NOT AT SEA, AT LAND CAST OFF

Ok we got out a we bit late,, so what is new? Most of our ships leave late, so I guess it is just in the blood. We are on our way now,, finely. And you think we pack a lot for a 49 day cruise,,, well see what a 30 day land cruise looks like.

Heading to LA

I am writing this from the iPad this morning, as the internet is not working right. I finely got on so I am not letting go.

We had a productive day in Puerto Vallarta yesterday, didn't see much, except Walmart, it was right across the street, where we bought a nice small tote for our goodies, and had Ed's glasses fixed, and I bought some stockings. Would you believe that this ship ran out and have never restocked! And with 9 formal nights what were they thinking. 😱. We brought the bag back to the ship and went two ships down, there were three ships in port. A Carnival, and a Holland America. Did I say that three ships is a long ways? Well it is, and it was hot! When a guy driving a curtesy golf cart came by and gave us a ride, we were very happy.

So now we went to the market they had over by where the Carnival ship was moored, and started shopping. We didn't shop long as the prices were high, these vendors were all spoiled, with ship traffic. So,, what to do? Set down at the cafe, and have a Margareta, and nachos, what else?

After that we went back to our ship, and were getting ready for our last sail a way when the maintenance man came on our balcony and started putting varnish on the railing of the balcony! They had informed us there would be maintenance earlier, but we thought it would be over by now. So, that sort of blew the last sail a way! Well the group came anyway and we had fun anyway!

John and Carol came and they were both much better! The meds are working, the both had strep, ugh. But they said the Doc's were great.

So now today is the last formal night, and we have reserved a table for eight of us. It should be a fun evening.

At Sea, March 31, 2014

OK not sure this will ever go out from the ship,,, we have had internet problems for the last 3-4 days.  It is aggravating, oh well as I have said the fact that we have it at all is something.  So I will keep trying.  

Today is a sea day, the last two days have been in port so I will tell what happened at those days, some of it boating and some of it exciting

March 29, 2014  Puntarenas, Costa Rica

We arrived at this small town early on a Saturday Morning, there was a looooooong walk down the pear to get to where the port was.  It appeared that the pear was new.  The Balmier a Fred Olson, Cruise line,  was parked next to us, I was up early and took pictures of her coming in with us.  We did have a tour here, but had canceled as we decided to do some shopping instead, and just walk around and see the sights.  There wasn’t a long of sights, but there was some descant shopping.  Lots and lots of little tents were set up under the trees along the water, which was nice as it was going to be a hot day (90s).  I am glad we got out early.

So after our lovely breakfast, we went down, with lots of sunscreen and hats, well Ed had a hat, it was so windy mine wouldn’t stay on, and we took our iPad so that we might get some internet, as the ships internet has been totally down for two days now.

About 10, we bumped into Ken and Claudia and we all decided that we were finished shopping, and decided to have a beer and some meat on a stick, God knows what we were eating, but it tasted good.  We found a little place that had free Wi-Fi and ordered a coke, and french fries as they didn’t sell beer, but the guys could go across the street and get the beer and bring it back.  

All and all we had a good time and we had sail-a-way from our balcony and canceled our reservations for dinner and brought butter fried shrimp down to the room.  It was only the 4 of us, Carol and John went back to the Dr’s, they are still sick.

March 30, 2014  San Juan Del Sur, Nicaragua

This was a tender port, so coming in we didn’t see a whole lot as we were quit a distance from the shore.  We almost didn’t get off the ship, but with the Wi Fi still down, we went ahead and made the tract.  Again we canceled our tour here, it was to go to the Volcano, but to be honest we are toured out, as it all happened we are sure glad we did, because we heard later that one of the buses to the Volcano broke down, and the people on the bus were out on the road for and hour and a half before anyone found them.  In the heat!!!  They finely found a school bus, to take them back to the ship, they never did get there tour, and it took more time 5 hours.

This was not as nice a port as the one in Costa Rica in our opinion, there were dancers when we got off the tenders, but it was just not as clean.  This time we skipped shopping as we were not going to try to bring a pice of ceramics home, and that was pretty much what they had for sail.  So we found a restaurant, with free Wi Fi and ordered a couple of beers and French fries and proceeded to catch up with emails etc.  And looked at a pretty view, if you didn’t see the feral dogs running around humping on the beach.  Lots of families out as today was Sunday, and if you thought I was bad with beer, in the morning there were women right below the restaurant, drinking shots of Tequila, and they were my age!

