Barbados Suzanne & Karen on the beach 3-19-2010

Getting ready to go home soon

Devil’s Island, French Guiana – arrived March 17th

We absolutely loved this place. Devil’s Island is really a group of 3 Islands off the coast of French Guyana. The island we went to is called Ile Royale, which is the island used as a French penal colony from 1852 until 1946. Today the prison has been phased out but many of the buildings still remain; some in crumbling disrepair and some having been renovated and used for other purposes. The dichotomy between the extreme beauty of this place and it extreme history made this an even more exciting and fun day.
This is truly a tropical paradise. Visitors are free to walk the grounds and inspect the buildings. On the ship we were given a map with a walking tour in English, as most of the signs are in French. Most of the buildings are built on top of the island and we had to walk up quite a lot of steps to get there. The views from above were breathtaking. There was a small museum that was mostly in French but we could get an idea of what the prison looked like in its heyday. There was a small hotel with a nice bar and gift shop and since it was a hot day and we stopped to have a drink before starting our exploration. We walked through the solitary and condemned prisoner cells and it gave us an eerie feeling. There was a small chapel, a lighthouse, a children’s cemetery, a hospital, convent/maternity ward and wardens’ quarters. There were roosters crowing constantly and chickens running everywhere; parrots, monkeys and agoutis were all free to roam the island. A barnyard held mother sows suckling their pigs. There is a small military unit stationed here so this is a working farm as well.
On the far side of the island the shore is rocky and wild and the surf is swift. It was great to be able to walk the island with no fear of muggings, falling in sidewalk holes or people begging us for money or to buy their wares. It was just a lovely day.

Manaus and Parintins in the Amazon

We were scheduled to dock in Manaus on Friday morning but the captain came on the PA and told us that there was a dispute between the Brazilian Navy and the harbormaster and we weren’t allowed to dock or anchor until they had had a meeting to sort it all out. We didn’t have anything scheduled to do until evening so we just sat and waited. Around noon we were told we could drop anchor and start tender operations and maybe we could dock sometime that afternoon. Jan and Karen were the only ones at that point who were motivated to go ashore. When they returned they reported that Karen’s gold necklace had been yanked off her neck and stolen and the place wasn’t worth the visit. That night we had a tour scheduled. At 6:30 we were still anchored so we had to take a tender to our meeting point, where we got into a river boat for an hour’s ride to Lake January. There we boarded canoes, 10 people to a boat, and ventured into small channels looking for alligators. It was eerie and scary. I was way overdressed because we had been warned that there would be lots of big mosquitoes, so I was soaking wet and silently cursing the person (Jan) who had wanted to book this tour. Finally our guide found a cayman, which is similar to an alligator, and it turned out to be very small, about 1 ½ years old. He held it and told us all about it and let us hold it if we wanted to (I didn’t). He said it would grow to be about 9 feet long. We made our way back through the grasses, reeds and lily pads to our river boat for the ride back. It was very pretty and a lot cooler as we rode back watching the city lights and lightning in the distance. And best of all, the Prinsendam had docked while we were gone so we just got off the boat straight onto the ship.
We spent the night in Manaus so the next day the four of us decided to get off the ship and go to look for a grocery store to stock up on wine and pop. Remembering that Karen had had her necklace stolen the day before, we were extra cautious as we walked the streets. The city was filthy, crowded, and incredibly noisy. Not to mention hot and humid. We walked for several blocks and finally found a grocery store which was huge and quite interesting. Then we had to haul our heavy bags back through the hot, dirty, noisy throngs of people. Back on the ship the “buzz” was about a colony of bees that had swarmed and made their home on the side of the ship and around a ladder. It looked like a carpet of bees and it was amazing. They stayed overnight and miraculously the next afternoon they were gone. I hope you can see it in the picture. That evening we bid a not so fond farewell to Manaus!
Our final stop in the Amazon was Parintins. And guess what? It was HOT. We had to take a tender into town. This was, thankfully, a very small town and it was Sunday so most things were closed and it wasn’t crowded. There were some souvenirs shops open and a few booths selling the same stuff we had been looking at for a week, so we really weren’t very interested in shopping. We found an outdoor restaurant and had a beer, even though it was just after noon. All over town there were men offering to give rides on a contraption that was a sort of buggy driven by a bicycle and we decided that we’d had enough walking and would try one of those. We hired 3 of them and off we went to explore the town. I felt sorry for those guys working so hard. It was incredible to see their stamina in that heat. The ride lasted about 30 minutes and we saw most of what there was to see there, which wasn’t much, but it was fun anyway.
I think most everyone is ready to leave Brazil and the Amazon behind. Now we’re on our way to our next stop, Devil’s Island, French Guiana.
Below are pictures of both stops.

