Ilhabella

Today we were in port on the island of Ilhabela, Brazil. This island is in the Brazilian state of Sao Paolo, and is considered an archipelago.  Most of the island is protected under the UNESCO biosphere reserve, as it is home to toucans and other rare birds, capuchin monkeys and various other exotic species of animals and plants. The island has more than 400 waterfalls, mountain peaks running up to over 3000 feet, lush vegetation and many fabulous bays and beaches to explore. To call it beautiful (as its name suggests) is an extreme understatement! 

We anchored off the coast and tendered in to join a short island  tour along with a trip to the Toca Waterfalls. Our guide, Juliana, did a wonderful job of showing us the sites. She explained how the island has been home, at various times, to the indigenous Brazilian tribe, the Tupinambas, the Portuguese in the early 1500s, who set up a military installation and a small fishing village on the island, and a host of pirates, such as the British Thomas Cavendish, who purportedly made off with Portuguese treasures from the mainland and buried them around the island. 

Juliana first took us through Nossa Senhora D'Ajuda church, a very quaint and lovely blue church set on a hilltop overlooking the town.

We then had a long drive around the island on our way to the waterfalls. 32,000 people call this island home full-time, but the population swells to more than 100,000 with tourists and Sao Paolo residents who build second homes here. It is easy to see why. Words, and even pictures, cannot do justice to the beauty of this place. 

The waterfalls were lovely as well. As falls go, they weren't particularly large, but they cascaded down several tiers and the set-up was very conducive to bathing in the many pools created by the various levels. 

We were told to wear bathing suits in case we wanted a swim, but we chose not to get wet. Karen dipped her feet in and walked about a bit, although the rocks were quite slick. 

It was a long morning of touring, and we were ready to get back to the ship for a nice coffee/tea break before afternoon stretch class. We then had dinner and attended a unique illumination show put on by the Crystal dance ensemble entitled "Imagine."  We were all instructed to be in the lounge and seated before showtime, as there would be no late seating and the room would be completely dark. This was because the show was made up of the dancers' costumes, which  lit up in different colors and patterns. Very sophisticated choreography and imagery. Unfortunately, we were instructed to take no pictures, as it would have distracted the dancers and the audience. 

Off to bed. Good night everyone!

David and Karen

Ilha Grande

Hi friends and family,

We weighed anchor in Rio last night at about 6PM. Even though it is summer down here, we are fairly close to the equator, so it was already getting dusk by then. Sunset was at 6:21 pm. 

It was a beautiful evening to leave port. It was also formal night on the boat, so everyone was dressed in their finest. In days past, this would have been a black tie tuxedo night for men, but not that many men bring a tux with them anymore, so the black tie is optional. 

Dinner board is always a five course affair with many options to choose from.  But the formal night is generally even more special, with lobster and filet mignon as dinner options. 

We chose the early dining option for this cruise, so out seating was at 6 pm. I believe the second seating is at 8:30. You don't have to eat in the main dining room if you don't want to. There are several other smaller venues to choose from. 

One nice thing is that the dinner serving size is fairly small, at least by American standards. You can have all five courses and not feel like you are going to sink the ship with your extra ballast!

You can of course have as many entrees as you want, if for some reason you aren't satisfied with what is offered. That is hard to imagine! There is no extra charge for the liquor, so it would be possible to get carried away if you aren't careful.

For some reason we are going to cruise all night to go just a few miles around the coast.  As we understand it, the only reason for doing this is so that we can get outside  of Brazilian waters so they can open the casino! Which, of course, they did as soon as we were twelve miles out.  

We cruised all night, arriving at our next port-of-call, Ilha Grande, at about 8 pm the following morning. 

Ilha Grande means "Big Island" in Portuguese. We made it a point to wake  early so that we could get on one of the first tenders to shore. 

In case we hadn't discussed tenders before, they are actually life boats. Not the old Titanic style rowboats though - these are all weather, completely enclosed versions. They won't capsize, and you can't overload them.

The above picture shows a tender passing in front of our ship. Taking the tender ashore also gives you a chance to become familiar with them if you ever should need to use them in an emergency. Each one holds over a hundred people. 

Fortunately for us, it has cooled off from the 100 degree weather Brazil had been having last week, but it is still pretty hot -around 90 degrees.  And quite humid for those of us who are used to the more dry climes. The tenders are not air conditioned either, so they can get fairly uncomfortable. 

On the way in, we saw a variety of boats in the little harbor. Sailboats, power boats, tour boats, and canoes. It reminds us of the harbor at Catalina Island off the coast of California.

 

Ilha Grande is beautiful, but it is also quite poor. There are small stores and pousados (I think that's the correct spelling - like a bed and breakfast) packed pretty tight and running a half mile or so along the beach in both directions from the dock. The town is only two streets deep. Needless to say, it didn't take us very long to explore the area. 

