February 28 - Armação dos Búzios, Brazil

If it’s Tuesday this must be Búzios.  Actually it’s difficult knowing what day of the week or month it is here on the ship. Before I tell you about today let me write a little about last night’s sailaway from Rio.

Despite looking as if it would rain in the afternoon, the evening turned out to be quite nice for our 9 PM departure from Rio. I was able to get a few pictures as we left.  In the distance you can see the light atop Sugarloaf.  As with most cities, leaving at night when the lights are on is always kind of special.  As we sailed away we had a dance party out by the pool. There were a lot of people there and I wonder where they’ve been every night.  I know some boarded today in Rio, but it wasn’t that many.  They must all go to sleep right after dinner.  Of course I danced despite the fact that it was very humid.  As I looked around we all looked drenched.  There was a lot of laundry going out this morning I’m sure.

The light in the center of the skyline is atop Sugarloaf

This morning we anchored off Búzios. It’s a resort town a little over 100 miles east of Rio. The first European settlers were French pirates and smugglers who were engaged in trading Brazilian wood and African slaves. In the 17th century the Portuguese expelled the French and took control.  During the 18th century the area around here became a big whale hunting place. In fact the full name Armação dos Búzios comes from the Portuguese meaning separating meat from bones and a beach here is named Praia dos Ossos, meaning beach of bones for the large number of whale bones on it.

After the end of the slave trade and whale hunting here in the mid 1800’s, Búzios became a sleepy place known by a few people from Rio as a place to get away from the big city. That changed in 1964 when Brigitte Bardot came to visit with her Brazilian boyfriend. That visit brought global attention to the town and celebrities like Mick Jagger and Madonna came.  But Brigitte captured the heart of Búzios. There’s a bronze statue of her on the waterfront as well as a street named after her.

I tendered ashore and went on a hunt for cool clothing. It was not to be found.  Every store I went into had things made of the same non-breathable stuff I already have (all made in China or Vietnam or someplace in Southeast Asia).  I needed to find a place like you see all over the Greek islands with these gauzy, cottony things but they’re not here.  There were lots of bars which I don’t think opened until later and we had to be on board by 2:30 so around 12:45 I tendered back.

Here are a few photos of the picturesque place we went ashore.

Al and I used to like Jimmy Buffett music; in fact, the name of my blog was a play on the title of one of his songs.  It was in one of those songs that was the only time I ever heard the name Búzios.  In the Last Mango in Paris he sang about having a “third world girl in Búzios with a pistol in each hand.”  In my walkabout I didn’t see anyone who looked like the girl of the song, or like Jimmy Buffett for that matter.

We’ve sailed now and we have two sea days on our way to Recife, Brazil, our next stop.  Thank goodness for sea days!

February 27 - Another day in Rio

I just have a short entry today.  After yesterday’s trek in the heat It was wonderful to have an early evening and sleep late.  After breakfast I met one of my friends who had previously said she might like to go shopping with me today.  I’m not positive, but I think her tour guide yesterday might have put her off going somewhere in a taxi here in Rio.  She said the guide talked about getting car-jacked at a red light. (Actually that sounds a lot like Washington DC in recent months.)  She said she was just going to stay on board.  I talked to Guest Services and the fellow I spoke with was Brazilian. He assured me that if I took a taxi from the taxi place in the terminal I would be absolutely safe.  So off I went.

My taxi driver was Robson, a native of Rio, and a very nice man who spoke Spanish and some English so we had a nice conversation.  As I usually do I sat in the front seat and I learned about his family, and we found we had a shared liking of Portuguese fado music so he put that on the radio while we drove.  He drove me to Ipanema, not the beach, but rather the district.  It’s an upscale neighborhood in Rio with tree-lined streets, nice restaurants and nice shops.  When he dropped me off I tried to pay him and Robson said no, I could pay him on the way back.  He gave me his card and said just to call him when I was ready to leave and he’d pick me up.  He was as good as his word.  I had some fun looking  and found a few things I liked. After a couple of hours I was ready to head back to the ship.

