Dowbrigade

When we met up with No. 1 Son, Dowbrigade, Jr., in Lima,
Peru early this month, he was a bundle of surprises. He had just
returned from leading a small group of tourists on a tour of the Peruvain
Jungle, flying to the Amazonian city of Iquitos and heading out on
the river from there.

While we are still chewing over his "big news", both in making the necessary
adjustments in self-image and deciding how to blog the blessed event,
we have put together a preliminary slideshow of some shots our son took
in the Jungle.

We will also be posting soon the main web site of Villa Maria, his Eco-tourism
Hostal snuggled high in an Andean valley called the Callejon de Huaylas.
One of the most beautiful places we have ever seen – which is why be
bought the land 30 years ago which our son has turned into a hostal.

When the full web site goes up next week it will contain photos of the
hotel and phone and email contact information if anyone has a hankering
to check it out themselves.

View the Jungle Slideshow

The United Arab Emirates says it will use robots as jockeys
for camel races from next season.

The move comes after widespread international criticism of the use of young children
to ride camels during the long and often hazardous races.

Officials say a prototype of the robot was successfully tested on Saturday.

Aid workers say there are up to 40,000 child jockeys working across the Gulf.
Many are said to be have been kidnapped and trafficked from South Asia.

They say several thousand boys, some as young as four, work as jockeys
– many after being abducted or sold by their families.

They say the boys are kept in terrible prison-like conditions where they are
deliberately underfed to keep them light so the camels can run faster.

from the BBC