We debated with each other the various pros and cons of living on an island like this. It is poor, somewhat run down, with limited amenities. Would the beauty and simplicity of living here be overshadowed by the lack and the want?  You will have to draw your own conclusions, of course. 

This island has 102 beautiful beaches on it. However, since there are no roads on the island and no cars or other motorized transportation) allowed on, you have to either hike through the jungle (yes, there are poisonous snakes there!) or take a boat to get to almost all of the beaches. 

Most of the island has been set aside as a park and a UNESCO heritage site because of the biodiversity and the pristine beauty of the area. 

Why is it still so pristine 300 years or more after its discovery? Because for over a century, it was a penal colony and a leper colony. Think of the movie Papillon, with Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman. Actually, they just recently decommissioned (and blew up) the prison in the 1990's. 

Early in the afternoon, we traded the scenic (but hot) island for a tender ride back to the ship and an afternoon stretch class. 

A nice dinner and a show (ventriloquist and comedian) rounded out the evening. 

Hope all is well back in the states. More tomorrow!

With love,

David and Karen

Rio Roundup

Hello everybody, 

We awoke REALLY early today because we had booked an excursion tour at 7:30 this morning. Yep, some of them leave pretty godawful early in the morning. We were up having breakfast at 6:30 to make the tour. 

Our tour today was "Rio Highlights," which would take us to the famous Christ the Redeemer statue high above the hills of the city on Corcovado Mountain. Incidentally, one of the first things we learned on coming to town was that Corcovado means "hunchback."  The Queen of Portugal thought the mountain was shaped like a hunchback, and named it accordingly. I suppose it does have that shape. 

Anyway, in 1926, construction began on the amazing Art Deco statue atop Hunchback Mountain. It is the tallest religious statue in the world. And here's another interesting factoid - it was built exclusively on funds collected by the Catholic community of Brazil. No public money used. That is a pretty impressive feat. 

So, we all piled onto our tour buses and made the trek to the tram station for a long, slow ride up the mountain to see this famous icon. 

It was hot and crowded in the tram cars, but after a half hour ascent, we made it to a platform where we had a choice between an elevator ride further up to the top or walking 225 stairs. David opted for the stairs

while Karen roughed it on the elevator. :)

At the top, it was really chaotic. A crazy mass of people and hardly room to walk about or take good quality pictures. Of course, everybody wanted the money shot - high fiving the Christ, a nice selfie with the statue perfectly aligned in the background, etc. But it just wasn't gonna happen. Too crowded to do it justice. So we did the best we could. 

It was pretty cloudy at the top, so we didn't get the great vista shots of the city we were hoping for, but as we started our descent back to the tram station, we caught some really fabulous views.

Once we got off the tram and back onto our tour buses, our driver gave us a brief city tour. One interesting thing we kept seeing at many street corners were the unusual looking city pay phones. It was odd to see so many pay phones in a city that purportedly has more cell phones than people, but there they were. The locals call them "the big ear," and they really do have the look of a big, funky blue ear. 

We drove by the famous Ipanema beach next. To be honest, it wasn't quite the glamorous beach I had in mind from the song. Maybe it was back in the day. But it was a perfectly nice beach with perfectly nice sand, people walking along the path, people with beach chairs and umbrellas, food vendors, and volleyball courts (beach volleyball is very popular here).  

Karen's brother-in-law Terry made a special request for a picture of "the girl from Ipanema."  So here she is just for you, Terry. 

She's in her seventies now. These days, she's more like the granny from Ipanema!  :))). 
Maybe this isn't what he had in mind(?)

Anyway, we got back to the ship in time for a nice dinner, and before we knew it, the ship was setting off from Rio for our next port. 

Good night all!

With love,
Karen and David

First Day of Cruise

Hello and happy Sunday to everyone!

This morning we woke with a great Sunday breakfast at our hotel. Quite a feast. We had to time it just right so that we could pack up, check out of the hotel and get over to the cruise ship.  Crystal Cruises give a lot of leeway with their check-in hours. Anywhere from 12 to 7 pm, which suited us just fine. They do a marvelous job with check-in, but we did hit one snag.  David was carrying his Swiss Army Knife, which was a BIG no-no at the port authority - at least according to the security guard anyway.  They confiscated it and had to contact the cruise ship security to come pick it up for him. It turned out not to be a big deal, and he got it back just fine. Security delivered it to our stateroom that evening. 

We think we are in the same cabin we had on our last cruise - Room 8135 on the Horizon deck. We can't remember if we requested the same room, but probably so. Otherwise, as Yogi Berra said, it's too coincidental to be a coincidence!

