Oldies On Tour

Recife, Brazil

Posted on 15/01/2018 by Geoff

We docked in Recife at some un-godly hour in the morning, and were woken up when the dulcet tones from Dotty came over the airwaves, loud and clear around 0800hrs. Time for room service and early morning tea in bed; now when we speak they just ask if it is green or camomile to go with the English breakfast; they know us and get it right every time.

We were enjoying our breakfast when David came along to see if we were going to join up and see the area together; naturally we said yes so hurried our breakfast and we were off the ship within 30 minutes; wow, indigestion to follow!!!!

Once we were out of the terminal, barged past all the locals

Pretty cobbled streets with colourful painted houses

trying to sell us tours for this, that and the other, we opted for a taxi to take us the 7 Km’s to the historic centre of the town of “Olinda”, a UNESCO world heritage site since 1982. This town is on a steep hill so we got the driver to drop us at the top; we can always walk down!!!!

This area was founded in 1535 and was promoted to a town 1537 and in 1614 became the centre of the region. The area economy grew due to the sugar plantations around and it therefore was a centre for the slave trade until the abolishment in 1888. This area was also taken over by the Dutch for about 10 years as mentioned before but once the Portuguese were back in control the town grew on Sugarcane.

Firstly we visited the “obligatory” Cathedral, not too interesting other than it was built at the end of the 1500’s and is the oldest Franciscan Monastery in Brazil and bearing that in mind, it was in fairly good shape. It hadn’t been renovated to such an extent as to ruin its character. What was good though, out the back of the church there was an

Fantastic views

observation patio with a commanding view of Recife and the bay area, but, and there is always a but, a couple of shanty huts had spoilt the view a little.

It’s down hill all the way but as we left the church the heavens opened, a tropical downpour came along without warning

Christina running for cover

but fortunately we were amongst a number of market stalls so found shelter. 10 minutes later, as the pavements were steaming we were on our way again.

No wonder this is a UNESCO site, the narrow cobbled streets

Walking down the hill, with pretty coloured houses

with the brightly painted houses and nothing modern, makes it a place worth visiting. We popped into a few souvenir shops as we strolled and were quite taken back by some of the images we

One of the many nude models around

saw; of course we mustn’t mention the golliwogs that were for sale!!!!! But some of the sculptures were, err,

Two wooden models very naughty!

shall we say, rather explicit! naturally we all had a good chuckle, not to mention a ‘photo opportunity.

Half way down we happened to come across a tourist information “shop’. They were very good, telling us all about their carnival and naturally it is better and lasts longer than the Rio Carnival. Whilst this was going on we had our second tropical burst of rain; shelter courtesy of the tourist information place.

Some of the banners from the carnivals

After meandering around we arrived at the bottom and yes, there was another church. Christine and I elected to sit in the park under the shade of a tree whilst David and Christina went

A lot of steps, especially when you get to the top it’s closed

up a big flight of steps, well they are younger than us, anyway they climbed up and guess what, the church, as so many are, was closed: with age you get wiser!!!!!!!

Back onto the main road and we hailed a Taxi and went into the old town of Recife.

We had told the driver to take us to the cathedral in the old town but when we got into the area, the driver had to ask the locals where to go, at this point we got out!!!! We walked

One of the many statues around the square

across the square to the promenade and decided it was beer time. This area we were sitting in was originally part of the dock complex but with bigger ships and fewer of them the area has been modernised with Cafes, restaurants and a museum.Recife was founded in 1537 during the Portuguese colonisation and of course the harbour was used for the export of sugar. Recife is now the fourth largest urban population in Brazil with circa 4 million inhabitants. Because Recife is built on a number of small islands it is also known as the Venice of Brazil.

Today Recife is an Education hub and a tourist destination with a large, modern “downtown” area.

After being suitably refreshed we wandered amongst the old buildings and avenues of this old part of Recife. It is very

Some of the beautiful buildings around the square

interesting to observe that all these buildings are original; none have been scared and re-built because of the ravages of war etc., such as the European ones have.

Whilst wandering about, our navigator, “David” had noted there was one “must see” particular street of interest listed in our brochure from the ship. We went this way and that, we went up and down several streets, we asked a number of locals and was pointed in different directions but eventually we found it, wow, what a street; total crap, again, miss-information; time to head back to the ship; all aboard for 1530hrs.

