Day 12 – Manaus

12/5/14 – By the time we woke up we were already docked at the Cruise terminal, very close to the city center.  We had selected a tour to an Indian Community and also to a rubber museum, so we boarded a small boat and traveled for more than an hour before reaching a village with about 25 inhabitants. 

Like the village in Boca Da Valeria, this settlement was probably designed to entertain tourists, but if so, it was very well done.  We were welcomed by the Chief, whose remarks were translated into Portuguese then into English.  We were escorted into a large ceremonial building where the natives danced and sang their traditional songs; it was most interesting and entertaining.

Then of course, they brought out craft and art souvenirs for us to check out.  Debbie purchased a small mask, made primarily from large fish scales, but with the mouth and teeth of a piranha.  We hope it was made locally, but at later ports, we saw very similar masks.  We were given time to explore the village which was also interesting.

We then returned to our small boats and traveled for more than an hour again to reach the Rubber Museum which was very interesting.  It had been a plantation during the rubber boom in the late 1800s and early 1900s and was restored and maintained as an example of those days.  There was a large manager’s house, a warehouse, a chapel and several other out-buildings.  Rubber in Brazil was never planted in large tracts; instead the rubber trees were tapped where they naturally grew. 

The trees grew widely interspersed with other trees and vegetation, making the harvest of the sap of the trees very time consuming and difficult, since the rain forest is almost impenetrable.  After enjoying a demonstration of the tapping of a rubber tree, and watching the sap being heated and formed into large natural rubber balls, we stopped at the little souvenir stand to purchase a local drink, Tuchaua, which tasted similar to cherry cola.  Very refreshing!  We then headed back to our little boat and returned to the City.

Manaus is the largest city on the Amazon with a population of over 2 million.  It is located about 980 miles from the mouth of the river, at the confluence of the dark waters of the Rio Negro and the muddy brown water of the Rio Solimões, which combine to form the Amazon.  Here again, we experienced the “meeting of the waters” as the water ran side-by-side without mixing.  Manaus was at the center of the Amazon region’s rubber boom.  For a time it was “one of the gaudiest cities of the world”.  The decadence extended to a grand opera house, vast domes and gilded balconies, and marble, glass and crystal from around Europe.  The opera house cost ten million public funded dollars, but its foolhardiness was demonstrated by the death by yellow fever of half the members of on visiting opera troupe.  The opera house, called the Teatro Amazonas, has been restored and once again presents operas.

The pier is very close to downtown and the main street goes straight past the opera house, so we decided to walk to the opera house to see if we could get a guided tour.  The streets were as crowded as in Manhattan (and we were just there in October, so we know what we’re talking about), with stores of all kinds lining the sidewalks.  Surprise!  It was uphill all the way to the opera house.  Once we got there and figured out where the entrance was located, we bought tickets for an English tour that would begin in 15 minutes.  Good timing, huh? 

The facility is fascinating with a large main floor and tiers of boxes around the sides.  One of the most interesting exhibits was a model of the opera house made completely of Legos.

Once the tour was finished, Debbie and our friend, Judy, took a taxi back to the pier while John and Tom once again braved the shoppers to get back down the hill to the pier and our ship.

The ship had entertainment every night of the voyage, either a singing, dancing troupe, or solo artists and singers.  This night we had a Brazilian folk group playing native instruments (and guitars), along with a female singer with a very haunting voice.  It was a most enjoyable experience.

Day 11 – Boca Da Valeria

 12/4/14 – The tiny village of Boca Da Valeria, “mouth of the Valeria River,” lies on a 400-foot hill overlooking the Amazon at the point where the Amazon and Valeria converge.  This fishing and trading village, population 75 – 100, is sustained by tourists’ purchases. 

The ship anchored near the village and immediately, a number of large canoes sprinted from the village to the side of the ship to offer souvenirs to those who were disembarking.  At this stop, the ship’s tenders were used to get passengers to the village and back.  The village children want to act as guides to the tourists, of course in exchange for payment.  The anthropologist lecturer on board the ship had told us that the village was really a mock-up, and that the residents lived behind the hill in relatively modern accommodations.  It was stiflingly hot and humid and we decided to see the village from the ship instead of touring it. 

Our stop was for about four hours before continuing upriver toward Manaus, our turn-around port.

Days 7-10 - At Sea

11/30/14 – Today we are at sea, off the coast of South America.  We've passed Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana and are now sailing off the northeast coast of Brazil.  Brazil sticks so far out into the Atlantic that we've jumped two time zones in the past two days.  Now we’re two hours ahead of Miami time, and I think we've got another hour to jump before we head west again.

There are two lecturers aboard who give talks on each of our days at sea.  One is an anthropologist who is an expert on South America.  She is our “port lecturer” who tells us about the things to see and do in each port.  The other is an astronomer who talks about the planets and stars and also leads “star gazing” sessions every few days, weather permitting.  Both are very interesting and informative, but the anthropologist talks about our destinations and therefore draws a larger audience.

A couple of days ago we ate dinner with John and Judy in the onboard Italian restaurant, Setté Mari.  While the food was very good, the service was less than ideal.  Dishes were not cleared between courses, glasses were not refilled, and the wait staff seemed confused or unsure of what to do.  We were given the opportunity to evaluate the cruise so far, and our friend, John, mentioned the uneven level of service at Setté Mari.  The next day he got a call from the Maître D, apologizing for the service and asking if we’d be willing to give them another chance.  We said OK, and we had dinner there for a second time.  The service was AMAZING!  The food was just as good, but the service was as good as it could possibly be.  Quite the turnaround.   We had a great time and will go back again.

