I woke up this morning thinking about Toronto. Back home, from the moment my eyes see the first light of day, the subconscious questions begin. Is there enough low-fat food in the refrigerator to make my breakfast? Will I get hit by a car on the way to the cafe? What about on the way home? Will one of "America's Most Wanted" somehow sneak through the television screen and do something bad to me while I sleep?Ellen and I are in the lush green valley town of Ba...

At first it looked like a stack of old car tires, piled haphazardly in a tree in the middle of the river. When we got closer, I could see a greenish-brown diamond pattern along what would have been the centre of the tread. Then it moved. Its head, smallish compared to the rest of its body, was about the size of a large fist. Then the anaconda slid slowly into the river. We watched for almost two minutes as the entire six or perhaps seven metres of it disappeare...

The sun appeared over the choppy horizon. It was our final morning as we sailed towards a rocky outcrop in the distance. A cool breeze blew in off the stern. Everyone sat staring, hands wrapped around their hot coffee mugs. We gazed pensively into the distance.  We'd gotten a good last-minute deal for our one week excursion through the Galapagos Islands. Some folks who'd booked months in advance paid over $2,000.00. Thom and Margaret the tight-wad negot...

Could a group of animals gather themselves together on a raft, or maybe an ark-like craft and make their way 1,000 kilometers to a few islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean? How long ago would they have come here? Ten thousand years ago, a million perhaps? And why? Would it be to escape their two legged cousins, the humans? And why would they choose such a place as this? It's hot, there is no shade and it almost never rains.Whatever history doesn't s...

My knuckles were still pasty white from our half hour cab ride to the airport that the driver had whittled down to ten minutes flat. I was sitting in the air-conditioned departure lounge trying to calm my frayed nerves when I saw Ellen coming towards me. Her shoulders were tense - higher on her slender frame than normal. She had the look of a woman filled with self-doubt. In the months that preceded our trip to Ecuador, Ellen studied the boats of the Galapagos. S...