Vibrant, Lively Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Two more days at sea gave us time to absorb our time in Recife and to prepare for one of the world’s most lively cities, Rio de Janeiro.  Because we have given examples of how busy we are on the ship, we will cut that part of our blog back somewhat and just highlight some of the more unusual things that have happened.  One morning, Bruce and Adele, the Entertainment director, interviewed Barbara Haenni, the Travel Guide.  We were quite interested in the question, “With all your travels, what ports on this cruise will be your first time there and what ports that you have visited, do you most like returning to?  Her comment was that she has never been to Mangalore, India and the port Easo Lifou, New Caledonia and she loves to return to all of New Zealand and the French Polynesian island of Moorea.  I think we have similar tastes in travel with Barbara as we love New Zealand and Australia.  The two countries are more different than those who have not been there might expect but I can’t really say I prefer one over the other.  Both are “must sees” for serious travelers.  And Bora Bora is right up there with Moorea as wonderful South Pacific islands.  Certainly my two favorite cruise ports are Sydney and Geiranger, Norway – one busy and one quiet, but both are world class places to visit.  But I digress…

Another morning the Bart, the Culinary Manager from Holland, Bernie, the Head Chef from the Philippines, and Tom, the Culinary Manager from Canada were interviewed.  Bart commented on obtaining the food supplies on the ship.  Most, he said, came from the United States and would be shipped in large containers from either Fort Lauderdale or Los Angeles, depending upon the location of the ship.  It would supply the ship for about 20 days and would be shipped in frozen, chilled, or dry containers) and it would take six to eight weeks to arrive.   The first new supply will reach us in Montevideo, Uruguay on January 25 (the 19^th day of the cruise); the next would be delivered to Papeete, French Polynesia 21 days later.  Menus are developed about two months ahead to serve the approximately 6500 meals per day to guests and crew.  Tom was asked about how menus were determined and he indicated that they identified popular menus both by requests at dinner as well as passengers asking for favorites they particularly wanted.  Favorite entrée was lobster in one form or another.  He commented that it used to be a poor child’s lunch in Halifax but people were convinced somehow that it was good and it worked to get people to think they had to have the stuff and so it’s on the menu a lot.  (Can you tell this was written by a strange person apparently who doesn’t care for lobster?)  Filet and prime rib come in a little behind lobster as preferences.  Desserts like chocolate bombe (ice cream filled chocolate), watermelon pie, and peanut butter pie (my personal favorite) are popular with cruisers.

 The science lecturer, Dr. Denny Whitford, is drawing the largest crowds to his science lectures.  We were a little late and couldn’t find a place for three people to sit together in the large Queen’s Lounge theater when he spoke about “Rogue Waves”.  He did another talk on life in the depths of the oceans.  Dr. Tommie Sue Montgomery gave lectures on “500 years of Brazilian history in 50 minutes” and on Latin American music.  The night before we arrived in Rio, Doc Severinsen and his band (the San Miguel Five) performed for us.  As one might imagine, they were full of energy from beginning to end and earned the first standing ovation of the entire cruise so far.

Many people were out on deck by 7AM on Thursday to view the beautiful sail in to Rio, the most visited city in the Southern Hemisphere we are told.  It was a bit hazy, but the appearance of the islands and mountains with Corcovado Mountain and its Christ the Redeemer Statue prominently standing above the city to the Sugar Loaf Mountain with its spectacular views of the city to smaller islands that enhance the appearance of a magnificent city.

Our day in Rio started in a rather interesting way.  We tend to book only Holland America shore excursions because, while they are somewhat more expensive, Holland America stands behind them and guarantees that they will be as described.  However, today was our one exception in the entire cruise since a private tour operator in Rio came highly recommended by our friend Sherrie in Hamburg.  I had had both her daughter and son in my last years of teaching there and Sherrie and her husband had done a tour through Jose several years ago.  After several email communications with Jose, we decided to do the private tour with him.   Pam opted not to go as she had “done” Rio in 2010 with the Lincoln-Way teachers group while Barb and I had joined the memorable World War II European venues tour at approximately the same time.  Barb, Al, and I agreed to do at least the eight hour tour with Jose with the option of extending it into the evening if we wished.  Jose had told us that there was just one exit and that he would hold a sign with my name on it and that we would meet us at 8:30.  Sounded simple enough.  At exactly 8:30, we arrived at the appointed location along with at least the whole population of Rio there as well as passengers looking for tours too.  We watched every car come up and people hop in them and drive away.  No Jose!  After an hour, still no Jose.  Had he become involved in an accident?  Maybe could he have been at a different location?  Or possibly he was waiting at a different port?  … Or had we been conned and stood up as we had made a down payment.  Al went back to his room and was going to call Jose’s number.  He returned a half hour later saying his phone didn’t work.  Now it has been 1 ½ hours of waiting.  So Barb went back to check to see if there had been an email and if not, she would try to call.  She sent Jose a quick email and then tried calling the number only to be greeted by a female voice in Portuguese!  So after a total of two hours waiting, we figured something had happened and there would be no tour.  We returned to our staterooms and decided to make a quick check to see if Jose had responded to Barb’s email.  There was an email from Jose saying that he had had to take a friend to the emergency room as the friend had been involved in an auto accident.  He told us he would meet us at noon and there would be no charge beyond the deposit we had made. That sounded more than fair to us, so we had a quick lunch and set out to meet him again.  By this time, Al decided he had had enough and didn’t care to do the tour, so only Barb and I went down to meet Jose.  There he was, promptly at noon.

