RECIFE, BRAZIL

Today, we are anchored in Recife, known as the Venice of Brazil. It got that name due to the fact that the city is crisscrossed by rivers , canals and bridges. The canals date back to the time that the dutch occupied this area in the 1600’s. Today this city is one of the larger cities in Brazil with over 1.5 million people. The boulevards along the sandy beaches are lined with very modern skyscrapers. On a lesser note, the city is also known as the shark attack capital of brazil. Due to a shortage of food, the sharks seem to creep closer to the beaches. I was told that in the old days, there was a meat processing plant on the shore line and that they dumped the by products into the ocean what attracted the sharks. For today we had booked a tour to the neighbouring small colonial town of Olinda. This town is an Unesco world heritage site. For the tour we were transfered into small mini vans. The streets are very narrow and covered in cobblestone. There are apparently 33 churches in this small town. We visited 2 of them. It was a blistering hot day today, not much of a breeze. After looking at old buildings etc, we were bussed back towards the city of Recife. Here we visited another church dating back to 1697. We also stopped at an old prison what was converted to a shopping mall. The cells were converted to small stores. Very unique. After this visit we stopped at a beautiful sandy beach. Unfortunately we noticed shark warning signs on the beach entrance. After the beach visit we returned back towards the ship. After we had lunch on the ship in a nice airconditioned environment I went for a walkabout on the ship and ended up on the crowsnest room and had a nice coffee. I almost ended up falling a sleep there. For the evening we sat on the back deck with a glass of wine and enjoyed the the nice evening temperature.

Cheers

“South America” “Cruising” “Recife”

SEADAY

SALVADOR, BRAZIL

We arrived in this colonial port city this morning. Salvador was founded in 1549 and at one time was the capital of Brazil. I didn’t know that this area ones was revered to as new holland when it was under dutch rule from 1630-1654. We, ourselfs and another couple we met on the ship ventured off on foot to check out the City. The old city was on top of the hill. In order to get to the top, you had to use an elevator to get you up there. The elevator holds up to 100 people at a time. The city on top of the hill was very ancient, cobble stone streets and very old buildings, some in disrepair. There were still left overs from the previous carnaval. crews were cleaning up barricades and music stages. There was still the odd person laying in the shade against buildings and under trees sleeping off the leftovers from 4 days partying. Again it was a very warm day. There was a lot of police everywhere. They warned us on the ship again to not wear any jewelry, including watches and rings. We also had to be aware of pickpocketers. According to the the girls a group of young men were in the process of swarming Mark and I. After the girls yelled at us they took off. It’s hard to believe they were targeting us, as were definitely not the smallest guys out there on the street. We visited one of the churches, it was from 1708. The inside of the church was covered in old paintings and gold plated images of biblical figures. We stopped for lunch in a very nice local cafe on the old town square. After lunch we made our way back down the elevator. We were all done with walking for the day. Not bad, close to 10,000 steps in this heat. The rest of the afternoon we spend around the pool deck. we set sail around 4:30 PM for a sea day tomorrow.

Cheers

“South America” “Salvador” ” HAL Volendam”

ILHEUS, BRAZIL

This morning around 11 AM we pulled into the port of Ilheus. Ilheus looked like one of the smaller port city’s. After the ship was cleared we ventured of on foot towards the downtown area. We had our eyes set on the old church what was situated on top of the hill. As it was, we circled the hill to find a road which could lead us to the crest. Finally we found one which seemed to go up. The temperature meanwhile had risen to well above 30C deg. With some help of locals who pointed us in the right direction we ended up at the church. Unfortunately the gate was closed, likely because of the Carnaval. Some tourists pointed us to a set of stairs what got us back to the bottom of the hill. From here we walked to another old church in the center of the city. This church was located next to a restaurant called Vesuvio. This restaurant was made famous as it is mentioned in Jorge Amado’s novel Gabriela. We had a few cold ones in this place what definitely hit the spot on this hot day. Jorge Amado considered Ilheus his home in his younger years. His books have been published in over 40 languages worldwide. The beaches in this City are beautiful All white sand. We didn’t go to the beach this time, as we thought it was to hot and there was no shade. We set off on our 1 mile walk back to the boat. On the way back we had to make one more stop for some ice cold water and it also gave us also a chance to get out of the sun for a bit. We sailed out around 6PM. For tonight the ship had brought in dancers for a mardi gras party in the Ocean Bar. Lots of fun.