I should have taken my tour today because it’s cloudy and not nearly as hot, but that’s the way things go sometimes.  We’re supposed to have a dance party on deck this evening as we sail away from Rio, but it looks like it may have to be moved inside. That’s what happened for the last one several days ago.

I heard an interesting story from a friend this morning which if you know me you’ll appreciate.  Two days ago when we were in São Sebastião there was a tour that went to a waterfall.  I saw the tour and toyed with the idea of trying it just for something to do.  Good thing I didn’t. One of the women on the tour told my friend that as they walked along this path on the way to the waterfall she spotted a coral snake lying on a branch next to the path. In fact she took a photo of it.  I would have freaked out!  They are red and yellow and very poisonous; there's a saying that goes “red and yellow kill a fellow.”  I haven’t booked any walks through the rainforest on our Amazon days and I’m pretty well convinced I’ll enjoy the scenery from the comfort of my ship.

Since this is my last evening in Rio, I do want to say something about the city.  I have had so many warnings about how unsafe it is and what danger you are in here.  I don't doubt it, but I didn't feel uncomfortable at any time in these past two days.  I wore absolutely no jewelry when I went ashore and took only as much money as I needed.  I paid attention to what was around me.  Yesterday my tour took me to places where there were lots of people and it was a prime opportunity to have pockets picked but I don't know of anyone who had a problem.  I didn't go out last night so perhaps it's different. Anyway, I had a good time here and am glad that I experienced this place again.

Bye for now!

February 26 - Rio de Janeiro

I’ve been on the ship for a month now and I’m on the downward side of my voyage.  It’s hard to believe because the time has flown by. I’ve seen so many wonderful things and met so many lovely and interesting people both on land and sea. I can’t help but think how fortunate I am.

Before I tell about today I have to mention last night.  We had a beautiful sunset followed by huge lightning storms all around us. I dined outside with friends and we had a fantastic light show. Unfortunately none of us had a camera handy and we probably wouldn't have caught the bolts so you'll have to take my word for it.

At least you can see the sunset

This morning early we arrived in Rio de Janeiro where we’ll be docked overnight, not departing until tomorrow night.  There’s a special event ashore tonight for all the Miami-to-Miami people so the ship is empty.  In some ways that’s good because it gives me a chance to recharge after a lot of late nights and a long, hot tour today.

First let me tell you a little about Rio. The first Europeans to encounter this place were Portuguese who arrived here on January 1, 1502. Guanabara Bay on which Rio is situated is large and the Portuguese didn’t go far enough inland to realize it was a bay, not a river.  Hence, they named the place Rio de Janeiro, literally River of January.    The city wasn’t founded until 1565 when the Portuguese expelled some French who had settled on one of the 130 plus islands in the bay.  Over the ensuing centuries Rio has been the capital of  Portugal for a short period of time when the Portuguese monarchy fled Lisbon during the Napoleonic wars, the capital of the Empire of Brazil, and the capital of the independent country Brazil until the capital was moved to the newly created city of Brasilia in 1960.  Now Rio is the second largest city in Brazil with a population of more than 6.5 million.

Today I took an all-day tour to see the “Best of Rio.”  The first thing I have to say about the day is that it was hot, hot, hot! It actually made yesterday at São Sebastião seem not so bad.  The tour departed at 8:30 and we headed from the port to our first stop, the Christ the Redeemer statue on Corcovado Mountain.  On our way we passed the Sambadrome, a permanent edifice which is where the big Carnival parades take place.  I have to say something about Carnival in Rio.  I think most people have heard of it because this city probably outdoes every other one in the world, including New Orleans.  I always thought Carnival ended on Shrove Tuesday, the day before the beginning of Lent.  Not so here in Rio.  The partying evidently continues and last night before we arrived here there was the parade of the champions of the Samba  competitions and their floats and groups.  These Brazilians take their pre-Lenten celebrations and Samba very seriously.

