Circle South America Cruise 2012: February 2012

Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Wednesday, Feb 29th--At Sea/Fortaleza, Brazil

We are currently at the yellow arrow in red circle and that is Fortaleza.

Green spots are ports we have left. As you can see we will soon be on Amazon River.

We are still at sea off the Brazilian coast but will be arriving in Fortaleza around 6pm. We will spend the night here and depart tomorrow at 3pm. It is still smooth sailing today with overcast skies now, very humid, and 88F. We are only 3 degrees south of the Equator now. We will be on the Equator on Saturday when we enter the Amazon River. I have always wanted to sail up the Amazon so getting excited.
Another lazy day at sea for us just relaxing. Rebecca worked out but I took the day off. We did not get our soft shell crabs last night but have been assured we will have them tonight. Will share them with Rich and Carol from Colorado. They are "rounders" also. Tonight's show will be by a local Fortaleza folkloric music and dance group so should be good one.
Satellite is not doing well today. Lost our news networks, ie Fox News. The internet has been in and out also. I called my mother this morning to check on things up in Illinois. All is well.

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Tuesday, Feb 28th--At Sea

So far another smooth day sailing off the coast of Brazil. This evening we will be passing by Recife which is the most eastern part of Brazil. It is just after 10am and we are both preparing to exercise. Other than than we have nothing planning. We may watch a movie after lunch or just watch the ocean. It is mostly sunny and 81F now. That should be high temperature for the day.
I believe last night's dinner with the Scarboroughs was the most enjoyable we have had. He is 91 and she is 89 and they have been married for 72 years. They have no children but lots of nieces and nephews who he jokingly calls "gold diggers". They have that nice southern accent characteristic of South Carolina which made listened to their life stories even more enjoyable. They are both sharp as tacks although he has some mobility issues. He sold his business at the age of 82. Eggs!! He owned and operated a FULLY automated egg operation with 1 million laying hens supplying eggs to many large grocery chains. Can you imagine 1 million eggs a day, every day.
Tonight we are dining with Fred & Susie our next door neighbors here on the ship. I have ordered fried soft shell crabs again for main course. Show tonight is a comedic magician. What is it with cruise lines and their love of magicians?? Bobby Arvon, "Mr Happy Days", where are you????

Monday, February 27, 2012

Salvador Photos

Cut & paste the link below on another browser tab to see some great photos. Then click on first photo to enlarge it. Captions will be in upper right corner. Mid photo there is an arrow to go through rest of photos.

https://goo.gl/photos/xTWcGoZbkE7LrRv97

Monday, Feb 27th--Salvador De Bahia, Brazil

We will be arriving at Salvador De Bahia at 1pm today and sail again at 10pm tonight. The first Portuguese established Salvador in 1549. It was the first capital of Brazil and remained so until 1763. Many Dutch and Jewish settlers entered Brazil here in the 17th and 19th centuries. Brazil had few indigenous people for the Portuguese to use as laborers so they brought over slaves from Africa to work on their plantations. This is why about 70% of the people here are descendants of African slaves and hence black. Brazilian music and dancing, the samba, came with them from Africa. Salvador is the third largest city in Brazil (2.5 million people) behind Sao Paulo and Rio. Salvador is second in Brazilian tourism behind Rio. Ford has a large car manufacturing plant here and Monsanto manufactures raw materials for its Roundup (herbicide) production line. The port exports fruit and agricultural products. The Salvador coastline is the longest for cities in Brazil with 50 miles of beaches. The beaches range from calm inlets, ideal for swimming, diving, sailing, and underwater fishing, as well as open ocean inlets with strong waves used for surfing. The city is on two levels: lower, where the commercial part of the city is, and upper part, where the Cathedral and administrative building are. There is a huge elevator near where our ship will be docked that will take you the 236 feet between the lower city square to the upper square in 20 seconds.
It is now 6:15pm and back from our "Highlights of Salvador and Walking Tour" which lasted from 1 to 5pm. We did not arrive at dock until about 12:30. Another cruise ship arrived right behind us so it was a big mess with both ships dumping passengers at same time for tours. Our tour guide spoke good English but bus was not as nice as others in Brazil and PA was not loud enough. He talked constantly for 4 hours!! We did bus tour of newer part of the city and then along city coast to view some beach areas. Then on to the old city where we got off bus for a 2 1/2 hour walking tour. In Terry Breen's lecture yesterday she told us that this city has 365 churches, one for every day of the year. I believe her. No matter where we went we were in eye sight of a church. We went inside two of them. The first was called, The Cathedral. Built by the Jesuits in 1600's. The second was very neat inside. It was called, The Church of Sao Francisco, and took 50 years to complete. The opulent interior features cedar woodcarvings covered with gold leaf, and was beautiful. On we went walking down the rugged cobblestone streets in the heat. Actually not bad heat as we generally could stay in the shade and there was a breeze. The buildings of the old city are very colorful as is from the Dutch influence.
Tonight there is another "dinner under the stars" up on pool deck but again we will be staying in the air conditioned Compass Rose restaurant. The ship is not sailing until 10pm. We are dining with the Scarborough's, an older couple who sit at a table close to ours every night. We always stop by and say hello to them. They are from South Carolina and are really sweethearts. He is 91. Ok, gotta run. Rebecca is ready for a glass of wine.

Sunday, February 26, 2012

Sunday, Feb 26th--At Sea

We set clocks back an hour last night so gained some sleep. Now we are 3 hours ahead of CST again. If you look at a globe or an atlas you will see that 7/8ths of South America is east of the US east coast. We had room service scheduled to deliver breakfast at 8am. Sunday's is caviar & champagne with breakfast tradition on Regent Cruises. I had two orders of caviar but no champagne. After breakfast I sent some emails before getting ready for worship service at 10am. The cruise director led a very nice service. Afterwards we went to Terry Breen's lecture entitled, "Music & Dance in Brazil". At noon we both hit the gym for an hour's workout. It is less crowded doing it when everyone else is feeding their faces. We had our lunch at 1:45. We walked out on the pool deck where it is quite nice today. Now at 2:30pm the temperature is 82 degrees with 60% humidity. The Atlantic is really smooth with no swells and the water is a beautiful deep blue. A truly "perfect" Sunday at sea! Two big white birds has flown slowly past our balcony a couple of times and I am trying to take a photos of them.
Tonight is a formal dress night, only our 3rd so far on the cruise. We will have one more just before the cruise end. So will be doing my James Bond imitation by wearing a tux. Captain's welcome aboard party (we have over new 400 passengers) is at 5:30pm with production show with Jean Ann Ryan singers and dancers at 6pm. At 9:45 they will be showing the Oscars live on theatre screen.
Ok, here is the link to some photos I took of the two birds soaring along with us this afternoon and of the pool deck and activities available on sea days.