The big excitement from this port came at sail-a-way, Ken and Claudia came over and we got a few snacks and were watching the town sail off, we were late, some one had to be med-evac out to the town, and that took two hours.  Trust me we all said we would not have wanted to be left in that town, for medical reasons! 

Any way because we were late, leaving it was getting dark, and I spotted a funny light in the mountain and WOW it was the volcano erupting, WOW and double WOW as Ed says.  I took some pictures, but they are blurry as we were so far away, and moving at 22 knots.  

So now I will try to post this and see if I can get it and the pictures out.  Wi fi is back, but VERY slow.  Next stop and last stop before LA is Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.

Lima, Peru

Jelly fish leaving Pisco don't think I want to swim here,,, ugh

Lima, Peru    March 25, 2014

Well all the things that made Pisco wonderful, were not there for Lima.  We docked VERY early, like somewhere around 4:30 AM, needless to say I didn’t take any photos of Sail-in, we slept right through it, and it was just as well.  This was a very industrial port, so not much to see.  Not that we saw it for sail-a-way either as we didn’t leave until after 10:30 PM so we were also sleeping.  This turned out to be the story of the day, because we were told not to take our big camera out, so we took the Go-Pro, and guess what, we found out on the bus that the battery was dead!  So no pictures today, but you know what there wasn’t much to take pictures of, as our tour was of the city and the San Francisco Monastery and Cathedral (NO PHOTOS OR CAMERAS)  The Gold Museum, (NO PHOTOS).  We went to Plaza Mayor, the Historic Centre of Lima, but the minors were demonstrating, and camping there, so couldn’t get out, then we had lunch with 160 of our most intimate friends, ha ha.  The food was pretty good and the Pisco Sours were even better, (have to learn to make these)  so it made it all bearable.  After lunch we went shopping at the Indian Market and found a few good things, to stuff in our suite cases.  This was NOT one of my favorite places incase you hadn’t figured out by now.  

Next three days are sea days.

Sea Day   March 26, 2014

Today would have been my fathers 93rd birthday.  We started the day at Sabatini’s for breakfast, and rose our mimosa glasses in his memory.  Then we just kind of blew the day, not doing much.  John is still sick so we canceled our dinner reservations and had a nice lunch in the room on the balcony.  I had Paella, and Ed had Teriyaki Chicken.  So now we can skip dinner isn’t it awful how these are our big decisions!  We did skip dinner they had the shrimp tower in the Elite lounge, so we went there with Ken, Claudia wasn’t feeling well either. Then we went to Vines and got Sushi and that took care of dinner, boy are we boring.  

Sea Day  March 27, 2014 

Well today is crossing the equator day!  So there are pollywogs to initiate!  It is Formal night and there is a British-style Pub lunch in the Wheelhouse bar.  And we are in the doldrums the sea is flat as a pancake.  Here is a photo of the sea this morning.  Ok I have tried to put the picture up, but no luck,,, maybe later.

 

 Pisco  March 24, 2014

OK, I wasn’t expecting anything from this port, partly because we didn’t know anything about it and partly, because the Capt.  sent out a letter that indicated that Peru was going to be dangerous, don’t wear jewelry, etc.  Well he should have defined more of what he was talking about, because Pisco, is a very cute little town in the desert.  It is a long way from where the ship docks, so you have to take a shuttle into town if you don’t have a tour. Cost $8 each way, but it is a half hour ride, so understandable.  We had a tour to the Islas Ballestas, this place blew us away!  This tour was WAY better then we had any idea it would be.  Where to begin;  we boarded our bus, and drove the half hour ride to the town, now this looked like we were in the Sahara, and would see Laurence of Arabia, ride by at any moment!  We arrived at a beautiful hotel that looked like an oasis, and walked to the boats that were going to take us to the Islands.  

This was one of the smoothest boat rides I have ever had.  We first traveled back across the bay and to the tip of where our ship was docked, and there must have been a thousand Pelicans,

we have never seen soooooooo many in one place.  Then we had a photo stop at the 500-foot-high Candelabra, a mysterious geoglyph carved thousands of years ago.  It was really something, this place only gets 30 minutes of rain a year!!! I have never heard some one talk about rain using minutes for measurement.  But that is why these petri-gliffs are still there.  