Cheers

“South America” “Cruises” “Ilheus”

SEADAY

Today another seaday. It feels more like a rest day after several port visits in a row. Seaday’s also give’s me a chance of catching up with the blog, as it is hard to get the writing done on port days. I am still having isues uploading pictures to the blogs. I also haven’t managed to get my spellchecker to work on my chromebook. (that will explain the mistakes) I am currently running about 3 days behind with the pictures. I suggest checking back on the blogs and see if I added any pictures. Besides writing today, I participated in a free lesson on how to play craps. This was offered in the on-board casino. I thought it was a lot of information to remember in a 1/2hr lesson. I might have to take another lesson before I put down a few pesos. For the rest of the afternoon we enjoyed the sunshine on the deck. Oh another highlight for today was, we seen the southern cross in the sky this evening.

Cheers

“South America” “Cruising” “Southern Cross”

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL

After a night of Carnaval, we finally got up around 9:30 this morning. By the time we got upstairs, the breakfast was all done. We had to do with just coffee and wait for lunch what is available close to noon. After a light lunch we stepped off the ship and strolled through the neigbourhood. A small flea market was set up near the ship in the terminal. We spent some time looking for a few Rio souvenirs to take home. After a few hours, we returned back to the ship. We had not booked any exursions off the ship today as we suspected a late night last night. As it was still cloudy this am we couldn’t see the Christ the redeemer statue. we have to leave that visit to a next time if we ever get back here. I decided to visit the gym later in the afternoon as I hadn’t been for almost a week. I noticed that my pants were getting a little tight this morning, time to get back on my workout schedule. Brazilian food at the buffet tonight, what was very good. For tonight a local Brazilian group was to perform with Samba music and dancing. After the samba performance we went to the room early. At 11pm the ship started to leave the dock. We decided to go out on the deck and watched it sail back out the bay into the open sea. That was it for a very successful visit to this vibrant city.

Cheers

“South America” “Rio” “Cruising” ” Buffet”

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL

Bom Dia. It was spectacular to sail in to Rio at daybreak. Seeing all the famous landmarks on our side of the ship, like Sugerloaf mountain, Christ the redeemer statue and Copacabana beach. After a while we got to the cruise port area and docked there. The weather was overcast with rain showers in the forecast. For this morning we had an excursion booked to go up sugerloaf mountain. After an hour bus ride we got to the mountain. In order to get to the top you had to take 2 gondola rides. After the 2 rides we got to the top. O my, the views of the city were spectacular. From here we could see all the local beaches in the city. We were lucky, after we were up for half an hour it started to cloud over to the point that you couldn’t see very far and we even felt some sprinkles of rain. After we got down the mountain with the gondola we boarded the bus over to Copacabana beach. We stopped at the beach for 1/2 hr and took some pics of the spectacular sidewalks and beach area. Because of the cloudy weather the beach was not to crowded. After this visit we slowly drove back to the ship where we arrived around 1pm. After lunch we decided to take it easy for the afternoon as we were going out tonight to the famous Sambadrome for the Carnaval parade. After dinner, we had to assemble in the ship theatre for the bus pickup. After a short bus ride through heavy traffic we arrived at the drome. The Sambadrome is a large venue, basic a 700 meter long street with concrete bleachers and sky boxes on both sides of the road. There is room for 90,000 spectators. after a little bit of a wait, it finally got under way around 10:30. The first school float started to roll down the road. 1 float can consist out of over 1000 participants. They have 50min to go from one end to the other end. If they are over or under the 50min they get deducted points for their performance. There are 7 school floats scheduled per night. after 4 nights of parades, they will announce the winner next week. The winner will get a money price for their community. While watching this, lots of dancing is going on in the stands and lots of people are dressed up in their favorite crazy outfits. Unfortunately we had the occasional light rain shower, that couldn’t stop the crowd from singing and dancing. After each school there was a short fire works display. After watching 4 school displays go by, we figured it was time to go. Meanwhile it was 3AM and getting bed time for me. After the bus ride back to the ship, we noticed that there was a veryyy loud music party going on in one of the buildings close to the ship. For the night I had to use my ear plugs to drown out the music outside. This Carnaval parade was definitely our highlight of the day, what an experience to be there.

Before we went to the caraval we were warned about the crime and also warned for pick pocketing and to leave all your jewelry, including your watch and rings at the ship. As it was, the exursion we were on was organised by Holland America and at no time did we felt in danger. At all times there were hosts nearby. There was also lots of security at the venue. Busses were easy to catch after each performance, if you chose to return to the ship early. Big thumbs up to HAL.