Enough about that.  The Christ the Redeemer statue is one of the two most well-known landmarks of Rio.  It's also one of the seven modern wonders of the world.  It sits on top of Corcovado, a 2,300 foot mountain which is visible from all over the city.  The statue is a nearly 100 foot tall figure of Christ with outstretched arms which reach out approximately 90 feet.  The statue was built between 1922 and 1931 out of reinforced concrete and soapstone. There’s a small chapel in the base of the 26 foot tall pedestal.  To reach the summit we took a funicular and then two escalators.  The statue is impressive and the views of the city below are stunning. Today was a sunny day with a little haze which was too bad.  The first time I came here there had been a big storm the night before and that day was one of those crisp clear days we have at home after a front has passed through.  Nonetheless, I enjoyed seeing it again.

This and the next ones are views from Corcovado

Sugarloaf Mountain

We rode down and boarded our bus and took a drive through the city.  We passed the lagoon which we could see from the mountain. It’s connected to the ocean and evidently there are rowing and canoe events held there. I remember on my last visit being told the water is very polluted, but our guide today told me that a major effort has been made to clean it up.  Before Christmas a giant Christmas tree is built on a platform in the lagoon and it’s one of the major attractions during that holiday season.

Our ride continued along the waterfront and we passed the famous Ipanema and Copacabana beaches.  It is Sunday and the end of Carnival so both were packed.  I saw something I thought was interesting that I couldn’t get a picture of along the way.  All along the way there were paths across the sand leading from the sidewalk to the area where umbrellas were set up. The paths were being kept wet so that people could access the beach without walking across the burning sand along the way. The street along the waterfront is a forest of high-rise apartment and condo buildings with some hotels in between, including the grand dame, the Copacabana Palace. Eduardo, our guide, asked if we wanted to stop and take any pictures, but there were no takers. It was just too hot.

Not the best picture of the beach but if you look you can see the sea of umbrellas

I told you Christ the Redeemer was visible from everywhere and here it is from the restaurant at which we ate

We went next for lunch at Assador, a restaurant on the water by Flamengo beach, another of Rio’s beaches.  It was one of those places that brings various kinds of meat out on big skewers and slices off pieces for you.  We had a bunch of side dishes; a few were things I didn’t recognize.  It was a chaotic place with lots of Sunday locals dining and men with skewers wandering around with no apparent pattern of going to every table.  The food was pretty good, not great, but none of us could complain about coming away hungry.

A little showmanship. The waiter stood on a chair and poured liqueur into these glasses from several feet above them without spilling a drop. 

Our final stop was Sugarloaf Mountain, the other iconic sight everyone thinks of when they hear the name Rio.  The mountain, which is about 1300 feet tall, was named by the Portuguese because its shape reminded them of the cone shaped molds that sugar was put in to be shipped from Brazil back to Europe. We left our bus and walked to the first of two cable car stations to reach the summit. The ride is not for people afraid of heights unless you just don’t look down.  The cars have no seats so we stood and if ever there was an opportunity to catch something, this was it. We were packed in like sardines.  The views from both the midway point on Morro da Urca mountain and Sugarloaf are good but I like the view from Corcovado better myself. It’s still something every visitor here should do, preferably when it isn’t nearly 100°. All of us were feeling roasted and we were truly happy when it was time to descend and get back on the bus to return to our nice air-conditioned ship.

The top of Sugarloaf from the halfway point on Morro da Urca

The yellow building is an old Portuguese fortress (there were five but only two remain) built to protect the city from the sea

Guanabara Bay from Sugarloaf

I’ve rambled on enough for today but I wanted to paint a picture of this place.  I have another day here tomorrow with no organized things planned. For now then,  boa noite.

