The Biggest Little Journey

 One of the primary purposes of this cruise was to judge for ourselves whether or not this travel genre was for us, or if we needed to experiment further to find “our thing.” Please keep in mind that the things stated here are strictly personal opinions but, for what they are worth, here we go: Primary among the objectives was to judge whether or not the motion , limited as it is on a large ship, would create nauseating side effects for my spouse. After four years in the U.S. Navy I was pretty much certain that I would suffer not, but my wife? I’m glad to say that the constant, nearly imperceptible motion was not an issue for her.  However, as a footnote to that statement let me add that the not-so-shuttle motion of the “tender” boats, in particular embarking and disembarking same, was a major issue. In the future, now that we understand what tendering is, it will be a major consideration when selecting excursions and, perhaps to a somewhat lesser degree, even cruising itinera...

 We awoke early this morning. We were required to have our luggage packed and outside our door last night by 10 pm, so the ritual this day was simplified. Arise, freshen and dress with the clothes we wore yesterday, then go to breakfast. While there, we met several of the couples with whom we had broken bread, and bid our fond fairwells. Returning to our stateroom, we grabbed our I.D.s and carryon bags and headed to level 5. It was there that we met face-to-face with the image outside our window. We had been told several times that March 21st marked the beginning of the rainy season (mentioned as if any rain prior to that date was illegal). This morning we walked head first into the rain portion of the new season. We returned to terra firma about 7:30, not knowing how long it would take to make it through customs and waiting behind hundreds of others who were doing likewise. Our arrangements were to have a driver pick us up at “the terminal” at 12pm, but when we were told that Ocea...

 This morning, about 0700 hours, our home-away-from-home for the last 12 days tied up to the pier in Rio de Janeiro. Rio was the colonial capital of Brazil, under the Crown of the King of Portugal, from 1763 until 1815 when it became the Capital of the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil, and the Algarves, after Napoleon invaded Portugal and the King fled to Brazil. It was about a year later that he returned to the Iberian Peninsula but left his young son here. According to the story our tour guide recited yesterday, the King’s son was not old enough to be a monarch. When the boy turned 15, he was declared the ruler of Brazil and, shortly thereafter, granted Brazil their independence.  (This story could not be completely confirmed by Google.) Portugal was, during this brief period in their history, the only country to have its capital on a different continent. I almost forgot - the story of how Rio got its name… The Portugese explorers landed north of Rio and settled there firs...