The lighthouse on the entrance of Chania harbour was built in 1500s. There quite a lot of ruins all around the old part of the city. It is quite lovely with again, sidewalk cafes around the harbour. It looks much like Venice. Crete, I’ve been told, was heavily bombed by the Germans during the 2nd World War. It is really a pity since this is where much of civilization began and so there is great lose to the ancient buildings. I dont know in which time period they were built but they are ancient. The old city area (we did not go very far afield) is really a shoppers haven. None of us went on any organized tours. I actually spent on a few special fashion pieces. Others bought silver jewelry. After shopping we stopped at one if those lovely harbour-side restaurants, for lunch. Then together 6 of us walked to the nearest beach. It was sandy, had a gradually slope and there was no garbage floating in the water. It was so nice just to cool down for a while in the sea. Actually the weather has not been too hot..,.around 23/24 C …… So not bad. It was a very enjoyable day off the ship. Tomorrow is a sea day and tonight we get to sleep an extra hour. That means we will be back on Rome time… 9 hours ahead of home. 

As I had posted previously, I am off again on another journey….again with the Women’s Travel Meetup.  This time we are traveling to Rome and going on another cruise but this time it is in the Mediterranean…..for 15 days.  Again we are traveling with Oceania but on a larger ship, the Riviera.  She is much larger but still very mush smaller than a lot of the other cruise ships on the seas.  I’ll elaborate on that in a bit. 

Our first leg of the journey was just to Vancouver…..uneventful really.  We had enough time to enjoy a very nice lunch in Milestones.  I started out by being somewhat “good” by having a salad, but oh my what an awesome salad.  We’ll see how long that lasts.  

Next leg was a nine plus hour. Flight with Air France.  A first time flying with them.  It was quite nice.  Food and drinks were included.  It’s rarely that that happens anymore.  Pamela and I sat in the bulkhead seats…..middle seats of middle section (3+4+3 across), so that she had leg room for her 6′ plus frame.  You should see the two of us together.  Mutt and Jeff.  It was again a first for me with no seat in front of us to support the tray.  The tray came out of the arm which cuts down on the width of the seat.  Any narrower and I could not get my wide self into it.  Not for me, the most comfortable arrangement ….especially for a nine plus hour flight.  I have decided, although there is not much chance of getting around if I want to travel to far away lands, that I don’t like those long flights. It’s not that I don’t like flying.  It’s just that it takes to darned long.  This flight, cuz we were flying into time, called for us to sleep.  Just as I finally drifted off, a couple women not far away from us, started talking in very loud voices.  Woke us up for the remainder of the flight to Paris.  Inconsiderate for sure.  Grrrrr!  We arrived in Paris with very little time to change planes.  You know the routine I am sure where you have to hike for miles and miles only to have to go through “border patrol” that has line ups that are a mile and half long and our other flight is already boarding.  Some people are stressing out when there really isn’t a thing you can do about it.  We made it…..probably cuz there was a delay leaving Charles DeGaulle Airport.  Wow, what an ultra modern facility!  Beautiful…….and huge!  The next leg was to Rome airport.  Only 2 hours this time but a long time since getting up in the early morning hours of the day before.  After picking up our luggage, we went walking and walking trying to get to the Best Western shuttle bus.  And then it was waiting for forever for that bus to come and get us.   Incidentally DO Not assume that because it is a “hotel” shuttle that it is free.  Not!  10 Euros times 8 for literally a 5 minute drive. Again some people are getting excited for something that is just a fact of traveling.  Don’t assume anything.  Ask first.  I think by the time we got checked in it was 2 o’clock in the afternoon of the 31st, Sunday.  We are all exhausted but decide we cannot wait for the hotel restaurant to open for dinner at 7 so we all trek into the smallish town area.  There is now the 11 of us.  Shirley and Jim arriving in from Nova Scotia and Jeanette (my roommate) from New York.  They were at the hotel when we arrived.  Our 12 th is still in hospital in Vancouver.  We are sorry that she is there and not here for her and for Pamela (cuz she is having a room all to herself).  At least she doesn’t have to be all alone.  All she has to do is go out the door for the rest of us and her Mom and Jim.  Anyway, we walked into this town that is along side a canal that has lots of fish boats and sailboats tied up.  There was all kinds of nets and all the rest of the gear that is necessary for fishing, all along a sort of malecon.  The street had a whole string of outside, sidewalk cafes.  Not exactly the kind I would envision is like in Paris but nice just the same.  We started out with Prosecco (3 Euros for a small bottle) and food predominately made with fish.  Most everyone enjoyed theirs except me, but then I am not particularly fond of fish.  A few of us bought large bottles of Prosecco to take on board the next day.  Incidentally, Oceania does not mind you bringing on liquor to drink in your stateroom.  Not so for other cruise lines.  This cruise may cost a little more but others nickel and dime you to death for everything especially liquor…..well not exactly nickel and dime. We then headed back to the hotel walking along the canal.  That was nice.  It is not too hot….just nice.  We get back about 6 pm that is like 9am Victoria time but OMG we are all so tired since we basically had not slept for over 24 hours.  I think I crawled into bed at 6:30 and was out like a light.  We had not even bothered to go into Rome at all……just too bagged.

