Rio de Janeiro

Jan 21:
Slept in today and will probably be another lazy day, in port tomorrow J
Decided to participate in a “mixology” course in the afternoon and learn how to make a few of the cocktails on offer. Learnt how to make 3 different fruit cocktails and then a few extras as other people ordered drinks. Chris had to ask what the strongest cocktail was, and proceeded to have one. It is called a Weng Weng, and basically contained every white spirit on the counter, along with Scotch and Brandy. A touch of lemon lime bitters and OJ was added, but I think this was more for colour as the taste was very alcoholic. A very enjoyable afternoon and dinner followed. The ship had its Dutch Chocolate Dessert Extravaganza. 3 days of preparation and the Lido pool was surrounded with desserts. There were bread animals, watermelon carving, cakes and pastries, and even a chocolate fountain. One would think Chris had died and gone to heaven, however he did NOT eat any chocolate from the evening… What you all gasp! The reason was we had already eaten dessert in the dining room. The night before, we had been talking with the head waiter, and that we had all enjoyed the Hot Chocolate Truffle cakes we had eaten a week before. We had gone and asked for a special dessert for us to be had tonight. (We did not know of the Dutch Chocolate night at this stage.) The waiters were given only the chocolate truffles first, and they realized before we even knew of what they were doing that we had meant the actual cakes, so first we got just the truffles. Absolutely the best chocolate bit sized piece of sweet had yet. This was followed by the actual chocolate cakes. Only the size of a small tea saucer and about 10mm high, but sooooo strong! And with a melted truffle in the centre. They had brought Chris 2 of them…. He was struggling after the first, but managed to finally swallow the last bit of the second one. He actually ran away from Tanse when she offered him some chocolate cake later! The dessert has no flour, only chocolate, egg and cream. Chris was talking with the executive chef later to find this out…. After walking around the ship numerous times to try and settle the stomachs, we retired to bed to try and sleep off the chocolate overload.

Jan 22:
Docked in Buenos Aires early in the morning. We had not booked any shore excursions today, and were simply going to go for a wander around. After the usual omelette with bacon, ham, tomato, onion and cheese, followed by some fresh watermelon and a couple of glasses of fresh orange juice, we were all ready for a day exploring. On the pier we found a city tour for $25, under half price so decided to take it. Was for 3.5hrs and covered most of the interesting places indicated to us about the city. Buenos Aires has lots of open spaces and parks so is a very appealing city. There are lots of people around, so the streets are quite crowded, and it is holiday season meaning it is less busy than normal. Our first stop was the cemetery; Eva Peron is laid to rest there in one of the many very exquisite burial chambers. After this we headed to the other side of town to an area called La Boca. An extremely colourful area, with buildings of blue, yellow and red. This is the home of the Tango, and accordingly, there were plenty of cardboard cut outs for pictures, also numerous couples decked out in full Tango outfits, ready to have your photo taken with them. The women seemed very popular with the tourists! J La Boca is also home to Mara Donna, a famous football player. We saw the home stadium which the locals are proud of, along with every type of merchandise for their home team. We had a little over an hour wandering around the town and market area by the old wharf, and had a beer and Pepsi at a café before catching the bus back to the ship. Again there is a huge difference between the wealthy and the poor areas. We decided we would stop at the main shopping street, Florida St, as we could catch a free shuttle back to the ship later in the afternoon. Florida Street is a few miles long and is pedestrian only. Leather goods seemed to be the main products on offer. Some electronics stores and plenty of shoe shops dominated the retail on offer. After an hour, things started looking the same, so turned around and headed back. Stopped in the mall for a look at the ceiling in its centre, quite impressive artwork and worth a look. After catching the shuttle back to the ship, we did the usual ship routine of relaxing and of course eating J Leaving the dock was interesting as it was very narrow, shallow and the wind was blowing real strongly. During our manoeuvring the ship was broadside to the wind and caused quite a list. We had the aid of tug boats this time; however I feel they did not give much assistance. The thrusters on this ship are powerful and make manoeuvring seem simple. A small yacht tried to pass in front of us, however got caught in the thrusters wake and got pushed meters backwards. Was quite humorous. The ship had only 2m of water underneath its hull at some points. (The ship only draws about 8m as the base of the hull is relatively flat.) Onto Montevideo….


