Random thoughts from the sea
Day 68, 2023 Grand South America and Antarctica Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2023; Bridgetown, Barbados Suddenly, the atmosphere has shifted on the MS Zaandam. We know our days on this cruise will be coming to an end, with just about a week left. I think it was the transition into the
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Day 65, 2023 Grand South America and Antarctica Sunday, Dec. 10, 2023; Devil’s Island, French Guiana We are at Devils Island today, and appropriately, it’s hot as hell. I didn’t check the temperature, but on land it felt like the hottest day so far. It’s hard to remember that just
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Day 62, 2023 Grand South America and Antarctica Thursday, Dec. 7, 2023; Alter do Chao, Brazil Sand, sand, sand. Alter do Chao is known for its beaches, and when the Amazon River is at record low levels, the beaches multiply. Today’s port is near Santarém, where we stopped five days
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Day 60, 2023 Grand South America and Antarctica Tuesday, Dec. 5, 2023; Manaus, Brazil. After cruising about a thousand miles up the Amazon River, I was surprised by the city of Manaus. I expected a sleepy river town, dominated by an opera house seeming out of place. Instead, I found
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Day 58, 2023 Grand South America and Antarctica Sunday, Dec. 3, 2023; Parintins, Brazil It’s all about the Boi-Bombá in Parintins. Each summer thousands travel here for this folklore song and dance festival, older than Carnival and one of the largest festivals in Brazil. As we are not here in
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Day 53, 2023 Grand South America and Antarctica Tuesday, Nov. 28, 2023; Fortaleza, Brazil With Brazil’s population of 200-plus million people, I shouldn’t be surprised that it contains some big cities. Today’s port of Fortaleza is another one, with three million people, give or take. Its long stretch of beach,
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Day 50, 2023 Grand South America and Antarctica Saturday, Nov. 25, 2023; Salvador de Bahia, Brazil Salvador, the fourth largest city in Brazil, welcomed me with a fun tour of the lower city that included a sacred church, beaches (of course!), art and markets selling food and handcrafts. Unfortunately, the
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Day 48, 2023 Grand South America and Antarctica Thursday, Nov. 23, 2023; Armação dos Búzios, Brazil Some describe Armação dos Búzios as a bit of St. Tropez on the Brazilian coast near Rio de Janeiro, with its cobblestone streets and beach-side restaurants and bars. To me it seems more like
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Days 46- 47, 2023 Grand South America and Antarctica Tuesday and Wednesday, Nov. 21-22, 2023; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil If “grand” describes Buenos Aires, then “electric” describes Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, for me. I would say the city comes alive, but then, when is it not alive? Our sail-in wasn’t
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Day 45, 2023 Grand South America and Antarctica Monday, Nov. 20, 2023; Santos, Brazil If you set the bar for expectations fairly low, you are likely to exceed it. I would say that describes my day in Santos, Brazil. As I wrote at the end of my last post, Holland
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