We chose a dinner table for a seating of eight on this voyage. When we sat down, however, there was only one other couple seated with us. Very nice people from the Philippines. Letitia and Joseph, here celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary. 

After dinner, there was a fantastic introductory show of local Rio entertainers, Carnival style.

David and I even joined a conga line at the end of the show!  Imagine that!!

Good night, and talk to everyone tomorrow.

With love,

David and Karen

Rio day in Janeiro (January

Hi everyone,

We arrived in Rio very early this morning. Do you know the origin of the name of this city?  We did not.  It was named by Portuguese explorers in the 1500s who mistakenly identified a large bay as the mouth of a river. They came across this body of water during the month of January; hence the name. 

We had the opportunity to travel business class this trip because of a special deal from the cruise line, and it sure was nice!  

But even nine hours sitting on a comfortable plane seat after eight hours of sitting on an uncomfortable one the day before was pretty tough.  However, we are in RIO!!!  Life is good!!!

We landed right on time, and have never had an easier time of clearing customs. The guy took a quick look at our passports, and that was it! 

Then our luggage was the first off the plane. The carts were free! Yep, life is good!

We had heard lots of horror stories about how unsafe it is down here, so we had lined up a driver to meet us. And there he was, right on time, holding a big sign with our name. How nice that was. He loaded our bags and got us safely to our hotel. 

We are staying at the Windsor Miramar Hotel right on Copacabana Beach. When we arrived, it was still early morning, and our room was not ready. We sat for several hours at the rooftop pool bar and people-watched the beach goers. Here is our view. Notice Sugarloaf Mountain in the background. 

Copacabana is a vibrant and bustling beach area with a long, mosaic-tiled walking path where throngs of people congregate to walk, bike, skate, and sell their wares.  Just beyond the path is the beach itself, with its beautiful cream-colored soft sand and blue waters. Although it has been quite overcast all day, the beach is mobbed with tourists and locals alike. 

The cable cars on Sugarloaf Mountain disappear in and out of clouds on the way to the top. A bit of rain begins to fall. As we understand it, the night before (New Years Eve) was insane.  We were told there were a million people crowded onto that little strip of land and sand. A hotel worker said that if you were on the beach, there was no way you could get back to your hotel till the next morning. There was barely room to scratch! Glad we had spent the night in Miami!

After a long beach walk, we were exhausted and ready to return to the room. Just a quick dinner in the hotel, and off to bed we went. 

By the way, this was an interesting note we found in our room. Doubtful that you would see something like this in the US!

Good night everyone!  More tomorrow,

Karen and David

Feliz y Prospero Año Nuevo!

Happy 2016 to all our friends and family!  Tonight we embark on a trip through Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina. We will once again be cruising on the Crystal Symphony.  This cruise will take us from Rio de Janeiro to Buenos Aires. 

We flew in to Miami last evening, and have spent a lovely morning here viewing the Brickell area in which we are staying. Brickell is a beautiful urban section of Miami, quite dense in population, condos, hotels, office towers and restaurants.

Brickell has developed along a lovely bay, and has wonderful bike and walking paths.  As luck would have it, there was a city bike rental stand just across the street from our hotel, so we paid for a two-hour rental and covered as much ground as we could. 

We found a beautiful Starbucks along the way, crowded with tourists and locals who somehow managed to get up early enough on New Year's Day!

We checked out of our hotel and

walked to a nice little café in Brickel Village for a bite of lunch. The Fiesta Bowl was on TV, and there were lots of screaming fans enjoying the game!  

After lunch, we hopped a train for the brief twenty minute ride to Miami International Airport.  It will be an eight hour flight to Rio. 

More tomorrow everyone!  Good night!

David and Karen

The Road to Hana

Today we completely set aside for a drive to the North Shore of the island. Everyone has told us that we simply must do the drive to Hana, but that it is too much to undertake in one day. Looking at the map, we felt we could handle it in one day, veteran road-trippers that we are, so we set off early morning revved up for a full day excursion. After a quick Starbucks fueling and an even quicker gas fueling, we headed east through Lahaina along the Honoapi'ilani Highway (also known, mercifully, as Route 30.  Although we have found that if you try to speak Hawaiian words with a smile and Aloha, you can get along okay). :)))

Lahaina looked much sleepier in the early morning sun. There were already several paddle board surfers in the water though, and we enjoyed a very nice display of their skills as we passed by.

 

It is interesting how many different types of surfers there are. Some surf on kite boards, some on sail boards, some on long boards using a paddle to steer and balance through the waves, and some still use just the traditional surfboard. All are fun to watch.

