Heading North, toward the Equator!

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 difference?) and ALL purchases will be accessed a 25% sales tax. This is what happens when people are convinced that some don’t pay their share of taxes. The across-the-board tax applies to every exchange of money, even (get this,) when you get your own money from an ATM! That’s right folks, you are taxed 25% on ATM withdrawals! And, in order to guarantee the cruise lines are playing by the same set of rules, in order to enter the bay at locations where vendors sell trinkets, the cruise lines must agree not to sell souvenirs!

The weather today is warm, with a cool breeze, we are cruising at max speed into a brisk headwind, and the skies are (or were) clear. I really hope that this evening’s weather is clear as this is our second foray south of the equator and I still have yet to see the Cruz del Sur!



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