https://goo.gl/photos/r9KcCDLx8h3YbUov7

Saturday, February 25, 2012

Rio Samba Show photos

Below is link to Samba Show photos. Caution: Some people may find these somewhat offensive.

https://goo.gl/photos/HxESr2s7FBREXc8k7

Another link to sailing out of Rio

https://goo.gl/photos/xSbt29ApxiKqSEg9A

Saturday, Feb 25th--Rio de Janeiro-Day 2

At 9pm last night 300 of us boarded buses for the 30 minute ride to the "Sambadrome". There we experienced a two hour Brazilian show with beautiful girls dressed in beautiful costumes, abeit skimpy costumes at times, and some great Samba music and dancing by talented young men and women. It was a show with a variety of high energy acts. Except for the emcee, it was very nice. We did not get back to the ship until after midnight.
We decided not to venture off the ship today. Yesterday there was only one other cruise ship besides us here. Today there are 6 ships. Our guide last night said it would be crazy in town today with this many people and besides it is VERY hot again today. I could not get on the internet until noon because they were rebooting system for the new cruise segment. So I climbed 120 floors for my exercise this morning. That took 45 minutes. Rebecca also worked out then she did some laundry. I also made 3 reservations for this coming segment for dining at Prime 7 Steakhouse. While there I ordered veal Parmesan for tonight's dinner. We ordered a couple chicken Caesar salads for lunch from room service. I had finished mine and Rebecca had about 2 bites left when she noticed something crawling in it that should not have been. I told her there were usually 2 so ask what happened to the other one. I called room service and ask for a supervisor to come up to our suite. He was so apologetic and said he was rushing it to the Food & Beverage Manager to show him. I expect we will be hearing personally from him later. With the massive amounts of vegetables and other foods coming on board, you can expect this may happen. Just so it is not recurring and this is first time in over 200 days on Regent.
So the old passengers have left and the new 400+ ones are on board now. We will sail at 5pm for Salvador, Brazil. Tomorrow is a day at sea though as we will not arrive there until Monday. It should be pretty sailing out of Rio's harbor.

Friday, February 24, 2012

Photos of Rio--Day One

https://goo.gl/photos/xqb7cpQKUqgabGbm8

Friday, Feb 24th--Rio de Janeiro

Rio de Janeiro has a population of 6.3 million making it the 3rd largest city in South American and 6th largest in both North & South America. The entire metropolitan area population is near 13 million. It was the capital of Brazil for nearly 2 centuries but the capital is now in Brazilia. It is the most visited city in all of the south hemisphere due to Carnival, Samba dancing, incredible beaches, and tourist sights, many of them we will be seeing.
We finally made it to Rio. Last night the Captain said we would start our approach into Rio at 6am so I peeked out then and it was still dark. After showering it was getting light and at 6:30 Terry started pointing out sights from the bridge over the PA as we sailed into the bay. After getting Rebecca some coffee, as room service was not coming until 7:30, I headed to the upper deck to take photos. Prior to daylight the famous "Christ the Redeemer" statue on top of the 2300 foot high Corcovado mountain was illuminated. The statue is 120 feet high and white so was quite impressive. The sunrise was spectacular! We passed by Sugar Loaf at an altitude of 1200 feet which is another famous landmark of Rio. Just before arriving at our dock we passed the domestic airport also near the "old" downtown where our ship is now docked.
Our tour today was "Sugar Loaf & Copacabana" and there were also some of our friends on the bus with us. We drove through old downtown which is now the commercial and banking area for Rio to our first stop, Sugar Loaf. We took the cable car which was first built in 1912 and improved a couple of times since then to the top. There were two stages. We took a cable car to the 650 feet high Urca Hill, where we took some photos and changed cars for the second stage on up to the 1200 foot high Sugar Loaf. From the top we had a commanding view over the beaches and city. It was about a mile ride in the two cable cars to get to the top. The cars operate every 20 minutes and hold about 70 people. There were long lines so this took a couple of hours to get to the top and back down. There were also a few people climbing and/or repelling down Sugar Loaf. Next our bus drove along the famous Copacabana and Ipanema Beaches. Both are 2.5 miles long and very deep beach areas. The length and size is very impressive and by mid day there was lots of sun worshipers on the beach having a good time. The art made from sand was also impressive. We continued through some tunnels to the southern area of Rio where you can hang glide from the tops of the mountains down to the beach. We passed the horse racing track and a private golf course also. All courses are private and very expensive according to our guide. We passed several of the slum areas that are clinging to the sides of the mountains overlooking the city so they actually have the best views. They are trying to clean these areas up some, especially the crime, as Rio is hosting the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Summer Olympics. There is lots of new construction and sprucing up being done in preparation for them. We finally returned to the ship just before 2pm and had some lunch. Rebecca does not trust the ship's laundry with a few things so she did a couple small loads of laundry this afternoon.
We will have to dine a little earlier than normal as at 8:45 we are leaving the ship for another tour, "Samba Sounds & Glitter". It is apparently a 2 hour Samba show that will offer a glimpse of what Carnival in Rio is all about complete with the music and feathered & sequined gowns. Our friends who did this on last year's SA cruise say it is fantastic.
We will be here in Rio again tomorrow as it is "changeover" day. Over 400 passengers are leaving and the same amount will be coming aboard for the last segment of 24 days. I just put in for the "Highlights of Rio" tour tomorrow as it will take us up to the Christ Statue.

