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!