Day 8 – Amazon River

12/2/14 – Today we entered the mouth of the Amazon River and sailed upstream to the town of Macapá where we anchored for Brazilian Customs officials to come aboard to check all passports for the required Brazilian Visa.  Also at this stop, three river pilots came aboard for the journey up and down the river. Although like all navigable water, there are electronic charts aboard that aid the navigator, the river rises and falls with the upstream rains and also sandbars are formed and destroyed on a regular basis, requiring the assistance of a knowledgeable pilot on the bridge whenever the ship is moving.

The Amazon is the 2^nd longest river in the world at about 4,000 miles, and with by far the largest water flow, with an average discharge greater than the next seven largest rivers combined.  It is approximately one-fifth of the world’s total river flow.  The headwaters are in the Andes mountain range in Bolivia, Peru, Columbia and Ecuador, as well as Brazil.  At its Atlantic Ocean mouth, the river estuary is about 150 miles wide, with many islands.  Its main stem is 50 miles wide at the mouth, and the average river width varies between one and six miles wide during the dry season, but expands to thirty miles or more during the rainy season.  We are entering the river at the very beginning of the six-month rainy season.  For much of its length the river rises more than 30 feet during the rainy season, flooding the surrounding forests.

The main stream of the Amazon is a milky brown color with a lot of suspended matter in the water.  There are actually two other categories of river water in the basin; clear water and black water.  Milky water and clear water are slightly alkaline and their waters mix easily; black water rivers are slightly acidic and their water mixes with the other two very slowly.  Black water and milky water travel side-by-side for several miles before they actually begin mixing.  We expect to see several examples of that while on the river.

In one of the most interesting discoveries in recent years, scientists have identified an aquifer that runs far below the Amazon for as long as 3,700 miles from the Andes to the Atlantic.  The underground river is roughly 13,000 feet below the Amazon and is notable as the first such twin river feature in Brazil.  Measuring up to 250 miles wide, the underground river actually has far greater width than the Amazon, but it holds far, far less volume.

The rain forest that surrounds the river stretches across more than 2 million square miles and is credited with harboring roughly one-third of all species of living creatures found on the earth, making it the largest and most bio-diverse rain forest on the planet.  There are at least 2,000 species of fish alone, from piranhas to sharks.

As we travel up the river, in some areas it’s almost like being at sea; the river banks are so far in the distance that they are hard to see.  In other areas we are fairly close to the bank, and the lush rain forest and occasional small house or two can be seen.  Travel on the river is by boat, ranging from what look like dugout canoes powered by strange looking outboard motors, and two-to-three deck riverboats, most with rows and rows of hammocks for passengers, to tugboat-pushed barges and ocean-going freighters.

Day 9 – Crossing the Equator

12/2/14 – Today we crossed from the northern hemisphere to the southern hemisphere.  Actually, we cross that line about three times during our journey up the river.  It has been common on ships since the 1500’s to celebrate the equator crossing. 

In a traditional ceremony King Neptune, Master of the Deep (or in our case, Queen Neptuna, played by our Cruise Director, Margaret) baptizes those who have not been across the equator with raw eggs, spaghetti noodles, whipped jello and other messy stuff.  Shellbacks, those who have previously crossed the equator, watch as the Pollywogs are baptized.  About 15 of the ship’s crew and several passenger volunteers went through the ceremony while the rest of us laughed and took pictures of the mayhem.

Day 10 – Santarem

12/3/14 – Santarem, in the state of Pará, is the third largest city in the Brazilian Amazon, with a population over 200,000 people. It lies 500 miles upriver from the mouth of the Amazon, near the confluence of the clear blue waters of the Rio Tapajos.  Santarem has been a major river port since the rubber boom days of the 19^th century.  In the 1920’s, Henry Ford carved the immense rubber plantations of Fordlandia and Belterra out of the nearby jungle.  Those projects were short-lived, primarily because of the eventual bust of the Amazon rubber industry as plantations in Indonesia grew in size and efficiency.  Santarem lies in the heart of a region rich in timber, mining and cattle.

Shortly after docking, we boarded a small river boat and set out for a river tour along the Amazon and Tapajos.  We could clearly see the “meeting of the waters” as the muddy brown of the Amazon and the clear dark blue of the Tapajos flowed side-by-side without mixing.  We traveled along fairly narrow channels that reminded us of the California Delta.  The rain forest was thick on both sides and we passed a number of small settlements and individual residences, accessible only by boat.  We saw lots of birds, a couple of iguanas and some on our boat saw a sloth in a tree.  We stopped and everyone was given a small board wrapped with fishing line and a hook baited with meat. 

We were going Piranha fishing!  They bit ferociously, but were almost impossible to hook; I think the chunk of meat was too large for their mouths.  After a few minutes, one of the passengers hooked one and landed it.  Shortly after that, Tom did the same; it was probably 4 inches long, but it did have some impressive teeth. 
After everyone got a look at the fish, they were thrown back into the river to be caught another day.  A little while later, we headed back to the city and our ship.  After arriving at the pier, we spent some time wandering among a number of stalls selling local crafts, art and souvenirs, as well as stopping for a local beer before re-boarding.

Cruise 2014

11/23/14 - Our cruise is a 23-day trip from Miami, through the eastern Caribbean to Brazil, traveling up the Amazon River to Manaus, the capital of Amazonas state.  We will then return to Miami, stopping at several more islands in the Caribbean.

