More Brazilian Villages

Just about every night at dinner we sit with another couple or two. For the most part this has been very enjoyable. Several nights ago a single gentlemen joined us who, it turned out, was one of the ship board entertainers, Marty Henne, pianist, singer and raconteur. We heard him a night later and he was very good. Interestingly, we found out during our dinner with him that he had been the music director for "Sesame Street" for ten years. As is the case every evening, dinner conversation eventually turned to how bad the shore excursions are on this cruise. Marty had an interesting spin on this which Tim agrees with. The eastern coast of South American between Rio De Janiero and Buenos Aires has very little of interest. Tim suggested, and Marty agreed, that one of the non-descript villages we have visited could be dropped and an extra night spent in Santos so that we would have time to experience both Santos and Sao Paulo. This is all a preface to the fact that in the past three days we have visited two of these aforementioned villages. On Saturday we anchored off of Porto Belo, Brazil. Lynda stayed on board while Tim visited the village to see if there was anything Lynda absolutely had to see. There was not.  There were several stores, a furniture store and an appliance store, that locals actually shop in. There was also a shoe store with a large selection of women's sandals that Lynda has been looking for, but obviously not enough to leave the ship. The only noteworthy thing in Porto Belo that Tim experienced was hearing his first Christmas carol, a Portuguese rendition of Felix Navidad.

Sunday was a day spent at sea. It was a beautiful warm and sunny day. Eat your hearts out Michigan.  Lynda spent an hour having a massage while Tim spent time putting on the putting course and hitting some golf balls in the nets that are available. Tough day!

Today we docked in Rio Grande, Brazil and took a three hour tour of Rio Grande, three hours that we will never recover. The highlights of the tour were the military building with a group of beautiful hydrangeas in full bloom and the Rio Grande Public Library which, and I quote our tour guide, has "2000 books, each with a different title."

So you don't think this blog posting is one big whine fest, the cruise itself has been excellent. The service has been good, the food outstanding, and the booze free! Our next report will be from Uruguay.

Happy Birthday Beethoven!

Porto Belo, Brazil

Cathedral de San Pedro, Rio Grande, Brazil

Inside Cathedral de San Pedro