A couple of days ago we enjoyed a special brunch and today the ship had a “Gala Afternoon Tea” though our cruise director insisted on calling it a “gay-la Afternoon Tea” well she is American, says it all really!!!! Still

More carvings with ice and water melons

we have to say the Kitchen excelled themselves; it was a magnificent spread, not too many sandwiches, but boy sweet things. Hot Crepes in something sliming, waffles with syrup, naturally scones with jam and cream, cakes, tarts,

Carving done with a marrow

cookies, and anything else you can think of; oh yes, pots of tea as well. When it was all over, the spread looked as it had when we entered the lounge, nothing had been taken!!!!!!!!!!! The crew was having an “official” party later that evening; no doubt they would enjoy the leftovers.

During this gala tea we were serenaded and thoroughly enjoyed the ship’s string quartet .

Showtime tonight was “Five O’clock Somewhere” The Irish duet and couple we had enjoyed a few evenings earlier. Again they were very good, they got the audience participating in the song “What shall we do with a drunken sailor” amongst other, mainly Irish, songs. They tried, and I think semi successfully, to get the atmosphere of an Irish pub, they were only let down by Guinness not being served.

The two Christina’s left for bed after Showtime and David and I put the world to right ‘till the bar closed!

Another sea day tomorrow before arriving at our penultimate port, Salvador.

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Fortaleza; Brazil

Posted on 13/01/2018 by Geoff

We arrived in Fortaleza after two days, one clearing out of the Amazon and the other at sea during which time we caught up with chores and played numerous games of Crib with our “Canadian” friends, Alvin and Laura.

We docked around midday but before that; today was the “Grand Brunch” day in the Grand Dining room and what a

One of the many chocolate decorations

spread it was; everything you could possibly want, and a lot more. Naturally everybody wanted a

The ice carvings were brilliant

piece of this action and fortunately we had

Oceania’s logo in ice

arrived about an hour after it opened, at 1000am, so didn’t have to wait to get in. Late arrivals unfortunately were queuing, but not for long I

Even the bread had patterns on

must say, as the early “brunchers” left, the staff re-set the tables very quickly.

Having had our gastronomic fill!!!!! We left and joined up with our “English” friends David and Christina, and headed

Cathedral which was very modern inside

out to town. There was a free shuttle bus, but as the buses only went every ½ hour, we calculated we were at least two busses down

This cathedral is famous for all its stain glass windows

the queue, so jumped into a taxi instead, and headed for the Municipal market building. Across the street where from we were dropped, we spotted the neo-Gothic Cathedral Metropolitana, so headed in that direction.

It was certainly a very large building, in fact it is the third largest in the country, but the interior was rather basic and austere, not a Cathedral one would expect to find in a mainly Roman Catholic country; still we had a look round as one does though not much else to report about here!!! The next place on our itinerary was the old theatre, so out came the ‘phone, and Google maps took us there, winding through narrow streets teaming with people and full of small shops and stalls selling most things imaginable. I was seduced and bought a rather splendid leather hat for peanuts,

Geoff’s posh new hat

unfortunately the two Christina’s like it as well, so I will have to keep an eye on it!!!!

One of the side street markets

We arrived at this large central bustling square with even more people and again numerous markets stalls. With so many stalls selling much the

Stalls, stalls and mor stalls!

same items, we wondered how any of them managed to make a living though 1.3 million inhabitants living in this city must help I suppose.

Entrance to theatre

We went into the theatre building but then out again and

Old theatre seating

through a courtyard, we then arrived at the actual theatre; strange or what. We were expecting an old Victorian auditorium, similar to what we visited in Manus, but no, this theatre was built in 1910, which rather surprised us. Still it was worth the effort to get here and we had an opportunity to sit and rest. Whilst resting we noted a couple of tour parties from our ship come and go, they were also in the Cathedral when we were there. We felt a little (not too much though!) sorry for them: they had paid in excess of $100 for a tour of the city visiting the three places we visited and a lace factory $$$$$$$ and in the process of a sanitized coach drive, missed out on what this vibrant city is all about: still, each to his/her own.

Whilst sitting and resting in the theatre we were entertained by a dance troop warming up we presume, for a rehearsal

We now headed for the fort, “Fortaleza da Nossa Senhora de Assunção” (Fort of Our Lady of the Assumption); thank you Google maps, but when we got there it was a military base and not open to the public; another piece of miss-information!

The fort we couldn’t go into

This area of Brazil has an interesting past. The Spaniards originally discovered this area in 1500, but it was not inhabited until 1603 when the Portuguese colonised and built the first fort.

