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!