Thursday, February 23, 2012

Photos in Buzios

https://goo.gl/photos/xGFhoTcvzvu2GYkA8

Thursday, Feb, 23rd--Buzios, Brazil

Last night we moved from 100 miles south of Rio de Janeiro to 100 miles north of Rio. Like I said, I think Regent is doing all this to keep us out of Rio during Carnival which ends today. So guess where we will be tomorrow--yep, Rio!
Today we were in Buzios, out on a peninsula sticking out from Brazil just north of Rio. Brigitte Bardot made this resort town with a long string of beautiful beaches famous when she vacationed here in the '60s to escape the paparazzi. It actually has 23 beaches and I saw 12 of them on my tour this morning. The town had a lot of tourists today as there were two cruise ships here in addition to the Brazilian, Argentinean, other summer vacationers. Buzios is a popular weekend get away for the young people from near by Rio and Sao Paulo also.
We did not have a tour scheduled for here today but I stood by for one and was accommodated at the last minute. Rebecca did not want to go. Big mistake this time. Unlike yesterday, when it was so hot and humid, today was windy, in the 70's, and low humidity. In short it was a glorious day! The Captain had a problem with the high winds today which were gusting over 30 kts. This was causing swells and made tendering very difficult. The tender was bobbing like a cork in the water which made boarding it and getting off of it dangerous if you were not paying attention and taking the help offered by the ship's seamen. Thankfully, today the tender ride was only 10 minutes, but never the less, an exciting 10 minute ride. My tour was "Beaches of Buzios by Trolley" and was scheduled for 2 hours. Because of the difficulty with tendering it took longer to get people ashore, after all, safety first. The trolley was a truck with covered seats carrying approximately 30 people. It was quite nice and provided everyone with great views. Some of the roads were very narrow and made passing a challenge. Our young guide, Patricia, spoke good English and did a fantastic job. I loved her smile. We drove around viewing 12 beaches and the numerous hotels, condos, and beautiful homes. I know Rebecca would have enjoyed this, especially since it was such a nice day temperature wise. The tour ended about noon so I returned to the ship for lunch with Rebecca and told her we were going to town so she could see some of it and could also shop. Shopping was successful!!! Our ride back to the ship was quite exciting as the waves were very large and our tender was like a ride at Disney World. But we made it safely back on board at 4:30. After my cappuccino at the coffee bar I started downloading the 100 photos I took today. I deleted a few however.

It is 6pm and we just left Buzios for Rio de Janeiro. Our position is at the yellow arrow in a red circle (center right side) and we will follow the magenta colored line to Rio arriving early tomorrow morning. It is common knowledge that the three most beautiful harbors to sail into are: Sydney, Hong Kong, and Rio. We sailed into the first two during our 2010 World Cruise, so tomorrow will complete our seeing all 3.
We have 8:30pm reservations at Prime 7, the steakhouse. Wanted to see the ship's singers and dancer's show at 9:30 but already know it will probably be 11pm before we finish dinner. That's ok, we have seen this show twice and can see it again on the next segment. The last segment is 24 days long and begins Saturday in Rio. 400 passengers will get off and 400 new ones will come aboard on Saturday.

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Parati Photos

Link to my 4 wheel drive tour photos in Parati.

Cut & paste the link below on another browser tab to see some great photos. Then click on first photo to enlarge it. Captions will be in upper right corner. Mid photo there is an arrow to go through rest of photos.

https://goo.gl/photos/AzYa3tdeoG4UM268A

Wednesday, Feb 23rd--Parati, Brazil

Parati is a preserved Portuguese colonial town from 1500 to 1889 with a population now of 36,000. The Colonial architecture and earthy colors of its buildings along with the cobblestone (we're talking BIG cobblestones) streets make it an interesting place. The economy here is strictly tourism related. Lots of art galleries, souvenir shops, restaurants, beaches, diving, snorkeling, tours, hiking, horseback riding, and boat tours. Back in 16th and 17th centuries the "Gold Road" ran from a gold mine 500 miles inland to Parati where it was loaded on ships to be taken back to Portugual. The route later changed to end in Rio de Janeiro so for a number of years Parati was deserted. Tourism has brought it back.
Rebecca decided not to go on tour today. My tour was "Atlantic Forest by 4 Wheel Drive" and she did not want to go as no air conditioning! Everyone ask where she was, as many of our friends were on this tour. We all decided later that she was the smartest one of the bunch!! It started with a 40 minute ride to the pier in a VERY hot tender. Luckily the bay was calm at least. It had to be a record for the longest tender ride I have ever had to endure. I was hot and sweat wet by the time I made it to shore. Then we had a fairly long walk down the pier to get to our 4 wheel drive Range Rovers. We had 7 people in mine. It was open on the sides and had a roof, thank God. Once we got moving we cooled off some. Problem now was dust. Our knuckleheaded driver had to be right behind the other vehicles so we ate a lot of dust at times. We headed out of the town and into the hills covered by rain forests. First stop was to view a waterfalls. We had to walk down a tricky path for 5 minutes to get to the small falls. Next stop was to see a "water slide" and distillery. The water slide was a huge rock with water from stream flowing over it. People could slide down the rock into a pool. A few in our tour group tried it once. Then we went across road to a rum distillery. Sugar cane was pressed and the liquid from it was fermented to make a Brazilian rum called "cachaca". I mentioned it before as I like the Brazilian drink called "ciapirinha" that is made from it. Our last stop was at little botanical park with over 300 species of beautiful plants. Then we raced back to town. The road had speed bumps like no other. Then when in the town we were back on the huge cobblestone streets that you had to go very slow over. As a note, I later talked with passengers that just went into town to walk around and found it very difficult to walk because of these big stones. I would have liked to stayed in town for a while and got some more photos but I was whipped. So after another 40 minute tender ride I was back in AIR CONDITIONING. It was about 2pm and Rebecca had eaten so I went up to the pool bar for a burger and Fanta soda.
It is now 5:30 and we will be going to the early show (6pm) this evening to hear Agata Sava, the mezzo-soprano. Her show is entitled, "The Best of Operas & Musicals" so sounds interesting. We are preparing to sail in a few minutes. Not going very far again tonight however. Photos are uploading very slow but will get them on blog later tonight.

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Photos of Ilha Grande

Link to photos I took today on Ilha Grande, an island a few miles off the Brazilian coast.

Cut & paste the link below on another browser tab to see some great photos. Then click on first photo to enlarge it. Captions will be in upper right corner. Mid photo there is an arrow to go through rest of photos.