We began with an overnight flight to Miami, changing planes in Chicago.  I was concerned because the upper mid-west had had horrible weather for several days before our flight.  There was nothing to worry about, though, since Chicago had warmed up to above freezing temperatures by the time we left.  Our flights were uneventful, although not much sleep was to be had, despite our best efforts to get some shut-eye.

Miami Harbor

We arrived in Miami about noon, and a bus was waiting to deliver us to the ship.  We are sailing on Regent Seven Seas Navigator, which carries 490 passengers and 350 crew, a pretty good ratio in my opinion.  We boarded the ship and had lunch while waiting for them to finish preparing the staterooms.  About 2:30 the “all clear” was sounded and we ventured down to our room.  The Navigator is a fairly old ship, but it’s been renovated and updated on a regular basis.  Our room is wonderful, a king size bed, a living area with couch and chairs, a desk, a small beverage refrigerator, a walk-in closet and a bathroom big enough for both a shower and tub.  The ship sailed from Miami at 5 PM.  After settling in, we joined our friends, Judy and John for a drink before dinner.  The dining room is open for three hours each evening, and you can choose to dine whenever you want.  We really liked our waiter, so we asked for his name and will ask for seating in his section from now on.  After dinner and a reasonable time to let our food settle, we headed for bed with our good friend, Ambien.

At Sea – Days 1 & 2

11/24/14 Day 1 – Rest and relaxation while the ship traveled southeast off the coast of Cuba.  The sea is a bit rough and the wind is pretty strong so some of the outside areas were closed, as was the pool.  Reading was our major undertaking; we both are reading “River of Doubt”, the story of Theodore Roosevelt’s harrowing expedition through the Amazon basin after his presidential days were over.

Regent Seven Seas Navigator 

11/25/14 Day 2 – Same as above, as the ship passed north of Puerto Rico.  Maybe the sea is a little rougher, but it doesn’t seem to be affecting those aboard.  We still haven’t made it to breakfast, which closes at 9:30, but Tom found a coffee bar where he can get espresso and other coffee drinks.  Excellent!  We tried lunch in the buffet which was OK, but I think we’ll eat more often in the main dining room.  They have hamburgers, hot dogs, etc. on the pool deck, along with ice cream.  Yum!  For dinner, the buffet turns into a sit-down Italian restaurant, and there is also a steakhouse that is so popular that reservations are required for dinner.  No extra cost, just reservations.

The Navigator held a shipwide block party!  At 5:30pm everyone came out of their cabins with a wine glass, the stewards passed red and white wines, and appetizers, and we met out neighbors!  Our end of our deck has Swedish, Danish, American and German guests.  As we went around meeting everyone, some familiar faces appeared…Pete & Mari, whom we met our first day onboard, are directly across the hall!  It’s a very small world!!

John and Judy had invited Peter and Mary to join us for dinner in the Compass Rose, so beforehand we had everyone over for champagne and cocktails (thanks Lu and Joe for the great Veuve Clicquot champagne)…we had a very nice visit and lots of laughs!

Day 3 – Gustavia, St. Barts

11/26/14  Saint Barthélemy (bar tá la me) is usually called St Barts or St Barths.  According to some historians, Christopher Columbus discovered the island and named it for his brother.  It didn’t attract much attention for over a hundred years when, in 1637, the British explored the island.  The first colonials were probably pirates, since islands like St. Barts were attractive to the outlaws for their lack of fortification and military attention.  During the era, the French government first noticed the island, but Louis XVI traded it to Sweden for a warehouse.  By the mid-1800s, tropical storms, fires and piracy had ravaged Gustavia, the capital, and caused the Swedes to trade the island back to the French in 1878.  St. Barts, with a population of about 9,000, is a dependency of the French overseas department of Guadeloupe.

Inner Harbor, Gustavia, St. Barts

Because it is a part of France, the currency is the Euro and the first language is French, although dollars are OK if you want your change in Euros.  English is also spoken and also ‘patois’, which is a blend of French and English.

There is no dock on St. Barts that is suitable for a cruise ship, even one as small as ours, so we anchored in the bay along with a number of huge yachts, and took the ship’s tenders or life boats to the dock. St. Barts is known as a ‘playground’ for the rich and famous.  It is said that the large yachts completely fill the inner harbor during high season.

 We took a mini-bus tour of most of the eight-square-mile island, which claims no fresh water and little workable land.  It is a rocky volcanic island, and fresh water is obtained from rain runoff collected in cisterns and from a de-salinization plant.  As is our custom in every port, we found a local bar in which we enjoyed a local beer.  Then, since it was very hot and humid, we journeyed back to the air-conditioned comfort of our ship.

Day 4 – Castries, St. Lucia

Inner Harbor, Castries, St. Lucia

11/27/14 – Thanksgiving Day - Castries is the capital city of St. Lucia and has a population of about 65,000 people.   The island, which spans 240 square miles, was first settled by the Arawak and then the Carib Indians, but for 150 years, ending in 1814, the French and the British fought for control.  It was passed back and forth 14 times before the British finally took possession for good.  It remained a British territory until 1979, when it became an independent state within the British Commonwealth of Nations.

We took a sightseeing tour of the area around Castries, including a large hill-top home built in the late 1800s and still occupied by one of the original family.  Magnificent views of Castries harbor can be seen from every window.  We also stopped at an old British fort which is being reclaimed from the tropical jungle by a US expat woman who was delighted to tell us the history of the fort.  From there we traveled to Marigot Bay, with its azure blue water and small boat harbor before returning to Castries where we spent some time in the 100 year-old market and adjacent craft market.

