Lirio

57 minutes ago, DavyWavey70 said:

One of my current musical obsessions is Scott Bradlees Postmodern Jukebox. They take popular songs, mash em up a bit, rearrange them and play them in a completely different style. Here are some of my favourites but he has produced hundreds. Well worth a look on YouTube if you enjoy. I Love his sense of humour.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just found them at Spotify, thanks:  coolers ar all about music! great.

Winter is here. Sunday as usual: strolling along the beach, lunch at home but delivered from a nearby restaurant, movie on streaming (Ferrari) and that’s it.

15 minutes ago, Emtbsam said:

Not a clue how to do it.  I tried to get a copy of A Banda, the song Chico Buarque introduced at Carnival in 1967 without any success.  I have the record but no way to transfer it to a digital recording.

https://open.spotify.com/search/a banda

Do you have Spotify or similar?

3 hours ago, Emtbsam said:

I created a list of the music which has impacted me throughout my life.  I hope the flash drive can be copied and distributed to my friends at the appropriate time.  The music begins with the somber Pomp and Circumstance and ends on a more upbeat note.  In between is a mix of English, French, Brazilian and Italian music which I love.  

Share with us at spotify! we can create a Coolers playlist there, although I have no idea how to do it.

On 6/6/2024 at 7:05 AM, labrasett said:

Thank you so much Woodrowst that is really good information as the Amazon has long fascinated me (I think it is tales of Anacondas and big cats, neither of which I actually want to meet close up) which captured my imagination.  My bucket list still has a few places on it and ano dominii is fast catching up plus my husband really doesnt like hot and steamy places so the Amazon may get missed but it certainly looks and [now] sounds like somewhere I could have enjoyed but maybe no on the Wind!!

If one wants to see impressive fauna in Brazil, Amazon is not the right place. It is very very rare to spot then. It is much better to go to the Brazilian savanna area (called Cerrado) where Brazilian wolf and jaguar can be spotted. But Brazilian wolves are smaller than similar in the north hemisphere. Jaguars are impressive. Another place to spot fauna is Pantanal area. Cerrado and Pantanal are very distant to the shore, which means it is necessary 4-5 days to visit. But it is not compared to Africa. Below are pictures I took from internet, it is not my photos.

12 hours ago, Fletcher said:

All my Amazon/Brazil photos are now available on Flickr -

 

Great pictures!

14 hours ago, jpalbny said:

Wednesday June 12th. Lazy day at sea. 

 

We slept until a little after 7, so we were ready for breakfast in LT at 7:30. The morning was filled by laps on the deck, lectures, and lazing on our balcony. 

 

Swells no more than a meter, light breeze, and low 80s with sunshine. Beautiful! 

 

Lunch in LT then more lectures. Trivia at 4PM where we tied for first. We skipped the last lecture in favor of sunset.

 

 

 

A few more laps to finish off our step count. Beautiful evening! 

 

 

Dinner tonight at Hot Rocks. The usual Ribeye, seared like tuna tartare. I bought a bottle of Catena Zapata Malbec to go with it. It was great, though probably not the bargain that the Italian wine was.

 

 

We played a quick game of majority rules after dinner and came in second. Off to bed, as we have an early tour tomorrow, starting at 7AM. 

 

The Kimberley Expedition has started in earnest. No more sea days this trip!

This is the preferd wine of husband. I think it is to strong for Rio de Janeiro weather, but he turns the air con on and enjoy it!

9 hours ago, Emtbsam said:

We will be there soon on our way to Svalbard.  It will be quite the change from the 90’s (32) here in Maryland.

27c in Rio and it is almost winter.......

23 hours ago, UKCruiseJeff said:

 

I have often found myself wondering about your life in Brazil,  and if you were inclined I’d be really interested in reading posts about your day to day life - and the more mundane the better.  

 

Obviously with me being aimless and nosey and liking eating and drinking it’d be great to read and see stuff about your cookings and eatings and in particular what and where ordinary people eat including even perhaps piccies and descriptions of street food.  

 

I think many Coolers might be interested and see the thread as a great place to read your musings.  I hope others will join me in encouraging you.

 

I could appoint you The Coolers Ambassador To Brazil!

 

Thanks. 🙂

 

Jeff

Jeff,

My life in Rio is like any other. I have my own business that drives my attention 7 days a week, 52 weeks per year, but it is what I like to do and what pays the bills (mainly travelling currently!). The type of business we do is made 95% at our own office that now is home office for the entire team, and everywhere or anywhere office for me!

I am not a beach person which means I only go to the beach in case I have guests. I am not a Samba person as well. When I am not working, I am planning a trip, dreaming about a trip and walking around as I love going out to stroll.

I hope you enjoy your time at the beach.

@Daveywavey70 my best wishes to your partner.

Australian Coolers, I advised my daughter that next time we must visit Australia. I just went there in 2005!

I do enjoy this board! A lot of very interesting coolers.

On the way back home, from Auckland, it is always great to see Los Andes while approaching Santiago, Chile (connection to Rio de Janeiro).

D-Day 

In 2019 my mom got 79 years old and asked me she would like to do a last trip to visit 3 things: D-day area, Prado Museum in Madrid and Santiago de Compostela.

