Albuquerque to Rio de Janeiro 12-2011

Albuquerque to Rio de Janeiro via Venice, Dubrovnik, Corfu, Valletta, Tunis, Gibraltar and Recife - December 3-29, 2011

What is on your bucket list? Day dreaming of big trips to exciting places around the world? If so, best not wait too long lest the opportunity passes away.

I had been day dreaming and accumulating frequent flier miles for that big trip someday. Then in May Princess Cruise Lines mailed us a flier that announced a 16 day repositioning cruise from Venice to Rio de Janeiro Dec. 8-24, 2011. Repositioning cruises usually occur twice a year to relocate ships from the Northern hemisphere to the Southern hemisphere and vice versa to accommodate the seasons and where most people want to travel. However, they can be unpopular because there are many days at sea without visiting any ports. This particular cruise was even more unpopular because it required an expensive visa to enter Brazil and it would interfere with normal Christmas plans.

To us, this cruise was ideal. The price was low due to the above reasons, it included Venice, a place we have been to and wanted to revisit plus a number of other places around the Mediterranean that we have not seen. Best of all, it included a stop in Recife where my son, Scott has been living for about 5 years and I had never visited him there. After a couple of excited emails, the trip planning began.

Obtaining the cruise reservations was easy but trying to use our frequent flyer miles was far more challenging. I had plenty but Carol did not have enough so the first step was to transfer some of the miles I had earned to Carol. For this AA saw fit to charge me $85. I am still wondering why and feeling ripped off. Next was the extreme limited availability of eligible award seats and a difficult routing because ABQ is not an airline hub and AA does not service Venice. We finally succeeded with a routing that left ABQ about noon on 12/3 and arrived via Iberia Airlines in Venice after 6PM on 12/4 a total of an apparent 30 hours but actually only 22 hours when you subtract 8 time zones.

The next challenge was to obtain our Brazilian Visas. The Zierer Visa Service is supposed to take the hassle and delay out of this process by walking your passport through the hoops at the Brazilian Embassy in Houston. The process starts online first with Zierer and the entering of travel dates and of course a credit card. The next online stop is completing a visa application at the Brazilian embassy web site. This application has to be printed out and FedEx shipped to Zierer along with photographs, passports and copies of our travel documents into and out of Brazil. The application expires after 30 days and the Brazilian Embassy only accepts visa applications on Tuesdays and Thursdays. We monitored our application status online and were alarmed to see commitment dates come and go repeatedly. After a few phone calls I learned the Zierer clerk assumed the application was good for 60 days not 30. I had to ask them to expedite their service which is advertised as an expedited service, see any irony here? They did manage to get our visa applications processed on the last available day and returned safely to us for combined Zierer and Embassy fees of $569!

Now it seemed like the hard parts were done and we visited the library for travel guides and browsed the Internet for places to stay and things to do. Carol scored what appears to be a lovely Palazzo, Ca' Mocenigo, right on the Grand Canal in Venice and I tried to figure out how to get to it from the Venice airport. Of all the popular tourist cities of the world, Venice seems to be the only place where taxis are not an option. Since we would be arriving after dark and 22 hours of travel, I was eager to find the fastest and most direct route which turned out to be hiring a water taxi at the dock near the airport. The lease agent agreed to meet us on the private dock of the Palazzo!

We enjoyed reading about Piazza San Marco (or St. Marks Square), the Rialto Bridge and various museums to visit. When you look at a Venice map you see that getting about is not as simple as a city like Albuquerque where the streets are laid out in a N-S and E-W grid. Many of the streets curve to comply with the contours of the numerous canals and bridges are infrequent. Looks like we will be doing a lot of walking! Walking can be further complicated by excessively high tides which occur certain times of year.

What happens in Venice when there's a high tide?

Venice and Venetians have always been used to coping with "acqua alta". These are the City Administration's measures in case of high tide: if there's a sea level forecast of +110 cm on the mareographic zero, the population is alerted by acoustic signals and with text messages (for those registered at the free high tide information service of the City Tide Centre - Centro Maree Comunale). At the same time, elevated platforms are set along the main streets to allow passage. Only when exceptional high waters occur (higher than 120 cm on the mareographic zero) the famous "acqua alta boots" are really needed, but even on these occasions the inconvenience last just as long as it takes for the water to go down again, which usually happens in a few hours.