Rib Eye Steak

Upon returning to the ship, we enjoyed cocktails with our friends, John and Judy, then headed off to the “reservation only” Prime 7 Steakhouse for Thanksgiving dinner.  Well, not exactly a traditional turkey dinner, although that was on the menu, but why go to a steakhouse for turkey?  And wow, what a meal it was!  Delicious appetizers, soup, salad, and wonderful steaks, cooked perfectly.  Tom had a 16 oz. rib steak while Debbie was very satisfied with the small (6 oz) filet.  We could have topped the steaks with a lobster tail, but we’ll save that for another occasion, like maybe after fasting for a couple of days.

Day 5 –St. Georges, Grenada

11/28/14 – Grenada was discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1498, but it was relatively neglected until the mid-1600s when it was purchased by the governor of Martinique for the French.  St. Georges was built by the French, but as was the situation in St. Lucia, the French and British fought more than 50 battles for control of the island.  In the mid-1880s became the capital of the British Windward Islands.  St. George’s is the capital of Grenada and is home to St. George’s University School of Medicine.

St. George's, Grenada

For many, Grenada is better known for its political history – US troops intervened in a coup during President Reagan’s administration, at the time a controversial volley in the Cold War- than it is for being a vacation paradise.  Grenada has a moderate tropical climate that ensures the success of spice production.  Nutmeg is the most plentiful crop, followed by an array of such spices as cocoa, mace, cloves, vanilla, cinnamon and ginger.

In 2004, St. George’s and the rest of Grenada were severely battered by Hurricane Ivan.  The hurricane left significant destruction across the island and crippled much of the island’s infrastructure.  It was estimated that about 90% of the homes sustained damage, and the nutmeg trees, which are key to Grenada’s economy, were devastated.  The trees take between seven and fifteen years to mature enough to bear fruit.  The newly planted trees are of a hardy variety that will hopefully survive the next big storm.

Cocoa Pod

We took a tour of the southern part of the island, which included stops at a spice processing factory and a spice and herb garden.  We also stopped at a rum factory and sampled a number of rums, from 140 proof (white lightning) to aged vintage rums (very smooth).  Returning from the tour, we made a beer stop at a bar just across from the port.

Tonight was the night we celebrated our Thanksgiving.  Our waiter, Dony, was more than happy to put in our order for a full turkey dinner.  Every night the ship selects a white and a red wine to serve with the meals.  Each night is different, and it’s fun to explore wines we’ve never tried before!  Our sommelier is very helpful and explains a little bit about each wine.  He is also very interested in the fact that we come from Sonoma Wine Country.

Day 6 – Port of Spain, Trinidad

11/29/14 - This is the first port that we have previously visited on a past cruise.  It is the capital city of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago.  It was a Spanish colony from the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1498 to its takeover by British forces in 1797.  The country obtained independence in 1962, becoming a republic in 1976.  Its economy is primarily industrial, with an emphasis on petroleum and petrochemicals.  As a member of the British Commonwealth, the official language is English, but as with other locations that went through periods of French colonialism, ‘patois’, or French slang is widely spoken.

Cruise Terminal, Port-Of-Spain, Trinidad

On our previous visit we took a tour of the island, but this time the weather was HOT, HOT, HOT!  We decided to stay in the air conditioned comfort on board the ship.  We caught up on our rest as well as our laundry. 

We’ve developed a pattern in our evening activities; we get together with friends for cocktails, then dinner, usually around 7:30 PM.  There is entertainment throughout the ship with an orchestra, a couple of pianists, a company of singers and dancers, and occasionally a movie shown in the main show lounge.  All of the entertainers are very good and we have thoroughly enjoyed it all.

This was our last port until we get into the Amazon River.  We have a couple of sea days, then a brief stop at the port of Macapá, Brazil to clear customs and immigration.  We won’t be leaving the ship, but the Brazilian officials will be coming aboard to complete their paperwork.

Back to Buenos Aires - and Home

Our flight from Iguazu got us back to Buenos Aires in mid-afternoon, and we made our way back to the Claridge Hotel where we retrieved our stored luggage and got a new room assignment.  As evening approached, we walked down Calle Florida to the Marriott Hotel where our friends were staying.  From there we took a small bus to a restaurant for dinner and a tango show.  We enjoyed a similar evening three years ago in BA, but this time the show had a theme; tango throughout the years.  A small band, two singers and six dancers presented musical numbers representing the tango as it began at the turn of the 20^th century, the extremely popular tango of the 1920’s, the modernization of the dance in the 1950’s, and the tango as it is performed today.  It was a most entertaining and informative evening, and the food was also excellent.

The following day was our departure day from BA, but our flight back to the US was not until 10:30 PM.  So, we decided on some more sightseeing during the day.  After breakfast, we finished packing and checked out of our room; the front desk again storing our luggage until it was time to depart for the airport.  Then we walked the Calle Florida in the opposite direction from the Marriott.  We planned to meet our friends for lunch at a café that has been in operation since 1858.  It was a several block walk, and while on that walk we had a very disturbing occurrence.  We had stopped on a street corner to check our location on a map, when Debbie felt someone touching her shoulder.  At first she thought it was Tom, but suddenly fingernails scraped the back of her neck, and her gold necklaces were jerked.  She screamed louder than I’ve ever heard and we turned just in time to see a man running down the street.  Fortunately, she still had both of her necklaces, although the clasp on one was broken, and the chain was stretched out of shape.  After making sure she was okay, we continued to our destination, looking furtively around us as we walked.