February 25 - Ilhabela de São Sebastião, Brazil

After two uneventful sea days we have arrived in our first Brazilian port.  We’re anchored off the island of São Sebastião, which lies off the coast roughly one third of the way between São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. The first Europeans to arrive here came in 1502 in an expedition with Amerigo Vespucci traveling on behalf of the Portuguese king. For a number of years it became a haven for pirates until the 17th century when sugarcane was planted and took off as the major crop.

There’s not much to report about my sea days.  I go from meal to meal with  lectures, trivia, and different shows interspersed.  We’ve had some excellent shows with entertainers we picked up in Buenos Aires as well as the singers and dancers from the ship’s company.  There are some truly talented people here.

This island is lush and green and hilly. But the most outstanding  feature we noticed as soon as we tendered ashore was the HEAT.  Think Virginia on one of those really hot, sultry days when the moment you step outside you are instantly drenched, and you’ll know how it feels here.  What a contrast from just ten days ago!  I think this is what I can expect for the next couple of weeks.

I tendered ashore to the little town and we walked around for a little while. Truthfully there wasn’t much to do unless  we wanted to try to get to a beach and neither my friend nor I wanted to go broil.  We did stop for a moment at a seawall to get a picture of the ship at anchor. Then we spotted a dog in the water.  His owner was on the narrow beach below us and she’d thrown a ball out for him to fetch. He was having a good time. Why not, he was in cool water.  We watched him go out a couple of times and then we wandered on.  Along the way there was a little jewelry store with interesting looking necklaces made of resins that looked like amber.  A sign on the door that said “Air Conditioned” convinced us to go in and have a look.  My friend Claudia found a very attractive necklace and earrings.  I thought some of the things were very pretty but not really my style.  I like gold jewelry more.  It was all very reasonably priced too. After shopping and cooling off a little we headed back toward the pier.  It’s Saturday and it seemed most places were closed which struck us as odd, but oh, well that was okay.

My home away from home

This boy was having a good time. When he brought the ball back and his owner didn't throw it right away he started barking until she did.

As you can see from these photos there isn't a lot here.

At the pier Seabourn had a crew member handing out cold washcloths.  Heaven!  When we got back onboard we went up to the Patio Grill and got a table in the shade and had a light lunch and big glasses of ice water.  While we were sitting there a waiter came around with a beautiful green drink so we all tried one. I haven’t a clue what was in it, but it was delicious.  As we sat there and talked I discovered that Claudia and I are scheduled to be on the same ship next year. I’m getting on before she does and then she’ll be staying on after I get off. That will be fun since we’ve been enjoying one another’s company.

Now it’s time to chill out, check e-mails and get cleaned up.  I’ve come to realize that I packed poorly for this cruise. Nearly all the warmer weather things I brought with me are made of synthetic fibers and they just don’t let you breathe.  I’ve got a day with not much planned in Rio and then the day after that we’ll be in Buzios which I heard has a lot of beachy boutiques so I think I’ll have to look for some cotton and linen things to wear during the day. If it’s this hot and humid here I can’t imagine what it will be like on the Amazon. Bye for now or as they say in Portuguese, adeus por enquanto.

February 22 - Punta del Este, Uruguay

Today we’ve made our last stop in Uruguay, the seaside city of Punta del Este. The city is on a peninsula with one side bounded by the Rio de la Plata and the other by the Atlantic. It has become a resort town for Latin American jet-setters and has been compared to towns on the Riviera.  It has also been the site of a number of world summits and has hosted Formula 1 races and an international yachting competition.

My tour first took us on a bus ride around the resort town.  It looked a lot like any beach town anywhere with lots of condo buildings, restaurants and bars tucked in between and a few hotels here and there.  One feature that was different and that it’s famous for is called La Mano.  It’s a sculpture depicting five  human fingers coming out of the sand on one of the beaches.

I confess to copying this from somewhere else because from the bus I couldn't get a photo like this.

