Fluffy who?

Fluffy Justin Fernando.

That's the kind of name you get when it is chosen by process of consensus . . . with children ages 6 to 9. Fluffy doesn't seem to mind. Fernando (which I've discovered sounds best with a Brazilian Portuguese accent) was chosen because it means "explorer" or "adventurer" (our first graders were deep into name research at the time).

Fluffy and I got started because I needed a way to make geography more real for my students (many of whom have never left Houston, much less the United States) and more fun for me (unlike my father, pulling the atlas off the shelf is not one of my favorite ways to party). I had recently seen "Amelie" when I discovered a book in the Museum of Fine Arts gift shop (I love museum gift shops!): Letters from Felix. Serendipity and synergy at their best!

Mostly, Fluffy travels with good-natured friends and family members. Occasionally, I'll get a phone call that's not really for me at all but instead for my alter ego who serves as Fluffy's volunteer travel agent. "We're going to _____ on _____! Is Fluffy available?" In fact, sometimes Fluffy is in such high demand that he has to turn down such invitations because of other conflicting engagements. The thing about Fluffy is that he doesn't eat much, he takes up very little space (he's been known to squeeze into a fanny pack!), and he never complains. Who could ask for more from a travel companion?

One of my favorite photos from Fluffy's travels was courtesy of some high school friends. One of them had been working as an investment banker and (several years ago) took a sweet lay-off deal. So he decided to spend a year living in a villa in Italy, learning Italian (I know--this is a life just slightly beyond the edges of my wildest imagination). Three other high school friends went to visit him, and they had a high old time cavorting around Europe together. The kicker was that Fluffy was invited to go along (not me, you'll notice).

This trip was one of my more impressive feats as Fluffy's travel agent. You see, Fluffy is not big enough (or ambulatory enough) to travel unaccompanied. So after returning from Japan with a high school friend who was attending business school at MIT, Fluffy joined a college friend living in Boston who took him with her to the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. Fluffy then returned to Boston to be handed off to one of the high school friends who was flying off to join the boys in Europe.

The guys did a fabulous job of taking Fluffy around with them wherever they went. (I suspect that perhaps Fluffy turned out to be something of a "chick-magnet" on this particular trip--a conversation starter, if you will . . .) Anyway, they took Fluffy with them to a certain museum where they photographed him with a famous painting of a reclining nude. One of the fine gents kindly used a hand to shield Fluffy's eyes from indecent exposure. The resulting photo (which, I'm sorry to say, was taken before digital cameras were in everyone's pockets) makes me laugh out loud.

Frankly, I'm a little jealous of Fluffy. He's more well-traveled than anyone else I know. He's been to castles in Scotland, the Great Wall of China, the mountains of Tibet, a wedding in India, the beaches of Hawaii, the Greek islands . . . At first, my skeptical and tech-savvy children accused me of having Photoshopped Fluffy into these scenes. This, when Fluffy's travel agent was working so hard to secure travel companions and connecting flights to his exciting destinations!

On rare occasions, I get to go along with Fluffy. Mostly in the summer because I've got this pesky job. :) As the promise of summer looms large on the horizon, the questions begin. “Are you going anywhere this summer?” “So, do you have a trip planned?” “Where are you going this summer?” “Are you taking your rabbit?” “Will you show us pictures when you come back?”

Together, Fluffy and I have had some wild adventures.

We've climbed to the top of the Pyramid of the Sun at Teotihuacan (in addition to the ruins of Monte Alban, Palenque, Uxmal, and Chichen Itza and the Olmec heads) in Mexico.



(the steep steps of a pyramid at Uxmal)

He's chatted nervously with a baby black caiman,






sat upon a water lily,





and swung on vines in the Amazon Rainforest of Brazil.

We've traveled to our country's Colonial past, where Fluffy quickly nabbed a job as kitchen help






while I tried my hand (I mean, foot) at brick-making.

At Lake Atitlan in Guatemala, we watched women weaving on backstrap looms.





We explored the Mayan ruins of Tikal




and Copan (in Honduras).






On Eleuthera (a long, skinny island in the Bahamas), Fluffy watched the waves










while I snorkeled (a somewhat soggy Amazon experience taught us that Fluffy should keep his distance from the water).





Fluffy and I spent a couple weeks last summer digging for Dimetrodon in the Red Beds of North Texas.

I love to learn about the world, and travel is a way to be in someone else's place.

Well, I've packed my Amazon hat, and Fluffy and I are off on another adventure!
The first hint is that we are traveling to a place that is surrounded by water . . .
One of my first graders--thinking locally--spread a rumor that the mystery place is San Antonio, which does have a very nice river . . . but is not surrounded by water. Others have suggested Hawaii or Puerto Rico.

(Note: The photograph is from a different place we've traveled, also surrounded by water.)

Stay tuned for more Adventures of Fluffy and Crazy Hat Lady!


***For those of you who now have a hankering to host Fluffy on an adventure of your own, there are a few guidelines (because when we started, I was not wise enough to realize Fluffy might need a doppelganger):
1) Fluffy doesn't travel with students' families.
2) Fluffy only travels with those responsible enough to bring him home.
3) You may have to take me with you!