Getting Ready to Enter the Amazon

Monday, February 18
Today is our second day in Rio de Janeiro and the weather continues to get warmer. Today the temperature reads 82 degrees F or 28 degrees C. I suppose the weatherman is getting us prepared for the Amazon.
As we left Uruguay I was amazed at the beauty of Punta del Este, its quiet laid back tourist town with many visitors baking on the beach. But our next stop would be in Brazil. Originally it was planned to dock at Santos but docking was cancelled and we were to go to the penninsula of Ilhabela. We were tendered into the Port of Vila Ilhabela. A beautiful well maintained town with no blowing paper or garbage on the street was a delight to see. We wandered to find a WiFi and ended up in a traditional restaurant that served a Portugese Brazilian dish and a pail of iced cold local beer while we used the internet. I needed to clean up all my E-mails since I hadn't done that since I left. Young boys jumped into the bay from the tender wharf, while I spent time walking around the area taking pictures. What a beautiful town and people spoke some English and were friendly with us.
So today I thought I would bring you up to date with the Rio visit. We arrived yesterday morning and up early to watch the sail in as the sun rose. Rio has views that are hard to beat. They have mountains and two well known beaches- Copacabana and Ipanema. Rio has a lot of green area within the city giving the impression that there are not a lot of people but they were on the road or at the beach. Sunday was so packed that movement around this city was almost halted. Carnaval had ended but it was the last day of summer vacation for the school children. People covered the beaches with umbrellas and there were many stands selling drinks, beer, food, and handicrafts. The line up for Sugar Loaf was so long I wondered if going up was worth it. The stairs, the heat and the humidity was taking its toll on me but I made it up to the first level and found a place to sit and enjoy the view. I never even tried Mount Corcovado with the statue of Christ the Reedemer on top. That statue is visible all over Rio.
I was quite glad to be taking a bus around this town as the experience has prepared me for Cairo. People drive through red lights if there is no one crossing the street including our bus driver. Also vehicles were seen by me driving along sidewalks making the sidewalk another traffic lane. Also traffic does not stay in its own lane if there are lines denoting lanes. Watching the traffic was almost a comedy as cars drove the wrong way. I wished I had a long movie camera card for the whole day. It was amazing. So exploring an area can also mean exploring its culture and law.
Brazil is the largest country in South America and 5th largest in the world with over 100 million inhabitants and I think it is closer to 192 million a number that I find hard to comprehend. Brazilia is the capital, but Rio is known for the beaches and bikini clad girls. As the Tango is known as an Argentinian dance, the Samba is a Brazilian dance. Santos is the largest city in Brazil.
Back tracking a bit I have some interesting observations that were made known by fellow passengers. Buenos Aires businessmen live in Montevideo taking a plane or high speed ferry back and forth. Uruguay is one of the least corrupt countries in South America so wealthy families find it safer to live in Montevideo than to live in BA. Uruguay exports software and apps and the government encourages everyone to be computer literate. Montevideo has a colosal Mormon Temple. Uruguay has 3.5 million people and 85% are urban residents. The country ships blueberries to Canada and beef to China. There is no bovine disease as there are no cattle feed lots. They also export Swiss cheese.
Well also here is an interesting trivia game fact. Where is the most southern pipe organ located in the world? Answer: The Anglican church in Port Stanley. Where is the largest pipe organ in South America located? Answer: At a cathedral outside Rio and I can't remember the town. We have an avid organ enthusist aboard.
Our bird enthusiasts say that having a guide can save you time spotting birds and a guide who knows his /her wildlife can spot birds quickly saving you a lot of time. They have added 7 new birds to their life list and I am enjoying watching the masked boobys as they play in the air currents off the ship and dive for flying fish.
We have enjoyed a wonderful Valentine's Day dinner, a Black and White Ball, and as we traveled to different countries our culinary crew created ethnic buffets for lunches or dinners. Tonight is a South American buffet dinner and a sail away party. Yes, roses arrived on Valentine's Day and they were a surprise. We have had local performance groups invited to perform their cultural dances for us so we get a good well rounded education about the areas we are visiting. The first Grand Voyage is quickly drawing to a close as we leave Rio tonight and and make our way north.