Does Venice completely go under water when "acqua alta" occurs?

No, only exceptional high waters affect the whole town and even on those occasions the water-line is really remarkable only in the lowest areas. These are the flooding rates of the town in relation to high water levels (measured on the mareographic zero): +100 cm: 5%; +110 cm: 14%; +120 cm: 29%; +130 cm: 43%; over +140 cm 54% of the town is covered by water.

So there is the scoop. I checked the tide charts for the days we will be there and found the water will only be +100 cm or about 5% flooding on the day we depart.

The MOSE mobile tide barriers project may stop the flooding of Venice when completed in 2014.

Venice is a popular and expensive tourist destination. Our guide book recommended saving some money by pre-purchasing on the Internet things like museum passes, toilet cards and 72 hour passes to ride the city's ferries or vaporetti. Public toilets all have an attendant and charge 1.50 Euro per visit. One Euro is about $1.30 US.

We will have to rely on guide books for information about Dubrovnik, Corfu and Valletta but Tina and Roddy used to live in Tunis so we wrote to them for recommendations. Tina and Max replied with lists of their favorite places and we hope to visit several of them. Kevin gave us travel tips about SeatGuru.com, Ambien and a cellular Global Data package.

Due to the difficulty of obtaining some items in Brazil, Scott gave us a shopping list of items that he would appreciate us bringing to him. Since we will be with Scott and Marccus on Christmas day, Kristie sent us some gifts to carry with us. Now we are getting worried about taking these item plus packing for 26 days and two seasons. We are limited to 50 pounds per bag leaving the U.S. Due to the difficulty of handling baggage, we had hoped to each manage with just one checked bag and one carry on. We shall soon see how that works out.

Today is Monday, Nov. 28, we leave in 5 days! Time to review everything. Rain is forecast in Venice so we will need raincoats/umbrellas, nuts more to pack. AA has a change in our departure flight, we leave two hours earlier. The cruise line has some good news and some bad news. The good is that we have been upgraded from an obstructed view cabin to a balcony cabin, how nice! The bad news is that our ship is in dry dock in Trieste, Italy, major bummer. We have our fingers crossed that they get fixed what ever needs it in time for our cruise.

Tuesday Nov. 29, AA announced they have filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy AAARRG! They claim that it will not affect service for now. We are wondering how long “for now” will last?

Janet bravely offered to feed our dogs!

Finally Dec. 3, departure day! Good friends drive us to the airport and have even offered to feed our dogs while we are away. How nice is that? ABQ – DFW is an uneventful flight. The long leg will be from DFW to Madrid and we had used an online app called SeatGuru to try and select an exit row seat with more leg room. However this was not to be. Either SeatGuru was wrong or the airline had substituted different equipment. We ended up in the back of the plane in standard (read tight) seats. The good news was the plane was only about half full so we each had two seats to spread out a bit. Carol had brought beach balls and pillow cases for the long flight. With the beach ball 2/3 inflated and covered in a pillow case, we had a reasonably comfortable place to lay our heads. The real surprise was when we started to deplane in Madrid and the pilot came out of the cockpit and gave Carol a hug. It was Robert Jaramillo a fellow winemaker from Los Lunas, New Mexico. Small world!

Madrid airport

It is now the morning of Dec. 4 and we have hours to spend in the Madrid airport before our next flight. We need some of this time to track down a small bag that I had stupidly left on the plane. I say stupidly but really after spending the whole night sitting up with your head on a beach ball, stupid comes easily. Carol made better use of her time by finding her favorite perfume, Diorissimo, in a duty free shop and to celebrate that, she bought a bottle of Grand Marnier!

Venice

Our flight to Venice on Iberia airlines was packed full. Unlike the free coffee or soft drinks and a bag of pretzels offered on US airlines, this airline charged for everything. The good news is that we arrived in Venice on time, customs did not bother to look at us and we had success collecting our supply of public toilet pay tickets (1.5 Euro each) and validated our pre-purchased water taxi ticket. My cell phone worked to call the rental agent to advise of our arrival and set our meeting at the Palazzo. Carol and I had to roll our collection of bags about a half mile from the airport terminal to the boat docks where we boarded a wonderful speed boat with lots of varnished woodwork and a heated cabin with leather seats. We motored across the Venice lagoon in the night time fog like movie stars. How fun! After weaving through some narrow canals we opened out into the Grand Canal and motored under the Rialto Bridge and Carol spotted our rental agent waving to us from the private dock of the Palazzo. All our bags were safely transferred to the dock and we entered the front door into the main hall then the agent showed us into our apartment. He had arrived earlier and turned on the heat and lights so it was a very welcoming experience. Later we learned that Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie had stayed in an adjacent apartment in the same Palazzo. How is that for name dropping :-) Our agent showed us how the apartment worked then left us to settle in. We had been traveling across 8 time zones. We went to bed in the hopes of rectifying our internal clocks to Venice time.