It is now Monday, June 1st….the day we start our cruise.  We get our breakfast included ( good but cold) and mega number of cups of coffee.   Good!  Had to put 2 shots to make a cup but great.  Then it was taking the shuttle ( this we had prepaid so was not a surprise) to Civitevecchia, the port city for Rome.  It was probably at least an hour and a half drive to get there.  We just sailed on through check-in…….not like Rio.  Of course we sort of queue jumped because we had all upgraded to concierge so you then are allowed to do that. 

This ship is very lovely.  The reception/concierge/destinations area and grand staircase is really exquisite and so much larger than the Regatta.  The staterooms are really a whole lot larger as well.  Can you believe 100 square feet larger plus the balcony is bonus.  Marion and Joyce have the room next to Jeanette and myself so we had the room steward open the door that separates the two on the balcony.  We even have a full bathroom with soaker tub and separate shower, granite floors and walls.  Gorgeous!  Because we all upgraded to concierge, we have access to the private deck at the rear of the ship with a thalassotherapy pool, sauna and steam room.  The weight room is huge but I believe it is open to all, upgrade or not.  All this quite posh but maybe not as glamorous as in Vegas style as some of the other ship but then we don’t have to contend with huge populations.  This ship has a maximum passenger quota of 1250…..twice the size of Regatta.

Milazzo on Sicily was our first port of call.  We were tendered in.  The almost entire group of eleven minus one, went on the same excursion.  We head out driving along the coast towards Taomina.  The very mountainous countryside is lovely with masses amounts of bouganvilla and oleander everywhere, mountain top villages (built for protection because they are so high up and of course the vantage point) and beaches in little strips along the coast.  As i said, these villages were built on the top of mountains.  The bus drove a fair way up the hill but then when we got out, we had to take an elevator up I believe 7 floors and then had to walk some more.  This village is absoltely gorgeous beong used as a resort town since the 19th century.  It is so well preserved with outside cafe and bars and lots of shops.  I guess i must have been sleepin when we were told that there was an ancient theatre at this site as well.  I didnt realize until it was too late.  I only got to the gates.  Apparently is it was originally built by the Greeks but then the Romans built atop it.  From there, we went to see a lava river.  We are quite close to Mt. Etna.  Etna is not just one sole peak but many.  If i remember correctly, every time it erupted it made another peak.  When we got to Taomina, we actually could see the top of it but later when we were leaving, it was shrouded in clouds.  Next stop was to a winery.  Needless to say we all purchased.  I would come back here to Sicily.  Leaving later, we sailed through the Messina Straits.  We were in the dining room at the time so didn’t get to see it but from the sounds and jerking of the ship, I would say it was extremely turbulent.  I could see through the windows that it was quite narrow with land close on both sides.  
Kefalonia is the name of our first stop in Greece.  It is an island in the Ionian Sea.  Argostoli is capital.  Previous to 1953 earthquake the population went from 130,000 to 38,000 after.  I guess the residents decided it was a good time to get the heck out of Dodge.  That earthquake devistated most of the islands buildings.  Consequently most all buildings are post 1953.   One thing that they noticed after was that in the case of the churches, what the earthquake did not destroy, the bells in the bell towers did.  As a result when rebuilding, the bell towers are separate.  

It seems that they are building fish farms all over the world including here where they breed sea bass and sea bream.  Apparently the fish stocks had been depleated before so  I guess there was no lose to their wild fish.  It is a big source of income here as are bees and thyme flavoured honey.  Not much else is a money maker for this area besides tourism.

This area is very mountainous but really not all that high.  Maximum 1100 metres on Mt. Eons.  The lower sides of the mountain have trees growing that they call Kefalonia Firs.  They are quite dark so they call the mountain the black mountain.  You also see a lot of Cyprus trees.  The Venicians used to strip all the branches and cut them to use as the poles to tie up the gondolas to because they are absolutely straight and probably resistent to decay.

British in 1809 came … Built bridge across lagoon at Argostoli 

Myrtos beach most photographed

Sami town 3th largest 

Scorpios is the name of Onassis’ island.  Maria Callas his previous lover before Jackie Kennedy, lived here.

