Text by Snookums, Pictures by Filbert

Part Thirty-three

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December 10 (Thursday, Day 43, Crossing the Equator) -

Empty water glass

We got up and Snookums went to Muscle Mix and then Cardio Tai Chi (it didn’t make a lot of sense during the class, either!) and ate a leisurely breakfast with two fellow exercises. During breakfast the Restaurant Manager talked to her about last night but she told him that Filbert was writing a letter and to talk to him. For once it wasn’t Snookums that was having the issues! Filbert typed a two-page letter, printed it and had the front desk deliver it to the General Manager, the Food & Beverage Manager (he already received two other letters from Snookums regarding different topics) and the Restaurant Manager.

More after the jump . . .

Text by Snookums, Pictures by Filbert

Part Thirty-two

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December 8th sunset

December 9 (Wednesday, Day 42, Fortaleza, Brazil) -

We enjoyed a relaxing morning (Snookums attended a fitness class and Filbert worked on the journal) and while we ate lunch, Snookums did a load of laundry. Unfortunately, the dryers on the 7th deck continue to leave black grease marks on our shirts and t-shirts so she had to take them to the front desk and then they get sent to the ship’s laundry and get cleaned properly. One of the dryers was removed for about two weeks, but even after it was put back, it continued to leave black marks. The other dryer does, too, so from now on Snookums will not use the dryers on Deck 7.

More after the jump . . .

Text by Snookums, Pictures by Filbert

Part Thirty-one

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December 7 (Monday, Day 40, Salvador de Bahia, Brazil) -

The Regent Invasion of Salvador de Bahia

We woke up and went on our 4-hour shore excursion that showed a contrast between the old and new Salvador de Bahia. This port city is the third largest city in Brazil with about 3,000,000 people. 80% of them are from African descendants that were slaves in the sugarcane fields. To Snookums it almost felt more Caribbean than Brazilian since the music, skin color, native costumes and art were so different than what Rio had.

More after the jump . . .

Text by Snookums, Pictures by Filbert

Part Thirty

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December 5 (Saturday, Day 38, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) -

Turtles. You know it's going to be exciting when a day starts with a picture of turtles.

Today was another rainy day but much cooler with an expected high of 73°. Snookums bundled up (pants and a jacket) for our shore excursion to the Botanical Gardens and Tijuca National Park. We boarded our open-sided jeeps where everyone sat facing each other and drove 45 minutes to the 201-year old Botanical Gardens. They had turtles.

More after the jump . . .

Text by Snookums, Pictures by Filbert

Part Twenty-nine

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December 4 (Friday, Day 37, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) -

Favelas on the Rio hills

We woke up to rain and clouds and temps in the low 80s. Our first shore excursion was a tour of two of the 550 favelas in Rio. The favelas are the slums that emerged around 30 years ago haphazardly built on the steep hillsides of Rio. 20% of the city’s population live in the favelas. They are ruled by organized crime organizations and are little cities on their own with stores, banks, restaurants and schools. Our first stop was at Favela da Rocinha and we bought another little painting for our travel wall for $2.87. Snookums didn’t even try to barter. Favela da Rocinha has 80,000 people living in it and our guide told us not to take photos of certain areas due to the organized crime people not liking it (probably because of drug deals). Snookums thinks the tour is allowed to come to this favela since our first stop was at an area with vendors selling souvenirs. Most of the uneducated people in Rio live in favelas and most of them are employed as maids, garbage collectors, nannies, gardeners and doormen. Rio’s unemployment is 10%. Most of these people came to Rio from the much poorer northeast area of Brazil. Snookums and Filbert thought the conditions were quite “nice” compared to what they’ve seen in Vietnam, China, India, Mexico, Jamaica and Africa. The houses were small but were made out of concrete or brick and have electricity and cable TV that is stolen. The government didn’t bother doing anything about these squatters when they started building these houses 30 years ago and it’s way too late to do anything about them now. Our second stop was at Canoas Village which is a favela with 3,000 people in it.

More after the jump . . .

Text by Snookums, Pictures by Filbert

Part Twenty-eight

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December 3 (Thursday, Day 36, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) -

Christ The Redeemer over Rio

We woke up at 7 AM to watch the sail in to Rio. Rio is supposed to be one of the three prettiest harbors in the world to sail into. The other two are Sydney and Hong Kong and we’ve done both of those. The morning was kind of cloudy but we were able to see Sugar Loaf and Corcovado (the statue of Christ the Redeemer). We think Hong Kong is the most interesting and Snookums really was impressed by the beauty of Cape Town’s harbor. (It probably didn’t hurt that we had the best weather when we sailed into Cape Town compared to the other three ports.)

More after the jump . . .

Text by Snookums, Pictures by Filbert

Part Twenty-seven

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December 1 (Tuesday, Day 34, Cruising the South Atlantic Ocean) -

Breakfast Tea

We woke up (Snookums had been up since 5:15 AM) and our morning timing allowed us to enjoy breakfast together at La Veranda. Filbert has been on a huge hot tea kick and drinks 2 or 3 pots at breakfast. Most recently he’s been enjoying orange pekoe, but he sometimes has black currant, Irish breakfast or English breakfast.

More after the jump . . .

Text by Snookums, Pictures by Filbert

Part Twenty-six

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November 28 (Saturday, Day 31, Jamestown, St. Helena, UK) -

Jamestown

Snookums woke up at 5:30 AM and read her book. Around 6 AM she looked out the window and realized that a huge chunk of rock was out there. Okay, it was St. Helena. While we were eating breakfast Snookums asked the St. Helena policewoman onboard (who was also eating) about getting a pedicure while on shore. She said that there was one shop that did that. Snookums hates paying $65 for an onboard pedicure and tries to get them during our port days if at all possible since she literally is not capable of polishing her own toenails.

More after the jump . . .

Text by Snookums, Pictures by Filbert

Part Twenty-five

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November 26 (Thursday, Day 29, Cruising the South Atlantic Ocean) -

Port lecture

The Voyager had its 2nd annual mini Thanksgiving Day parade that was quite cute. It consisted of 4 band members playing “When the Saints Go Marching In” followed by two waiters carrying a large banner. Then there was a steady stream of around 20 crew members wearing costumes that matched the helium balloons they were carrying. Winnie the Pooh was carrying a Pooh balloon and a turkey was carrying a turkey balloon. They were trying to mimic the Macy’s Day parade with its huge balloons. Santa was the final parade entry and he was escorting two “Radio City Rockettes”. The parade started in the 4th floor atrium and went up all of the atrium steps until it finished on deck 11 by the pool. We had a great view of this 3- minute parade from deck 7 by the elevator. It was really pretty clever and everyone seemed to enjoy it.

More after the jump . . .

Text by Snookums, Pictures by Filbert

Part Twenty-four

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November 25 (Wednesday, Day 28, Walvis Bay, Namibia) -

This has been a problem recently--for both of us

We woke up and got ready for our birding tour. While doing that, Snookums logged in and checked email and read one from our financial adviser that said it was interesting that we had been hitting our Schwab account many, many times which is NOT like us at all. We checked and realized that our Schwab ATM/Visa card that we use on our international trips had been scammed ever since we used it at the mall ATM in Richard’s Bay, South Africa on November 17! We used some of our 3 hours of free phone time to call Schwab at 1 AM EST and canceled the card. Upon further review, 5 transactions were ours and 45 were not. The crook not only used the card at various ATMs around South Africa but had also used it as a Visa card. We’ll have paperwork to fill out when we get back home, but we’ll be fully reimbursed and we have our normal ATM card that we can use for our Brazilian Reals.

More after the jump . . .