National Cathedral

We arrived at Café Tortoni ahead of our friends, so we got a table and ordered a coffee to help calm us down.  Soon our friends arrived and we had a nice lunch.  After finishing lunch, the six of us walked a few blocks to the National Cathedral and Presidential Palace, then back to Calle Florida toward our hotel.  Once there, we all sat in the bar and had a beer.  Soon it was time to leave for the airport for our long flight home.

 

In most ways, airport security in other countries is not as strict as in the US, but on flights ending in the US, security is sometimes even more strict than here at home.  We checked our luggage with no problem and made it through passport control and the carry-on and body scanners and proceeded to the gate area.  Once there, our carry-on luggage was opened and visually scanned by airline employees.  If we left the gate area, to use a restroom or get a bottle of water, we had to be rescanned to get back in the gate area, and the water was confiscated.  HUH?  At 10:30 PM we took off for Houston, arriving at about 6:30 AM.  We had to pass through Immigration, retrieve our luggage, pass through customs, recheck our luggage and make our way to the departure gate for SFO.  We only had an hour and 20 minutes for all that; even with a golf cart ride to our gate, we were among the last passengers to board the plane.  We took off on time and touched down shortly after 9:30 AM.  Including time zone changes, our total time from departure in BA to arrival in San Francisco was about 16 hours.   We caught the Airport Express bus about 30 minutes later and got back to Santa Rosa about 12:15 PM, where we were met by our wonderful neighbor, Patty, who took us home.  Although tired, we made it through the rest of the day and stayed up until 9 PM when we fell into our own bed for the night.

It was a wonderful trip in every way.  For us, the highlight was our trip to Iguazu, followed closely by Carnaval in Rio.  We have no definite travel plans for the future yet, but I’m sure that we’ll find some more travel to share with you.

Iguazu Falls

After a two-hour flight, we landed in Puerto Iguazu, on the Argentine side of the falls.  The falls are located in both Brazil and Argentina and to get the best experience, the falls must be viewed from both countries.  Since we had already stopped in several Brazilian ports on the cruise, we had our visas for Brazil so we could visit both sides.  We were met at the airport by our guide, Giovanni, a Brazilian with an Italian heritage, who took us to the Iguazu Grand Hotel & Spa, a fabulous resort hotel on the edge of town.   Our room was a “Junior Suite”, a very large room that overlooked the hotel gardens. We had a king size bed and a spacious bathroom with a Jacuzzi tub and an immense shower with a rainfall shower head.  After getting settled, we met at the lobby bar for refreshments, and then retired to the hotel’s high-end restaurant for a wonderful, if fairly expensive dinner.

The next morning Giovanni met us in the lobby for the short trip to Iguazu National Park.  Once there, we walked about ½ mile to a station where we boarded a small tram which took us to a spot near the falls.  From there we walked on an elevated metal trail over the top of the falls until we reached “Devil’s Throat”, a thundering cataract that filled the air with mist that soon had everyone soaked to the skin.  Since February is mid-summer in South America the weather was quite warm and the spray felt good.  While Devil’s Throat is the main cataract, sending about half of the total river flow over a 270 foot cliff, the complete falls system stretches over 1.7 miles and 275 separate waterfalls.  Argentina has about 80% of the falls, while Brazil has the other 20%.  Comparing Iguazu to other famous falls shows that Iguazu has the second highest fall at 270 feet while Victoria Falls in Africa falls over 320 feet, and Niagara is a third shorter at 165 feet.  Niagara has the highest average water flow at 85,000 cu.ft/s, Iguazu averages 61,000 cu.ft/s and Victoria averages about 38,000 cu.ft/s.  So, any way you look at it, Iguazu is an impressive sight.  After about 5 hours of sightseeing on the Argentine side of the falls, we returned to our hotel for an afternoon at leisure. 

Devil's Throat

Giovanni met us again the next morning for a journey to the Brazilian side of the falls.  Surprisingly, the Brazilian border was only about a quarter mile from our hotel.  Once at the border, Giovanni took our passports and got us processed out of Argentina and into Brazil, a fairly time-consuming process.  From there we stopped at a helipad for a sightseeing flight over the falls.  John joined us for the flight, but Judy, Nancy and Chris stayed behind.  The flight was short, only about 15 minutes, but the views were spectacular, particularly over Devil’s Throat.  Once safely back on the ground, we rejoined the others and entered Iguaçu National Park (notice the spelling difference between Argentina and Brazil).  Our van was able to park very close to the top of the falls, and we took a trail that ended at the base of the falls.  Since 80% of the falls are in Argentina, we had great views from across the canyon on our walk to the bottom.  After viewing the falls from the base and getting wet from the spray again, we took an elevator ride back to the top of the cliff and our van.

Since it was only mid-day, Giovanni took us into the Brazilian city of Foz du Iguaçu for lunch.  The restaurant served a buffet, but unlike a typical buffet, the price was based on the weight of the food on each plate.  It was very good, however, and we ate all we’d paid for.  After lunch, Giovanni suggested a tour of Itaipu Dam on the Paraná River which forms the border between Brazil and Paraguay.  We took that opportunity and, along with Chris and John, traveled to the dam.  Nancy and Judy were more interested in shopping, so Giovanni dropped them off at a large shopping mall in town.  Once at the dam, we hopped aboard a bus with a bilingual guide for the tour.  Itaipu dam is almost 4.5 miles long and over 700 feet high.  The power plant has the second largest installed capacity of hydroelectric power in the world, behind the Three Gorges Dam in China.  Construction began in 1970 and the dam was completed in 1982.  To build the dam, the Paraná River was diverted to allow the riverbed to dry and the dam constructed.  That diversion was closed in 1982 to allow the reservoir to fill.  Engineers estimated that it would take 90 days to fill, but due to heavy rainfall and flooding, the reservoir filled to the spillway gates in only 15 days!!  The reservoir capacity is 24 million acre feet, the surface area is 520 square miles and the reservoir length is 110 miles.  Half of the work force that built the dam was from Paraguay and half from Brazil.  Today the workforce is still evenly divided between citizens of the two countries and the power generation is likewise shared equally.  The power plant provides 90% of the energy needs of Paraguay and almost 20% of that of Brazil.  Once the tour was finished we traveled back to Foz du Iguaçu to rejoin the shoppers.  On the way back to our hotel, we encountered one of the heaviest rainstorms we’ve ever seen, but, safely inside our van, we stayed dry.