In 1630 the Dutch decided they wanted a piece of this action and invaded the area and eventually took over the fort in 1637 but there wasn’t a lot left so the Dutch West Indies Company built a new fort. It was completed it in 1649, but In 1654 the Portuguese re-captured the area. They re-named the fort Fortaleza da Nossa Senhora de Assunção, from which the town gets its name.

After the fort we went back to the Municipal Market which isn’t a market as we may know it; it is a rather large building housing about 1,000 very small shops selling anything from

One of the many nut shops

clothes to food, touristy items to drinks but unfortunately by the time we arrived, most were either closed or closing. OK: after the obligatory rest, (it is very hot here), we’ll get the 4 o’clock shuttle bus back——- but oh dear, we’ve missed the last shuttle; we had no idea of the time!!!!!!

The idea was to get back to the ship, have a snack and go out

People still swimming, surfing etc., etc.,

to the beach where the nightlife comes alive, meander around the stalls have a beer or two and get back on board for 2100hrs

Stalls setting up ready for the night trade

for the show. That was plan “A”; so we moved seamlessly into plan “B”. We got a taxi straight to the beach; we were a little early as the stalls were just opening up and the place wasn’t yet fully alive so sat and had a beer. It wasn’t too long before things were “hoting up” and after browsing the stalls selling the same sort of things, we ended up in a beach

Rows and rows of stalls

restaurant/bar where we had; we “know not what” to snack on but it was rather nice. This was washed down with several of the locals’ cocktails and copious amounts of local beer.

David and Geoff, Enjoying a pint or two

One of the many local artistic souvenirs are bottles, both

Patterned sand in a bottle

large and small, containing coloured sand. Now we all know one can get coloured sand at Shanklin, (Isle of White) and many other places but here they fill the bottles with colours in such a way that they show as a picture: in fact if you have sufficient time they will copy any picture you want!!!!!

We eventually headed for the last shuttle back to the ship but suddenly realised we didn’t actually know where to pick it up, so had another taxi. I must say the taxis here are modern and very reasonable so using them was no hardship.

We were back on board just in time to watch tonight’s show; an American version of “Call my bluff”. For our younger readers who most probably don’t know about “Call my Bluff” it was a TV show, way back in time, when 2 teams of three challenged each other with the definition of obscure words only found in very, very, thick dictionaries. Tonight show was different we had 4 panelists, two Comedians, the Ships Hotel Manager and a British singer. One person giving the correct definition; the other 3 giving false ones. The audience had to decide who was telling the truth. Well it was so funny; we were falling about in the aisles with the definitions, everybody had a good time, the shame was it ended, and unfortunately there isn’t another night like this before we get off in Rio.

After the show we went up to Horizon’s as it was a request night for 50’s and 60’s music. We were gob smacked, none of the singers or orchestra knew who Cliff Richard was, we tried in vain to explain but as he hadn’t made it in the US they weren’t interested. Oh well we had a good night and we were the last to leave getting to our cabin around 1.15am!!!

Tomorrow is another sea day.

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Alter do Chao

Posted on 10/01/2018 by Geoff

We were woken up to Dotty’s dulcet voice over the PA this morning advising us of todays schedule; we would shortly be starting the tender service across to Alter do Chao and that the last tender would be leaving at 1330hrs.

There is not a lot to say about this place, it seemed to be a religious centre in the 17^th and 18^th century led by Jesuits of the Franciscan order. Early in the 20^th century it was one of several transportation routes for latex extracted from rubber trees, but by the 50’s the town was in decay.

Beautiful sandy beaches with clear water

Nowadays this place is best known for its Ilha do Amor (Island of love), a picturesque island ringed by a white sandy beach directly in front of the “town”. “The Caribbean of the Amazon’ it is called because of its crystalline waters, white-sand beaches, and laid back vibe; it is one of the places to spend a few laid back days, we are told!!!

Todays tender ride was un-eventful, we arrived quickly with no

The pier looked very sad and rickety

hic-ups or delays, disembarked, walked over the sandy beach, across a wooden walkway, with some gaping gaps between the planks in

Many little market stalls selling their gifts

places, and into a small square with a number of

Lots and lots of t/shirts for sell, all shapes and sizes

touristy type stalls selling the usual c…p; nothing apart for a fridge magnet for us: so back to the beach for a paddle.