Manaus

Parintins

The Amazon – March 9th – March 15th

We’ve now been cruising the Amazon for a week. We’ve gone from the beautiful blue Atlantic Ocean to the brown waters of the Amazon. There are times when the river is so wide that we can’t see the shore and other times when the shore is only a few feet from the ship. The water’s depth, the currents and Brazilian politics have all affected our schedule.
Our first stop along the Amazon was Santarem. It was sunny and 95 degrees. Here we saw a unique natural phenomenon called “the meeting of the waters”. The Amazon and Tapajos rivers run alongside one another for many miles, without mixing, and we could clearly see the muddy brown of the Amazon right next to the blue of the Tapajos. The six of us went into town on the shuttle bus and walked around and shopped until we were unbearably hot, so we stopped for a beer at a local restaurant. The Brazilian beer is delicious and that’s saying a lot for a non-beer drinker. But it was cold and very refreshing.
The next day we stopped at a teeny-tiny village called Boca de Valeria. We had to take a tender to the dock. There were only a handful of buildings in the village, including a school, a church, a bar/restaurant and a few houses. Oh, and the village outhouse. People came from miles around for our visit to sell their wares, take us on canoe rides and entertain us with their native Indian costumes and some of their animals, including a sloth, a stingray and the biggest rat in the world (I can’t remember what they called it). As we got off the tender, children came to us and took our hands to guide us around the area. It was cute and sweet but we knew that this is a way of begging; they expected to be given something at every turn. Again it was extremely hot and humid and we didn’t stay long. We bought a couple of souvenirs, had a beer, paid a couple of people for pictures and went back to the ship.
Below are pictures of both stops.

Santarem

Boca de Valeria

Belem, Brazil – Arrived March 8th

Belem is just south of the mouth of the Amazon River. It’s another huge city and luckily we had a tour scheduled. We boarded a bus for a 45 minute ride to another boat dock where we got on a river boat for an hour’s ride on the Rio Tocatins. It was a beautiful ride; there were small houses and cottages on the banks but not much else besides jungle. We arrived at a VERY small village where we got off the boat for an hour’s walk through the jungle. It was extremely hot and humid and the jungle didn’t provide any relief. I was concerned for some of the older, more overweight people on the tour but everyone hung in there and made it through. On the way there were village inhabitants showing us some jungle things, including a tarantula and a man who shimmied up a skinny tree and jumped down. This was supposed to be a 3 ½ hour tour but everything took longer than expected. Our ship was due to sail at 6PM but we didn’t leave the village until around 4:30 for the hour ride back to the boat dock and the 45 minute bus ride to the ship. We got stuck in rush hour traffic in Belem and didn’t arrive back at the Prinsendam until 7PM so our 3 ½ hour tour turned into a 7 hour tour. But that’s typical of the Brazilian concept of time. Our port lecturer, Frank, says that in Brazil there are 3 speeds: slow, dead slow and stop. That was certainly true here.

Recife, Brazil – Arrived March 4th

I continue to be amazed at the size of the cities that we’re visiting. I had no idea that there were so many large cities in Brazil. Recife has around 3 million people and from the ship the skyline looks almost like Chicago. Recife is called “the Venice of Brazil” because it’s a series of islands connected by canals and bridges. Lining the canals are the ever-present Brazilian style buildings, each one painted a different pastel color with white trim. The climate is dry tropical and flowers are abundant and beautiful.
Our Virtuoso group met early and got on a small bus with our guide, Paul. We toured Recife which didn’t really have a lot to see. Paul was enthusiastic about Recife’s history and told it in a very demonstrative style. We were on and off the bus quite a lot to look at panoramic views and squares. It was quite hot, not as muggy as Salvador, but some of our older companions wilted quickly.
We drove to a nearby town called Olinda which is a UNESCO Heritage Site. It’s a small town overlooking Recife and the bay. There we shopped, visited more churches than one should in one day, and were greatly relieved when Paul announced that our next destination would be a “gastronomic stop”. We went to a bright red building which he said was a former Portuguese mansion. We were escorted into a courtyard where a 5-piece band and 2 dancing girls awaited our arrival. They led us to a bandstand surrounded by chairs where we sat in the heat and they got on stage and performed an interminable dance while we were served some drinks that most of us discreetly poured out, as we had been warned that anything served to us in a cup may not be good for us to drink. When the band and dancing finally finished, they once again led us out and into the restaurant where the quiet was most welcome. We were served a very nice lunch with wine or beer and many of us, including myself, slept on the way back to the ship.
That was our day in Recife. Since we had a big lunch, Ed and I are skipping dinner tonight and going to see the movie Brothers and eat popcorn.