Ithaca 5 largest Ionian island seen off coast home of Odysseus

Loggerhead turtle 15 yrs before reproducing 50-70 eggs endangered only 1 in 100 survive…males forage. 48 males in harbour last year. Only place males will be in groups

Monk seal endangered as well

40 x 160 metres -Melazzani lake 39 actually

40 feet deep- salt water fed but returns almost totally fresh water

Through the swallow holes near argostoli und3rground to melisma I lake to littl3 lake then to ocean again at Sami from 100% salt water to 50% fresh
Limestone based so soak up winter water in caves so sprout springs

 Summer may to 5/6 months : 20-22-24 to 28 in June 30 in July 30 in August sept into 20s October 15 jan/February 1-8 deg. Some snow 

.kephalonia fir tree…black Xmas tree

Cafenion local coffee shop where locals gather

Mt. Enos 11,000′

St. Gerasamus patron saint—body never decomposes

1.59E / l.
48 different varieties of grapes

Ravolo med. dry white wine

The bulk of Turkey is in Anatolia which is in Asia. The other is Marmara (around Istambul and the Bosporus). That is considered Europe. The population of Alanya today is 200,000 but 30 yrs ago it was only 30,000. Then tourism started.
It really very nice here….some place that a lot of us would like to come back to for an extended stay. The hotels are huge, look quite luxurious as we drove by. We were told they cost $150-200 US dollars per night if you walk in but much cheaper if you get a package with air….through a travel agent. There are 600,000 hotel beds with 11 million visitors per year in Alanya with 100% occupation in high season and 65% capacity in off season. 30 million tourists come to Turkey per year so you can see it is big business here. Part of the reason no doubt is that they get over 300 days of sunshine. Alanya is situated on the south side of Turkey backed by an 1800 metre mountain range…..the Taurus Range and the Mediterranean Sea.  

Because of the abundance of sunshine they get 3 harvest per year.
Turkey is 90% islamic …….most of balance are Christian Orthodox with 2% being Jewish. There are 9 million Kurds out of 78 million population. 2% are nomads. Education is mandatory to all at 6/7 except the nomadics.  The Turks originally were from middle Asia around Afghanistan.
We left Alanya for Side which is pronounced like Sidae. ……means pomegranate.  Side has been in existence since the 7th century BC…..the population of the area is 130,000 now.
Oh my! This is the best ruins i have ever seen. It is a theatre built in the 2nd century AD. It is partly built in the Greek style with Roman part being added later. Stones and seat are all marble, building is sandstone and conglomerate. I will send pictures. It is just amazing! 
From there we went to see the Damlatas Cave where Cleopatra reportedly would slip away down to swim in the sea. The stalactites and stalagmites are really quite something……actually even though covering a smaller area, are much better than the ones that i saw in Barbados earlier this year.  
It was then back to the ship to get some lunch and decide what to do for the rest of the time here is port.   Joyce, Jeanette and myself took a taxi to Kleopatra (yes that is the correct spelling) Beach, went swimming for a bit. The Mediterranean is so absolutely crystal clear and turquoise (although not quite like some of the places in the Caribbean). It, in my mind, is quite surprising how clear it is although there was quite a lot of floating debris. We then returned to the ship for happy hour and sail away.
The fort walls and forts up the hills in Alanya are awe inspiring. Alanya Castle is obviously a landmark of the city, as it is seen basically from every point. The castle walls date back to the 13th century and are built on top of Byzantine fortifications. The walls are 6.5 km long and include 140 towers, including the most famous Red Tower. These castle walls aparently  are 250 metres high. This land was given to Cleopatra by Mark Antony.  The shipyards are from roman period.  The beaches with loungers and umbrellas, party boats in the style of pirate ships plus other pleasure crafts in the bay, are from this period.  All in all …….wow! Myself and a lot of the others, feel that they would love to come back here for a longer more in depth visit. It is amazing to all of us that we had never heard of this place before. Another thing to note is that German is widely spoken here as well as English and of course Turkish. There used to be lots of Russians that would come here up until last year but don’t now because their economy since the Ukraine invasion has made it unaffordable to them.  
Beautiful! I would recommend a visit to Alanya and surrounding area.

Well it seems that my blog has disappeared. I had been entering little bits and pieces as I go along because there doesn’t seem to be enough time to write, complete and send…… even if we have “unlimited wifi”. So sorry. And so i will start again.  I will send as i complete each of the days…even if it is a week late.

