I arrive in Tofo (pronounced Tofu), Mozambique on the heels of a moderate cyclone which knocked over some palm huts, redistributed beach sand across the lower elevation streets of the peninsula and left behind a good swell. The breeze in the air keeps the intense humidity on the move and after weeks of working in northern Uganda and on the Zimbabwe border my goals are simple. I want to get into the Indian Ocean, to do as little as possible while eating fresh food in the shade, and to swim with giants. (More on that later.) Tofo fits the bill perfectly.

Three days into the Arkhangai region and it feels as if I have never been warm or clean. The landscape is impossibly stunning, but freezing rain pauses intermittently for snow. Or for brief moments to allow God rays to break through heavy bruised cloud, casting beams of golden light onto green mountain valleys cropped short by the wooly yaks that dot them.

I feel like these are the first deep breaths I have ever taken, as if I have been searching for this, thirsting for this my whole life. The sense of relief is amazing.

Maybe it’s the freedom of living under an immense unbroken sky, feeling as if I can sense the arc of the sky as it stretches out around me, the rotation of the planet throughout the day. Or the profound silence which allows me to tune in to nature of, which I am a part, undisturbed by man-made noise.

Sao Miguel is the largest and most populous island of the Azores covering 290 square miles and 140,000 citizens, relative to outer islands which can have only a few thousand. The island is composed on two volcanic massifs, and has many calderas, lakes, caverns, and hot springs to explore. While there are natural wonders to explore, Sao Miguel also has many cultural highlights as well, I visited beaches and art openings, museums and restaurants and barely scratched the surface and hope to return.

I am partial to small remote places, so Graciosa was a delight. When I landed at the airport, there was no evidence of taxis, so an islander picking up her aunt from California gave me a lift into town. They told me stories of Graciosa of many years ago before tourists started coming. The largest town of Santa Cruz da Graciosa is a beautiful, whitewashed town strung along a seawall and wrapped around a sleepy town square.

Terceira interested me largely because of Angra do Heroismo, which is a UNESCO World Heritage City, as it was a key hub for global sailing vessels in the Golden Age of Exploration. Paved with mosaic cobbles of black and white lava rock surrounding a beautiful and well-fortified harbor full of multi colored fish, the city does not disappoint.

The Azores are an autonomous region of Portugal, made up of 9 volcanic islands located in the mid-Atlantic.
I visited in the fall of 2022 flying into Terceira (site of a Unesco World heritage port city Angra do Heroismo), then on to Graciosa (the second smallest island,) then to Faial and lastly the largest island in the archipelago, Sao Miguel. What islands you will like best really depend on what you are looking to do, and everyone has their own favorites. But if you like nature and good food you will like all the islands.