Crystal clear waters, makes a change from the murky waters of the Amazon

We boarded the next tender and arrived back with our Canadian

The jetty we left from, so small but functionable

friends and arranged to play crib before lunch.

After lunch I had a lecture to go to and then we had a lay in the sun, had a swim and prepped for dinner. Tonight we had dinner with a charming Australian Widow; her husband she mentioned on several occasions was a Spitfire pilot in WW2. This was followed by the evening show: a Welshman, Mark Newsome, who was a comic; a singer, and a very accomplished piano player; he was extremely entertaining.

We are at sea for the next couple of days so our readers can have a rest!!!!!

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Boca da Valeria

Posted on 09/01/2018 by Geoff

Not too early this morning as we aren’t due to anchor ‘till 0900hrs so took breakfast in the Grand Dining room; nothing particularly special about that other than we were sitting by a window when we saw a pod of pink dolphins, unfortunately we couldn’t count them but there were great many, swimming up and down alongside the ship.

Tiny inlet where Village was!

Eventually we tore ourselves away as we decided to go ashore to a village that was supposed to be so poor we had to take small trinkets, such as pencils,

Church and houses

writing pads etc., and oh yes $1 bills.

It was nearly mid morning by now and we went to the lounge expecting to just get straight onto a tender to take us only to find there were still numerous people waiting to get ashore, so we had to get a ticket and wait.

School with houses close by

At last we were called and the reason there was a delay was due to there being another cruise ship anchored here as well.

Boca da Valeria is a small colourful village at the mouth of

The village was poor, but we don’t think they lived there, I called it phoney city

the Valeria River with a number of houses built up on stilts to avoid flooding when the river rises during the rainy season. It has a 1-room school and a small church and it is very poor where the children await the cruise ships and are on standby to take you around, and amongst other things show you their homes and animals: we were told!!!!!

We eventually boarded our cruise tender, headed to the 1 small pier up a creek and waited, and waited, and waited; there were two tenders in front of us, one of ours and one from the other cruise ship.

When it was our turn to dock some 50 minutes later, we were cheesed off and along with nearly half the people on the tender we elected to go back to the ship. Whilst we were wallowing, “upsy towndsy” we had an opportunity to see what was on offer there was nothing; Christine called it “phony City”. Later in the day we heard from other guests who had visited, the place was a tourist trap to con “dollars” from anyone who wanted to part with them. All the so-called inhabitants lived somewhere else and many of the children had cell ‘phones and apparently one guest went to give the children a $1 bill was told they wanted $5: we were glad we didn’t go.

Back on board we had a game of crib, had a meal then an early night as we were both tired and I wasn’t quite feeling rickety boo; nothing a good nights sleep wouldn’t cure.

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Manaus, Head of the Amazon

Posted on 08/01/2018 by Geoff

Inside the cathedral

We were up early this morning; well, early enough to get up on

Meeting of the waters

deck and see where the two rivers, Rio Negro and the Rio Solimoes meet. Here again we have the phenomenon of the muddy waters of the Rio Solimoes and the clear water of the Rio Negro Joining, and as we passed you could see there was a distinctive line between them. To the Europeans and North Americans, the Rio Solimoes doesn’t exist, it is still the Amazon but to Brazilians, this junction is the actual start of the Amazon. Manaus is 900 miles from the mouth of the Amazon and still it is very large with big ships not only coming this far but also continuing up the Solimoes!!!

After breakfast we had agreed to meet up with David and Christine, our friends form Croydon, and walk into town

Three kings

together. David, being the studious sort was appointed chief navigator so off we went. Dotty our cruise director had said on numerous occasions that it was most unsafe outside the port gates and “you must” get a taxi to the centre. We walked out of the port gates and the first thing we saw across the road was the Cathedral of Our Lady of the conception, one of the must see things. Fancy getting a taxi to just cross the road!!!! Being Sunday the church was full but what fooled us were the three kings, normally this is on the 6^th I think, but they were here today.

Once we left the church we headed out to find the Opera House,

Walking around market place in the rain

we walked up this very vibrant street with stalls selling all manor of things and street food; everybody was happy, families were there and we waited to be mugged, but nothing happened. We arrived at the top and saw the Opera house. This very ornate Victorian building was commissioned by the rubber barons, in

Beautiful theatre

1886 and was finally completed 12 years later in 1898. The theatre was designed in France and everything, bar the wood, was imported either from France, England and Italy. In its heyday it must have been magnificent, it certainly was the social centre of Manus though it did fall into disrepair in the early part of the 20^th centaury when the rubber wealth of the city dwindled away. Today the theatre has been refurnished and apart from the wood floors, Stage and seating,

Outside the theatre

much is still original. It cost us 10 Reals (circa £2.50) per person for a guided tour lasting

Inside theatre

well over and, very worthwhile.