The red balloon marks the long narrow street to our palazzo. The Vaporetti stop is visible just on the other side of the Grand Canal.

We loved our accommodations and their location!

Standing in our front door. The 2 windows to my left were our apartment. The tide is out.

The tide is in. I think this salt water is not doing anything good for the plumbing, wiring, foundation, etc.

Spacious living room with dining area and kitchen to the right and bath/bedroom to the left background

Mornings proved to be a very busy time on the Grand Canal. In addition to the gondolas and water taxis carrying tourists at about a hundred Euros per trip, the commercial vaporetti, the equivalent of a conventional city's commuter trains were busy hauling workers and residents up and down the canal. To this shuffle of people, add the flow of merchandise and food to the shops and restaurants plus the fishing boats, garbage collectors, furniture movers, etc., etc. We even saw a boat go by carrying a casket covered with flowers. We did see DHL freight boats but no FedEx or UPS. Directly across the canal from our palazzo was a vaporetto station, S Toma', with boats arriving and departing about every 5 minutes.

Casket with flowers

There goes someone's sofa and easy chair plus lots of freight in the background

Christmas tree

A group of tourists taking gondola rides (click for video)

Gondolier licenses are limited in number to 450. This is similar to the limitation on taxicab licenses in NYC. We talked to one gondolier who told us that the licenses are typically handed down from father to son but his father was not a gondolier so he had to earn his license by being an apprentice and said it took him 7 years.

Gilberto, the gondolier, and me

The Grand Canal at night. This time exposure picture was taken by resting my camera on the railing of the Accademia Bridge.

After studying the vaporetti information in a guide book and the Internet, we purchased a 72 hour pass that gave us unlimited travel for that period of time. We thought we got around pretty well, we went to St. Marks Square, the Rialto Bridge shopping areas and fish market and even out to Burano and Torcello, one of the more remote islands in the lagoon. The boats were fun but the most interesting times were had by simply walking. Since there are no automobiles, the “streets” bare little resemblance to streets for cars, i.e. they are very narrow, I could reach out and actually touch simultaneously the building walls on each side of the street that we lived on. The streets often had steps to go up and over the numerous canals and sometimes came to dead ends.

I am standing next to our back door and this is the only street that goes to it. Our front door is on the Grand Canal.

I can actually touch the buildings on both sides of the street!

Our closest bar/restaurant and some locals

A pizza in Italy of course

Pictures of snow and floods at a grocery store we visited

Artist supply store with assorted pigments

Scaffolding stored in the street ready to be set up as a walkway during the next flood

Crossing the Grand Canal to reach the vaporetti stop

Edge of Rialto Bridge marble railing polished by many hands over many years.

Standing on the Rialto Bridge over the Grand Canal heading for the market

What are these things?

Lunch at a nice restaurant found via guidebook and cellphone Google maps

A ride on a vaporetto (click for movie)

Aerial view of St. Marks Square from Google & Tele Atlas

San Marco Basilica

The four horses of San Marco, 4th century Roman sculptures

View of only one of the gilded ceiling in Doge's Palace

Bridge of Sighs between Doge's Palace and the dungeon

One of the dungeon cells

Christmas decorations along St. Mark's Square

St. Mark's Square (Piazza San Marco) at night

Our trip to Torcello took us past the island of Murano which was filled with Fornace or glass melting foundries. This is where the Venetian glass is made (except that which is copied and produced by China). We had to get off on Burano, the island where lace is made, in order to switch to another vaporetto. However, before boarding we took a couple of hours to stroll around, have lunch, see an amazing rainbow collection of brightly painted homes and to photograph the severely leaning church tower. Apparently Pisa is not the only tipping structure. The island of Torcello only has about 20 families living on it but it is supposed to have the oldest church in the Venice lagoon.