Jose profusely apologized for the emergency as we set out for our private tour.  I had the image of Rio as an extremely dangerous city for visitors but with Jose, there was not the slightest problem.  However, Rio, a city of about 6 million people (more than double Chicago’s population), is a city of contrasts with wealth and beauty on one hand and extreme poverty in the mountainside favalas (slums) on the other.  After a drive through the city, our first stop was at Corcovado Mountain to view one of the modern Seven Wonders of the World, the Statue of Christ the Redeemer which weighs 700 tons and stands 130 feet tall.  It looms over the city and is visible from many vantage points.  After various suggestions for a large monument, this one was chosen and dedicated in 1931.  As we drove up the mountain, Jose dropped us off at the ticket booth  where we could purchase the tickets and then get in line for the van ride to the top.  It moved efficiently and we were at the top quickly.   It was a good thing because it was a hot, humid day, near 90 degrees (by contrast with Chicago with its midwinter cold).  January 19 was the hottest January day I ever experienced.  The crowd was large at the top but we managed to work in a few pictures of the statue without people because the base was raised so high off the ground.  After a variety of views of the impressive statue and of the city below, we headed down to another view point where we could view Christ the Redeemer from a distance but still pretty high above the city.

We pulled into a parking lot for a short walk to see a private villa which allowed an unobstructed view of the statue from the courtyard of the home.  From there it was a short drive to the Botanical Gardens in the heart of the city.  It was a magnificently beautiful and quiet spot it the city with specimens of trees and plants that we seldom see (at least in Chicago).  Bamboo displays and very tall palm trees were in profusion.  He showed us a tropical import from Madagascar that when two of the green shoots were separated, it gave drops of water.  There was a building which had a large variety of orchids, a tree with the topical toucans in them.  Barb got one or two excellent pictures of them high in trees.  There were spots with the ubiquitous Christ the Redeemer was visible through the trees in the garden.  By this time, Barb was getting weary of the walking as a result of distance and temperature and humidity.

Jose then gave us an easy drive through the city to view the world famous beaches of Ipanema (remember the song from the early 1960s, The Girl from Ipanema?) and Copacabana.  Mile upon mile of beautiful beaches with people swimming, enjoying relaxing on the beach, and playing sports like beach volleyball made for even more picturesque views.  Jose explained the origins of the name of the city which translates to “River of January” which is incorrect on two counts.  First of all when the Portuguese explorers arrived, they assumed they were at the mouth of a great river; it’s not the mouth of a river, but rather a bay.  Also, it was discovered in February not January.  But rather than change from “River of January” (Rio de Janeiro) to the more correct “Bay of February”, the original name stuck.  From there, we had a drive through the Santa Tereza section of the city.  It’s an old part of Rio with a busy population on the streets, with winding hilly roads that makes on expect a collision at every turn.  Jose told us he had a treat for us which is something I doubt a lot of tourists visit on typical tours.  He said he would show us the tile staircase.  It is a public, outdoor staircase with tiles a man has been sent from all parts of the world that he then embeds into the staircase.  It’s colorful and interesting (see pictures in this blog’s picture section).  We enjoyed finding tiles from various parts of the US – everything from Chicago Bulls to State of Maine, to Florida Keys, to City of St. Louis and much, much more.  Internationally we saw the Welsh dragon, some familiar Bing and Grondahl Danish plates and others too numerous to mention.  While we were looking at that, Jose left briefly and came back with a slush type purple energy drink called Açai.  It was delicious but it briefly gave us the infamous “ice cream headache”.  It did give us the energy to finish the day. 

Our final stop, a requisite for first time visitors, was Sugar Loaf Mountain (Pão de Açucar).  Jose wanted us to see it in both light and dark so we could see views in daylight and night.  We boarded the cable car to the first station, partway up a mountain, then a transfer to a second car to the top.  At the top, we were afforded panoramic views of the city even better than at Corcovado.  While we were there, the sky turned black, warning of a pending storm. Jose had told us he would wait for us at the bottom as he had seen the view many times.  We decided to board the cars immediately as we didn’t relish the thought of being stuck at the top during a thunderstorm.  As we came down, we saw lightning off in the distance.  Fortunately we made it to the bottom without incident.  Jose, who was waiting for us, drove us back to the Amsterdam as the storm began.  Rain came in sheets and we got quite wet as we went through the terminal and back to the ship.  We were glad the rain had held off as we would not have enjoyed all we saw in heavy rain.

Jose told us that because of his emergency situation in the morning, he would charge us only the deposit we had made months ago, but he had been so complete and so generous in the sightseeing he gave us, we gave him 75% of the balance that had been due.  It took his entire day and certainly cost him plenty in gas and upkeep for his vehicle.  We were rather tired when we returned but agreed that Jose was an excellent guide.  Thanks for the recommendation, Sherrie!

After a busy first day in Rio, and seeing so much then, we relaxed and enjoyed the ship in port on the second day. Our week in Brazil was over and we have a favorable impression of one of the world’s up and coming nations.  Clearly, Brazil seems ready to host World Cup Soccer in 2014 and the Summer Olympics in 2016.

We are now 4 hours ahead of Chicago, 3 ahead of New York.  (Recife stays on Standard Time while Rio is on Daylight Savings Time during the summer)

CT