The flight to Vancouver was short and uneventful as one would expect.  The next leg was to Paris France on Air France.  This is a first for me.  We were fed….that is unsual in this age of flying and we got free beverages as well.  Whohoo!  Nice service, nice plane!  Because we were flying into time, this was a good time to try to sleep.  Just as i /we were drifting off, two women started a conversation talking very loudly.  Well that was the end of that.  We arrived pretty much on time only i guess two hours is not enough time to walk the mile and a half to clear boarder control, then to get to our connecting flight to Rome.  We were already supposted to be boarding and we hadn’t got through the immigration checkpoint so a few were getting anxious.  But….we did make it.  We arrive into Rome airport only to have to walk again ….to the end of the pick up section.  (As many of you are aware, my knees are not very good these days).  That was where we were to catch a shuttle to our hotel.  Waiting, waiting then finally.  When we arrived at the hotel, my roomate Jeanette was there having arrived from New York, and Shirley and Jim from Nova Scotia.  We were also missing on  of our planned 12.  She ended up in hospital.  We don’t know what got her there except extreme pain.  We were so tired and hungry by the time we get to our rooms (its 3 pm and the restaurant doesnt open until 7) so we just walked into the little village/town near the airport to get some food and drink.  It was quite nice with a canal along the street with a sort of “malecon” and sidewalk cafes….the only places that were open at this hour of the afternoon.  You know they close for the afternoon and don’t reopen until 7 pm.  After arriving back at the hotel, although we had originally planned to go into Rome and do the hop-on hop-off bus, none of us made it.  It was straight to sleep by about 6:30 Rome time.  We had all been up since the early morning hours of the day before.

Next morning it was breakfast included at the hotel and then the shuttle (pre-paid) was to pick us up to take us the 90 minute drive to Civetevecchia port.  Upon checking out we were all quite surprised to find that the shuttle from the airport, was not free even though it was a hotel shuttle.  I guess we should have check that one out before.  Never assume anything.

We boarded the ship with absolute speed……yeah!  Unlike in Rio.  Maybe it was the upgrade that we could queue jump.  That is nice.  The ship Riviera is gorgeous….much bigger and grander than the Regatta although no where near the size of alot of the ships out there.  The staterooms are huge and the balcony is so nice.  We even have a full sized bath tub and seperate shower.  Jeanette and i are right next to Joyce and Marion so we get the steward to open the door between the two balconies.  Pam and Shirley and Jim are doing the same.  Right away we run into Fausto from Honduras who was on the Regatta with us.  It was like running into old friends.

I am going to send this off before i lose it and then go in search of the rest of the gals and Jim. 

   Mediterranean.  Here I am waiting at the airport in Victoria with Pamela, Marion and Joyce.  Gerry, Margrit, Janet and Jean have already on their way to Vancouver.  Pam’s mom and Jim are coming from Nova Scotia, my roommate Jeanette is coming from New York and one of our travel buddies Sherry couldn’t make it.  I am sooooo excited!!!

I will post more later as it happens. 

Sorry that I didn’t complete this at the time.  No excuse!  I just didn’t get around to it.  I thought I had better get on it now since I will be leaving again…..for Rome and a very exciting cruise in the Mediterranean, this weekend.

The last two ports were Nassau, the place I had loved so much when I had gone in 1969 and 70, and Miami.  OMG, that was so long ago.  I was really quite disappointed for sure.  It was brutally hot and humid and there was I think, 4 ships with passengers numbering well over 4000 each and a couple that had 650+…..and that wasn’t counting their crews. Too many for one place like Nassau.  It really isn’t a very big place.  The residents that were connected to the tourist trade, were out in full force, hawking tours and jewels.  It was overwhelming.  And I didn’t get the opportunity to do the one thing I wanted to do while there…..go snorkeling.  That experience or lack of, made me realize that if I wanted to do something in particular, that I had better pre-book it.  So I didn’t get to see anything except the downtown area.  I will say though, that the colour of the water there is like no other place.  OMG it is gorgeous!  Turquoise leaning toward green.

One of the ships in port was a NCL.  Huge …….with huge water-slides and Jungle Jim playground that hung out over the edge, on the top.  Do you think there was kids on that ship???  Our ship on the other hand, had NO children on it.  One other thing of note was on ours, the passengers were more physically active and not grossly overweight like I had seen in other cruises I have been on.

Next stop was Miami.  Since we had a few hours to kill before boarding our flight home, several of us did a hop on, hop off of Miami that included Coral Gables, Little Havana (which was nothing remarkable other than a open air place where the “natives” play dominos), the Miami City Hall (its a preserved Art Deco building) and the yacht club beside it.  We did not go by the beach area.  Not very exciting.  And it was cold……like 58 F.  Brrrrr on the top of the open-air bus.

Then it was the flight home….yuk!  I don’t mind flying.  I just wished it didn’t take so long.  So now I will be off on another adventure this weekend.  Yahoo!!!

March 20th, 2015….. still in the Amazon but heading to the Atlantic…. a sea day. 

Some facts:

The rainforest covers an area that includes parts of Brazil, Peru, Columbia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Suriname, Guyana and French Guiana. 

The Amazon is second largest river in the world…. 6400 kms. or 4000 mi.   It is so very wide especially now that it is flooding. 

