Buzzing Around The World With Fellette & Doug

Day one in Rio de Janeiro...

We were fortunate enough to have our cabin on the port [left] side. [Luck had nothing to do with it!] This is the ideal side for viewing upon entry to Rio. The entrance to Rio harbour is somewhat long and interesting. To the captain I am sure it is long and complicated. We slept with our curtains open that night so we would not miss any of the early morning sail-in. At 3.00 am I closed the drapes to get some sleep. At 6.00 am I was out on the balcony, the sun was turning the eastern sky pink and I could smell the land. [Not too pleasant a smell sometimes.]

The coffee and muffins arrived at 6.15, [life is tough], and we soon came to life, Fellette later than sooner. Shortly we were outside half clothed snapping pictures and taking it all in. It was marvellous. The Brazilian Navy was kind enough to be moored close by [all six ships], to observe Fellette in her night attire before she realised the Navy gets up before we do. We stayed in the cabin until we were almost parked, [docked]. Up on deck for breakfast and met our friends Jim and Gayle, by accident.

A Brazilian cruise ship, yes, they do exist, was docking right behind us. I believe it does one or two week cruises out of Rio with obviously mostly Brazilian passengers. I do expect however, that there were some people from the U.S and possibly Canada that booked on that cruise on the Internet for a very low price unaware that Portuguese was the only language spoken. Remember, we couldn't even use the right toilet with our vast knowledge of ENGLISH.

The four of us walked ashore around 9 am. We stumbled and bumbled our way out of the Port area, meeting the occasional Prinsendamian, stumbling back to the ship disheartened by the sight of sleeping bodies on the sidewalks. We eventually found our way to a public market. First a low grade market about a block square of hundreds of small kiosks about six feet wide, rammed side by side with a six foot aisleway between them. Safe and interesting, but we weren't looking for spatulas, cell phones or bikinis. We eventually stumbled out into "permanent" stores with doors and glass! The Carnival starts in a few weeks and everybody is getting ready for it. It is a rather gaudy, noisy, mixture of crass and colour. It is a family affair, at least in daylight hours. The picture is a store dummy. Some of the costumes are bizarre, some very rude.


After a few modest buys we decided to return to our floating Air Conditioning Unit. Jim's quest for size 12 dancing shoes was unsuccessful. We came to the conclusion that we in North America pay about 4 to 5 times the price of Brazilians for the same products. Clothing is a fraction of the price. Of course Brazilians wear a fraction of the clothing we do. Walking around the streets and in the shops is like flipping through the pages of a copy Gray's Anatomy. The temperature was over 90 F, the humidity about the same, so, the less clothes the better.

I dropped a CD with some pictures on it at a photo shop there. Fellette and I made the return trip again after lunch. The temperature, humidity, smells and noise levels all seemed higher the second time around. We picked up a Brasilian Soccer shirt for young grandson on the way back.

Tomorrow is another day in Rio where we are off to a Luncheon at a Villa outside of Rio. We will chat later.

posted by Doug and Fellette @ 12:38 PM