The next morning Giovanni escorted us to the airport for our flight back to Buenos Aires. 

Buenos Aires

After two more days at sea, we docked in Buenos Aires, Argentina, our port of departure from the ship.  In contrast to the hectic embarkation in Fort Lauderdale, getting off the ship was a breeze.  In the first place, only 500 of the 2,600 passengers left the ship in BA; the rest were staying on while the ship went around Cape Horn and up the pacific side of South and Central America.  The final stop for this trip is in San Francisco.  We booked the first leg only; we had previously sailed to Cape Horn on our voyage to Antarctica three years ago, and before that, we had sailed from Valparaiso, Chile to San Francisco.

The "White House" of Argentina

Buenos Aires is located on the Rio de la Plata, or Silver River.  It is actually a huge estuary, part of South America’s third largest river system.  The capital of Argentina, Buenos Aires, was founded in 1536 in a malarial, swampy area alongside the river.  The present city of eleven million people was not developed until the 19^th century; much of the construction was based on French models and the city is reminiscent of Paris.

We caught a taxi to our hotel, the Claridge, where we stayed on our previous visit to BA.  It’s not new but it’s very comfortable and the staff is great.  It’s only a half block from Calle Florida, a major pedestrian shopping street with many fine shops.  After getting settled in the hotel, we set off to explore the area.  Work crews are installing a new storm drain system in the center of Calle Florida, so it’s much noisier and more congested than three years ago.  Goods and services are more expensive, also.  Inflation is high; the government says that the Argentine peso is worth about 20¢ US, but exchanging dollars for pesos at one of the many street cambios or money changers results in 7 pesos to the dollar instead of 5.

Provoleta on right side of grill

Argentina is known for its large quantities and high quality beef, so we decided to have dinner at a ‘Parilla’ or grill.  A ship’s passenger had recommended ‘La Estancia’ as the best parilla close to our hotel, so off we went with John.  Judy wasn’t feeling well, so she decided to stay in her hotel. La Estancia is a large restaurant with wood-fired grills in the front window.   On one side was a flat grill for cooking steak; on the other was a circular ring around a central fire.  A number of spits were mounted on the ring; each spit held beef ribs, whole baby goats, whole suckling pigs or other large cuts of meat.  When we arrived at about 8 PM, the restaurant was mostly empty; just three or four tables were occupied.  By the time we were finished eating at about 10:30, there wasn’t an empty table to be seen; they eat late in BA.  Debbie ordered a filet, Tom had a t-bone, which actually was a porterhouse, about 1 ½ inches thick and as large as the dinner plate.  We also each ordered a salad, which was a mistake; one salad would have been more than enough for both of us.  We tried an appetizer that we enjoyed on our previous stay in BA; ‘provoleta’ or grilled provolone cheese.  They cut a 1” slice of provolone and put it over a cool part of the grill.  They flip it over and baste it with olive oil and oregano until the outside has a firm skin and the inside is almost liquid.  Yum!  After completing this sumptuous meal, we waddled back to our hotel for the night.

The next day we accompanied John, Judy was still not feeling well, to the Palermo district of BA, in search of a restaurant they discovered on the last trip.  It was about a 20 minute taxi ride to the district where we began walking and found the restaurant.  It was not yet open for the day, so we walked a couple more blocks and stopped at a coffee house for lattes and medialunas, a small, sweet croissant.  After that break, we continued walking through the neighborhood of small shops and residences.  Eventually it was time to head back to the hotel, so we caught another taxi that dropped us off at John & Judy’s hotel, which was about 5 blocks from ours.  Later that afternoon, Chris and Nancy, longtime friends of John & Judy, joined us for the rest of the stay in South America.  We walked a short distance to an excellent pizzeria for dinner before retiring for the night.  ‘Pizzeria’ you say?  BA has a large settlement from Italy left from after WWII.

The next morning we checked out of our hotel and went to the airport to catch an early afternoon flight to Iguazu Falls on the border of Argentina and Brazil.  We were able to store the majority of our luggage at our hotel since we were coming back for another night before flying home.

Rio de Janeiro

Sunday morning at about 10 AM, our ship docked in Rio; one of eight ships tied to the dock.  Carnaval (yes, that’s the correct spelling), the pre-Lenten celebration, draws hundreds of thousands of tourists to the city, including the probably twenty-five thousand cruise ship passengers.  Carnaval is celebrated in many countries; in the US it’s called Mardi Gras, but nowhere is the celebration more colorful than in Rio.