So now our boat headed out to sea, we went about 11 miles, when we finely saw where we were going, it was a pretty  incredible group of islands, they call them the "Galapagos of Peru”,

and I can see why.  There were literally thousands of seabirds and marine life. We were awestruck by the number of boobies, cormorants, terns and Humbolt penguins,

and Chilean flamingos.  Sealion colonies abound, we even were able to see brand new baby sealions,

on the beach, and we saw sea anomies on the rocks and I was able to get pictures of them.  Some of the islands have colonies of up to 600,000 birds flying in and out at any given time.  Now I knew whey they told us to wear a hat!  They harvest the POOP, can’t remember how to spell it in spanish, every 5 or 6 years, evidently that is a big deal, as they have built these racks to collect it.

All and all it was a fabulous day!

La Serena  March 21, 2014  

Happy Birthday Bruce!!  

Today we are La Serena, but we are really in Copuimbo, Chile It is a little burg, that has the port in this very poor part of this country.  We did not have a tour here, so we walked out into the port area, and saw a very large fish market, and that was about it.  So we came back and had lunch in the International Cafe, and listened to the music in the Piazza.  And then went to get ready for another Sail-a-way, this time only 8 of us, it was right Chilly out side,,,, pun intended! 

So we leave Chile, behind and we have two sea days, before we get to Pisco (San Martin).  

Sea Day  March 22, 2014

Sea Day,,, Formal night,,,  What can I say about Sea Days except LOVELY!  They are restful and uneventful in most cases, this morning we woke early, as we had gained an hour last night, but then went to flush the toilette and nothing happened,,, now that gets your attention! Told our cabin attendant Edsel, and he said that all of zone 7 was out,,, ugh.  So we got dressed to go to breakfast, figuring we could use the facilities on our way up, and within 15 min Edsel, came and said it was fixed!  That was good.  So on to Breakfast, decisions again,,,,, what to eat for breakfast!  Is it going to be Eggs Benedict or….  This is really a tough life.  

Here we are with Captain John Foster, at Craig and Barbs renewal of vows ceremony 

Later, we had to get ready for Formal night, we like dressing up, it is fun, so tonight we will have 8 for dinner as Barb and Craig have planned to join us.

They are very special new friends.  It was lots of fun, we all celebrated my birthday, the ship gave me a cake,, that is what I need more food.

Sea Day   March 23, 2014

Today is Sunday, and we got another hour back last night, by the time we get home, my body won’t know what time it is.  So big decisions today,,, what to eat for breakfast, (Omelet,)  lunch and dinner, had an omelet for breakfast and just had one of the best Hotdogs I have ever had, and that is saying a lot for a person who doesn’t like hotdogs all that much.  So two down and one to go.  We missed the port lecture, but that is ok as we have a tour in Pisco anyway tomorrow.  We are going to see "abundant marine wildlife and observe beautiful and bizarre rock formations including natural rock arches, tunnels”……….  to be continued 

Punta Arenas Chile March 14, 2014

OK, I will now I will try to catch up all that has been happening in the las 7 days.  Sorry I am so late once again, life on shipboard, has a way of floating into one lovely time after another.  You really get spoiled, and the longer you are on the more spoiled you get, how am I ever going to do my own cooking and cleaning again????

So, to pick up where I left off,,, we arrived back to Punta Arenas, about two hours late, and the ship was waiting for us.  We were the LAST TENDER, we didn’t care,,, we had such a grand time, on the plane, and they fed us so well with crab, etc. and all the booze we wanted, including Pisco Sours (nice but STRONG) all 42 of us were in a great mode.  We were all tired, but happy, what a day!!!  We will never forget Antarctica or the day that is for sure.  As they said, very few people ever get to go there, and we knew we had been blessed.  They gave us a certificate suitable for framing and showed us how our passports had been stamped, so it was all official, we had not just dreamed it all!

March 15, 2014

Next day it was scenic cruising Amalia Glacier, it was impressive, but not more so than what we have seen in Alaska.  We had a bit of a party on our deck, and watched the Ice and snowcapped mountain peaks and looked for wild life, but there was nothing, not even a fish.  When we had to sail back out into the open sea, it again got rough, but that was ok with Ed and I as we went to bed early, and just got rocked to sleep.