https://goo.gl/photos/2HupJ6nNaan9fUqx6

Tuesday, Feb 21st--Ilha Grande, Brazil

As you can see we are only 100 miles southwest of Rio de Janeiro where Carnival celebrations are going full strength. Instead we are here on this lazy little island just off shore of mainland Brazil. It's claim to fame is over 200 beaches, snorkeling, diving, hiking trails, and rain forests. The entire island is a protected area and has some of the largest remaining populations of many endangered species.
There aren't many villages on the island but we stopped at the largest on which has a population of 1900. I won't bore you with the name of it. There were no ship's tours but the tenders took us ashore. After our Tex-Mex buffet lunch up on pool deck, I grabbed my camera and headed ashore. I found an interesting little village with quite a few Brazilian tourists who came by ferry from mainland. It was a great place for photos and just walking around enjoying the quaint place. The first thing I noticed was the colorful flowering trees on the sides of the rain forest hills. The beach at the village was not that great but I never ventured to any others. There were boats that would take you on a tour around the island, that some of our passengers really enjoyed. The streets, if you call them that, (no cars on the island) were either dirt, sand, or cobblestone. There were many little shops selling: bathing suit, souvenirs, groceries, and several restaurants with very questionable sanitary standards. I had a couple "problems" with my camera malfunctioning?? They say there are 120 miles of hiking trails here. I walked a little ways up one but turned back after smelling something very dead. I stayed a whole hour here which is much longer than I figured I would. Finally got hot so headed back towards tender dock stopping along the way to get a refreshing Guarana, Brazilian soda with lots of caffeine. I used to drink them on flight back to DFW from Sao Paulo. They are very good.
It is 6pm and there is a special event for full circle passengers up on front outer deck where passengers are normally not allowed. We are passing as too hot and not big on champaign. We are to meet Susie and Fred, our next door neighbors, for cocktails and dinner at 7pm. Both couples are wanting to go see the show at 9:30 this evening. It is Jamie Michael Stewart, Love Boat singer, on stage again. We loved his first show a few days ago.
I believe our stop today and our stops on Wednesday and Thursday are just so Regent does not have to be in Rio de Janeiro during Carnival. They do not want the expense (docking is premium price during it), try to reserve space for passengers along the Carnival parade route (again $$$), and the security issues with us being there with 5 million other tourists. I got a ship's officer today (no names) who admitted this was a "technical" stop and smiled when it was said. I ask that they at least try to televise the parades on the ship for us. I know it is televised because I used to watch it when laying over in Buenos Aires.
Soft shell crabs were wonderful last night as was Peter & Maureen, our table mates. I say "mates" as they are very Australian (ex police supervisor in Sydney). Well, I guess Regent does listen to their passengers. We were on this ship back in November for our two week transatlantic cruise and I bitched because there was only one stationary bike in the gym. I ask for a second one to be put on for this cruise. Well, this morning I walked into the gym and there was a new, second bike!!! Regent Seven Seas Cruises is the BEST!

Monday, February 20, 2012

Leaving Porto Belo & Santos, Brazil photos

First photos of pirate ship were taken as we were about to sail from Porto Belo yesterday. Rest are of Santos port taken today.

Cut & paste the link below on another browser tab to see some great photos. Then click on first photo to enlarge it. Captions will be in upper right corner. Mid photo there is an arrow to go through rest of photos.

https://goo.gl/photos/ExF8sjxYT4tRCia99

Monday, Feb 20th--Santos, Brazil

Santos is the biggest seaport in Latin America and is just 50 miles from the largest city in South America, Sao Paulo, Brazil. Santos has a population of 420,000 and the port's major export until WWII was coffee. Although coffee is still a major export, other products exported here are cars, steel, oil, oranges, bananas, and cotton. The city is also home to the Coffee Museum.
There were only two tours offered today. One was an 8 hour tour to Sao Paulo and the other was a 4 hour-highlights of Santos. We are doing neither. Carnival, the most famous Brazilian holiday, started last Friday and lasts for 6 days. Rio de Janeiro is probably best know for its Carnival parades and celebrations. Last year it drew 5 million people, 400,000 being foreigners. Except for industries, malls, and Carnival related workers, the country comes to a standstill for the week. 80% of the annual beer consumption in Brazil takes place this week and 70% of the country's tourism is this week. Unfortunately, we will be in 5 ports this week and everything is basically shutdown. I think Regent timed our arriving in Rio this coming Friday just after Carnival ends. They did not want to deal with the massive crowds and expense associated with Rio's Carnival celebrations, not to mention security issues. Today's 8 hour tour to Sao Paulo costs $89 each and I think several people cancelled after learning most everything in Sao Paulo is closed. I would love to see these Samba parades with the colorful, scantily clad dancers at least one time. The parades start at 9pm and do not end until past 3am nightly.
This afternoon we took the shuttle bus to a mall in downtown area. It was a nice mall but only lasted 30 minutes and was ready to return. Prices in Brazil are not good like the other SA countries. We are sailing until 8pm this evening. Early show at 6pm is a production show with the ship's singers and dancers. We have seen all their shows, but love them, so will be there on front row again tonight. Then we will meet for cocktails and dinner with Peter & Maureen from Australia. Peter is a funny guy with a very heavy Australian accent.
DID YOU KNOW:
1) Brazil is as large as the contiguous 48 states.
2) It has a population of 203 million people. 80% of them live in cities.
3) Sao Paulo has population of 20 million and is fastest growing city in the world.
4) The largest number of Japanese living outside of Japan live in Sao Paulo.
5) The capital of Brazil is NOT Sao Paulo or Rio de Janeiro, but Brazilia.
6) Brazil has the 6th largest economy in the world.
7) Brazil is largest producer of soybeans in the world.

Sunday, February 19, 2012

Porto Belo Photos

Sunday, Feb 19th--Porto Belo, Brazil

Porto Belo is located south of Rio de Janeiro on the Atlantic Ocean in the Brazilian state of Santa Catarina. It is known for its good beaches, emerald green waters, and diving. Argentineans, Brazilians, and Europeans come here during the summer for the beaches. The city of Itapema is on the other side of the bay and is a very "new" city since it was all built since 1984. It is an industrial city with lots of factories and manufacturing but also has a new skyline with some fairly tall buildings. Our tour, "Blumenau Heritage", left the pier in a brand new bus. We followed the coast north on highway BR101 which runs along the full coast line of Brazil. After about 40 minutes we turned west and followed a river for another 40 minutes to our destination, Blumenau. We wound our way through the coastal mountains along the river passing some sugar cane fields and several large pastures with cattle grazing. I saw a few cows lying in the shade along the road and a large bird flew up and landed on one of the cows heads. She did not seem to mind. The sugar cane is used to distill Cachaca, a Brazilian rum (80 proof alcohol). Cachaca is used to make ciapirinhas, the famous Brazilian drink. I love them! Anyway, we went through a couple of towns. One was a Danish community where they made women's lingerie. All the store fronts had only lingerie and many families had their own design and manufacturing there. Some nice looking things for sure!
Our first stop in Blumenau was at a beer museum. Couldn't come to a German community without having a beer museum! Next was a museum of the community's founder's family home. The Blumenau's house was not longer standing so replicas were built but the furniture inside was theirs. It was quite interesting I think you will find in the photos. After that we went to a local hotel for a buffet lunch that was suppose to be German food but ????. By now it was 1:30 and very hot when we finished our lunch. One more stop though at the Octoberfest Garden. Two weeks every year in October they have German bands come in from Germany and they celebrate Octoberfest here. Some nice shops and a few restaurants. After that we headed back to the ship and arrived at port by 4pm. Another long day of touring was complete after our tender ride back out to our ship.
I have the photos uploaded now and this posting is ready to publish. Good thing as it is now 6:25 and I have to shower quickly. Cocktail time at 7pm as usual and dinner to follow. We are sailing now for our next port, Santos, Brazil, and will arrive there at 7am tomorrow. I did not proof read this so hope there is not too many mistakes.