I mentioned the Rubber Barons; in 1850 rubber was discovered and harvested from here and there was much wealth around, but by the end of the 19^th century, other parts of the world were producing rubber in vast quantities and therefore cheaper so the bubble burst and the area went into decline.

After the tour a beer was called for; we also met up with a couple of Canadians from the ship who joined and the six of us had a snack and a couple of beers when the waitress told us to move inside as it was going to rain.

Absolutely tipped it down, a lot worse than Spain

We thought we knew better saying a bit of rain wouldn’t hurt us but she was insistent so we did as she said. 5 minutes later it rained, and it rained it was what one would expect in a rainforest region, stair rods coming straight down. This downpour lasted for quite a long time, several beers long in fact!!! Eventually it stopped so off we went and walked back to the ship. By this time of course all the stalls etc., had gone and the street was very quiet and remembering what Dotty had said, we kept our wits about us but no, again we weren’t mugged or accosted; oh dear Dotty stop causing un-necessary panic amongst your guests.

Back on board after the usual 3 s’s the 6 of us enjoyed a meal together followed by the show; not our cup of tea I’m afraid so we left and returned to our cabin.

We are overnighting in port so will go out tomorrow again.

After breakfast we met David and Christine and headed out to

High municipal market

the Municipal Market, wow what a market. Firstly the building was quite amazing and had separate

Meat narket, they had tongue, intestines and livers in this cabinet

halls. We walked through the meat hall first and noted some very interesting cuts but I must say most meat was kept in refrigerated cabinets’; next we went through the clothes, arts and

Lots of arts and crafts stall

crafts/gifts section where Christine bought a rather pretty but functional shoulder purse

Lovely novelty bag

to keep her ‘phone and glasses in. We then progressed into the fish section but we were disappointed as we arrived too late and they were washing down; oh well, that’s life. We meandered on past numerous other stalls etc., and suddenly smelt a rather pungent fishy odor. We followed our noses and walked into a vast fish market, this market was not part of the Municipal Market complex; perhaps

Filleting the fish, amazing to watch

the rents were too high there so the fisherman had their own shed. We were amazed at the variety of fish on sale, all fresh water fish from the Amazon and we stood transfixed at how they filleted these large fish, the care and skill they had was a

So busy, so many varieties of fish

delight to watch. Naturally as we walked through this area teaming with people we were conscious of “Dotty’s warnings” we christened them the “badlands” but again, no issues: come on Dotty, get your facts straight and stop telling everybody “fake news”

Seedy part of town, we did keep close here,

Having had our fill of this vast and busy market we jumped in a taxi and headed out to the big shopping mall. Not that we particularly wanted to visit a modern shopping mall but we were advised it was worth seeing as it was built around some protected rainforest.

We arrived, walked in and debated where we were, Lakeside, Essex; Blue water, Kent; Florida; Hong Kong etc., etc: They all look very similar with the same brand, still, not put off we hunted down the rainforest part. After circumnavigating the place with no luck, we asked, but with zero Portuguese knowledge and no one speaking English there, we had trouble getting directions but, we persevered and eventually got pointed in the right direction: what a disappointment met us upon arrival, yes there were a few specimen trees between the car parking spaces and that was about that; again fake news! Anyway we split for ½ an hour as I needed to buy a new pair of shorts and once accomplished, met up for a coffee and a “something” we know no what, but had to try one. They

Pear shaped fishy dish

looked like pears covered in breadcrumbs but were some sort of grated fish, covered in mashed potato (I think) enclosed in breadcrumbs. They were served hot with some sort of bar-b-q sauce and they were very nice. We also shared a giant piece of Chocolate cake, oops!!!

After a rather disappointed visit we jumped back into a cab and went to see one of the Rubber Baron’s house that today is a

Rubber barons house

cultural centre, but closed on a Monday, still it was a beautiful house and in its heyday, standing alone in its own grounds must have been spectacular.

Christine and I then got a taxi back to the ship and our friends elected to walk, well they are younger than us.