Amalia Glacier

Claudia 

March 16, 2014

The next day was also a sea day and it was wonderful to just rest up.  We did go see a pretty funny comedian guitarist Dan Riley, and then turned in for another restful night.

March 17, 2014

Craig and Barb

Claudia and Ken

St. Patrick’s Day,,,, we found a shamrock on our door, Claudia had gifted us!  And we were now going to have a wonderful day, as we canceled our tour, that we had here in Puerto Montt, it was to be a very long tour to the lake district and we felt it would have been over kill after Antarctica.  So we took the tender to town after the rush, and caught a taxi for $2, and made our way to town.  It was interesting, we found a coffee shop, and had a cupa, and found a jewelry store and Ed gifted me with Lappas earrings and a penguin necklace charm.  And a cute little Lappas Penguin for himself.  We came back before all the tours, and heard later that the lines to get back were incredible, and the seas were really rough.  All were suppose to be back on board by 5, but of coarse they weren’t so we were late departing, that was ok as we again had a sale-a-way on our balcony and had another good party, and we all went to dinner in our green, and continued the party in the dinning room.  

Have I mentioned that we have some of the best wait state in the dinning room?  Well we do, so we try to sit in there section every night we go to the dinning room.  It was a good thing the next days are  sea days.

March 18, 2014

Tonight is Formal night, and Ken and Claudia joined us, so we were a table of 6, and we had a "swell time”  That was the name of the show in the theater, but we didn’t make it. We did go to the Captains Party, and the most traveled was awarded to a couple from New Jersey, they had 1,391 days with Princess!  Wow not sure we will ever have that many days, but we are working on it!  Big happening today,,, we booked another cruise, more about that in the future.

March 19, 2014 

The last sea day of this leg, tomorrow we will be in Valparaiso, so rest up for big day tomorrow.

March 20, 2014

VALPARAISO

The end of the second leg and the begging of our third leg of this 49 day cruise.  A lot of people, I think they said 500, disembarked here today, not sure how many got on.  We had a Princes tour booked here, to the homes of Pablo Neruda, he was a very important man in Chile.  He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for poetry.  His house on the coast is Isla Negra, and is now a museum house, it was interesting, loved the area it was built on and I would love to have the view in his bed room, it overlooks the ocean, we couldn’t take any pictures inside.  And it was cold here today, like 55 and the wind blowing, and fogy.

Then we went top Casas del Bosque, winery and had a wonderful lunch, and wine.  It consisted of Goat chess and olive salad with mustard dressing, one of the freshest salads I have ever eaten, pared with there white Chardonnay, it was VERY good and I don’t usually like Chardonnay.  then we had a  slow-cooked Wagyu served with a sweetcorn and basil puree.  It was outstanding it was served with there Reserve red wine.  Then the BEST chocolate tart and red berries, I have ever had, good thing I can’t come here again, as I would gain every pound back I have lost in the last year!

Then it was back to Valparaiso, for a tour of his second home La Sebestiana a five store high house with a great view of the city, but we opted out of that climb, as it was foggy and hazy so you couldn’t see much any way.  So I did some more Lappas shopping and Ed stayed on the bus and watched me.  

We got back to the ship about 5, and canceled our tour to the observatory, in Coquimbo, tomorrow, as we are just not up to another climb up a mountain and another long bus ride.

So we said good-by to Valparaiso and a start to our last leg of this wonderful cruise.  And once again we had a nice sail-a-way party, this time there was  10, this room is a nice size but 10 is pushing it, and it was again cold outside so no sitting out side.

Punta Arenas & Antarctica March 14, 2014

We arrived in Punta Arenas, about an hour late, not sure why.  We were up at 5 AM, if we had known we were going to be as late as we were we could have slept more and that would have been good.  As we needed all the energy for what was to come.

We finely boarded, our tender about 9AM, and then a long walk to the bus.  When we got on the bus, our guide was so excited to tell us that we had a GO!!!  Now our hearts were really beating,,, we drove to the Airport and after some confusion about where we were going, we boarded our plane.  A nice little BAE 146 200.  There were 44 of us.  Ed and I had a nice seat up in the forward part of the plane with no one in the middle seat, heaven.