On the island of Burano

Notice anything odd in this picture?

Carol on the vaporetto heading for the island of Torcello

Basilica of Stanta Fosca built in the 11th century

It is now Dec. 7 and our cruise is supposed to start the next day. The last time I checked the Princess web site, our ship was in dry dock in Trieste but today I learned it had arrived in Venice, what a relief! We have had an absolutely fantastic time in Venice and would be very sorry to leave if we were only going home but now it was time to prepare for the second leg of our great trip. The rental agent arrived to inspect the palazzo for damage and when satisfied called a water taxi for us. This time our ride was in the daylight and we took lots of pictures as we traveled down the Grand Canal and around the edge of Venice to the cruise terminal. Our ship, the Star Princess, has 18 decks and loomed high over the city. After standing in a few lines for presentation of important documents like credit card, passport and boarding pass then through security and we boarded the ship and the magic began. By magic, I mean a new city appears outside almost every day, menus with no prices, no cooking, no dish washing, no bed making etc. etc.

In another water taxi heading to our ship

The Star Princess dwarfs the freighter loading last minute supplies

Carol on our balcony, happy to be aboard

Our stateroom was nice

Starting to learn our way around. This is one of 4 pools. Pleased to find that the ship is not crowded

Boring facts about the ship:

Built 2002, Gross Tonnage 109,000 Length 951', beam 118', Fuel Capacity 2649 tons, Passenger Capacity 2,600, Crew 1150, Cruising Speed 22.5 knots. The captain told us the ship goes 20 feet to the gallon!

Because this was a re-positioning cruise, the ship was about a thousand passengers short of capacity and we loved it! We had the amenities of a big ship but no crowds. There were generally no lines, elevators came promptly and were frequently empty. In the dining room we would see groups of waiters in their uniforms standing together as if they were singing groups. They had reported for work but since nearly half the tables were empty, they had little to do. We enjoyed a varied selection of appetizers and good meals. The ship was only 9 years old and in beautiful condition.

The first of two lobster dinners on the cruise

Here is our cruise route

Dubrovnik

The northern Adriatic seas were slight and the ship being the largest we have been on to date gave us a smooth ride arriving in Dubrovnik, Croatia about noon on Dec. 9. Gargantuan walls and medieval fortress towers enclose the old city. It is described as one of the world's finest and best preserved fortified cities. In 1979 it was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We saw a dozen big tour buses lined up on the dock to take people to the nearest wall gate but we jumped into a cab and had the driver take us around to the far gate to escape some of the congestion. We walked over a real draw bridge to enter the gate and saw streets paved with marble polished to a shine by 8 centuries of foot steps. The walls average 24 meters high and 6 meters thick. We wandered through the old city for hours then returned to the ship grateful for a chance to sit and put our tired legs up.

On our balcony for our arrival in Dubrovnik

Walled city

The size of the walls is impressive

Street polished to a shine by 8 centuries of foot traffic

Street vendor

Enjoying a latte, resting our legs and trying to get WiFi

Westerners may not like this eastern W.C.

Notice the draw bridge chains

The old city walls tower over the street. Look at the heavy crop of oranges.

Corfu

The next port was Corfu, Greece arriving early on Dec. 10. As before we hired a taxi to drive us to the nearby town of Paleokastritsa to see the Monastery of Virgin Mary. The driver was a chatty fellow and soon Carol knew where he was born, marital status, etc. It rained off and on and we were glad to be in the cab for that. Along the road we saw black netting on the ground under the olive trees to catch the olives as they fell.

Greek village of Paleokastritsa

Winding road toward the Monastery of Virgin Mary

Netting under the trees to catch the ripe olives

Monastery of Virgin Mary

The beautiful monastery was built on a hill with striking views of the Adriatic waves dashing on the cliffs. We soon noted that the place was infested with cats and kittens everywhere. We took so many pictures that my camera battery was nearly exhausted.

Our taxi took us back to the old part of Corfu and we wandered down a street to the Rex restaurant recommended by our driver. It was a good choice, we enjoyed our lunch then returned to the ship.

Lunch at the Rex

Back in our stateroom with a piece of genuine Greek baklava and an olive wood stirring spoon

We have been enjoying very good meals on the ship

Valletta

Sunday Dec. 11 finds us in Valletta, Malta. We have left the Adriatic and are now in the Mediterranean. The sun pokes through thin clouds and the 30s-40s of Venice have been replaced with 50s-60s.