Saturday, February 18, 2012

Saturday, Feb 18th--At Sea

Our position is the yellow arrow in red circle just abeam Porto Alegre at noon time. We will be arriving at Porto Belo, Brazil, tomorrow morning at 8am. At noon it is sunny, 75F, 84% humidity and we have a smooth ride. This morning Rebecca went to Terry Breen's lecture entitled, "Brazil: Gem of South America". I will watch a replay of it on tv this afternoon because I climbed 110 floors of stairs as my exercise. Try it! She is in the gym now and will have room service Caesar salads with roasted chicken for lunch shortly. This afternoon I will go to a wine tasting of Argentinean wines at 2:30. At 6pm there is a cocktail party for Seven Seas Society members. Then at 6:30 we will meet Toni & Evie from Connecticut, in the Observation Lounge for more cocktails before having dinner with them in Compass Rose restaurant. I have made a special request for fried shrimp and garlic bread as appetizers. Tonight's show is vocalist, Jamie Michael Stewart, who sang on the old tv show, "Love Boat" and he and his band was back in the 60's and 70's was opening act for all the big name entertainers. We have seen him before on other cruises and enjoy his shows.
It is a relaxing day but certainly not boring. I was writing an email this morning to my son, Jeff, telling him that we lose all track of what day it is down here. We brought a calendar so can keep up that way. The walls to the suites are metal covered with something to make it look attractive. So we bring magnets to stick our calendar, map of South America, itinerary, tour info, and notes up on the wall. Only 30 days left on this cruise, YUK!

Friday, February 17, 2012

Rio Grande, Brazil--Photos

Friday, Feb 17th--Rio Grande, Brazil

As we approached the port this morning we sailed past many little fishing boats that seemed to returning to port also. We are docked in a very industrial port. Right in back of us is a big ship unloading raw phosphorus into semi trucks. They are taking the ore to be processed into phosphate fertilizer near here. As you will see in my photos there are nearly 100 new John Deere combines ready to be exported. John Deere has a factory near here too. At the end of the pier they are constructing offshore oil drilling platforms for the wells off the Brazilian coast. There is still a lot of agriculture here in southern Brazil which includes: corn, soybeans, wheat, rice, cattle, and sheep/wool. Again here they are praying for some rain as they have been very dry for several weeks now. It has been cloudy about all day with one small shower this morning. This has kept the temperature down in low 80's but with high humidity.
On the pier this morning as we left on our "Sights of Rio Grande" tour, there was some local dancers and musicians performing. Our bus was very nice but could not go very fast as all the roads are made of big bricks and very rough. There is a large Brazilian navy facility that we passed near the port on our way to the city. The downtown area is only about 15 minutes from our ship. Our first stop was at an Oceanographic museum. Kind of interesting buy everything was written in Portuguese. Had 45 minutes here but I was back on bus in 15 minutes as it was starting to rain a little. From there we drove to the downtown area and set off on foot for a 90 minute walk around town. Our guide was French (don't ask why he is a guide in Brazil) so had a hard time understanding him. So I took off on my own, keeping group in sight, taking photos. We stopped at the San Pedro Cathedral, obligatory cathedral in every SA tour. Then went to Museum of Sacred Art at the Chapel of San Francisco. I skipped this! Cathedraled and museumed out!!! We walked through some parks with very dirty pools with gross things floating around in them. They really need to clean the place up. We went over to the very small local fish market with mostly small shrimp and some white fish that had been filleted and the flies were dancing on it. Very appetizing indeed!! By this time the sun was coming out and it was HOT.
Actually, I kind of enjoyed this place. The people seemed very nice and it had some "character". Our guide said the population was 200,000 but we were only in the downtown area and did not seem that big. It had a 1 star (just guessing) hotel in downtown but could not imagine a tourist coming here for more than one day.
Well, I have to get ready as there is a special show at 6pm for Seven Seas Society members. It is featuring the virtuoso clarinet player and a mezzo-soprano singer. We caught the last number of the clarinet guy last night and he was very good. The show after dinner is a production show featuring the ship's singers and dancers. By the way, we dined with Elda, the assistant cruise director, and Terry, the lecturer, last night. We had a wonderful evening with great conversation. The veal Parmesan last night was finally up to my standards. I am happy camper!!

Thursday, February 16, 2012

Punta del Este, Uruguay--Photos

Thursday, Feb 16th--Punta del Este, Uruguay

As I write it is already 2pm here and we are back from our tour and have had lunch. It is 90F with 51% humidity outside now. Clouds are building now. Our tour guide said it has been very dry this summer so farmers are wanting rain. Maybe they will get some soon.
Our tour, "Highlights of Punta del Este" was 3 hours and left ship at 9am. We are anchored today so had a 20 minute ride in a tender boat to get ashore and same coming back. Uruguay has as total population of only 3 million. 1.3 million of them live in the capital, Montevideo. There are 12 million head of cattle and 9 million sheep in Uruguay. Uruguay is a flat country with rich farm land and two extremely HUGE aquifers. The Guanani Aquifer lies beneath all of Uruguay and parts of Argentina, Brazil, & Paraguay. This underground water could supply the world (yes, I said world) with fresh water for 200 years. Uruguay also raises and exports a lot soybeans, wheat, and some rice.
Well, as I said yesterday, Punta del Este is know as the "St Tropez of South America" and has countless beaches making it a vacation resort area for Argentines, Brazilans, and people from all over the world. There are very nice, modern high rise condo buildings lining the beach areas. We drove through the residential areas with beautiful homes. There are quite a few retired people from the US living down here now. These homes are very expensive and quite large. There are no slums here! During the winter months here there are only 8,000 residents but over 150,000 in summer time. We stopped at the Ralli Museum featuring Latin American artists. There was a court yard full of Salvador Dali sculptures. The port was full of very nice yachts.
We were very impressed with Punta del Este and Uruguay as a whole. When rioting in the streets starts in the US (with our debt eventually we will be just like Europe today), I would consider this as my "safe area". The actor, Robert Duvall, has a horse farm near here.
We have requested an "Italian dinner" tonight in Compass Rose. Tonight's menu did not appeal to us so will be having fried calamari & shrimp as appetizer, Caesar salad, veal Parmesan, and spaghetti. Tonight's show is a Polish clarinet virtuoso, conductor, and composer who has performed all over the world. May give it a try.
We sail at 5pm for Rio Grande, Brazil, and will arrive there at 10am tomorrow.