We arrived Antarctica about 11, landing on a gravel runway, the pilot kissed the runway on landing, I didn’t think that was possible on a gravel runway, but he was good.  After debarking,  we walked down the runway, and down to the area that was the Russian area where we broke into groups, of 15 to go to the Zodiac's to go to Ardley Island to observe the Penguins and antarctic wild life.  It had just snowed two days before so the walk was heavy, but we had made it to ANTARCTICA!!   Wow how about that!  It was fabulous, and we will have many stories to tell, for years to come.  So I will show you some photos, that tell a lot.

Wow we are really here!

And in Russia too!


Now it was on to see the Penguins.

The birds were trying to take this penguin out, they are vicious!

he got away!

March 12, 2014

March 12, 2014

I will tell you about yesterday later, but right now I must tell you where we are….. they have canceled our scenic cruising Cape Horn, we are experiencing 65 knots winds across the bow of the ship, and to say we are bouncing around is putting it mildly!  So we are going straight for Ushuaia, we still won’t get there until morning, but it is suppose to be a better ride, we shall see as it is already almost 3PM and it is not better.

Port Stanley and our wonderful trip to the Penguins,

Our trip to Stanley was great, the weather was good and the sun was shining.  And the Penguins were all posing for pictures.  The drive to get there was an adventure or endurance contest in its self.  But I am glad we did it as it was all worth it.  The biggest surprise of theFalkland Islands was how large they are.  Vast to say the least.  Our maps don’t really show us the size and scope of these islands or for that matter, just how large SA is!  The people on the Falklands are VERY BRITISH!  How the Argentines, thought they could make this part of Argentina again, meant they hadn’t met or talked to the people.

The Penguins are really special to see, the road, or lack there off is something unbelievable, even the bouncy ship today is not as bouncy as that trip was.  You will just have to experience it as no way I can really give you the full understanding of it.  So I will let the photos show, how special these guys are and why you would want to go there.  

Here we are with all our little friends

Moms and Babies

Buenos Aires, and Montevideo,

Thursday March 6, 2014  Buenos Aires, Argentina

It has been a very exciting few days, that has kept us very busy, with little time to kick back and write on the blog, and on top of that I managed to catch a nasty cold, so brain is not working well. I am feeling much better today, so I hope I can make sense of all that has taken place.

We had two  sea days after Ilhabela, and it was a good thing, we needed to just chill for a bit, and get ready for Buenos Aires.  The sail to Buenos Aires was uneventful except we didn’t realize that BA is on a river the Rio de la Plata, the widest river in South America, it is over 120 miles wide, and all fresh water, not fresh enough for me to want to drink it!  It looked like the muddy Mississippi, in color.  And we also picked up a bunch of moths on our window, and mosquitos too.  Well it is South America,,,,, after all.  

We arrived in Buenos Aires, on time and met our private tour of 8 people with Craig, but by the time we got started the tour guide had added two more couples, so we were 12.  We had a nice bus and started on our city tour.  It is a pretty city, but the government is not stable, so the exchange rate, is all over the place, the people are experiencing 23% inflation every year, so there are lots of “black markets”  for almost everything, especially  money.

First major stop was at the was the Recoleta Cemetery.  It is livery large, and crowded, this is where Evita Peron was berried, she we are told it is revered and reviled.  Her body once disappeared, for 16 years, so is now buried under several feet of concrete to prevent a repeat disappearance.  Her black crypt is simply marked “Eva Peron”  over the inscription “ I will return and be millions."  

We went on to the old town, to see  the Plaza de Mayo where BA began in 1508, and here we did a wee bit of shopping and had lunch and saw some great Tango, by two very talented people.  And the lunch was very good too.  Then it was back in the bus to see the Pink house, they like to compare to our White House, it is the office of the President,  but he doesn’t live there.  It is called the “Pink” house as many years ago they painted it with a mixture of beef fat, blood and lime.  

We arrived back to the ship about 5, full and exhausted and as we entered our room, and Ed realized that he had lost his little black wallet, somewhere in the terminal as he had it to get in.  It had his drivers license and AMX in it.  So needless to say he was upset, he went down to the terminal and told someone with a uniform on what had happened and the man said “Come with me”  thinking he wanted him to fill out papers, he went and low and behold they had the wallet!!!  When he got back we ran into Ken and Claudia, who are next door, so we had sail-a-way on the balcony and skipped dinner as we were too full.  They told us about there trip to Iquazu, falls, if we ever come back to South America, we will want to see that.  We left on time, now it was on to Montevideo.  