Jan 23:
Arrived in Montevideo, Uruguay, in the early morning. We had planned a shore excursion which included a steam train ride followed by a city tour. It was one of the more reasonably priced tours and for 5 hrs, seemed better value for money. After a moderate breakfast, we waited for our tour to be announced at 9am. After disembarking the ship, we have officially taken the shortest bus trip ever. A mere 100m!! Apparently it was to ensure we got familiar with our bus before our train ride, as we were getting picked up at the end of the train by the bus. The train was as it happened; right on the pier, only its view was blocked from the ship by the containers stacked up.
The train ride was simply that. I preferred the steam train in New Zealand in Glenbrook, as it had at least open carriages, and one can walk to the front to see the engine. The area we passed through was certainly not in the high economic area. Plastic bags littered the sides of the tracks, houses were run down and nothing was tidy. The people however all seemed happy and dressed colourfully so life must not be too bad. After a 40min train ride with a bit of a tango demo (yes, in a moving train isle), we boarded our now familiar bus. The tour took us around a number of areas, and as the day passed, things got cleaner, we got closer to the river, and our bums got more numb from sitting for so long. We stopped occasionally for a photo op. at some very large bronze statues and again at the legislative palace. This building was very impressive with probably every type of marble possible on display, along with large paintings, stained glass windows and antique carpets. We got back to the ship in the middle of the afternoon, so with only a couple of hours left before sailing again, we decided to simply have lunch and relax in the warm weather.

Jan 24:
At sea all day, so slept in and lazed around. Chris went to a cooking demo about making apple strudel. Other than that a tough day of sorting out photos, eating, resting, more eating and listening to some music sipping a strawberry daiquiri. Sandy was reading a book on the back deck and swimming, got rather burnt legs so is a bit sore.

Jan 25:
Another day at sea lazing around.

Jan 26:
Arrived in Rio de Janeiro (literally translated to “River of January”). Well another language to learn – Brazil speaks Portuguese – and it is not similar to any language I have learnt. Caught the free transfer to a jewellery company called H’stern – they make jewellery from the local stones in Brazil –very expensive stuff. Went on a workshop tour and pretended to be interested. Walked down to Ipanema beach and walked the length of the beach and Leblon beach and back again. Had lunch at the corner of Ipanema beach and Copacobana by the fort. Lunch was a mezze of seafood – have no idea what we ate to be honest – and a couple of beers. Made our way back to H’stern to get the bus back to the ship. On the way back we passed through a street parade – absolutely crazy, had guys walking through the crowd with trays of tequila shots with the salt and lemons – don’t know how they did it as we were having trouble just walking through the crowd. Back to the boat for our last three course meal for a while.

Jan 27:
Woke up early for breakfast before our disembarkation from the ship. Disembarked and found the guy from adventure world for our transfer to the hotel. He gave us a run down of the do’s and don’ts in Rio. Went for a swim at Copacobana Beach which is about 100m from our hotel – fantastic! Had dinner at a restaurant around the corner from the hotel called the Grill Inn. You choose what you want from the buffet and then get your plate weighed and your dinner is charged by weight. Luckily a Brazilian guy could explain in English how it worked to us.

Jan 28:
We were suppose to go on a Corcovado tour today but our guide got the wrong day so we stood around for an hour or so – very frustrating especially when we told him we thought it was tomorrow. Anyway decided to go for a walk – walked the length of Copacobana beach and back via some of the shops. Bought some clothes on Copacobana Avenue and also got some supplies from the grocery shop. Stopped for a drink and a chocolate and banana pastry for lunch. Weather is not so great today been raining the whole day. Had dinner at Kilograma – same as the Grill inn but better variety of food.

