Are Poseidon, Neptune, Njördr, and Manannán mac Lir separate sea gods for the Greeks, Romans, Norse and Celts or are they manifestations of the same being? Certainly, they are manifestations of the same spirit of the sea. I am particularly … Continue reading Crossing the Line
Sometimes going to museums is sobering. The Manaus the Provincial Palace started as a home for a rubber baron who went broke when the Brazilian rubber market crashed. The Englishman Mr. Henry Wickham (you will hear more of him in … Continue reading Halfway, Manaus
As far as I can tell Viking River Cruises has not yet discovered the Amazon. It is a pity because there is so much to see. Fortunately, for us, Holland America does cruise the Amazon and on three cruises we … Continue reading A Gallery of Riverboats.
Americans are used to the divide between red and blue, as in red state, blue state. But in Parintins, Brazil, on the Amazon, it has a whole different meaning. Every year at the end of June, Brazil’s third largest party, … Continue reading Red and Blue, Boi Bomba Redux
(Plural Intentional) Along the Amazon there are places where rivers join but because of differences in qualities of the water they do not mix for miles. The most famous in at Manaus where the Rio Negro meet the Amazon. The … Continue reading Meetings of the Waters
John Hartford included those words in a song about the Ohio River. A version of the line was originally attributed to Mark Twain as “Too thick to drink, too thin to plow” about the Missouri. As we rode in a … Continue reading Too Thick to Navigate, Too Thin to Plow
Today our ocean cruise became a river cruise. Last night we crossed the bar and we woke up this morning in the Amazon River. The river runs west-southwest from its mouth, which is just above the equator. So, we crossed … Continue reading River Day (Not a Sea Day.)
It’s sea day just short of halfway through the cruise and I am stringing together a group of little notes that I made to describe things that didn’t make it into the main blog posts. The Good, the Bad and … Continue reading The Good, The Bad and the Ugly
The forecast called for thunderstorms but the only rain we encountered was at sail-in which granted us a full rainbow as we pulled into the city. Many of the Fortaleza tours centered around the beaches and it was tempting. But … Continue reading Fortaleza
This is our third visit to Recife but the first time we were able to walk from the spiffy modern cruise terminal to the old town. In the past we were given dire warnings about the dangers of the street … Continue reading A 21st Century Tardis, Recife
When we visited Salvador Bahia, I wanted to go back to the Sao Francisco Jesuit church. The baroque interior is completely covered in gold leaf. St. Francis would be appalled, and I hope, so would Pope Francis. I wanted to … Continue reading Lower Town, Salvador, Bahia
On the ship we have a Brazilin interpretive team, cultural ambassadors, “Oi Brasil” Hello Brazil. The 10-member team has lecturers, dancers, musicians, and arts and crafts experts. I enjoyed lectures, dance demonstrations (although I am not a participant) and drumming … Continue reading A Dance, A Game or a Martial Art?
Another Photo Gallery. On Day two in Buenos Aires we actually hopped off the bus at an area that was originally supposed to be the port area for the city. It had canals and docks for ships that were cut … Continue reading A Walk through Buenos Aires
A photo gallery. The Gray Line Hop on Hop Off bus is a good way to get around this sprawling city with a 15 million metro population. The tour shows off this city of monuments, broad boulevards, green and leafy … Continue reading No Time to Hop Off.
I take pictures of totem poles and the process of carving them. If you search this blog you will see many posts about the creation of poles. So it really peaked my curiosity when the last time we were in … Continue reading A Pacific Northwest Totem Pole in the Argentine Northeast.
…A Little Bit the Hand of God. Driving around Buenos Aires in the open-air top of a hop on hop off bus is a colorful experience. The city is known for its parks, broad boulevards, green parks, white marble statues … Continue reading A Little Bit the Head of Maradona…
Armação dos Búzios, or just Búzios was a quiet little seaside town about three hours drive from Rio. Brigitte Bardot was looking for a quiet little seaside town, so she came to Búzios. Now it is not so quiet. It … Continue reading The Buddha and Bridget Bardot
As we walked through the cruise terminal, a repurposed warehouse on the waterfront, the taxi touts standing by the murals along the street tried to get us into a cab. “You will get lost.”“It is dangerous, I know the neighborhoods.”“Get … Continue reading Tramming in Rio
I was torn. There’s a Bosa Nova club in Ipanema that I love, Bar Vinicius, on Rua Vinicius Moraes. Vinicius Moraes was a Brazilian poet who frequented the Veloso Bar and Grill across the street with his friend Tom Jobim. … Continue reading Night, Music and Rio
On this trip to Rio, I wanted to visit two different churches. We have tried to visit the Metropolitan Cathedral of St. Sebastian twice before but each time it was closed. It is a massive concrete brutalist cone standing 246 … Continue reading Two Churches in Rio
…I see Rio de Janeiro” * In my Punta del Este post I said that rather than being the first off the ship, I liked to sleep in a little. Rio is different. I was up at 5:40 to watch … Continue reading “Now My Heart is Singing…
When we started going on cruises 10 years ago we always wanted to be first off the ship and last back on at any port of call. The problem is that at tender ports the “Four and Five Star” mariners … Continue reading Punta del Este, The Southernmost point in Uruguay.
Advertising and art make Montevideo’s streets colorful. This post is a sample of what we saw riding on the hop on hop off bus and walking the streets of Montevideo. Church bells are a form of advertising. As we were … Continue reading Advertising, Art and the Church, Montevideo Photo Galleries
Montevideo feels comfortable. In a way it reminds me of Bratislava, Slovakia, which we called home for 27 months. Bratislava is the smaller capital city just down river from the larger and more glamorous Vienna. Bueno Airires is not only … Continue reading Comfortable (Montevideo)