Cheers

“South America” “Rio” “Carnaval” “HAL”

BUZIOS, BRAZIL

This morning we pulled in Armacao dos Buzios. (Buzios) This is a tender port. The seas were very calm, a great day to go on shore with the tender boats. We had no excursions booked in this town, as most of it is right off the pier. We ventured of on foot along the boulevard road by the water. it was about a couple miles walk to an old church from 1740. First of all this town was put on the map by no one else then Brigitte Bardot. She visited this town very regular, to the point that the locals erected a statue for her along the boulevard. I sat down beside the statue and Carol took a nice picture of us. (felt good to snuggle up to her) After walking by numerous little stores and cafe’s we found the church. The church was not very large, unfortunately the door was closed and we were only able to peek through it to have a look inside. After the church visit and buying a local t-shirt from one of the small stores, we ventured back to the other end of town. The streets are all made of cobblestone in this town. There are a lot of houses in this town owned by people from Rio, as it is only 3 hrs away by car. There are also several nice small boutique hotels along the boulevard. All along the boulevard you find sandy beach areas. At some point we had to stop at a small cafe to have a bathroom break and also cool down some. It was way to hot for coffee, so we decided to have a ice cold cervesa (beer), that hit the spot. After our stop we wandered of to the other end of the town along cobble stone streets lined with more small stores and cafe’s. We even did see a Mc Donalds in this town. At one point we run into a couple we met on the ship. The four of us decided to walk along the sandy beach back towards the pier. Half way back we stopped at a tiny beach side restaurant it had only 4 tables and chairs right on the sand. The table and chairs are the plastic ones you see a lot in Mexico. We stayed here for about an hour and enjoyed the breeze from the ocean. They served us local ice cold beer from the freezer acompanied by fresh calamary. (yummy) By 3 pm we got back to the pier and tendered back to the ship. We spend an couple hours before dinner on the back of the ship enjoying the nice cool sea breeze. We pulled up the anchor around 5pm and sailed of tomorrow’s destination RIO. This was a very lovely visit, to a very nice spot. I would definitely like to come back to this spot again to unwind and relax, I also recommend it to everyone if they have a chance to visit this place.

Tchau

“South America” “Buzio” ” Cruising” “HAL Volendam”

ISLA ILHABELA, BRAZIL

This morning we sailed up to this beautiful island. Lush green mountain sides with white sandy beaches. Large houses were dotting the hillside and lining the beach. It looked very impressive. After breakfast we took the small tender boat to the pier. There was a small city at the pier with stores, church and some restaurants. Again it was a very hot and humid day. After spending a little time in town, we ventured of along the beach for a walk. From time to time we had to take a drink break and cool down some. There was a very nice breeze along the shore line, what kept the temperature bearable. We had lunch in a nice beachside restaurant. (fresh fish) After lunch we beach strolled some more back to the pier. By 3:00 we returned back to the ship. Around 4 PM we had the biggest rain shower and thunder I had seen in a long time. It put a couple inches of water on the back deck of the ship. By 5 PM, the sun was shining again. Apparently, they get these showers almost every day. This is a very beautiful island. People from Sao Paulo come up here to vacation and lots of them own houses here. I could easily talk my self into spending a few weeks here.

Cheers

“South America” “Ilhabela” “Cruising”

SANTOS, BRAZIL

Early this morning we sailed into Santos. The sky line is covered with highrises fronted by beautiful sandy beaches. We continued towards the port area, enormous rows of cranes for unloading goods and containers. This port supplies the City of Sao Paulo about 2hr drive inland. We finally docked at the passengers terminal. As with most city’s in ports, there is usully a shuttle bus from the ship to the terminal gate. From there you can take a tour bus or taxi. Often, the visiting city will supply a shuttle bus to a central location in the city. Today the city supplied a shuttle to a large shopping mall. The temperature had shot up to 32C deg with a nearly 100% humidity. Not very pleasant to sit around. We decided to take the shuttle to the mall. After roaming through the mall for 3hrs, we originaly had plans to walk to the beach. Soon as we got outside the mall and were exposed to the heat, we changed our mind and decided to take the shuttle back to the ship. We took a nap in a nice aircondioned room and had some pool time afterwards on the ship . In the evening we had a nice dinner on the outside deck. We set sail around 11PM. We were not totally impressed with Santos. It is a very old City, and it looked like the old buildings were in a state of disrepair. It is also very much a buzzling port city. The best thing it has going for it are the beautiful beaches. Another sidenote is that Santos was the hometown of the famous soccer player “Pele”

Cheers

“South America” “Santos” “Cruising”