Jan 29:
Picked up for our tour of Corcovado. Once we reached the bottom of the mountain we took an electric train up the mountain through the Tijuaca forest. The Tijuaca forest is the largest urban forest in the world – note urban – and is now a UNESCO heritage site. It was deforested in the early 1900’s for new plantations but then it started affecting the weather and there wasn’t as much rain so the emperor decided to replant it with trees and make it a protected site. Once up the top of the Corcovado mountain with the train we walked the last bit up to the statue of Christ the Redeemer. Unfortunately the weather is really overcast so at times we could only see his feet and no view of the city. Back down the mountain via the train and back on the bus. Took a route via the beachfront back to our hotel dropping off people along the way. The Sheraton has its own private beach in Rio however I think you would want to be on the beach with the public as it is so much more interesting. Went past a hotel which is circular and made of glass right on the beach but apparently hasn’t been used in 15 years as it is owned by people tied up in a drug scandal and it is still on going. Went to Rio Sol Plaza as it started raining, had a look around the shops. Mom and I decided to go to the hair salon while the boys went back to the hotel for sundowners. Caught a taxi back to the hotel and decided to go to dinner across the road for Italian – most expensive meal yet!

Jan 30:
Got up late and went for a walk on the beach, had lunch at the internet café. Quite humorous ordering food where the menu is in Portuguese as you have no idea what you have just ordered. Turned out we hadn’t done to badly and had ordered baguettes with cheese and meat. Back to the hotel for our Sugar Loaf tour pick up. Weather has started to fine up. The tour included a trip to the Cathedral which kind of looks like the beehive in NZ but with stained glass inside – looks like nothing from the outside but quite something inside with all the different colours. Drove past the rode where they are preparing the street for the Sambodromo this weekend. On to sugar loaf mountain and took two cable cars up to the top. As we were going up the weather turned perfect and we got a spectacular view from the cable cars and the top of the mountain. Quite an amazing city with lots of mountains, beaches and forests. Spent about an hour and a half on the mountain wondering around, you can understand why the first settlers thought that it was a river as the bay extends quite a way inland before you reach the beach of Guanabara Bay. Back to the hotel and dinner at Kilograma again – the boys love this place and amazingly neither have got to a kilogram yet! Walked the beach as we thought we needed to after the meal, as the weather has fined up there are markets near the beach so we went for a wander through them and had our first caipirinha. Which is an alcoholic drink made from lime, sugar and characa (sugar cane spirit). Managed to find a place that sells them for R$3 which is approx NZ$2. Chris bought a cap at the markets as I had forgotten to pack his one – oops! Also found a place that makes really good chocolate and banana crepes and you can sit by the beach with your toes about a cm away from the sand. Walked back to the hotel and stopped at the beach stall with the caipirinha’s for couple more before retiring to bed.

Jan 31:
A day of surf, sun and booze – lots of swimming and lazing about on the beach. Boys checked out the local sights on the beach. Lunch was cheese and crackers on the roof of the hotel with a view of the beach. Mom and I decided to go for a manicure and pedicure – only cost about NZ$10 each. Boys went out to see the beach sights. Met up on the beach at one of the stalls for hamburgers, chips, drinks for dinner. In total for four of us only cost about NZ$40 – Chris had about 10 caipirinha’s today so thought we should walk it off with the incentive of crepes! Back to the hotel really tired lots of sun and booze today!

Feb 1:
An encore of sun, surf, boobs and booze today. We spent the whole day on the beach as the temperature is in the 30’s. Chris and Craig walked the length of Copacobana beach whilst mum and I swam in the sea. Had dinner at the beach bar.

Feb 2:
Late wake up as Chris was sick most of the night – probably too much booze and sun J Took it easy today and went down to the beach for a swim and lazed about on the beach for the afternoon. Got picked up at 5pm for a trip to the Maracana football stadium. We decided to go to a local football match between Vasca da Gama and Botofogo. Got stuck in a minivan with a bunch of apes yelling, but the football match was worth it. Really passionate about football and lots of fireworks in the crowd and massive flags which come down over the crowd when they score a goal. In the end it was 3 – 2 to Botofogo. A huge stadium dedicated to football which can hold 200,000 people which probably isn’t that much here with a population of 9+million in Rio alone. Had cheese and crackers on the roof before bedtime. Watched some of the carnival on TV tonight – looks amazing! A group in our hotel participated in the carnival – didn’t know you could but apparently on the first night they let visitors take part in the parade.

Feb 3:
Breakfast and a very wet day hopefully it clears by tonight. Taking it easy today to conserve energy for tonight at the Sambodrome.