After dinner we had Jamie Michael Stewart, he was excellent again and tonight he concentrated singing Frank Sinatra hits.

Off to bed as we start the trek back down the Amazon this evening.

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Parintins, Amazon

Posted on 06/01/2018 by Geoff

Our arrival was on time but as we weren’t here for long we didn’t think there would be much to see so had a leisurely breakfast before boarding our tender.

Parintins sits on Tupinambarana Island in the middle of the Amazon and is approximately 250 miles further up-stream from

Street carvings

where we were yesterday and it’s also known as the city of the

The famous bull

bulls; it is one of those places that’s only accessible along the Amazon by air or ship, and in our case by tender. Parintins were first inhabited by a couple of Indian tribes who were discovered by a Portuguese fellow 1796 and the area was eventually “officially” recognised in 1880.

Travelling across from the ship to the pier we saw Pink Dolphins, unfortunately they are not like common dolphins, they don’t come up to play, they only surface for air; still we saw some. When we got off the tender the girl from the ship told us not to fall in as there were also Piranha fish and Alligators though I think she meant Cayman; similar but different.

Our transport for the morning, no brakes, just two wooden wedges tied on by string to hold the cart in place whilst we got on.

There were excursions but again very expensive and they seemed

On arrival these players greeted us

to be “padded out” so we planned to do our own thing. Being a fairly small town, population around 100,000, cut off other than ship or plane, there is little traffic, no public transport as far as we could see, other than pedal tuc tucs, similar to Nicaragua. They also had “Moto taxis” these

Motor bike taxis

are official motorbike taxis; just hop on, they supply you with a helmet and off you go, well we didn’t, we decided a more leisurely pace was called for so jumped into

Luxury travel, so funny!

a pedal tuc tuc. In the port area they were asking for $20 for an hour’s trip around the town, outside we got one for $10 and he certainly took us around for longer than an hour, he took us to the few, but various sites. When we got in we worried about the pedal pusher, he looked very old and feeble and probably that’s why he was cheap; we had visions of him leaving us, or asking for

Local church

another $10 to take us back. But no, he took us on a round robin; we pedaled round what looked like an old church that was locked up, along various streets pointing things out along the way, though as he didn’t speak any English and our Portuguese is non existent, we didn’t always catch what he was saying.

He then took us to this rather large stadium, naturally being

The stadium, where all the competitions are held

Brazil we assumed it would be a Football stadium, but no this was a purpose built and used for the big annual festival “Bio Bumba”. Bio Bumba is a very big and

One of last year’s giant figurines, they were huge. One finger was about 12 inches! So imagine the sizes

One of last year’s giant figurines, they were huge. One finger was about 12 inches! So [caption id="attachment_5435" align="alignright" width="150"] Figurines must have been at least 20ft high, they were amazing

imagine the sizes[/caption]colourful annual festival that takes place in late June, and it’s the second largest festival in Brazil after the Rio de Janeiro carnival. It’s a folklore about a precious bull, (that’s where Parintins gets its alternative name, City of the bulls). The interesting thing about this festival are the two opposing teams, each trying to outdo each other, rather like Manchester City and Manchester United, or Liverpool and Everton. The two teams, “Garantido” and “Caprichoso” are subjected to many rules; they compete against each other with floats, costumes, story telling, flamboyant dances etc., and they present themselves to the

School children dancing in their colourful costumes

public in a specially constructed stadium called “Bumbodromo”. This stadium has a capacity of 35,000 and it is split into two sections, red and blue for the opposing supporters. According to our pedal tuc tuc driver, when the crowd gets going, the whole stadium shakes. There is quite a story behind this festival and rather than bore you with it, those who may be interested can click on the this link:- www.boibumbafestival

The old boy eventually dropped us at the cruise terminal after taking us everywhere including an area where there was a lot of street food, fish in particular being bar-b-que’d. He tried to get me to try some but I wasn’t hungry!!!Tonight we had booked to go to “Tuscon” the Italian steak house on board, which was excellent and this was followed by our entertainment, Katerina Rossa who plays the violin un-believably well; it nearly talks to you and she received a standing ovation, well deserved.

After the show we had a corridor chat with a couple of English folk from Croydon and agreed we would meet up and walk into town at our next port of call, “Manaus” tomorrow

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Recife, Brazil

Fortaleza; Brazil

Alter do Chao

Boca da Valeria

Manaus, Head of the Amazon

Parintins, Amazon

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