There are over 1100 tributaries of which 17 are over 1500 kms long. (I am sure the captain must be using a gps to make sure we are on the right “road”).

The Amazon is the home to the piranha ….  a deadly meat eating fish but according to one guide, they are not much interested  in humans for food.   They are not large but have nasty teeth and when they attack, it is a feeding frenzy. (I wanted to bring a preserved one home but didn’t know if we can bring things like that into Canada).

Anacondas lurk in the shallow waters of the rivers. I never saw one…. a bit disappointed in that. 

They also have boas in the jungle. Boas are constrictors but our guide told us they are poisonous for one month out of the year…. this month. Right….. nice!

The Amazon River’s source is Lago Villafro in the Andes Mts. of Peru. 

By the way the temperature usually is 28 to 31 C every day with the water being exactly the same temp  as the air.  So if you fell in the river or ocean you wouldn’t die from

hypothermia….. lol!  Something else would surely get you tho’.   The depth of the river at the mouth is at most 30 meters so you can understand why only the smaller ships like ours can go up it. 

Today once reaching the Atlantic again, the waters are rough. You should have seen us trying to line dance with the ship rocking and rolling. Also today, the ship had a Gala Tea with ice sculptures and elaborate carvings made from things like squashes and watermelon. Absolutely amazing!  And the little fancy sandwiches and desserts. Oh my!  Everyday there is high tea with fancy foods but today was extra special. Then it was off to happy hour. This was the first day with no 25% Brazilian tax so I splurged and bought a drink in one of the bars…… as did a whole lot of other people on board. Most of us have bought wine and other spirits on shore and brought on board. It’s allowed on Oceania. 

March 21st….Devils Island. Actually there are 3 islands of which the largest and where most prisoners were “housed” is Isle Royale and not Isle Diable. Together they are called the Salvation Islands….funny name for this absolutely beautiful trio of islands with such a terrible history. Here are some facts as told to me. There were over the course of time in that penitentiary, 70,000 prisoners with 50,000 escape attempts made. 50% of prisoners died within the  first year of arriving here from the heat, humidity, dysentery, cholera, malaria, etc…. never mind the very harsh treatment they had to endure. BTW the humidity was almost 100% so along with mid 80 F made the perspiration, literally constantly run down my face and into my eyes. 

March 22….at sea. 

March 23….Barbados is quite a beautiful island they drive on the “wrong” side of the road…… with many, many round-a-bouts. The land on the east side of the island which is on the Atlantic, is unstable and is prone to slides so they are not allowed to build on it. We were 7 in a taxi van today. Our first stop was to see the Harrison’s Caves. Beautiful!  I can’t remember all the fact but is something that I would recommend to see if you are ever here. I have many pictures. Then to Hunt’s Gardens. Oh wow!  If you know me you know how much I love gardens and plants.   It was absolutely fabulous. They had 7 acres but only 2 that were developed. It is so lush. It is amazing that it took only 2 years to grow like this. I took so many pictures of both these places. While there, I got to see a hummingbird nest with a couple of babies in it and a few flying around that were a shiny black with I am sure other fluorescent colours on them if they stayed in one place long enough to see.  The owner and developer was an old “white” man, whose ancestors had been indentured servants. We saw the only operational sugar wind mill circa 1727. Gorgeous!  Off to the beach (Atlantic side) beautiful and rugged. Funny the beach were covered with seaweed which we had seen lots of it floating out in the ocean. Our driver said that it more this year than they had ever seen. I wonder what is going on there. Global change maybe???  Off to a spot that overlooks the whole coastline.  Wow!  Then to a sugar plantation. Again…… Beautiful ……and old. They are in the production of rum….. very expensive rum but oh so very good!  Trust me. Then it was back towards the pier where some of the gals wanted to purchase chocolate from a factory. The owner, get this, is a young Barbadian Canadian born in Montreal. A drive and short stop to the waterfront/downtown area of Bridgetown. There a couple of bridges over what I think is salt water, a beautiful boardwalk. Yachts tied up all along this boardwalk. Lovely!  Some girls said they would have to come back here again. Some interesting facts and curious things as told to us by our driver. The 

Mangania tree is poisonous. No birds or animals go near them. There are lots of Mahogany trees.  65% of food needed here is grown here. I’m surprised. The bearded (vines) Ficus is where the name of Barbados comes from.  Saturday knockers are what Barbadians call Jehovah’s Witnesses. and the Parliament buildings is called the snake house.

March 24…. St. Bart’s. Oh wow!  Tres riche!!!!  The yachts in the harbour, the quaint, well-cared for buildings, the French influence, the Euro…. Oh my!  We all went a spectacular little beach appropriately called Shell Beach cuz it is just waaaay too expensive to shop. An absolutely gorgeous place though.  