Arriving in Valletta

The port guide contained some of Malta's extensive history claiming that the stone age remnants of the earliest inhabitants may be 7,000 years old.

The Phoenicians established trading outposts here and the Carthaginians based a fleet of warships here during their struggle with Rome. Christianity first came to Malta about 60 AD when St. Paul was shipwrecked on the coast. The most interesting episode in Maltese history began in 1530 when the Knights of St. John arrived. Founded during the Crusades as a nursing brotherhood, the Knights took on a military role as well. Using their own fleet of galleys the Knights became a serious threat to the Turkish navy all the while building up Valletta's fortifications against the day when the Turks would strike. Malta was attacked in 1565 by a force of 35,000. The Great Siege, as it would be known lasted for four months but the Knights prevailed. The Knights eventually lost control of Malta in 1798 when Napoleon captured it and turned the island into a French base. However, their persistent looting turned the Maltese against them and they called for help from the British navy and became a British colony for over a century. Another ordeal began in 1941 when bombing by the Italian and German planes continued for 157 days. Malta eventually received independence in 1964.

A taxi takes us on a 20 minute ride to the hill top medieval city of Mdina and a walk through the old city. We enter St. John's Cathedral so Carol can attend mass and I looked at the tombs of some 400 of the Knights under the floors and covered with tile mosaics.

St. John's Cathedral. Instrument on left shows month & day, instrument on right, the time.

One of the tombs close up

Our legs were tired so when we saw this carriage, we asked the driver to take us down the hill to the port

The hill was so steep, the driver rode the brake to avoid running over his horse!

Tunis

Our next port is La Goulette adjacent to Tunis, Tunisia the most northern African country. We were told that Tunisia is one of the most moderate of the Arab countries permitting women to have bare heads, vote and the freedom to chose their own husbands.

Having said all that, I still wonder about a country that needs to put so much razor wire around its government buildings.

Tina and Max had made some recommendations for sights to see while there and we took advantage of as many as our time permitted. Our first stop was Medina, or old town. We walked down very narrow streets crowded with vendors and their shops. The vendors were aggressive like the ones on Mexican beaches however, they were very willing to bargain starting from ridiculously high prices then finally arriving at something realistic.

Street scene

Smoking room in the Medina

Pipes for smoking tobacco or what ever

Carol purchased a nicely polished red leather hassock embossed with patterns and a man riding a camel. The vendor called it a poof. Here it is in our stateroom. It needs more stuffing.

Next we went to see the ruins of Carthage founded in 814 BC. We walked through the ruins of the Baths of Antoninus Pius otherwise known as the Antonine Baths, were constructed somewhere between 146 and 162 AD. Construction began under Emperor Hadrian and was completed during the reign of Antoninus Pius.

All the upper levels of the baths have been destroyed and removed.

Carol in the basement of the baths were the slaves would stoke the fires to keep the bath water warm

A section of the aquaduct

Carthage was destroyed by the Arabs in 647 AD and never rebuilt.

Next stop was the Bardo Museum housing the largest collection of Roman mosaics. One of them illustrated a story from Homer's Odyssey where Ulysses went to hear the music of the sirens while being restrained by being tied to the mast. He had his oarsmen plug their ears so they would not succumb to the seductive songs of the sirens. Note the sirens have bird like legs.

The woman indicates the size of this mosaic. Note the nude in the lower right corner shown larger below.

Next stop was the village of Sidi Bou Said with narrow cobblestone streets and whitewashed buildings with blue trim.

Of course there were more street vendors here and Carol purchased a very nicely patterned olive wood cutting board.

A large Mosque

Last stop before returning to the ship was this cemetery of all the American soldiers that had lost their lives during WWII in Tunisa. So many, so sad.

We thought the ship's food was very good. Here we are at lunch.

Our appitizers were a thin slice of veal covered with a yummy sauce.

This is just a hamburger but covered with a blue cheese sauce and nicely presented.

