Rush-hour at Heathrow.....

 Heathrow (UK) is a very busy airport. The KLM-plane was not the only one that was leaving... There were two planes "staring" at us from the side. Then there was this huge British Airways plane (I am quite sure it is some "Airbus".) passing us. We both took different turns in the end.....  In the end we flew and there was only the beautiful sunset to be admired.

Enseada is Portuguese for bay

One of the beaches of Ubatuba (Brazil) is called Enseada: The Portuguese word for bay or cove. There are a few small roads to enter the beach. Almost there, the views of the sea, framed by trees and shrubs, look enchanting.

Enseada is a medium large beach. I never found it to busy. 

Out of season during the week it is quiet and almost empty.  Especially when the weather is not sunny, or even when the clouds keep hanging against the mountain wall of the Serra do Mar and the infamous rain of Ubatuba keep falling. This makes people refer to Ubataba as Uba-chuva (chuva = rain). To me even the darker weather has it's charm. 

On a cloudy day, out of season, you might be alone on the beach.

Some people just go to sit there and look at the waves....

When the weather changes and the weekend is near, the beach changes character completely.  The commerce takes over. The subdued tones of sand and sea are wiped out by the bright colors of the Brahma or Skol (Brazilian beers) chairs and tables.

 Like a ballet dancers the chairs are lined up for action. Let's hope it will stay sunny.

When you leave the beach, don't forget to look back for the last time and try to come back soon.

The ever changing "sandscape"

The miniature canyons, rivers, ridges that appear on the beach will be wiped out by the incoming waves. Just to reinvent themselves into other landscapes. Forever changing with the tides. Every time a completely new sandscape.....

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Birds on the beach

At the beach in Brazil one expects to find crows and seagulls. But look what comes along when people have a feeding place for birds. The food consisted of fruit: Mamão (Papaya), banana, orange, limão (lemon). The feeding table was under some trees, the weather was mostly overcast and I had to take the pictures through a window. Outside I couldn't get near without disturbing them. So the pictures are in no way perfect, but it gives an impression of the birds that were there. I had never seen any of the colorful ones on my earlier visits. After some study on the Internet I found that a lot of these birds are tanagers. 

Male Brazilian Tanager

Red necked tanager

Green headed Tanager 

Blue dacnis

I have no idea about these birds. Also a tanager?? or maybe a kind of finch??

Outside the light is so much better! These beautiful lapwings were all over the beach. 

Southern Lapwing

I love these small birds. One of the tyrant family. Masked water tyrant

This bright yellow tyrant was sitting near us in a beach hut. Probably waiting for something tasty. 

Great Kiskadee  (large tyrant flycatcher)

 There were seagulls, although not many.

Finally the scavengers... Here they call them crows, but they are  Black vultures .

This bag with garbage is waiting for the garbage truck that is arriving. The vultures are there first!! Impressive birds. This one is standing in one of the small rivers that run down form the mountains.

The end of a busy day?? Or just drying its feathers before the next job?

A jungle in a station.

Did you ever expect a (small) jungle in a station? This is the Atocha station in Madrid. On the outside it looks like a quite normal station. Well it is enormous.

The building feels "warm" because of the red colors of the wood, the metal and the stones. During it's lifetime it adapted to the local movement of the earth. 

On the inside it gets even more interesting.... 

An amazing space opens up. Around the corner there is a large jungle like space.

Palms and other exotic plants.

Here you can sit and pretend to be in a forest. Waiting for your train to leave or just to take a rest from the busy city (when it is raining).

Buy something to eat or read in one of the kiosks.

It is obvious that, especially when you travel with children, it is a must to visit the turtles floating on their overcrowded artificial islands.

An official stands here all day looking at the timetables....

Yes it is time to go to the platform!

The train will and leave this small jungle behind. 

Have a good trip!!

Atocha station