Cut & paste the link below on another browser tab to see some great photos. Then click on first photo to enlarge it. Captions will be in upper right corner. Mid photo there is an arrow to go through rest of photos.

https://goo.gl/photos/8kZ3g5s9DdSMu13v5

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Wednesday, Feb 15th--Montevideo, Uruguay

Hope you all had a great Valentine's Day! Waiters last night gave all the women a long stem rose during dinner. We are back in Montevideo again for the day. Was here last Saturday but stopping again for the 467 new passengers to see it. This segment is only 10 days long and will end in Rio de Janeiro.
We had a 3 hour walking tour of the city booked for today but was "toured out" after yesterday's 7 hour one. We walked through the "old city" part of Montevideo on our own last Saturday so have seen it anyway. I opened our balcony door this morning and it was already very humid and warm so will probably not even walk the very short distance from ship into the downtown area today. We lost an hour last night so 4 hours time difference to Central Standard Time.
We will be sailing at 7pm this evening for the resort port of Punta del Este in southern Uruguay. It is only about 110 miles from Montevideo so an easy cruise. The population of Punta del Este is less than 8,000 but that increases to over 150,000 during the summer vacation period. It is where the rich and famous of Buenos Aires come during the summer to play. There is no dock so we will have to use the tenders to go ashore tomorrow.
Today was another absolutely cloudless day. It has been nearly a week since we have seen any clouds. Not complaining mind you, but with the sun comes the heat. No pictures today.

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Tuesday, Feb 14th--Day 3 Buenos Aires

We had a 7 hour tour today and will let the photos tell the story for today. It is about 7pm and we have a 7:30 reservation at Prime 7 for our Valentines Day dinner. Just now sailing out of Buenos Aires after our 3 days here. Will be back in Montevideo, Uruguay, tomorrow morning for the day.
Click on the link to see today's photos of our visit to an "estancia" or farm and of the "gaucho" or cowboy show.

Cut & paste the link below on another browser tab to see some great photos. Then click on first photo to enlarge it. Captions will be in upper right corner. Mid photo there is an arrow to go through rest of photos.

https://goo.gl/photos/GoJTZh1N5iR8yicZ9

Monday, February 13, 2012

Monday, Feb 13th--Day Two in Buenos Aires

Well, I did not think our Argentine dinner last night was that good but our guests loved it. I guess I know what a good Argentine restaurant show be. Hate it that the place I really like was closed. We had a great time with Goren and Erica and glad they could get away from passengers for a while and "let their hair down". We went through 3 bottles of vino to help that!
This morning I took Rebecca to the Recoleta. It is a very large and old cemetery near the city center. It has a high brick wall around it and is very beautiful with huge family monuments. It is a place like no other in the world. Evita is buried here but we could not find where. Around it is lots of restaurants where you can sit outside or inside and night clubs too. It was very hot so only lasted about an hour there. I brought Rebecca back to the ship and I returned to the city area for some more walking and people watching. BA is a good people watching place. Saw a homeless guy carrying a mattress and he plopped it down in the shade of a large monument in center of a square.
When I returned to ship, Rebecca had gotten her hair cut in the Canyon Ranch spa onboard and worked out. I was talking with a guy from suite down the way from us and he said the Tango Show we are suppose to go to tonight is not that good. We have both seen a tango show here so think we will cancel it. Was not until 10pm so kind of late for "us old folks".
476 new passengers coming aboard today so lost some friends and now will have to make more new ones. Two other new cruise ships in port with us today so lots of tourists helping the economy here. There is a super Panamax container ship in port today. I have never seen a ship that large. It's too big to go through Panama Canal now but can in 3 years when they open the new lanes.

Cut & paste the link below on another browser tab to see some great photos. Then click on first photo to enlarge it. Captions will be in upper right corner. Mid photo there is an arrow to go through rest of photos.

https://goo.gl/photos/v6gEjNoiGYZTG69YA

Sunday, February 12, 2012

Tigre Delta and River Cruise

Today's photos:

Cut & paste the link below on another browser tab to see some great photos. Then click on first photo to enlarge it. Captions will be in upper right corner. Mid photo there is an arrow to go through rest of photos.

https://goo.gl/photos/iot53a5qrTzQRHCL7

Sunday, Feb 12th--Buenos Aires, Argentina

We sailed into the industrial harbor in Buenos Aires this morning. Our tour, "Tigre Delta & River Cruise" left at 10am. I had done this a couple of times before when flying down here but Rebecca had not seen it. Tigre is a town where Parana River flows into the delta and there are many little islands separated by narrow strips of water that is navigable by narrow boats. There are no roads or cars on these small islands but people live along the water on them. The only way to get to there houses is via water taxis. Boats pick up the kids for school, pick up their trash, and there are even boats carrying groceries (small stores on boats). Since it is Sunday the river was alive with all kinds and sizes of boats. The families living along the river were out by the water relaxing and cooking asada. An asada is an Argentine barbecue with all kinds of meats and Sunday is when they cook it for sure. My photos will tell more about this tour than words can. On the bus ride there we drove through the most affluent area of north BA where huge mansions are and the rich live. We stopped in San Isidro to visit the plaza where there were numerous antique stands set up on the weekends and visited a beautiful cathedral. On the way back to the ship they dropped Rebecca and I off at the Marriott Hotel in BA. Regent is operating a free shuttle bus from the cruise terminal to the Marriott. We walked down the two pedestrian only streets of Florida and Lavalle stopping at a place to have a couple of empanadas (meat pastries) for our late lunch. I also wanted to check the restaurant I was planning to go for dinner tonight. We are taking Goren, the Asst Food & Beverage Mgr) and his wife, Erica, the Executive Concierge, out for dinner with us tonight. I wanted to take them to my favorite restaurant for beef, El Establo. But discovered that it is closed for the holidays (it is summer here) until Feb 29th. So then had to come up with a backup place. Another favorite place of mine, Brocollinos, is Italian and it will be open or there is another beef place that is good. So will have some choices.
We have no tours scheduled tomorrow during the day but will be going to a tango show at 8pm. We may go do some more walking around the city during the day however.

