Wednesday, February 21

Sea day...great! Lots of lazy time. This evening was both a formal night and Carnaval celebration in the dining room. We brought Harvey back to the table and even dressed him for the occasion with a black tie and my multi-colored mylar wig. He looked great.

We also played mind games on Indri and Fausta by bringing silverware, plates, etc. and a salad bowl with limp lettuce and an enormous carrot that John had swiped from Lido for Harvey. Indri retaliated by calmly serving him salad dressing. Then Fausta made tea for him with all the flourishes!

Thursday, February 22

Albatross, whiter
than whitecaps, soaring, swooping,
diving into blue.

Yeah! Another sea day! Since we are now sailing north, my starboard verandah is perfect for morning sunbathing and afternoon reading. I also spent much of the day watching albatross and petrels pacing the ship and diving for the fish we scare up. What incredible grace.

Friday, February 23

Today was Fortaleza, Brazil. It is the 4th largest city in Brazil at about 2.5 million people, and is a major resort area for the country. This was the first shore day when we had any rain, and even then it was on and off. I took a tour in the morning with the usual sights like a fort, a cathedral, the opera house, beaches, and a modern native market (shown here). Most of the residents live in apartments or condos, and many of these buildings are very interesting architecturally rather than the "concrete and glass gothic" of so many such places in the US.

Saturday, February 24

Yet another lazy day at sea. There were two lectures today in the "Explorer" series about various aspects of the Amazon River and the rainforest. They have done a fine job of having different experts on board to give these lectures at different phases of the journey...geologists, zoologists, historians, etc.