Next stop, March 25… San Juan Puerto Rico. This is one place that was never really on my bucket list but I have to tell you I would love to come back here again. The gals I was with today and myself, just stayed in the “Old Town”section…. So did not get to see the rest of the island and what it had to offer. Climbing up to one of the two forts. The streets are extremely narrow, one way with parking on one side. There were traffic police on pretty much every corner…. Of course there were 6 cruise ships in port today. That could explain why traffic was so congested. The building reminded me of the old quarter in New Orleans with the wrought iron balconies (some Juliet’s), the street paved with brick shaped rock that looked like basalt. The prices here are really quite reasonable and they have some really nice merchandise. Back to the ships in port… One was an MSC with 4200+ passengers and only a crew of 1500. We have 650+ passengers and a crew of 400. Which do you think has the best service? There was also the Holland America’s Nieuw Amsterdam that was quite likely bigger than the MSC, a Disney ship

and another Oceania…. The Riviera at twice the capacity as this ship but their staterooms are much bigger and almost all are balcony suites. 

March 26….. At sea. 

March 27… The cruise is drawing to an end. The ports of call have been awesome.  It has been an enlightening experience that I have totally enjoyed. I will miss the crew.. they have been fabulous….. many calling me by name.  The entertainment even though it has to be a smaller production because of the ship’s size, has been first class. The ship itself is really quite lovely. The captain is a hoot…. very personable with a great sense of humour….approachable……gave us gals a tour of the bridge when we were in San Juan. Most of all, I will miss travelling with the gals. It has been like a bunch going for a “girls’ weekend” ……only longer.  Most of us did not know each other before but I am sure that many of us will remain friends at home. 

Today will be Nassau. We will not arrive for a few more hours but I am going to try to send this now and send another in a couple of days. 

Please excuse an typos and misuse of English language. I am doing this using my phone. 

The captain got us early to our first  stop on the 15th…..Santarem.  Thank goodness because we had a long tour booked. We walked around the town briefly (it was Sunday… all the stores were closed). There are so very many boats here. It is what life on the river is all about …. pretty much the only means of transportation other than in the towns. Went to see the pink dolphins that feed off the fish that are thrown from the fish market. Then to the town’s cathedral and a clothing museum in the private home of the 93 yr. old maker. Everything is made from natural fibres….. no cloth. She had parrots and macaws, etcetera. in backyard. On going back out, I missed a 3″ drop in the floor …..crashing onto my knees. Nothing broken but some bruising. Our guide showed us some strange small tree that I cannot remember the name of…. that has “fruit” about the size of a mini watermelon but hard as a rock. It is used in production of bowls. He then took us back to port where we were to catch a boat operated by Gil Serique… A well known ecological naturalist. Some of the tour had already left so we had to catch up with the others using a “speed” boat. That guide showed us the meeting of the Tapajos River with very muddy Amazon…. Very distinct. He also showed us  pink dolphins but they didn’t want to co-operate and show themselves very much. We proceeded until we caught up with the other bigger boat(s) in another tributary ….I would classify it as floodwaters like a bayou…. kind of swampy but definitely not stagnant. It was running. This is the rainy season so everything is flooding including the areas used to graze cattle in dry season.  We were told the river probably has another 2 metres to rise. Apparently the trees in order to survive, have to be able to withstand being submerged in up to 8 meters of water for up to 7 months. Anyway, the bigger boat was butted up to the river bank where everyone was looking up at a couple of sloths in the trees. From there we continued on near to a spot close to where we could all get to see the giant water lilies. Wow!!!!  Beautiful and huge. We also got into canoes for a paddle through a waterlogged jungle. Some saw toucans, others a another sloth hanging as well as a tiny porcupine high up in the trees. Then….. OMG we were all wondering if we were going to make it back to the ship before it left. But …..on the way back, the most beautiful sunset. By the way we were late….. By 1 minute. Phew!!

Next day, the 16th…  Boca de Valeria. This a tiny native village of about a hundred people but that many more come from the neighbouring areas. Here too, they live in houses that are built on stilts with no plumbing. The electricity was wires strung here there and wherever, had not been working for quite some time. Very primitive conditions. The kids were all over you grabbing and trying to hold your hand. I acquired one little boy….. gorgeous like Elvis, who lived elsewhere, was either taught English in school or went to an English school. He was a great little guide. I am sure all this touching, etc., is an attempt to get money (which is in a way,is teaching the kids to sell themselves). But….. They are so very poor it many be one of only a few ways to make some money. How many times do they have a cruise ship stop by for a visit …..with opportunities.  Some of the passengers and crew left supplies, including clothes and stuff for the school. The kids all showed off their pets… Lots of sloths, the cabydara 

(the world’s largest rodent…..tied up with a halter like the family’s pet dog), one boy with a small boa around his neck, baby monkeys and an older different kind of monkey, a baby black cayman (with a wire around his mouth), a tarantula, tiny parrots, and a toucan. There was also an alligator tied with rope and wire, to a board. Nice that they did that!  There were people, adults and kids dressed in costume. One my second trip in (by tender), I went ashore with a lady named Ruth. She and I took a half hour ride in one of their boats up and around the river… for $5US each.    We were on board with a father, grandfather and 4 yr old adorable little girl. She babble on and on like 4 yr olds do wherever. We had no idea what she was saying. That was an experience. Ropes knotted together were the steering “cables”.  Now this is really what they call the Amazon rainforest. Totally saturating rain, soggy red mud up to your ankles. I loved it. 