We left the town and headed to a headland on the peninsula where a Uruguayan artist named Vilaró built a building called Casapueblo. It’s built on the cliffside and was built in the style of buildings on the island of Santorini.  It's built of cement and stucco and is painted a brilliant white with some blue accents as you see on the Greek island.  Vilaró built it to be his home and did it with no building plan, so it just kind of evolved over more than 30 years.  It has 13 floors built on the cliffside all with terraces that allow  views of the sunset over the water.  Now the building is a museum, a hotel, an art gallery and a cafeteria.  We only stopped for a few minutes to take photos of the exterior.

We then drove to a neighborhood named Beverly Hills which was obviously a very affluent part of town.  Each block only contained one house. In the middle of this we got to the Ralli Museum. This is one of five museums of the same name around the world founded by a man named Harry Recanati who devoted his life to  supporting and promoting artists. The museum here in Punta del Este was the first and I have no idea why it was.  The museum has a collection of mainly modern art and sculpture.  I have to confess that most of the paintings weren’t really my cup of tea.  I’m more of a Monet and Renoir kind of girl, but it was worth seeing.  There were two sculpture patios which were interesting. One of them had some original bronze sculptures by Salvador Dali and several had his melted clock as seen in the Persistence of Memory painting, which I do like.  The sculptures were enclosed in plexiglass cases which caused lots of reflections but maybe you can make out one of them.

Sculpture of a melted clock by Dali

This and the next two were in the sculpture patios 

We left the museum and headed to a place out of town that I think was probably an estancia, a ranch, at one time.  It has now been converted to a rather nice restaurant and I think perhaps a small hotel.  We sat in a dining area that had a roof but was open on a couple of sides.  We were served a humongous meal! It started with a kind of cheese fondue made of mozzarella cheese with a jellied squash on top.  (I know I should have taken pictures, but I forgot.)  Next we helped ourselves to a salad bar.  Then came the pièce de resistance, a platter with grilled ribs, chicken, and a couple of different kinds of sausages along with roasted sweet and white potatoes.  It was all good but way too much food.  But we weren’t finished yet.  They brought us each a Uruguayan dulce de leche inside a sort of crêpe with a scoop of ice cream.  It was too sweet honestly so I don’t think any of us ate it all.  Of course everything was washed down with wine.  By the time we were finished I think we all  needed a siesta.

The restaurant's patio.  It was a lovely place

The plaque has the name of the restaurant, Narbona

That was our last stop so we drove back to the tender dock for our return to the ship.  It was formal night and I got cleaned up to go to dinner with the Public Health Officer.  He was actually a very interesting table host. He is Polish and very easy to talk to so I think all of us at the table had a good time.  By the way, I ate only a salad which consisted of a piece of watermelon with a couple of beets (yummy combination actually) and a mini-lobster tail with none of the other things that came with it.  Then it was off to the show and late night dancing of course.  We have two sea days now so I can recuperate. Whew, thank goodness!

February 21 - Buenos Aires, Argentina

Buenos Dias from the home of the tango. I feel a real connection after my debut last night.

We practically drifted here overnight and when I awoke, much too early after a night of revelry, in order to make it to my tour, we were docked. (I have three days in a row with early morning tours and this burning the candle at both ends is getting harder every day.  I need some sea days!)

Buenos Aires is the capital of Argentina and has a population of a little over 3 million with a metro area population of 15 million or roughly one-third of the country’s population. It was founded by a Spaniard named Pedro de Mendoza in 1536.  The city and country were under Spanish control until July 9, 1816, when the Argentine Declaration of Independence was formalized under the leadership of General José de San Martin.

My tour today took me to the highlights of Buenos Aires. I have been here twice before but it was a long time ago and I didn’t remember a great deal except for the Recoleta Cemetery (more about that later). Our first stop was at the Café Tortoni. This café is the oldest and best-preserved coffeehouse in the city. It was  founded in 1858 and over the years since, many of Argentina’s most famous artistic people have hung out there.  The interior is very ornate with lots of wood and stained glass.  We sat and had a coffee, croissant and little ham sandwiches.  I thought the latter were pretty funny because the bread was like Wonder bread with the crusts cut off, in other words very ordinary for such a historic place.

