Rio De Janeiro

Hi All,

Today we are at sea heading for our next port of Salvador de Bahia, Brazil.  On Friday and Saturday we were in Rio.  This picture as we approached the city.  On the left of the picture is Corcovado with Christ the Redeemer statue, and on the right of the picture is Sugarloaf mountain.

Sugarloaf with Corcovado in the middle of the picture.

We took the ship’s shuttle into town and were dropped off at the famous Copacabana Palace hotel.

On the way into town we passed this very unusual Catholic cathedral.

Our plan for the day was to walk along Rio’s beaches.  This is Copacabana beach, it was much more crowded on Saturday.

The beach is over four miles long and we walked the length of it.  It was a very hot day!  All along the beach are these condos.

After walking for a couple hours we returned to the ship.  The evening entertainment was a local group that performed Brazilian song and dance.  They were quite colorful and the performance was very high energy.

Towards the end of the show they pulled people from the audience to come to the stage to dance.  This guy came for Helen, couldn’t say no to him!

Dancing Helen!

On Saturday we took a ship’s tour to Corcovado to see the Christ the Redeemer statue.  The trip up to Corcovado is done in this cog rail train and takes about 20 minutes.  It is a very steep ride up the mountain.

Here is a hazy view of Rio from the train.

Christ the Redeemer.  The statue is made of concrete and soapstone and was built in nine years from 1922 to 1931.  It is 98 feet tall and the arms stretch 92 feet wide.

We were not alone on Corcovado.

Another hazy view of Rio.

This view from the street below Corcovado.

On the way back to the ship we passed beautiful Ipanema beach.

Lots of these places along the beach for food and drink.

Another shot of Sugarloaf.  Look closely and you can see the cable cars that take people to the top.  We didn’t have time for the cable car.  Helen has done it before when she flew to Rio while working for Pan Am.

So that is a look at our two days in Rio.  We enjoyed our time there, but it isn’t the easiest city to be a tourist.  The traffic is horrendous and many areas are unsafe for tourists to walk.  The ship advised us not to go ashore with any jewelry or valuables.  Much of the city is under construction for the Olympics, but they have a long way to go to be ready.  Hard to imagine how people are going to get around during the games.

We had a very pretty sail away at 5pm with a deck party serving Brazil’s national cocktail, the Caipirinha  (or as I call it, the Brazilian truth serum).  Bye for now, we have two sea days after Salvador de Bahia and will post again on one of those days.  Tomorrow marks two weeks to go in the cruise.

Jer and Helen

 

Beautiful Buenos Aires

Hi All,

Jer here.  I am writing this on Wednesday as we sail towards Rio, we arrive on Friday AM.  Monday and Tuesday we were in BA where we had a wonderful time.  

I have to share the sunrise I watched on my early morning walk on the promenade deck.

A couple hours later we made our approach to the harbor in BA.

Our docking spot wasn’t particularly picturesque, but it was interesting watching the container ships get loaded.

On our first day in BA we took a tour of the city.  One of the first places we passed was the Casa Rosada, famous as the place from which Eva Peron (Evita) addressed the Argentine people.  It is the official seat of the executive branch of the government; however, the President does not live here.

Eva spoke from the balcony in the middle of this picture.  Our guide said only one other person has used this balcony.  Can you guess who it is?  Hint, she played Eva in the movie Evita.

Next we stopped at the cathedral Metropolitana.

This was the church of Pope Francis when he was the archbishop of Buenos Aires.

BA has many beautiful buildings.  Some of them look like they have been moved here from Paris.

There are many upscale, expensive condo buildings in BA.

There is also a very poor section of the city.

Our tour stopped in an area called La Boca.  Many of the early settlers of this area were from the Italian city of Genoa.  The area is very colorful.

Lots of the balconies have characters like these on them.

Lots of places to shop for souvenirs.

Many artists selling their work on the street.

Our last stop on the tour was the Recoleta cemetery.  This is a very unusual place.  All the people buried here are in mausoleums.  The mausoleums are owned by families, they are very expensive to buy.  The cemetery contains over 4500 mausoleums.

The most famous mausoleum is that of the Duarte family.  Duarte is Eva Peron’s maiden name.  She is buried here with her family members.  People still leave flowers here for Evita.  Juan Peron is not buried here as he was not a Duarte.

Although controversial, Eva was much loved.  Over three million people attended her funeral.  Here she is depicted on the side of this building.

That completed our first day in BA.  On day two, we set out on our own to further explore the city.  The ship’s shuttle bus dropped us off at the famous walking/shopping street, Calle Florida.

The official exchange rate is about 9 pesos to the US dollar,  but a thriving black market exists for changing money.  About every 30 feet on Calle Florida is someone changing money.  I was able to get 11.5 pesos to the dollar with one of these money changers.  By the way, this is legal in Argentina.

We spent a couple hours walking and shopping on Calle Florida.  It was then approaching lunch time and we headed for Cabana Las Lilas, a well known BA restaurant where we had a reservation.  It is located in Porto Modero which is the redeveloped area of BA's original port.  The port no longer handles large ships but has a marina for pleasure boats.  Cabana Las Lilas is in this picture.

We sat outside with a nice view of the waterfront.  Before we even ordered, the waiter brought this to us.  Yummy!

Argentina is known for great beef.  We both had a tenderloin with fries.  Helen said this was the best piece of meat she has ever eaten.  The fries were awesome too, looking at this picture I want some more of them!

We enjoyed a very nice bottle of Malbec from Argentina.  As you know, the country produces a lot of wine.  I think I look a little tired in this picture, this cruising is hard work!

At the end of our wonderful meal, the waiter brought this Limoncello and Grappa.  We each had a couple shots, the Grappa was jet fuel.  Helen wisely told Jer he couldn’t drink anymore.  Thank you Helen.

As we were walking about after lunch, we came across this interesting piece of art.

This clock tower was a gift to Argentina by Great Britain, it was called Little Ben.  But after that little dustup over the Falkland Islands in 1982, it was renamed the monument tower.

To spite the Brits, Argentina placed the memorial to their over 600 dead in the war right across the street from the clock tower.  One of the lecturers on the ship said the useless war was like two bald men fighting over a comb.

Finally, after a very full day we headed back to the ship for our 5pm sail away.  Hope all of you enjoy this look at our two days in BA.  It is a beautiful city, and we would love to come back one day.  We are now looking forward to our two days in Rio.  We are there on Friday and Saturday and will probably post again on Sunday.  Only two and a half weeks left is our trip around the world.  

Jer and Helen