Tuesday, March 17th St. Patricks day. Today we only walked around the very large city of Manaus …… Famous for its opera house and once the richest city in the world at the time….. Because of the production of rubber. It is 1000 kilometres up the Amazon and the furthest point that we are travelling to. In the area …. The downtown area near the port, were blocks and blocks of pedestrian streets with shops and kiosks….. A real marketplace!  Prices were very inexpensive but who can shop when the temperature is near 90 with 100% humidity?  The perspiration was literally running down our faces. Good thing I wasn’t wearing any eye makeup. So very uncomfortable and exhausting.  While we were here in port, the pier was shared by a Seabourn ship. I chatted with a fellow that was a passenger on that ship. They had travelled from Santiago, Chile to Antarctica, around the southern tip of South America and up to Amazon. He was most impressed with the penguins and icebergs. He said it was not as cold there as it was in his home town in New York. 

Many boats on this river look like the paddle wheelers on the Mississippi…. but without the paddles. 

Today, the 18th, we are heading back down the river toward Parintins. Enroute, not sure if the ship was on autopilot or what but damn we got so close to shore then the ship made a hard turn to avoid hitting shore. I think someone was not paying attention ….. asleep at the wheel and had to make a quick correction. There was lots of discussion from the passengers later. One lady apparently fell. The captain said later that the ship leaned 3% to the port but I am inclined to think it was somewhere  more like 10%+.  On getting to Parintins, Gerry and I checked out all the handcrafts in the pier area….. lots of nice stuff. I purchased a beautiful blowgun and a gourd-like ornament that looked like an owl one way but a monkey the other way. Them we took a pedicab around town. By that time it was siesta time so everything was closed but whatever, we got a tour. 

Thursday the 19th…. We are arrived in Alter de Chao…. A lovely little town of about 2,000 not far from Santarem….. on the Tapajos River.   On the weekends the population triples.  It is supposed to have one of the best beaches in Brazil. It reminds one of a Caribbean island community. I think some of the gals would like to return… but not in the rainy season. The beach would then be exposed. They have cabanas on this spit/sandbar that runs to Ilha do Amor (Island of Love).  I did not check out this lovely little town but instead went on a Gil Serigue tour of a jungle forest. Unfortunately, like the last on we took with him, time ran short so we were in fear of not making it back to the ship in time. Makes one a little stressed. Part of the reason with this was that we had an hour and half drive each way to get there. We saw trees…. Huge ones some called Kapok also called buttress trees. The one we were introduced to was 700 yrs old.  It is very lite wood so is used for making coffins but not much else.  Also brazil nut trees…. extremely tall…. Besides the nuts it is used to land on in emergencies. (Ask me more about that if you are interested). There were cocoa trees and tiny fungi and huge beautiful flowers somewhat resembling a magnolia flower, on one tree. Sorry but I cannot remember the name of any of the plants/trees cuz their names are mainly in Portuguese.  On the return trip we visited Belterra…… Henry Ford’s town built during his involvement in the rubber boom in the 1930s. It resembles small town middle America. The sidewalks, the streets made with interlocking paving blocks, the houses painted green and white only (his mandated colours), the water system, the sirens indicating the beginning and end of each work day….all as it was built back then with no upkeep to any of it since. But as the guide indicated, its in better shape than modern day infrastructure in the much newer towns. 

