Bon Voyage

This is the second day at sea and it is hard to say that I haven’t had time to update the blog. Its’ been fun and relaxing but most of all we have finally gotten a chance to catch up on the time difference and that long flight.

Rio was so much more than I expected. It is much more populated and sophisticated than I had envisioned. Friday morning we took a tour around the city and went up Sugar Loaf Mountain in a Gondola. I usually decline such rides but I guess I never got around to reading the material about that tour so I didn’t have a clue as to what we were about to do until faced with, not just one, but two gondola rides to get to the top of the mountain. Hal offered to stay on the bus with me if I really couldn’t do it but I thought about the worse thing that could happen. At home the local papers would read “Cayucos Couple Killed on Gondola Ride in Rio de Janeiro”. That sounds much more exotic than “Cayucan passed away last week in her home. Death was of natural causes. Body was discovered by UPS man when packages were left unclaimed.”

This is my version of the gondola ride. The first leg of the ride was 700 feet of elevation gain and the second leg was 2,000 feet more. Rio de Janeiro is an old beauty queen past her prime and the gondola was old as well. There was a man who was to make sure that the gondola was full and he stood by the door to crowd more people in. On the second leg of the ride the gondola just sat there and wouldn’t move. The operator tried this and then that. It would not go. They finally said “Every body out” so Dorothy and I stepped out along with two other people then they slammed the door and took off. It must have been an overload that blew the circuit breaker. We should really go on a @#%$* diet!!! We got an excellent position on the next gondola and the view was excellent. Like a plane ride over the beach and bay. One of our friends was on a gondola coming down when it stopped with a jerk. It swayed back and forth for two minutes over a thousand feet of nothing. All in all a great ride, unforgettable. HAL

Friday night we went to dinner and a Samba Show.

Saturday we boarded the ship and have been pampered ever since. As always after everyone boards there is a life boat drill. We followed instructions, put on out life jackets and went to our life boats. I can’t believe the people who gripe about having to do this – “How many times do we have to listen to this same thing”, “Stop pushing me – I can’t go back any further”, “The next person that tries to shove past me is going to be on the ground”. I just hope I don’t have to really share a life boat with any of these people.

As we were returning to our cabins we were instructed to not to remove the life jackets yet as someone may trip on the belt. We kept ours on. Unfortunately, by keeping the life jacket on Hal couldn’t see the stairs so, before even leaving the dock, he took a header down the stairs. It was a particularly bad time because all passengers were on the stairs trying to get around him. Finally, some crew members helped him get to his feet but he refused to go the infirmary - even though he fell, head first into the side wall, then the back wall of the stairs. About an hour later he had such a bad headache we went to the infirmary and he did see the doctors. No problems since – just a few burses.

We were late leaving the dock but I think we have probably made up the time because we are to arrive in Montevideo, Uruguay tomorrow morning. There are several tours available, including wine tasting tours but since we live in wonderful wine country we have decided to walk to the local market, have lunch and then walk to down town. Most of the offices and stores will be closed tomorrow because of some kind of inauguration that is to take place in the government. The down town is to be filled with people and travel in cars, buses and taxis will be difficult. It appears that we will be within walking distance of many of the events so we will see. (Have map – Will travel). We don’t have to be back to the ship until about 5:00pm – let’s hope we don’t get lost.

TILL LATER!!