Rio de Janeiro, or River of January, refers to time of year that the area was first explored by a Portuguese expedition around 1502.  In 1555 the French occupied some of the area around Rio, until expelled by the Portuguese ten years later.  The local economy grew slowly until the end of the 17^th century when cane sugar became the most important export of Rio.  The production of sugar is still today an important economic activity.  In 1808, fleeing from the Napoleonic Wars, the King of Portugal moved the entire government to Rio where it remained until 1822 when Brazil became independent of Portugal and Rio became the capital of the Empire, later the Republic.  In 1960 a new capital city, Brasilia, was carved out of the jungle and Rio was no longer designated as the capital.  It is currently the second largest city in Brazil, serving as an industrial and financial center and a producer of many goods.

We departed on a city tour which included a visit to Sugarloaf, the conical-shaped rock which is one of the city’s internationally recognized symbols.  Unfortunately due to Carnaval, the city tour consisted of a bus ride through crowded streets and traffic directly to the base of Sugarloaf where we were to take two cable cars from street level to the top of the rock, some 900 meters high.  There we encountered a serpentine waiting line, or queue as the British say, with an hour and half wait before finally reaching the cable car for the first stage of the trip.  The wait at the mid-point wasn’t bad, so we got to the top with its spectacular views of the city in short order.  The magnificent beaches of Copacabana and Ipanema stretched on either side of Sugarloaf.  There was another wait of almost an hour to get from the top back to the midpoint; from there it was a quick ride to the bottom and our waiting bus.  We headed straight back to the ship, seeing nothing else of the city, because we were already two hours late getting back.

 

Once on the ship we took a quick shower to cool down, and then rested for about an hour before departing on another bus to the Sambódromo, the center of Carnaval, to our reserved seating area.  Sambódromo consists of about a mile of brightly lit street, flanked on both sides by immense grandstands holding at least 150,000 people.  The Carnaval celebration begins at 9 PM on Friday night with huge parades of floats (which are pushed manually), dancers and percussionists from various Samba Schools, competing for prize money.  Each parade consists of up to 5,000 participants that pass down the mile-long corridor.  It is loud and colorful, and the spectators enthusiastically encourage their favorites.  Each parade must finish in 1 hour and 20 minutes or less, or the school has points deducted from their score as a penalty.  Six Samba Schools are scheduled to perform on each of the five nights of Carnaval, with the final winners announced on Tuesday night.  With an hour and twenty minutes of competition for each school, plus a little “clean-up” time between parades, you can see that even if everything is on schedule, the celebration continues until at least 4 AM the next day.   Our favorite parade was that of the third Samba School, Unidos da Tijuca, which was elaborate and very beautiful.  This Samba School won the championship in 2010 and 2012.  We were fortunate to sit directly across from one of the judging stands; we saw the performers at their best!

Samba started in the poor sections of Rio as a way of celebrating before Lent.  The Sambódromo is located in the area where Samba began, the neighborhood of Estacio.  Some of the Samba Schools are over 60 years old.  Children begin attending these schools at an early age and practice every Friday and Saturday leading up to Carnaval.  A recent phenomenon is the rebirth of the street carnival.  The city dwellers and tourists don their costumes and off they go into the streets, reveling until the wee hours.

We tried hard, but we could only hold out for 3+ parades before catching a shuttle bus back to the ship.  We arrived at around 3:30 AM and fell into bed.  With the help of our good friend, Ambien, we were able to sleep until 2:30 PM.  It made for a much shorter day on Monday.  John & Judy were up at 6:30 AM to catch a tour to see the Christ the Redeemer statue on Corcovado Mountain overlooking the city.  Their tour was very much like our tour to Sugarloaf, crowds and long lines.  It also took six hours instead of the scheduled four hours.

Sail-Away was at 5 PM, on our way to our final port of Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Salvador, Brazil

We traveled Wednesday night, and all day Thursday before arriving in Salvador, Brazil at about 9 AM on Friday.  For some reason, we backed up for over a mile before arriving at our berth; seemed to us that it would have been quicker to sail in and turn around, but this wasn’t our day to run the ship.  As we were nearly at our berth, we saw the reflection of the ship in a large, glass-faced building near the pier.  It was an interesting sight.

Salvador is the fourth largest city in Brazil; it was founded in 1549, and was Brazil’s capital in 1763.  The early colonists established sugar and tobacco plantations that brought great wealth to the area.  The city, with its white sand beaches and tropical vegetation also is known for its numerous churches – over 165 at last count.

We were docked close to downtown, the central market and an elevator that took passengers up to the historic upper city.  We decided with John & Judy to take the elevator to the upper city and see the market on the way back to the ship.  The upper city was a bustle of activity, as they were setting up barricades and sound stages around a number of venues which were part of the Carnival celebration in Salvador, which was to begin on Friday night.  Most of the buildings, and even statues were covered by large sheets of plywood; apparently the authorities wanted to take no chances with the large crowds expected for Carnival.  The streets of the upper city are narrow and cobblestoned, and today are home to many shops and restaurants.  We saw many women in colorful costumes; we’re not sure if that was for Carnival, or if they dress that way to depict colonial days in Salvador when a cruise ship is in town.

It was very hot and steamingly humid, even though it was not yet noon, so we found a sidewalk restaurant with umbrellas for shade and stopped for a beer.   After shopping our way back to the elevator to take us to the lower level of the city, we re-boarded the elevator and made our way back to the Mercado Modelo, or central market.  This was a large, multi-story building, just crammed with stalls selling various goods to tourists and locals alike.  We were hot and tired, so we walked through the central aisle of the market to a covered, outdoor area where we had another beer.  John and Judy stayed in the market to shop, so we found a shady street to travel the several blocks back to the ship.  We both changed into our swim suits and jumped into one of the ship’s pools to cool down.  Sufficiently cooled, we sat on the deck (in the shade) until time to clean up for cocktails and dinner. 