Friday & Saturday March 7 & 8, 2014, Montevideo, Uruguay 

You wouldn’t think it would take all night to go across a river, but it did, and we were still late, we were suppose to dock at 10 AM and we couldn’t get in until noon!  We were in a holding pattern for over an hour and a half.  Luckily our tour guide waited for us, the people that booked with princess, for the same type tour had their tours canceled.  That was a shame as we were spending the night here.

Montevideo, Uruguay, is a very pretty city.  We had a very good day here.  We went to ground zero and walked around Independence Square and then through to old Gate to the old town and on to Constitution Square, which had a pretty fountain, and some vendors, with some interesting things for sale.

We bought a mug that holds a herbal drink, not sure I will drink out of it, but it is a cool to dad.

Then it was on to the Ranch Granja San Francisco, where we got a great tour and and lots of hors d’oeuvers before we set down to a stake Barbecue, Uruguay style (on a sword).  It was fun and we all drank too much wine, and eat too much, so we skipped dinner once again, and we were too tired to go and see the show, in the theater, and that was too bad.  As they didn’t have the dancing, they promised on the tour, oh well another day.

The second day in Montevideo, we decided to go as a group shopping, trying to shop as a group, doesn’t work well, and after a time Carole and John went off to look for yarn, and other things while Claudia and I were just looking, we never bought anything, but we had a GREAT lunch in this huge building with lots of other restaurants, all like little bistros.  Ken had a huge bone in Rib Eye steak, it had to be 4 inches thick!  And was cooked to perfection, these people do know how to fix steak.  After we were full, came back to the ship and had a sail-a-way get together for all six of us on the balcony, and we all talked about our day, Carol, never did find the yarn and walked so far, that they took a taxi back to the ship, they also didn’t have lunch, so, John and Carol went to dinner the rest of us were too full to eat dinner.  We went to bed about 11:30 and woke up late this morning, but managed to get up to Sabatini’s for breakfast this morning, as we haven’t eaten any thing in….. some hours!

Today at sea, Sunday March 8, 2014

Tonight is our 4th formal night, so we are doing a bit of house cleaning and writing.  We will meet John and Carol for dinner and the Champaign waterfall, it should be a fun evening.  

We got some paperwork on our Antarctic expedition, and it was very curious, as they said that the largest waterproof boot covers available was a mens 9 1/2!  We went down to check on it and they don’t know anything, they said the letter was put out by the tour operator, so we are not sure what is going to happen.

Right now we are on our way to Stanley and the weather looks good, but internet is VERY SLOW so.

To be contended……...

Ilhabela, Brazil  March 3 2014

Ilhabela or “Beautiful Island,” is well-named for its golden sand beaches, emerald waters and unspoiled landscapes.  Nearly 85% of the island is designated as State Park, and no further development is allowed.

We had a great time here, we had a Princess tour, it was a to be a two-masted schooner, but this boat hadn’t raised sails in a long time..  so calling it a beach and sail, well sail, was stretching it!.  We motored all the way. to the beach and back  We went to Curral Beach surrounded by lush mountains and warm sand, but the water was not Crystalline as they said, but it was a fun day.  I did do a wee bit of snorkeling without a snorkel, just my swim gargles and saw some sea urchins.  Didn’t have Ed’s new go-pro so I didn’t get any pictures of them.

Home was experiencing snow and we got a sunburn, not all that bad, huh?  It reminded us of Kwai, very pretty.

When we got back from our “sail” we did some shopping, but everything was really  expensive,  which reminded us this is not a poor county.

We will be in Buenos Aires, Argentina and we have a private of the town, we have already interred  the
Rio de la Tlata River wich is the spanish way of saying Plate River.  And there are a ton of ships out the window, so it should be an interesting docking, this is all new to both of us.

Rio de Janeiro

March 1-2  2014

We arrived in Rio about an hour early,,  and Ed and I got up and took some sunrise pictures.  That is not a normal for me as you all know.  It was beautiful and this set the tone for the whole day,,, it was a BEAUTIFUL day, all the way around.

We skipped breakfast as we had eaten late the night before and thought that since this tour had lunch included we would just eat light and sleep a little later, as it turned out that was a mistake, but more on that later.

