The Biggest Little Journey

 Today has been very special, and long! Let me explain… It started very early, or was it late? You see, after returning to our ship yesterday upon the conclusion of my excursion ashore, I was not feeling particularly well. I don’t know if it was tiredness, or dehydration, or whatever, but we went topside (an old Navy term) for dinner and, by the time I was done eating, I was nearly shivering. I wasn’t nauseated, just cold, which is not something one would feel when it is in the mid-eighties! I begged Alicia’s foregiveness for the evening and got into bed, pulling every blanket I could find over my head. We had no thermometer to see if I was running a fever, but I suspect it would have been in the range of 38-40 (and that’s not Celsius)! I slept for several hours, then somewhere around midnight, got up, shook off the grogginess and realized I had two things yet to accomplish. One was to complete my blog entry (which was likely only important to me) and the other was to go up to leve...

They told us it would be cooler this time of year in Brazil but…  When we booked this cruise we had both been intrigued by the locale, having never been to the continent of South America. The booking date(s) were predetermined by the cruise ship line, Oceania. It was the final cruise of their summer, heading into fall, or as they call it, rainy season. We accepted the dates as written, and neither my lovely lady or I noticed that, mid-cruise, was our anniversary.  When it did come to our attention we attempted to find a restaurant that could serve a meal that we both would love. With my aversion to vegetables, this usually means a steak-house, or at least something a self-respecting carnivore would adore. We were unable to make those arrangements pre-boarding. However, once we arrived onboard we were, like all others, offered four reservations, one at each of the theme restaurants. All other dinners would be at other restaurants on a first come, first served basis. The four re...

 São Francisco is the oldest city in the state of Santa Catarina (founded in the early 16th century) and third oldest in all of Brazil. My excursion today was titled “Highlights of São Francisco and Joinville” and included, in about a 4 hour span of time, a drive by bus of about 1hr and 10 minutes one way, to the town of Joinville where we visited the studio of acclaimed (I’m told) artist Juarez Machado, a (very) quick look at an old Cathedral (about 5 minutes, during a mass!) with multiple stained glass windows, a walk in the sun to an immigration office where we saw only the exterior of the building, then the long ride back to the terminal, load the “tender” for the second half of the 45-50 minute round trip ride to and from the ship.  If you are a big lover of art, in its many forms, the studio tour was likely a delight. Once explained, I could grasp the intent of several of his paintings and other creations, but most of it was lost on me. One of the highlights for some (th...

 We arrived in BC pretty much on schedule, but unfortunately it didn’t stay that way for long. Due to rough, choppy water in the bay, the “tenders” were delayed because they couldn’t people safely aboard for the trip to the pier. “Our” excursion had already been rolled back to “my excursion” and, instead of a 12:20 start time, it was now a 1:30 launch. Camboriu is, I am told, sometimes referred to as the Dubi of Souther Brazil. One look at the city skyline will easily answer the question, “Why is that.” While sitting in the middle of the bay, the tall buildings stretch 180 degrees. It is “muito impressionante” if you are into tall buildings. It might also be known as the playground of Brazil (or South America, for that matter) as the year-round population swells from 145,800 people to a summertime number that exceeds a million people. The 1:30 start time left just enough room for an early breakfast, then a sneaky-fast lunch before I left my wife behind and boarded the tender. The a...

Today is but a lazy day. We will not be pulling into a port, and therefore will not be doing an excursion. We slept in, took a (relatively) late breaking of our fast (desayuno). then sat in the sun on the pool deck for a time, I in my shorts and topless (risqué?), my wife in long pants and a sweatshirt (she didn’t want be cold, and heard the ambient temperature was 24!) I walked for about 45 minutes, doing several laps around the pool deck. My tracking device said I had done over 18 miles and averaged under 4 minutes/mile! Now if I could do that in metric I think I could qualify for the Olympics! We went for an early lunch (didn’t we just eat?), then went back to our state room where our sole souvenir purchase had been delivered. We are currently in International waters, so there are no taxes on purchases. We have been told, repeatedly, that as of tomorrow, and through the end of our cruise, we will be in Brazilian waters (I wonder if it will be a different color so we can tell the dif...

 If yesterday’s private tour of the Uruguayan capital, Montevideo, was heads on the excursion coin, I would have to state that today’s excursion was definitely tails. It wasn’t looking good to begin with when, last night, Alicia let it be known that she needed a down day to recuperate. She wore herself out getting into and out of the van that ferried us around town and didn’t feel that she had the strength in her knees to negotiate steps and stairways for another day. As it would turn out, it was a good thing that she declared “no mas” before the tour started. In contrast with our first two days aboard the Marina, today we were anchored out in the bay (Our Port dejour is Punta del Este), which means that, in order to go ashore, one first had to negotiate a gangway and landing pad, then step onto a moving boat, one which was not only moving towards , then away from the landing but, simultaneously shifting vertically. The water was choppier than it had been in previous days so the mo...