Gibraltar

Our last stop in the Mediterranean was Gibraltar overlooking the straits and only 8 miles from Africa. This 1,400' high rock was always viewed as a strategic control point. In 711 a Moorish army crossed the strait and began the conquest of Spain. The Spaniards finally recovered control in 1462. During the war of Spanish Succession in 1704 British Admiral Rooke captured Gibraltar and it has been in British hands ever since. He hired a tin miner to dig tunnels through the rock with ports for cannons. The most dramatic attempt by Spain to recapture Gibraltar was the Great Siege of 1779-1783 but the Rock proved invincible. In modern times a pair of 9.2” guns were positioned on top of the rock to control the access to the Mediterranean. Supposedly the author of the fictional novel, “The Guns of Navarreon” visited these guns and they were the inspiration for his story.

Approaching the rock of Gibraltar

We rode up the rock on this tramway

We were in clouds and occasional light rain. Note how narrow the rock is.

Carol entering the tunnels

Me with the cannons

Looking out the cannon ports toward Spain we were told that the airport runway was the dividing line between the two countries. The runway actually extends all the way across the vary narrow width of the isthmus to Spain. This means the highway from Spain must actually cross the runway. This is the only place in the world that I have heard of that.

View of St. Michael's Cave. So odd to find stalactites inside of the rock of Gibraltar.

Did you know that there were monkeys all over the top of the rock of Gibraltar?

I thought they were a nuisance, they jump on people and steal your stuff.

Our departure from Gibraltar was delayed a bit while we took fuel aboard for the six day crossing to Brazil. The Captain announced a depression in the Atlantic heading toward the UK. He warned us of 5-8 meter seas and advised securing loose items in our staterooms and taking Dramamine.

Dec. 15, we are now out in the open Atlantic and can feel the pitch and roll of the ship however, the motion is moderate and slow owing to the size of the ship and the use of its underwater stabilizers. By afternoon the clouds are gone and the sun has produced T shirt weather for the first time.

The weather continued to be good for the rest of our days at sea. The efforts of a new port each day with the attendant packing to go ashore, finding a taxi or doing a lot of walking and picture taking have now been replaced with the only urgency being not to sleep through breakfast :-)

So you ask, what does one do during 6 days at sea?

Hanging out at the quiet pool at the stern was nice

Walking the deck to try and burn some of those calories. Notice how empty the ship is?

Photograph a rare beautiful sunset. Frequently clouds would obstruct the view.

Watch the on board entertainment, a talented tango quartet from Buenos Aires

Bone up on the life raft procedures

Send emails to the family via the ship's satellite link (slow and expensive)

Bat balloons to try and keep them in the air and work off some restless energy

Once below about 15 degrees N. latitude, we began seeing flying fish. Some were solitary sightings others might be 50 or more at a time. Carol raised an interesting question, “if a collection of flying fish in the water is called a school, what do you call them when they are in flight?, a flock?” They are difficult to photograph owing to their small size, speed and sudden appearance. Video seems to work better than single images. One day the angle of the sun was such that the flying fish appeared to be brilliant white against the dark ocean.

The elusive flying fish (click to see a short video)

We have turned around and taken about 10 hours spent searching for a crewman overboard, unfortunately to no avail. I used our binoculars and scanned the ocean from our balcony. An Indian man apparently despondent over the loss of a woman in a fight decided to jump from the stern. This put the tone of the ship in a somber mood. After nightfall and greatly diminished visibility the search was abandoned and we resumed our course.

The captain put the ship at full speed, about 22 ½ knots and over the next four sea days made up lost time and we arrived in Recife as scheduled. I got up at 6am to watch the boarding of the harbor pilot to guide us into a complicated berthing involving a half turn then backing up for about ½ mile to one available place on the wharf among a line of freighters. Scott later told us that he had seen our arrival via the ships bow cam web site.

Recife

Boat bringing the Recife harbor pilot to our ship to guide us in

I was pleased that my cell phone worked in Brazil and we made arrangements to meet. Scott proved to be a capable driver in the heavy and aggressive traffic and the confusing streets. Forget about the simple N-S, E-W grid that Albuquerque enjoys. While driving, he gave us a running commentary about the history and buildings of Recife.

The shuttle bus from the ship dropped us off here instead of Marco Cero. We telephoned Scott and said we were by a building with angels coming out the windows and he found us!

Scott gave us a tour of Recife

Here is the beach and pedestrian walk only a block from Marccus and Scott's apartment building

Their apartment is on the 12th floor one block back from the beach. They have a slice of ocean view between the other high rise apartment buildings and hotels that line the coast a bit like Miami.