February 24, 2013 -Oscar Night
Tonight is Oscar Night with a huge buffet as we sit in the Showroom at Sea and watch the whole thing. Out here on the ocean we miss nothing as we even get the news updates daily from Australia, Britian, Canada, and the New York Times. We have a library, huge collection of DVDs and all kinds of games. Holland America has some charity in Parintins to help the children and I am looking forward to spending the day with a native child and they get to come on the ship and spend a day with us. So a number of the ladies aboard have been knitting and quilting and making items for a silent auction and the money will go to the school in Parintins where these children are educated. I can`t wait to see the eyes of a child light up at the taste of an ice cream cone.
February 19 we landed at Armacao dos Buzios which is on a penninsula and has about 35,000 people with 22 beaches. During the carnaval 100,000 extra people arrive. They had a nice breeze when we were there and I took a highlights tour around the area. The town has maybe two main streets but there seemed to be everything one might need. The clear blue sky and the turquoise water made some very scenic pictures.
February 21 we landed at Salvador de Bahia. Salvador is one of the oldest cities in Brazil and the country`s 3rd most populated city with 4 million people. This city has African cultural aspects that can be seen throughout. According to the Guinness Book of Records Salvador has the largest street party in the world. For 7 days 2 million people join the street celebrations at carnival time. I went on a panoramic tour of Salvador and found this city interesting. The 17th century Jesuit Basilica Cathedral is decorated with gold. There is an upper and lower city with an elevator that climbs the hill so you do not have to. Salvador was the first capital of Brazil and when Nepolean was conquering Europe the King of Portugal moved to Salvador and ruled Portugal from Brazil. The streets are narrow but there is a great mixture of old and new architecture. With Brazil hosting the World Cup in 2014 a new stadium seating 80,000 is being constructed.
By the time we arrived in Maceio on February 22 I had such a soar throat that I could hardly talk. Then came the cough so instead of seeing the town I stayed in the cabin. Some information about Maceio is that it is the largest city of the coastal state of Alagoas. From the ship the skyline of buildings ran for miles. Its development started with sugar plantations and later to tobacco, coconut, leather and spices. It has 13 miles of beaches. Mez did a tour of the Mundau Lagoon and saw jellyfish, egrets, ghost crabs in its brackish waters that empty into the rich Atlantic Ocean. The city is approximately 1 million people and is famous for the handmade lace shawls. It too has a major carnival. Maceio also has major chemical exporting.
Today was another day spent close to bed though I did make it to a few games and ate in the Lido. HAL has anumber of games that you can win grand dollars so you can buy items from the ship. I enjoy playing Countdown Word Challenge and Name That Tune. Countdown Word Challenge is played similar to Scrabble. Nine tiles are drawn and then you try and make as many words as possible in two minutes from those nine tiles. At the end the team correcting your list can challenge your word. If the challenge is right the team who wrote the word loses that word but if the word is an actual word the challenging team gets 2 points taken away. Name That Tune is pretty much what goes on. The pianist plays part of a song , 5 notes to a bridge and you get to guess the title.
February 25
Today is a sea day and while I wrote yesterday trying to catch up we were in Fortaleza. Fortaleza has 3.5 million people and is the 5th largest city in Brazil and the capital of the state of Ceara. Fortezela is known for its lobster. The area is quite dry, but like Maceio the city has a long skyline of tall, glass buildings. It has the 3rd largest cathedral in Brazil. The theatre was decorated with ornate ironwork imported from Scotland. The city has 25 miles of beaches. The port area had two ocean jetties; one for petroleum and chemical products the other for passengers. Hydro is augmented by wind turbines and many more were on the docks ready to be assembled and put into service. The more I see of Brazil the more amazed I am. I had left home thinking I would see grass huts and dugout canoe boats but everyone has cars, TVs, cell phones and computers along with WiFi coffee outlets. The smallest city is bigger than Vancouver, BC. It is also interesting to know that 85% of the population of Brazil live in the coastal areas.
Tomorrow we land in Belem