As we continued along the highway, we saw several more humpback whales making their annual pilgrimage. We watched their spoutings, tail lobs, and fin splashes. How beautiful they are!  The spouting puffs are something we will not forget- it's very much like the puff of a powerful steam engine.  It is quite common here to see groups of people standing on a cliff, or an overlook, or right on the beach with binoculars scanning the waters for whales. Although we wanted to remain there watching this spectacle as long as possible, we continued on our way and reached the Hana Highway which is close to the Kahului Airport.

The road to Hana is a must-do if you come to Maui. Actually, I would call it THE must do. David and I both agree that the drive from Pa'ia to Hana and beyond was the highlight of our trip to the island. The breathtaking ocean scenery, the jungle-like tropical terrain, the assorted waterfalls, the funky roadside fruit and snack stands, the various attractions along the way - all make for a day filled with wonder and excitement.

 

In Pa'ia, we stopped at Ho'okipa Beach to once again watch the surfers. The east and west sides of Maui contrast greatly in their climates, and this contrast carries over in terms of the roughness of the waves at the beaches. The west beaches are fairly calm with smaller waves. But here at Ho'okipa, we saw the massive waves one always associates with Hawaiian surfing. It was thrilling to watch the expert surfers tackle these big monsters.

From Pa'ia, we drove until we saw the sign for the twin waterfalls. As you drive the Hana Highway, you will see areas every so often where many cars are parked along the side of the road, and occasionally you'll also see people gawking at something. If you don't know ahead of time that there is some sort of interesting thing to see or do, you may obliviously pass something really interesting. So it's probably a good idea to read up on what you may see. We did not do this!  But fortunately our concierge at the hotel told us what to look out for. So we knew that the waterfalls were coming up shortly.

In order to view the falls, you need to hike a little over a mile each way into the jungle. It isn't a bad hike by any means, but you must be prepared to get a bit wet and/or muddy. The dirt we walked on was quite muddy in areas, and there was one place where we had to cross a creek and opt to either remove our shoes or get soaked up to our ankles. If you want to go all the way to the base of the falls you need to wade, probably past your knees. Not a bad idea to wear your swimsuit under your shorts.

The falls and the walk were worth doing. As Oregonians, it is difficult not making comparisons with Multnomah Falls when we see a waterfall. We are spoiled by its height and majesty!  But this was very nice too.

Almost immediately following the falls, there is a grove of eucalyptus trees they call "rainbow eucalyptus" for their bright, multi-colored bark. Very cool!  We had never seen anything like it!  They almost look fake, as if someone took a paintbrush to them! We only saw two stands of them and they are close together. Once again, if you see a lot of cars parked along the road you know you are close to an attraction, so slow down and start looking for a place to park.

Did I say slow down? One thing you need to know about this road is that you are going to be driving VERY slow. Most of the time you will be driving between 25 and 35 miles an hour. Never more than 45 and that only for a few minutes. I (David) could not understand how the distance was only about 50 miles but the GPS said it would take 3 hours to get there. After driving it you understand. Much of the time you will be going only 10 or 15. I thought that surely I could beat that time. Nope. Put that thought out of your head. It ain't happenin. You might as well just relax and enjoy. There is simply no place to pass and if there was the road doesn't allow it. In fact many times you have to wait at a wide spot for the traffic coming the other way because the road isn't always wide enough to allow two way traffic.

After a quick and delicious pork taco from a food stand, (I see Karen didn't want to mention the fresh coconut pineapple bread, but I can't let her get away with that!) on toward Hana. Our next stop was at Wainapanapa Park to see the unusual black sand beach. This was quite lovely!  We trekked down to the water so we could stand on the black sand. What a wild and rugged beachfront it was!

A bit more driving, and we arrived in Hana. The town seems to have been untouched by any major development over the last several years.  There is an abundance of natural, scenic beauty and a small-town feel. We drove through it and intended to continue onto our next attraction - a large waterfall in a state park further along the road - but we turned back, since we had a dinner reservation to get to.

We retraced our steps and arrived back in the town of Pa'ia two hours later.  We had made a reservation at Mama's Fish House, highly recommended by many people we spoke to in town, tourists and natives alike.

From the name, we were expecting a small, homey casual restaurant with inexpensive fish and chips, etc. That is not at all what we got!!!  This was one of the finest meals we have ever eaten, in a setting that can only be described as world class. The quality of the food, the presentation, the service, the amazing private beach setting- everything was unbelievably top notch.  David had a local fresh-caught opakapaka, prepared in a mild orange butter sauce and herbs, dusted with macadamia nuts with rice and a veggie medley.  Karen had mahi mahi stuffed with crab, lobster, corn, sautéed pineapple and macadamia nuts with rice and salad. What a meal!!  A nice walk along their beach finished off the experience.

We made our way back to the hotel and turned in early.

Good night everyone!


Karen and David







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