Jan. 24. Cabo Frio (not!). 77, cloudy with showers.

Yesterday afternoon there was a cocktail party for the passengers with Distinctive Voyages travel agency’s (ours). After that, dinner in CR , skip the show, and drinks in Observation. The captain announced that there was a good chance we would be skipping our port today as we were to be anchored and with high seas (8-10’ swells) tendering is too dangerous. Well he was right, as he woke us up this morning with an announcement that, no port, we would just keep sailing onward! The cruise director did a quick reshuffle of activities. We went to a lecture this morning on Darwin, not so much the biologist, but much more so the geologist. Interesting!  We retreated to our winter table for lunch, then paperwork and on to the afternoon lecture by a “NASA specialist “ on the race to the moon. Up our alley!! George’s name is on the moon; I bet his isn’t! Actually, he is pretty knowledgeable! Usual, drinks, dinner, drinks, attempt to go to the show. We lasted 1/2 of a song by an English male vocalist!

Jan. 25. At Sea. 80, cloudy. Seas 8-10’. 

Today is a real, planned sea day. Much as we love traveling and touring, we love our sea days! Today was typical. We went to the morning lecture about the Spanish quest for gold in South America. Amazing how 200 Spaniards conquered 2 million indigenous people! There was the first, in 53 days, special buffet on the pool deck; a beautiful edible display of tropical fruits. On sea days the specialty restaurants are also open for lunch so us 4 decided to go to Chartreuse, for the French Onion Soup. Frankly, I think all 4 of us couldn’t get out of there soon enough, and get back to where we belong; by the pool bar with our chips, burgers and hot dogs! The afternoon lecture was on the development of the Space Shuttle. Again, interesting to George and me. We had a dinner reservation in Prime 7 tonight. When we got to the Observation Lounge for our pre-dinner cocktail, someone was at “our table”, and again, when we got to Prime, someone was at “our table”!! Don’t these people have any respect! Anyway, both L&O and us each split an 18 oz. Rib steak. They were cooked perfectly and delicious, so that made up for everything else. Great evening, skipped the show and took a glass of wine back to the room, which is on the same floor as Prime, so just a short drive!

Jan. 26. Salvador, Brazil. 85, and partly cloudy and humid. Thunderstorms afternoon.

Our guide today thinks Salvador is a beautiful city, with a better beach than Copacabana, better vistas and a better Carnival. Got to love a guide who loves his city! . The first thing he told us was the city is very, very safe, because there are many police on every corner, but, if we were wearing a gold necklace, we should take it off before gettin off the bus! Our tour today was 3 hours with 3 stops. The first was a 30 min. drive through shanty towns and slums to an odd church, built by a guy who survived because of a miracle. We were immediately accosted by locals trying to sell any and everything as we got off the bus. There was a Mass taking place, and I always think it’s rude for tourists to gawk during a religious ceremony. There was also this very creepy “miracle” room, with plastic molds of appendages hanging from the ceiling. Next we drove for 50 mins. to the “high rent” district, the Red River neighborhood, where we got off to see a lighthouse and “vistas” of the beaches. It was a very shabby area, with at best a few moldy 2 star hotels. We returned by the ship, (we got off here), before the final stop at a Mercado for souvenir shopping. If there is an upscale part of this city, the minister of tourism is doing a really bad job, because nobody would want to come back here after seeing what we saw. Lissy and Harty had an afternoon tour so did walk to that Mercado we skipped in the morning and said the prices were ridiculous and there was nothing there. After hearing from us and others, they skipped their tour! We heard at cocktails that on one of our afternoon tours a guest was attacked by 2 14 year old boys who tried to get his gold bracelet. Cops came to his aid within seconds but just let the kids go! We lingered over dinner in CR and did go to the show, a comedian who made us laugh out loud!

Jan. 27. Maceio, Brazil. 85, partly cloudy.

What a difference a day makes. The water here is a beautiful blue/green. It’s the color that Bobby Sue says “if our Hilton Head ocean were this color, we couldn’t afford to live here”. We didn’t arrive until noon, so we went to the morning lecture on how the ancient Greeks knew the earth was round and how they calculated the almost exact circumference in like 250 BC!! Our afternoon tour guide spoke perfect English. He admitted, by the end of the tour that he was born and lived in California until he moved to Brazil at age 13. Maceio has 30 miles of beautiful beaches, on this spectacular colored clear water. It seems to be an up and coming tourist area, but not quite there yet. Our first stop was to an artisan area South on the city. From there we did a panoramic of downtown, with a stop at a Cathedral. We then went to a scenic overlook of the city. We were to do a drive by of the north side, up-scale beach area, but…Carnival. Carnival officially starts Feb. 8th, but Brazilians  love to party, so starting last week, every Saturday and Sunday there are “Pre-Carnival”  street parties, like Rio, starting at 7am and going till 7am! So the streets by the beach were closed and traffic horrendous. Our last stop was a Mercado by the beach. From the back door we could watch the absolutely crazy, fun street party going on. Loud music, everyone, like thousands of people , dancing in the street, crazy costumes. It’s wild! And it’s still 2 weeks til real Carnival! We didn’t get back to the ship til almost 6. They had a relaxed dress code, and a buffet in La Veranda, so we did a quick shower, quick drink and the buffet. After, with no time for afternoon naps today, we all retired to our suites.