We went to their apartment and enjoyed a beautiful lunch of sweet ripe pineapple, papaya and mango plus cod fritters that Marccus had made, a loaf of bread Scott had made and finished with a slice from a log shaped roll of cake and either guava or dulce de leche filling. Not surprisingly, fruit picked and enjoyed when fully ripe is superior to that picked prematurely and shipped for thousands of miles to the US. We were hoping to Skype with Anne on her birthday from their apartment but with the 4 hour time difference, that did not work out.

After lunch, Scott and Marccus took us on a drive to the nearby city of Olinda and we hiked around a high part of the old town with terrific views of the city and the ocean. We could even see our ship four miles away in the harbor.

We are on top of a water tower to see the views

Our ship in the distance with Recife in the background. Sugar warehouses to the right.

After coming down from the water tower, we went inside this old church.

Olinda, Brazil's old colonial capital founded in 1534 was declared a World Historical Monument by UNESCO and features beautiful 16th and 17th century buildings.

Mangos not yet ripe

I was amazed to see how big the mango trees get

Note the net to catch the falling mangoes and protect people below

Papaya tree. What fun to see where all our imported tropical fruit comes from!

A cashew tree

Blooming schefflera. Carol commented that she had never seen this before!

A marmoset monkey

Woman using a hand grinder to remove the coconut meat

Ginger flower

Scott and Carol looking at the handicrafts. Some were "R" rated.

Scott and Marccus brought us to Marco Cero to wait for a shuttle bus. All to soon it was time to head back for our 6pm sailing.

We are now in our final two days at sea prior to the end of our cruise in Rio de Janeiro. That could be sad were it not for the start of part three of our great trip, four days in a hotel in Rio with Scott and Marccus flying down to join us! We have visited an amazing 7 countries on 3 continents. We were fortunate to have generally good weather and moderate seas for our Atlantic crossing.

Carol brought family photos to keep everyone in our hearts as we were on this great journey.

Whale watching during lunch. Unfortunately we never saw any whales.

Carol enjoying a warm day at sea

On the course from Recife to Rio de Janeiro we did see some off shore oil drilling platforms. Brazil is excited about a very large deep water oil discovery and they are building new refineries to process it.

We were disappointed not to see more wildlife. There were a few birds, terns I think and just one sea turtle. Most days were cloudy leaving only two good sunsets and generally poor star gazing at night.

Rio de Janeiro

We approached the harbor at Rio de Janeiro about 5AM and I got up to see the harbor pilot meet us. We had an early breakfast, finished our packing and prepared to leave the ship. The magic was over :-(

Now that we are docked, we see lots of Frigate birds

Once ashore, we got a taxi and struggled to cram all our bags into it. After the little trunk was full, Carol and I got in and had more bags at our feet and in our laps given that we were toting plenty of Christmas gifts. Fortunately, it was not a great distance to our hotel but for some reason, the taxi driver thought that he had to hurry and we went racing off through the streets of Rio, instead of enabling us to enjoy the sights.

The Windsor Florida Hotel located near the business district had a nice appearance and we were pleased that they were able to let us into a room long before normal check in time. Our first room was in the old part of the hotel and the room safe was broken, the window air conditioner was noisy and the view was of trash on a rooftop across the street. Carol used her best Spanish to converse with the Portuguese speaking desk clerk and scored a much better room in the new part of the hotel. We now had central air conditioning, a large working room safe and an improved view. After a bit of unpacking we put on swim suits and went up to enjoy a beautiful new pool on the roof. We had the pool to ourselves and later learned the hotel was nearly empty. It was Christmas eve and most businesses were closed for the holidays.

Sampling a Caiperina from the pool side bar

Carol in the roof top pool with the 125' tall statue Christ the Redeemer looking on from Corcovado Mountain.

Sugar Loaf looming over the city

Our hotel was on a convenient street with shops, restaurants and grocery stores.

Here is what we saw in one grocery store, imported salted Cod.

Soon we got a phone call from Scott saying that he and Marccus had arrived at the hotel. They had actually flown to Sao Paulo, borrowed a friend's car and driven 800 km to join us. Marccus had lived in Rio de Janeiro and knew his way around this huge and confusing city with very heavy traffic. Brazil is enjoying economic good times recently surpassing the UK to become the world's 6 largest economy. As a result people that had lacked their own transportation have now purchased motorcycles and former motorcycle owners have now purchased automobiles and have overloaded the road system. We settled into a pleasant daily routine of enjoying the included breakfast at the hotel followed by a day of sight seeing and a big lunch in a restaurant where ever we happened to be then purchasing a couple of bottles of wine and food to be enjoyed at supper time in our hotel room. This avoided the expensive evening restaurants and being out after dark.

