Our Cruise and Travel Director’s web site is still not delivering, but I heard that his talk on the Selaron Steps, in Rio, is on YouTube, too, so I googled around and sure enough: The Selaron Steps in Rio de Janeiro  is there for your viewing pleasure.  There are other videos there, too, but I like the simplicity of the web site – if it ever works again. Meanwhile, enjoy the YouTube. 

Daniel posts his talks at www.danieledwarduk.com but at the moment, the web site is broken and not delivering.  He promised me he’d look into it but a Cruise and Travel Director doesn’t get a lot of free time, so bear with him.

Back to my own blog.  I left you in Brail on March 23, and we had a lot more Brazil to go.  We were privileged to have aboard, a group of educators, animators, singers and dancers called OiBrasil.  They gave lectures, taught crafts, dancing, musical instruments, cooking, just about everything about a culture you can think of… They even put on a couple of Carnaval type shows.  I missed one of those in Rio, but caught a few lectures and the second show.  They were great to have around for a couple of weeks.  HAL billed them as Cultural Ambassadors, and they sure were.  You can get a little taste at: Bing Videos  and if you want to hire them, go to www.oibrasilshows.com

On March 23rd, we docked in Maceio, a biggish seaport, where the market had taken over an old stadium.  There was a free shuttle to it.  I indulged myself with a new hanging purse that won’t work after all, and will likely be abandoned because it won’t fit in my carry on, a new top that might be able to replace a worn one I will abandon, a pair of sandals, which are pretty flat, a pastel de carne and a coke. 

This thing is really good.  It has both meat and cheese in it and comes to you piping hot from the deep fryer.  The coke came with a glass of ice, which I should have thrown away, but didn’t.  I survived but it’s a good thing there is no shortage of restroom facilities on a ship.  Dee and I could compare footwear at the table and the Repertory company was on stage.  It was a good day.

On the 24th we were in Recife, where the Girards and I took a Catamaran cruise called “Venice of Brazil”.  We had hoped to be going into the three rivers that meet here but it was a silly big catamaran , a flat tour boat that just poked around in the hot sun and all the pictures were full of tourist debris.  So I don’t have much to show for it.  See what I mean:

The next day, the 25th, Bosco of OiBrasil filled us in with a little history and explained Brazil’s ties to medieval Europe. He dove deeply into the climate, soils, and early settlers.  Now I don’t totally understand this but it seems, the discovery of America coincides with the last years of the Reconquista.  That was the 900 years war that drove the Moors and Jews out of Europe.  A lot of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews came to Brazil.  The Dutch conquered the place and all of that was fine because they didn’t try to convert the Jews but when the Christians won in Europe, they come to the colonies to drive the Dutch and Jews out.  So that lot left Brazil, moved north and founded, you guessed it, New York.  You can see it in the architecture of Recife, our next stop.  But in the countryside, along the Amazon and into the jungle, the culture of the poor doesn’t change much.  They don’t travel and they barely have schooling.  They dress in leather and ride mules.  It’s a thorny place and it’s still medieval and old stories get passed down.  Bosco told us of a prize bull, who was killed for his tongue to satisfy a pregnant lady, whose husband was a little over zealous.  But not to worry, the bull got resurrected and everyone lived happily ever after, only they react the whole sorry mess every year in Parintins, and we’ll be going there.  More to come.

Richard Watson, another OiBrasil speaker, taught us more about the culture along the river, how they farm, catch fish, gather fruit, and move every year when the water gets too high.  We learned about the different soils, table mountains, waterfalls and a lot of other geography that amazed, amused and confused us.  It left us with a healthy respect for this mighty river and we hadn’t even got there yet.  Eli Moore, the Piano Bar entertainer, was on the World Stage.

The 26th, we were in Fortaleza.  Another town, another market, another top that I hope I can get home.  My carry on will be bursting at the seams.

The entertainment that night was spectacular, and that, I don’t have to pack.  OiBrasil were on stage with their Carnaval themed show and it was marvelous.  If you didn’t take the link up there in the first paragraph, you might want to now.

The 27th was the first of three more sea days before we would get to the mouth of the Amazon.  It’s some mouth, 200 miles wide as it opens to the sea.  Daniel had a wonderful talk on the Amazon and our first two ports on it, Santarem and Boca de Valera.    Discovering the Amazon River: Orellana and the legend of Naia The stories are good, but I warn you, Danial’s talks take more than a half-hour each to watch.  You might just want to remember they are here, to watch when you are about to venture to the Amazon.  The stories are good, and little known.  In this one, you learn about the first European to venture into the Amazon on a boat and how it got its name. 

That night there was a lovely Hungarian violinist on the World stage, name of Susana.  She was very easy to listen to.

On the second sea day, Daniel told us all about the rise and fall of Manaus.  How the city grew under the Portuguese, built fine palaces and a fabulous Opera house, only to shrink back when the British exported rubber plantations to Asia, particularly Indonesia and Malasia, from whence it was much easier to distribute than from hundreds of miles from the sea.  A great disservice done to the Brazilians, a favor to Asia, and pots and pots of money for the British Rubber Barrons.  Daniel tells it so much better than I: A Cruise Tourist’s Guide to Manaus, Brazil  Oi Brasil had a good talk for us in the afternoon about Brazil’s geography, the river that runs under the Amazon, the reef system in the Atlantic, and the horror that is the trans Amazonian highway, fortunately not completed.

It was Wells Wescott’s birthday at our table.  Panjang amurnia.

Our repertory company were on the world stage, and they are always good.

On March 29, we began cruising the Amazon river, itself.  You might as well be on the ocean for all the shoreline you see, when it’s 200 miles wide at the mouth.  But the color is different.  It’s not the clear blue sea, it’s the muddy brown river.  We are going to have to do without laundry for 5 days, because it just takes too much water.  Better that than not being able to shower, because it’s hot, and we’ll really feel it when we get on shore.  The ship, you see, makes fresh water from sea water for all its needs, but it can’t make clean water out of thin mud, so we’ll only have what we go in with.  Our tanks are full, but there are more than a thousand of us on board, passengers and crew.

Daniel’s talk, about two of the places we would be visiting, was great, as usual.  This one delved into the story of the resurrected bull that OiBrasil had told us about, and how that story spawned a festival that is so big and so divisive, that the Coca Cola company makes Coke in Blue cans, because the blue side won’t drink out of a red can in June.  We could hardly wait to get there.  A Cruise Tourist’s Guide to Parintins and Alter do Chao, Brazil

Richart Watson, of OiBrasil, enlightened us on how the indigenous people managed the soil for centuries, and what a terrible toll the rubber boom took on their civilization.  Whole tribes were wiped out, others lost 90% of their people, many retreated farther from the river, where they remain.  In the 1960s, indigenous territories started to have governmental protection, so there is some hope, but the gold rush which was still going on in the 1980s wasn’t helping.  It’s a polluting process.

We celebrated Wells’ birthday again, this time in the Pinnacle, with the Captain Rens Van Eerten, who is delightful, at our table for 14.  And I don’t have a picture.  There’s a professional one but I never did lay my hands on it.  An Italian vocalist, Luca Lattanzio, was on the World stage and we just loved him.