Saturday, February 11, 2012

Saturday in Montevideo Photos

Saturday, Feb 11th--Montevideo, Uruguay

Uruguay is the second smallest country in South America and is bounded by the Atlantic Ocean on the east and Rio de la Plata (where several rivers flow into the Atlantic) on the south. Tomorrow we will be following the Rio de la Plata up stream to Buenos Aires. Uruguay has a population of 3 1/3 million, 88% of them are of European descent. This little country (about size of Colorado) has one of the best economies in South America and has the best health care and education systems. It is 9th in the world in soybean production and 20th in cattle production. Wool is also a big export. Montevideo has one of the most advanced container shipping terminals in the world and handles over 1 million containers annually. The international airport recently built a new, very modern passenger terminal. I have flown into this airport several times.
From my photos of the city you will see the beautiful old architectural buildings with European influences. We did not have a tour here today because we will be back here again next Wednesday. We will do a tour then. Why are we stopping here twice? Well, the third segment of the cruise begins in Buenos Aires on Monday. Two thirds of the passengers will be new so we will stop here for them. The next segment is 10 days from BA to Rio.
We got off the ship at noon and took a 2 hour walk through part of the city on our own. We were walking through the old part of Montevideo and you can see that it is very run down and in disrepair. It is unfortunate as these are interesting old buildings. People are starting to reinnovate some of them. The old train station has been turned into a "market" but it was full of parrillas. A parrilla is a restaurant that cooks ALL kinds of meats, sausages (called chirizos), and includes entrails on open wood fires. Actually, the coals were raked under the iron grates that the meats were cooked on. You will find parrillas in Uruguay, Argentina, and Brazil. Just one word--FANTASTIC! We will be dining at my favorite one in Buenos Aires tomorrow night.
When we got back to the ship they were still loading supplies onto the Mariner. I noticed our chef, Guido, was down inspecting about 10 containers of fresh fish that was coming aboard. He took EVERY fish out and then looked at it and smelled it to make sure it was good. This is what impresses me about Regent Cruises.
We will not be leaving here until 10pm so the pool deck is being converted into a large dining area and they will be barbequeing meats and fish for dinner under the stars. You may recall we did one earlier on the cruise. I will go up and take photos again but we will dine down in the Compass Rose restaurant.
It is a perfect day here with only sun, light winds, low humidity, and temperature of 80F. I wore Rebecca out with all the walking we did. I could tell she was not a happy camper that I had to walk a few miles through the city. She is napping now! Think I will go back out and get a local beer. Hope you are having a great weekend.

Friday, February 10, 2012

Friday, Feb 10th--At Sea

We had a little excitement yesterday as we were just moving away from the pier. Actually, we did not feel or know anything had happened until the Captain made an announcement over PA. He said just after the lines that hold ship to pier were released and ship was moving away, a strong wind came up and blew ship back into the pier. A window was broken out and its frame damaged in the Compass Rose (main dining room) on deck 5. They apparently covered it over as temporary repair and will be replacing the window tomorrow while in Montevideo, Uruguay. Don't worry the window is way above the water line so not a safety issue at all. I'm sure the Captain is very embarrassed.
For all our Regent friends who want to know how we liked last night's preview of the "new" Sette Mari restaurant, I must say we were not that impressed. The menu, even after being explained by our waitress, was extensive and confusing. Menu items were Italian dishes but not prepared by an Italian chef. The minestrone soup, for example, had barley instead of pasta and practically no tomatoes. I had cioppino (fish stew) with a nice variety of seafoods but they were overcooked and broth was tasteless. Rebecca had veal with limone. The veal scallopini (two pieces) were perfectly round and not typical looking. Adding capers would have helped this dish. Lasagna was very nice however. I am not sure they should change La Veranda restaurant at night into an Italian format unless the food is Italian. In case you are wondering, veal parmesan was not on the menu.
It is just now noon and we have both finished our workouts and will be going up to the pool deck where they have prepared a seafood extravaganza (buffet). This afternoon we will be going to hear Terry Breen's lecture on "Montevideo, Uruguay", where we will be docking tomorrow morning at 10am. Tonight is the Captain's Farewell cocktail party and dinner for the passengers who will be disembarking when we arrive in Buenos Aires. Dress will be formal tonight so I get to wear my tux again. We have received an invitation to dine with the Staff Captain (second in command on the bridge) tonight.
Beautiful day with smooth seas, lots of sun, and mid 70's.

Puerto Madryn Photos

https://photos.app.goo.gl/kDuhhJWv7sESxjdy9

Thursday, Feb 9th--Puerto Madryn, Argentina

I put the above photo to show you the large bay that protects the harbor from big waves. Because it is so protected, southern right whales come here between June and December to raise their young. Also on the Valdes Peninsula, there are sea lions, elephant seals, Magellanic penguins, and egrets. Part of the bay is very shallow as you will see in the photos I took today. We left the pier at 8am for our "Highlights of Puerto Madryn and Gaiman" tour and the ocean was very close to the shore line, but when we returned at noon, it was a couple hundred yards further out.
In 1865 a group of Welsh people left Great Britain as a result of religious prosecution and came here to establish a colony of their own. Our tour took us on a 90 minute bus ride to the Welsh town of Gaiman which is along a river valley. On our drive there we saw nothing but arid waste land with only low, small leafed and thorny shrubs. The annual rainfall is only 10 inches so the Welsh used irrigation from the river to grow crops and raise cattle and sheep in the valley.
Nowadays, the big industries here are aluminum processing and wool from sheep. In the port there is a huge aluminum processing plant where ore is brought here from Brazil on ships, unloaded by a long conveyor belt extending from the industrial pier to the plant, and refined. The breed of sheep raised in this part of Patagonia produces some of the finest wool in the world. On our bus ride we saw where the sheared wool is washed before being exported. Tourism is only about 15% of the economy and is mostly related to scuba diving and aquatic animals viewing.
Our tour was basically 3 hours of bus riding to have hot tea, scones, and cakes at a traditional Welsh restaurant. Countryside enroute was most boring and a lot like Arizona but Rebecca got a nap in. Back on ship we had lunch and I walked back into the town to take some photos and check things out. It too was boring so did not last long ashore. It was a beautiful day with lots of sun, some wind (apparently normal for here), and 76F.
As we dined at a window table in Prime 7 last night we observed a beautiful sunset. Not a cloud in the sky so was hoping to get the "green" flash just after sun goes below horizon. I have only seen it one time and that was when we were on our world cruise on evening. Some friends ask us if we saw the beautiful full moon reflecting off the ocean last night. Will check that out tonight and try to get photo of it for you. We have another pre-dinner show this evening at 6pm with ship's singers and dancers. I have organized a cocktail get-together at 6:45 for our Macha Picchu group. Then at 8pm, as Regent "Platinum" level (200 nights or more on Regent cruises) we have been invited to have a preview dinner in an Italian specialty restaurant which will debut on Regent ships this coming June. It will be called "Sette Mari".

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Wednesday, Feb 8th--At Sea

We went through some storm last night just after midnight. Of course Rebecca slept though it but I was awakened by it. The ship was really listing due to the 75 knot wind blowing perpendicular to the ship's heading. In addition, the waves and swells were really tossing the ship around. I looked out but that was not a good idea. I was able to go back to sleep pretty quickly.
It is 1:15pm as I am writing this and the Atlantic is calming down more as the day progresses. On the above map, the yellow arrow in the red circle is where we are now. Will be docking early tomorrow morning in Puerto Madryn on the coast of Argentina. It has a population of around 60,000 people and was founded in 1865 by 150 Welsh immigrants. It still has the Welsh influence today. On the peninsula just north of Puerto Madryn there is a very large colony of penguins, sea lions, and even some whales in this area.
As we are going further north, it is warming up again outside. Temperature in port tomorrow should be in mid 80's. We have a 4 hour tour in the morning then will probably walk around the town in the afternoon.
This evening we have a pre-dinner show at 6pm featuring our cruise director, Ray Solaire, and his hand made puppets. We missed his show earlier in the cruise so definitely want to catch this one. Then we have a 7pm reservation for dinner in Prime 7, the steakhouse. Last night's show with Broadway singer, Jeri Sager was one of the best we have ever seen. I am getting real excited as in only four more days we will be in my favorite city in the whole world, Buenos Aires.

