008, she was about six weeks in her house in the Provence, in Southern France. The rest of the time, she was travelling all over the place. From the Provence to Belgium, the Netherlands, Scandinavia, Finland, and coming back through Russia, Poland, Germany, Switserland, Italy, back to France, Spain, and now she’s over here in the Portuguese Algarve.

I was thinking tonight… this is the ideal way to grow old. Growing old while staying young! Yes, I guess I wanna follow the track of Mary and Brigitte… one day!

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