Salvador, Brazil – Arrived March 2nd

Three words come to mind when I think of this place: HOT, HOT, HOT, MUGGY, MUGGY, MUGGY, SWEATY, SWEATY, SWEATY!!!! When we got off the ship around 10AM the temperature was close to 90 with humidity about the same, or higher! We were inundated with people wanting to drive us around, guide us, sell us stuff, etc. It was irritating. We already had our plan for the day and didn’t need their help.
Our destination was the Mercado Modelo, a market which, according to Frank, our onboard travel guide, sells the “whole damn 9 yards”. It was a big concrete structure which provided some welcome shade and was a little cooler and they did, indeed, sell everything. There were some beautiful sun dresses and I would have loved to try one, but trying something on with my sweaty body was beyond my capability just then.
Salvador was the first capital of Brazil and it’s a city of 3 million people, most of which are of African descent. Salvador is the closest Brazilian coast to Africa and there was a huge slave trade in the 1800’s so the culture is more African than Brazilian. The city has many hills and our second destination was the top of one of them, a place called Pelourinho. This is the old part of the city and really the only place that tourists come to see. There’s a wonderful elevator that takes people up to the top. The locals all use it and it’s quite cheap: 15 reals, which is about 8 cents. Up at the top the views are spectacular and many of the buildings are painted in pastel colors with white trim. There are a series of squares with fountains surrounded by churches and shops. Roaming the streets are beautiful African women dressed in traditional clothes which make them look like Mammy in Gone With The Wind. They are very cheerful and approach all the tourists to have their pictures taken; for money, of course. But we couldn’t resist them, they were so much fun.
The streets were all decorated with banners and brightly painted wooden structures. We didn’t know whether this was left over from Carnaval or a permanent decoration but it gave the impression of a light-hearted, festive place to live.
After two hours we decided to go back to the ship for a swim to cool off and decide whether to go back out. Somehow I knew that once we were “home” we wouldn’t leave again, and I was right. The ship put on a delicious outdoor barbecue that night so we sat there and ate and drank to our heart’s content.
We have a sea day today and tomorrow is our second and final Virtuoso tour in Recife.

Rio – Day Two February 28th

Today was a short day; we were scheduled to sail at 3PM. So the 6 of us met for breakfast at 9 and made a plan to go to the beach. We all just wanted to experience one of the most famous beaches in the world – Copacabana. We got out onto the street and asked a nearby taxi driver how much he would charge to take 6 people the 25-30 minute drive to Copacabana. He said $120 round trip. We all thought that was too high but he wouldn’t even budge. After a few minutes of talking amongst ourselves and trying to negotiate, Sharon and I said we would go back into the terminal and see if we could find someone to give us a better deal. Which we did. The official “Radio” taxi company agreed to take all 6 in one car for 49 Brazilian reals one way, which is around 27 US dollars.
It was a very wild ride. The driver didn’t respect lanes at all and whipped in and out of traffic, once or twice nearly missing another car. We were all very grateful to see the beach. There are three main beaches in Rio and beautiful black and white mosaic patterns on the sidewalks differentiate one from the other. On Sundays in summer the city closes off one lane of the boulevard in Copacabana because many people come to the beach. So that lane was dedicated to walkers, joggers and kids. They rented little motorized vehicles for the kids to ride and they had a ball. There are volleyball nets set up and they play a type of hands-free volleyball; they can only use their heads and feet. There are also soccer areas that are heavily used as, of course, soccer is their national sport and they’re fanatics about it.
The beach was relatively uncrowded. We had no trouble finding a place to set up. They rented chairs and umbrellas for a pittance and installed them for us in the sand. The sand was very clean, the kind that you just can’t stop digging your feet into. We felt we had to stick our feet into the water so we all did that and then settled into our chairs to watch the incredible waves and scan the beach for the legendary #10 bodies in the butt-floss bikinis. We saw the bikinis but unfortunately most of the bodies were between 1 and 5. But the people-watching was lots of fun. There were hawkers everywhere and they spotted us as tourists immediately. They sold hats, cover-ups, shirts, towels, toys, shrimp, ice cream, drinks, sunglasses, jewelry, you name it. A couple of them even came by with a small hibachi grill offering to cook something we couldn’t identify. Jan, our consummate shopper, entertained us by trying on a couple of shirts and he even bought one.
Around 1PM the weather was looking threatening and we knew we had to find our way back to the ship, so we packed up our things and went looking for a cab. We immediately found a man who spoke very good English, drove sanely and we made it back to the pier in plenty of time to join our fellow passengers for a fun sail-away party on deck.