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Tuesday, Feb 7th--At Sea

Well, we arrived in the anchorage area for Port Stanley, the Falkland Islands, early this morning but the winds were 40 knots and the ship's anchor would not hold the ship. The winds were pushing the ship towards shore dragging the anchor on the sandy bottom. The Captain pulled up the anchor and went back out to open ocean for an hour then came back in and dropped anchor again but it still would not hold. So we are missing this port and now at sea heading to our next port. We will be at sea again tomorrow before arriving in Puerto Madryn on the coast of Argentina on Thursday.
So far the Atlantic Ocean is not as rough as we were experiencing yesterday. Also we do not need to go as fast as normal so that helps the ride. We have both just finished exercising and are showered and ready to go up for some lunch. This afternoon we will go to another of Terry Breen's lectures. This one is "Argentina, Land of the Gaucho".
We had some very good sea bass for dinner last night. We dined with a couple from Dallas and Jeanette had requested the chef make us a strawberry-rhubarb pie for dessert. I actually liked it! Tonight I am looking forward to some soft shell crabs again. We want to see tonight's show also. Jeri Sager has performed in the Broadway shows: Evita and Cats.
Only 40 days left on this cruise. It is going way too fast.

Monday, February 6, 2012

Monday, Feb 6th--Cruising in Atlantic Ocean

Think it got rough around 2am and the ship is still rocking & rolling. Wind is 40mph and swells 15 to 20 feet so no one allowed on open decks today. At noon the Captain says we can expect this today on our way to the Falkland Islands and then again on Wednesday when we are at sea again on our way to Puerto Madryn, on the coast of Argentina. Got my patch on!!
There is no dock in Port Stanley, the Falklands, so we will have to take the ship's tenders (life boats) ashore tomorrow. The Captain hinted that the 25 minute ride may be a rough one in the small boats. There is a chance that it may be unsafe and then ship will skip this port. Personally, I don't care. We saw some penguins a few days ago so no need to see more. Other than that, it doesn't sound like there is much else.
The Falkland Islands are a British colony. Thirty years ago this April the Argentines tried to take the Falklands back from the British by invading the islands. The war lasted for a couple of months killing over 600 Argentine soldiers and over 200 British troops. The islands were heavily mined and many of these mine fields remain to this day. There are only 5000 inhabitants in Stanley and a few little fishing and farming villages. Sheep farming is the major industry as there are over a half million sheep being raised for wool and meat.
This morning we went to a lecture about flora and fauna in the Falklands. There are several different types of whales, sea lions, dolphin, penguins to name a few that hopefully we may see in this area. We are 300 miles from land right now and there are several different kinds of birds soaring around us.

Ushuaia, Argentina--Photos

Having some problems with the internet now but finally got these downloaded this morning. Really rocking and rolling last night and so far this morning. Expect it to continue until we get to Falkland Islands tomorrow morning.

Cut & paste the link below on another browser tab to see some great photos. Then click on first photo to enlarge it. Captions will be in upper right corner. Mid photo there is an arrow to go through rest of photos.

https://goo.gl/photos/qqg9WaHLoUhRzLE96

Sunday, February 5, 2012

Sunday, Feb 5th,--Ushuaia, "Bottom of the World"

We are spending today in Ushuaia, Argentina. It is located on the Beagle Channel on the southern shore of the very large island of Tierra del Fuego. Ushuaia is the world's most southern city, hence it is said to be at the "bottom of the world". There are some electronics industries and tourism here. 90% of the trips to Antarctica leave from here. During the winter months, April through October, people come for cross country and downhill skiing. It is an incredibly beautiful part of the world, and we as discovered today, a photographer's dream.
We departed the ship for our 5 hour "Lago Escondido and Los Cotorros" tour. Our bus headed toward the north part of the island on National Route 3. It is the only way to get from Ushuaia to the northern side and all the goods from mainland Argentina are trucked in on this highway. We went through valleys winding our way to cross the Andes through Garibald Pass at the 1500 foot level. In many of the valley floors were peat bogs formed over 1000's of years. We saw in one valley where they were "harvesting" or drying the peat to use as fuel or bagged for garden use. We finally reached Lake Escondido which is the second largest lake on Tierra del Fuego. The largest lake was on the other side of it and was nearly 100 miles long. After a photo stop we turned around and stopped for lunch at a lovely restaurant named "Los Cotorros". We had stopped there earlier for a restroom break and saw where they were cooking the lamb we would be served later for lunch. The way they were cooking it was a typical Argentine way. You will see how in my photos. Lunch consisted of a salad bar, bread, lamb, potatoes, wine, and ice cream. Then we were treated by watching the owner, who they called Monkey, make his "Monkey coffee". I can not tell you what all was in it but there were several different liquors. He even put an ember from the fire in it as he said that made the coffee grounds go to the bottom of the huge coffee pot. It did not taste like coffee but was quite tasty. They also had many huskies (sled dogs) and during the winter you could take huskie sled rides. After returning to Ushuaia the bus stopped in town and we got off to check out the shops before walking back to the ship.
Once again today the weather would change every few minutes. It was mostly sunny with an occasional 2 minute very light shower. This produced several rainbows during the day for us to enjoy. Our tour guide said they have rainbows all the time. We had a great time today as the Andes, valleys, and lakes were absolutely awesome. This is where the Andes mountain range ends so they are only 3,000 to 4,000 feet high down here.
I would love to see Ushuaia and Tierra del Fuego during the winter with all the snow. The French & Italian ski teams train here during winter so that means they can train about year round.
We will sail at 8pm tonight and will be at sea tomorrow before arriving in our next port on Tuesday, which is Port Stanley on the Falkland Islands. Tonight we are dining again in Prime 7, the steakhouse. The Super Bowl will be shown in the theatre starting at 8:30 our time. Our cruise director is planning a big party with beer, burgers, hotdogs, cheerleaders, and who knows what else! Down here, sunrise was at 6:09 and sunsets at 9:26 today. Long days during summer.

Cape Horn Photos

Here are Saturday's photos while in Beagle Channel and then of Horn Island, and in particular, our "rounding of Cape Horn". To do the photos justice, click on them to make them bigger.