All Hindu temples in India seem to be places where devotees and their families can congregate — take a nap on the stone floor, have a picnic, sell flowers or trinkets and visit with friends. Children’s heads are shaved on their first visit to the temple and an antiseptic paste is rubbed on. The orange color is a bit startling!

Temples have many statues, paintings and carvings, and the newer temples are painted in such bright colors, they’re almost blinding in the hot sun. The amazing...

by Arline Wills, Lynnfield, MA

It had been 20 years since our first visit to Portugal. When we returned in September ’04 we found that not a lot had changed, especially in the northern area. Women still carry baskets and bundles on their heads, men are seen leading donkeys laden with wood or market produce, and elderly widows are still all in black from head to toe. However, since becoming part of the European Union, Portugal has seen a great deal more road building than we found in...

I made my ninth trip to Africa in July ’04, this time revisiting Uganda and Tanzania with three friends. We landed in Kampala, UGANDA, and spent two days there and a day in Jinja (the source of the Nile). Then we headed with our guide, Cliff Kisitu, to Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, the home of the mountain gorillas. The trip took 10 hours, most of it over potholed dirt roads.

We stayed in bandas (round cement huts), which cost under $20 a night per person. (There are more upscale...