  

We sailed about 5 PM, and will have one more day at sea before arriving in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday.   The ship will stay in Rio for two days, and we are booked on a city tour on Sunday morning, and also for the Carnaval celebration in the Sambodromo on Sunday night.  The festivities are supposed to begin around 9 PM and not conclude until about 7 AM on Monday morning.  Don’t know how long we’ll last, but we will do our very best.  At least we can sleep most or all of the second day in Rio.  We’d like to see either of the world-famous beaches in Rio, Ipanema or Copacabana, but with the crowds in the city for Carnaval, the streets are supposed to be almost impassable.  We’ll let you know how successful we are.

Fortaleza, Brazil

We docked in Fortaleza on Wednesday morning at about 6 AM (not that it made a difference to us who sleep in).  Fortaleza is the capital of the state of Cerará and with a population of over two million, is the fifth largest city in Brazil.  It is located above the hump of Brazil that is the easternmost point of the country. 

It was founded by the Dutch in 1654 who built a fortress called Shoonenbroch at the present location of the city.  The city that surrounded the fort became Fortaleza.  Ultimately the fortress was seized by the Portuguese at the beginning of their colonization of the area now known as Brazil.

Brazil is the largest country in South America, and is actually larger than the 48 contiguous United States.  The country has population of almost 200 million and has a rapidly growing economy, probably the strongest in South America.  That growth is very evident in Fortaleza with lots of high-rise buildings and new construction.  There is also evidence that poverty abounds, with areas of ramshackle buildings and what appear to be homeless people sleeping in the parks and on the streets, although we were told that the unemployment rate is around 3%.

The dock where we berthed was a busy commercial port with lots of containers being loaded and unloaded.  Stacked on the dock were dozens of large wind turbine blades and hubs; they either manufacture and ship from Fortaleza, or somewhere in the area is a large wind farm being established.  Anyway, the large blades and hubs were impressive to us.

It was necessary to take shuttle buses from the ship into town, since it was a 3-4 mile hike in hot, humid weather. Of course when we got off the ship there was a long line of passengers waiting for the shuttles.  We saw many beautiful beaches on the way to the city; they were practically deserted at 10 in the morning.  We were told that the beaches come alive at about 4 PM, after the worst heat of the day is over.  Amazingly, the shuttle bus ride terminated at a five-story central market.  The market, all indoors, was filled with small shops selling all kinds of clothing, leather goods, lace, liquor, souvenirs and other stuff.  It was obviously not focused on tourists, because at least three quarters of the shoppers were local.  There were also numerous cafes and snack shops serving cold drinks and food.

Across from the market is the Fortaleza Cathedral, a fairly new, large cathedral in a neo-Gothic style with superb stained glass windows.  We took time to visit the cathedral before returning to the market.  After exploring two floors of the market and finding an ATM to get local money (Reals – worth about $.50 each), we settled into a café and shared a couple of beers with John and Judy.  After finishing the beer and doing a little more shopping, we got back on a shuttle bus to return to the ship.  As most of you know, we drive a 36-foot motorhome around the U.S. very comfortably.  The bus drivers in Fortaleza maneuver much larger 45-foot buses through heavy traffic, narrow lanes and tight turns with seemingly no effort at all.  We truly admire their skill.

 

Back at the ship we found the same lines waiting to re-board .  The lines moved quickly though, and soon we were back in the air-conditioned comfort of our floating hotel.  We had a bite to eat, and then retreated to the shade of our stateroom balcony.  There was a breeze blowing so it was a very comfortable place to sit and read until leaving Fortaleza mid-afternoon.

We have another day at sea before docking in Salvador, Brazil on Friday.

At Sea

Here we are midway through our four days at sea.  We’ve settled into a routine; Tom gets up and goes to the café for coffee while Debbie catches some extra sleep time.  Some days we go to a dining room for breakfast, some days we wait for lunch.  No one needs three meals per day on a cruise ship!  We find a place, either outside or inside, and read for a while. There’s usually at least one lecture that looks interesting to us.  Port information, life at sea, astronomy and digital photography are just some of the topics.   Sometimes there’s sun tanning time, sometimes a cool spot in the shade is appreciated.  Temperatures are in the low 80s, and we’ve had a mixture of sun and clouds with an occasional sprinkle or two;  all in all, pleasant and mellow.  We get together with our onboard friends, John & Judy and Lu & Joe, for cocktails in the evening before dinner.  We eat at 8 PM and sometimes attend a show or a movie before wandering off to bed.

Sunday night around 7:30 PM, somewhere off the coast of Suriname, we gathered together to partake in an annual ritual; watching the Super Bowl.  It was broadcast live via satellite, and was shown on the big outdoor screen and in a large show lounge.  It was not the commercial broadcast that you all watched; we had an ESPN international feed, so we missed all of the special commercials.  Instead, we saw commercials for ESPN’s upcoming coverage of events like the Masters Golf Tournament, an International Cricket competition, rugby and soccer tournaments, and the like.  We did see the pregame singing and the half-time show.  If the 49ers had played for the whole game instead of just the second half, we believe that the outcome would have been different, but congratulations to the Baltimore Ravens.

Monday was a formal night, so we got dressed up.  We don’t bring formal clothes, just a suit for Tom and a dressy-dress for Debbie.  There are three formal nights on this cruise out of nineteen total nights, so that’s really not a burden.

We crossed the equator early this morning before we stop at three Brazilian ports; Fortaleza, Salvador and Rio de Janiero.  We’ll be in Rio overnight next Sunday so that we can participate in Carnival.  We’re really looking forward to our time there.