Sunday, March 8^th, 2015. This morning we had not booked a tour so we (Adrienne and I) went ashort to the pier to see if we could book a tour…..a tour that included Corcovado, Christ the Redeemer and Sugsr Loaf Mountain. We found one on the pier at a reasonable price that also included seeing the beaches (praisas)…….Cococabana, Ipanema and Leblon…..we had seen them the day before so didn’t need to go back but it was included. We stopped at the Sambadrome, where the Carnival parade is held. The stands hold 72,000 people. We also stopped for a few minutes to see the Mario Filho Stadium where (1958-62) World Cup Soccer is/was held. We then proceeded to go to Corcovado (as far as I can gather, is the name of the mountain that the Christ statue is perched on. It is very, very high up so it takes one tour van, then you get out, get tickets, get in line, take another van, then walk up and up. OMG! When you get up to it, it is truely amazing. So humongous…..30 metres high. You just have no idea. The look on the face of Christ…..it almost brought tears to my eyes. It so difficult to get a good picture cuz it is so huge. And the view from there….amazing. Rio is so beautiful….and huge…….7 million people. Because we took a little longer than I guess we should have, our guide Marcia said we wouldn’t be able to make it to Sugar Loaf and get back to our ship by 4 (actually we needed to be back on board by 4:30 but you need to add a little time in case of problems. One does not want to have to fly to the next port at your own cost. When Marcia (said Massia) saw how important it was for me because that was one of 2 reasons we took this tour, she made it happen. The deal was that we had to run once we got to it…..us 2 only and her. The others (they were all from the other ship that was in port) just wanted to go to the beach and eat. At the last minute a woman on our tour that had mobility issues, decided she wanted to come too. Oh my, did that throw Marcia into a tizzy. Away we went. It wasn’t a great distance to Sugar Loaf but you have to get in line to purchase tickets for 2 gondola rides and then we had to run between first and second sections. The disabled lady decided that she only wanted to go to the the first level (a rise of 232 metres) and that she and her adult son would wait while we ran to the next gondola ride, at which point the gondola takes you another rise of 398 metres. We made it up…..again breathtaking views, took pictures, left after about 5 minutes, back down to meet the other two only to find that they were no where to be found. OMG, that poor girl Marcia was beside herself. She sent us with the driver to the pier then he had to come back for her and hopefully the other two and then go back for the remainder of the tour passengers to have them back to their ship by 5. She went above and beyond and Adrienne and I got to see all that we wanted. On that tour I had befriended the daughter of the disabled lady. She was from near Sao Paulo. Lovely, lovely person. We will be Facebook friends. She also invited me to come stay at her home. Nice!

We set sail, crossing under the longest span bridge in the southern hemisphere…..and then turning around and going back under it, then heading out of this beautifl, magnificent harbour with all those places that we had seen in the last day and a half……… from a different viewpoint. The Christ was lit a sort of a pick colour, the beaches and Sugar Loaf. Wow, wow, wow!!! And the sunset. Incredible!

The next 2 days were at sea. Finally we get to sleep in…….but not for long. I have been meeting Pamella for laps around the deck every morning as a way of keeping the weight gain down…… somewhat. The food….well what can I say. Beautiful and waaaaay too much. One evening we went up to the Horizons lounge, a sort of dico bar area that is used for many functions including high tea. I ordered a glass of red wine. I expected that it would not be cheap but I was not expecting US$17.88. Actually the wine itself was 12 something but a gratuity is automatically added PLUS a 25% Brazillian tax like HST, is added to everything we purchase, on ship or land. And we think we have it bad in Canada. Needless to say there will be NO purchases, alchohol or otherwise, until we get out of Brazillian waters. I overheard one clerk in the boutique say to a custommer ” If you like, we can hold this for you but will not charge it to your card until we are out of Brazillian waters”. There is always another route around things like this.

Day 5, March11, 2015…. we arrived in Recife, said Hecife. Portugese sound “r” like an “h”. Another humoungous city. None of us were expecting that. I would say hundreds of thousands of residential skyscrapers. I have never seen anything quite like this. Gerry, Margrit, Sylvia and I rented a taxi with driver for 3 + hours. He took us all to Olinda, a UNESCO World Heritage site. It really is quite something. I think the cathedral was built in 1580’s and the city was inhabited some time before. It is truly worth visiting. Washington, our guide drove us through the older part of down town (It is just somewhat run down and dirty) but not the same as what they call “Old Town” which we later visited. That was awesome as well. (It is very old but not like Olinda). That is where “Mile Zero” (the most eastern most point in South America) and where my phone decided it didn’t have anymore room for pictures so of course I didn’t get any. Our guide also took us by the beach…….a very long stretch. I don’t know how many miles long it is so I am going to guess at atleast 25miles. On the beach there are signs and flags to indicate there are sharks in the waters. There are times of ther year when it is worse and there are things and activities that bring them and cause them to attack. There were not any people in the water except one lonely fisherman casting out. Looking down the beach, again I was struck with how many highrises there are……massive numbers. FYI, Recife is known as the Venice of Brazil because there are over 50 bridges crossings

Now we have 2 days cruising the Atlantic Ocean and today, Friday the 13^th, we crossed the Equator. They “polliwogs” had to kiss the fish and then get christened with some green liquid stuff so that King Poseiden could go back to the sea and we would be allowed to proceed. Yuk! Sorry not for me. Gerry, Penny and Aurelea were brave and did it. Tomorrow the 14^th, we enter the Amazon River. Apparently we have to have permission to enter the Amazon.