This table was the favorite one of a famous Argentine writer and these wax figures represent him and a couple of his friends

Next we went to the Plaza de Mayo, the main square in Buenos Aires.  In the middle of the square is the May Pyramid which commemorates the first revolution against Spanish rule in 1810.  At one end of the plaza is a statue of Manuel Belgrano on horseback carrying the Argentine flag which he created. The plaza is surrounded by the Casa Rosada (the Argentine White House), the Cabildo which was the Spanish colonial government building, and the Metropolitan Cathedral of Buenos Aires.  The Cathedral was the seat of Pope Francis before he became the Pope.  On another corner is the old city hall of Buenos Aires.

May Pyramid topped by a statue of Liberty

The Cabildo, the old Spanish colonial government building

The old Buenos Aires City Hall

Metropolitan Cathedral façade

Casa Rosada

We had a little time to walk around the square and go into the cathedral.  I think it’s a very unusual design for a cathedral.  It looks more like a classical temple with a columned façade and a triangular pediment.  The interior was quite beautiful and more reminiscent of the cathedrals I’ve seen in European cities.  One unusual feature is that in one of the side chapels there is the tomb of General San Martin, the liberator of the country, and it’s evidently always guarded by two soldiers dressed in what looks like Napoleonic era uniforms.

The nave of the cathedral

The organ loft

On either side of the door stand the two guards of the tomb inside

From the Plaza de Mayo we drove on to La Boca, one of the oldest neighborhoods in BA.  As we drove there our guide Soledad proudly told us about Argentina’s recent victory in the World Cup.  The Argentines love their football! The La Bombonera Stadium is in the La Boca section of the city and all the buildings around it and the stadium itself are painted in blue and yellow, the team colors. After the win by Argentina in December more than 6 million people gathered in the Plaza de Mayo and surrounding streets to celebrate, and they didn’t even burn anything down.

All the houses in La Boca are brightly painted in a kaleidoscope of colors. Some of them have windows with life size papier-mâché figures hanging out windows or standing in front. The pedestrian street running through the neighborhood, El Caminito, is a favorite place to see street tango dancers and it’s lined with shops to but tango memorabilia and clothing.  Sadly, we were there in the fairly early morning and as in Spain people are not out and about much then so I didn’t have an opportunity to try my newly learned tango skills (LOL).

Our last stop was the Recoleta Cemetery. The cemetery was built around a convent, the Convento de la Recoleta, and it is recognized by UNESCO as one of the world’s most beautiful cemeteries along with one in Paris and one in New Orleans.  The place is full of ornate and very beautiful mausoleums made of granite and marble with sometimes very elaborate sculptures all positioned along avenues.  Interestingly the caskets and bodies are not interred at the “street” level. Instead they are one and two levels below the mausoleums that we visitors can see.  Entombed in La Recoleta are Argentine generals, artists, Nobel prize winners and very wealthy people.  But the most famous is Evita, Eva Perón who was the first lady of Argentina during her husband’s presidency.  I won’t tell you the story about the Peróns who are either revered or despised depending on which Argentines you talk to, but Evita was an interesting character who evidently did a lot to augment the role of women in the country.  Of course, most of us know her because of the musical Evita.

An avenue in the Recoleta Cemetery

Sculpture on a tomb

Isn't that an elaborate mausoleum?

Evita's family tomb

When we left the Recoleta it was time to return to the ship.  I remembered the port as being chaotic from prior visits and it hasn’t changed.  Traffic to get there was horrendous and it was a holiday, Shrove Tuesday, the last day of Carnival.  It was a good day. We lost 193 passengers who ended their cruise here and only picked up 80 something.  Plus 32 passengers left to take an overland tour to Iguazú Falls and they’ll rejoin us in Rio in a few days.  That’s the tour I hemmed and hawed about taking and by the time I decided to try it, it was sold out.  I suppose that’s an excuse to come back to this part of the world.