We were suppose to line up in the theater for our tour at 8:45 AM, so we met John and Carol, and found our seats, only to sit there for the next hour.  The Officer in Charge, once again, did not have her logistics in place, saying it was the fault of the buses when later we found out the busses had been waiting since 7:30 AM.  When we finely boarded our bus, after 10 AM, it was a beauty, even had a WC in it, which was good, because we left the port, and now we had a traffic jam like you cannot believe!  “Carnival” floats and bands were blocking the way of ALL the major streets!  

2 1/2 hours later we were still on the buss for a 50 minute drive to the train for Christ the Redeemer (Corcovado), well we missed our slot, so it was on to Sugarloaf.  It took some time to get there too, but finely about,I think it was, noon.  So we stood in line and got on a tram to go up to the top of sugarloaf, not my idea of fun but I did,,,,, most of it.  It was a hazy day so we didn’t go up to the tippy top, but high enough.  It was also very hot and sticky, but I have to say the view was amazing.  

if you look hard he is way off on that mountain, that is where we are going.

Down on the ground and the guid said we were on our way to lunch, at a Brazilian stake house, not so fast,,,,, we were then told we had to go to Corcovado, as we had to use our ticket slot NOW, and we only had 20 minutes to get there.  We made it, but just barely, as one of the ladies on the bus, fell getting out, and broke her ankle so needless to say there was a delay getting to the train, but they got her in a taxi, and took her to the hospital, and last we heard she was recovering, but we don’t know if she will be rebounding or not, as she was traveling alone.  Very sad.  By now it was 2:40.  We boarded the Cog RR and up the mountain we went.  WOW, what a place, we have never seen anything like it, all the pictures, do NOT do it justice.  It is something you have to see.  Our guide told us this Christ the Redeemer, statue is the PEOPLES statue, as when they wanted to build the 125 foot statue, they needed the money to do so.  So they asked the people to help, and when the people came by to collect what people wanted to contribute, people literally through money in the streets, so it cold be collected!  And the people still volunteer for money for upkeep, and the ticket sails and philanthropic contributions take care of the rest.  We then caught our train back down the mountain, and now it was almost 5, and Yea we were going to have LUNCH!  

It was worth the wait!, and we were all VERY HUNGRY, not a usual feeling for cruisers.  When we got back to the ship, it was a fast shower, and off to wait in line to see the show.  Brasileirissimo,, a kcal folkloric show, it was an amazing taste of Brazil, it was our Carnival show!  It was truly eye candy for all the guys and girls alike!

Today it was a rest day, the stores are closed, until, after three, and we have sail-away at 5:30 PM, our time, and did I mention that we are two hours ahead of EST.

We coming away from Rio, with a different feeling then we had at the beginning, it is a beautiful city and the people are VERY nice, and I would come again, if given the opportunity.

Tomorrow, it is Ihabela, Brazil and another early get up, as our tour to the beach sail, and a two masted schooner, leaves at 7:30 AM,,,, hemmm well see how late this one is. 

Recife

Well we made it to Recife and it was worth the stop.  We both throughly enjoyed the day, be it hot and sticky.

Our privet tour, was suppose to leave at 8 AM, so we had to meet at 7:30 which called for a 6 AM wake up,,,, ugh,, and then the driver was late!  He didn't get there until 9:30, by that time we were all a wee bit aggravated and just about snagged another driver when he showed up.  He did agree to cut the price of our tour by $15.00 each and still take us where we had scheduled to go, to make up.

So we were off on the city tour and a tour of Olinda, very pretty.

The roads are all cobble stone, and the houses all have to stay the way they are archaically, but the people are allowed to paint them what ever color they choose, so it makes for a very colorful community.

They were getting ready for Carnival (Saturday) and that made the traffic horrendous, and the driver had to back up going down some steep hills to make room for trucks carrying huge paper-mache statues.

We went to Ground 0, where Recife started and then we went to the Old Prison, famous now for having lots of little shops in the old Cells.  We managed to find some goodies in the shops there.  As Ed found a very nice jewelry store,,,, just couldn't say no.  :)  So I am now the proud owner of some beautiful fire opal earrings and a spectacular blue topaz necklace, that reminded him of a stone, he bought 50 years ago.

We got back to the ship about 2:30, hot, sweaty and hungry, as we hadn't eaten anything all day except an apple.  So we showered and ordered some lunch and took a nap.

Sail-away, was late, as some of the tours didn't get back, but when it did happen we got to see the Seaborn Quest leave before us.  It was beautiful.

We have two sea days and then it is Rio right in the hart of Carnival!