We celebrated by opening presents on Christmas eve including a hand embroidered Levi jacket Linda had made for me commemorating my motorcycle days of the early 1970's including the "Little Brown Jug" and the "Swamp Fox Enduro" events in South Carolina. I had long since outgrown the jacket and it now fit Scott perfectly. We had brought a bunch of presents with us from Kristie's family and Linda so it was a festive occasion.

Christmas day was celebrated by riding two trams to the top of Sugar Loaf with its tremendous views of the city, the harbor and beaches and the far away statue of Christ the Redeemer perched on top of a mountain.

Carol headed for the tram station. Notice the tree growing out of the roof.

This is Sugar Loaf. We need to transfer to a second tram for the rest of the ascent.

Helicopter rides were available for tourists with deep pockets. Click for video

At the top and quite a view!

Looking in another direction with Copacabana Beach in the distance.

A "few" people on Copacabana beach Christmas day. Later Scott sent us an email saying there were an estimated 2 million people on this beach New Year's Eve. Imagine being jostled about by an inebriated crowd like that after dark with the chance of "pickit a pocketers" among them.

The following day we headed into city central to see the National Library and visit the Belas Art Museum and other sights.

This is a really big painting!

Carol liked the mosaic sidewalks and brought home a couple of souvenir pieces.

After all the walking and sightseeing, we looked for a coffee shop. We saw a sparsely attended Starbucks but across the street was the immensely popular Confeitaria Colombo

Founded in 1894 by Portuguese immigrants, the Colombo soon found its history intertwined with that of the capital and, by extension, of the nation. The building has undergone several reforms, but the first floor interior remains pretty much the way customers found it during the 1913 reopening. The style might be described as turn-of-the-century continental flamboyant eclectic. “Confeitaria” literally means confectionary or sweet shop, and the house’s vocation is highlighted by the glass cases near the entrance that display traditional baked goods, sweets and desserts. For six decades confectioner Antonio Teixeira would arrive daily at 5:30 a.m. to prepare the delicacies. He would no doubt be pleased to learn that many are still made faithfully one-by-one from the old Portuguese recipes he followed.

Behind the sweets and pastries is an area now dubbed the Bar Jardim. With a capacity of over 100, its tables are topped by marble imported from Italy. Flanking them, covering the walls on both sides, hang eight mirrors. Imported from Antwerp, Belgium, they measure 3.4x4 meters (11x13 feet) and weigh as much as a car - 1,500 kilograms (3,300 pounds) each. Two shattered on the first attempt at transatlantic shipment; another on the second try. Ornate Portuguese tiles cover the floor. The light fixtures are from France.

Yum

The next day was a bit rainy so we drove around to see Copacabana Beach and a bit more of the city. Sometimes it was necessary to drive through tunnels in the hills to get from one part of the city to another.

This is one of the favelas (slums) in the hills surrounding Rio de Janeiro.

We walked through a park near our hotel and Scott told us about some of the local plants and trees.

This was called a cannon ball tree for obvious reasons.

The fruit was quite heavy with a hard shell and could injure anyone it happened to fall upon.

I was impressed by the extreme height of these palm trees.

Scott described the philodendron vine and how its leaves got larger the higher up the tree the vine grows. Click for video.

This is an unfriendly looking tree

Soon it was time to bid Scott and Marccus goodbye then pack up and take a harrowing taxi ride to the airport for our long flight to Dallas then a short hop to Albuquerque. We had an excellent trip and visit and now after nearly a month of travel we were looking forward to being back to our own home.

This is what we saw as our plane descended in its approach to Albuquerque.

Many thanks for the time and effort of Scott and Marccus to show us around Recife, Olinda and Rio de Janeiro! Together Carol and I took 2,260 pictures and about a dozen short movies to help us always remember our adventures. This collection has been edited down to less than 200 items. We hope you enjoyed seeing them.

Carol commented that 2011 was the year that we got to see everyone in our combined families, 6 kids and 11 grandkids! Happy times indeed.