With these targets, we took a Seabourn Cruise from Lisbon to Dover with calls in Spain and France ports plus other places. She loved every single day in that cruise.

As if she was anticipating, after that covid came and then the dementia. That was her last trip and 2nd cruise. Now she can’t remember, but I can!

Antarctic was the most impressive trip I have ever done. Visiting the D-Day area with my mom was the second. 

4 hours ago, UKCruiseJeff said:

Good Evening Coolers!

 

Still down at balcony@seaside and we’ve been eating simply but enjoyably with curries delivered many evenings with nice frozen German beers.  

 

Great views, great curry great strawberries and ice-cream and great beers … and the naans were very very good.

 

Have a great day all.

 

Jeff

 

 

Where is it?

Coolers, in 1st hand the new dress code that will put an end in debates about this subject. It is cristal clear....

I have been away for while travelling around South Island in NZ, working and staying the most possible with daughter. I will try to catch up ASAP.

Unfortunately, 45 days passed very, very fast and next Sunday we will fly back home with bags full of wine bottles.

We visited Invercargill for an oyster festival, went to Nugget Point to celebrate 20 years from our 1^st visit, Wanaka and Queenstown. Very cold, but wonderful (after all I went the there for cold weather, for hot weather I stay home that is free of charge)!

Soon I will organize the photos and post some.

The only inconvenience: daughter confessed she didn’t like to cruise and do not want to cruise with us again…….This means I will have to arrange 2 vacations per year, with and without her……

Mothers day hike with daughter.....

In the end of the trail an historical house....

Some views from Auckland.

Sunset close to Mission Bay.

Another vocano....

We canceled our cruise for Alaska with Silversea. We should have made more research before booking.  I was expecting a different cruise.

We had a D2D, tours included. Many tours (included or suggested) were fully booked or waitlisted. I felt uncomfortable to pay for tours that I can not book because they are full. I tried to book tours independently but must tour operators I got in contact with was fully booked.

Alaska mainstream area, as far as I understood, is crowded during the season and the itinerary planned by Silversea is all about these areas. Juneau, in the day that we would be there, another 7 cruises will be there! Some big ships.

I found good options for expedition cruises with Hurtigruten and Lindblad, but unfortunately the schedules were not suitable for ours.

So, no cruise in 2024! Instead we are doing a road trip around Portland and Seattle.

Meantime in Auckland, last night at my daughter´s house. What else can I desire?

At hotel lobby, a train made of chocolate.

Today is Labor Day in Brazil, so no need to work from Auckland and I went to the Auckland Museum to see a photography exhibition with the first photos taken in NZ. Very nice. Then walking around in the park, buying some groceries and a lazy afternoon.

2 hours ago, Emtbsam said:

Lirio - what hotel is that?

Pullman Auckland. As I stay long periods (this time 45 days) I prefer it because it has apartments fully equiped with kichten and laundry, and it is centre located. And more important, has a very good room rate for long stays!

59 minutes ago, Lirio said:

Finally in Auckland in my favorite hotel......During the flight an amazing experience I would like to share.

The flight is Rio de Janeiro (4 hours) to Santiago (2 hours on ground) to Auckland (12 hours). After Auckland (with 2 hours on ground) more 4 hours up to Sydney-Australia. My mission finished in Auckland.

Just behind us in the 1st leg we noticed 2 senior ladies which seems mother and daughter.

We noticed that the flight attendants were very keen to the ladies. Right before we landed in Santiago, one flight attendant mention, for the surprise of all business class passengers (just 3 rows with 4 seats in each row), that the mother is 102 years old and a frequently flyer!

We arrived in Santiago and went straight to the Latam Lounge (very, very good) and later arrived in the gate for embarkation to find the 2 ladies preparing to board. I could not believe that the 102 years old lady would face more 12 hours in a plane!

Well, we chatted a bit and not only the 12 hours, but all the way to Sydney where she lives. And the daughter told me that a month ago they were in Egypt. The mother loves to travel!

 

Immediately I advised my daughter that is the new target for us!

From the balcony....

Finally in Auckland in my favorite hotel......During the flight an amazing experience I would like to share.

The flight is Rio de Janeiro (4 hours) to Santiago (2 hours on ground) to Auckland (12 hours). After Auckland (with 2 hours on ground) more 4 hours up to Sydney-Australia. My mission finished in Auckland.

Just behind us in the 1st leg we noticed 2 senior ladies which seems mother and daughter.

We noticed that the flight attendants were very keen to the ladies. Right before we landed in Santiago, one flight attendant mention, for the surprise of all business class passengers (just 3 rows with 4 seats in each row), that the mother is 102 years old and a frequently flyer!

We arrived in Santiago and went straight to the Latam Lounge (very, very good) and later arrived in the gate for embarkation to find the 2 ladies preparing to board. I could not believe that the 102 years old lady would face more 12 hours in a plane!

Well, we chatted a bit and not only the 12 hours, but all the way to Sydney where she lives. And the daughter told me that a month ago they were in Egypt. The mother loves to travel!

Immediately I advised my daughter that is the new target for us!

starting the long joyrney from Rio to Auckland!

51 minutes ago, Fletcher said:

7 - Fortaleza woes

Fortaleza was our first time on dry land since we left Manaus last Monday.  We didn’t want to go to Fortaleza which is just a huge Brazilian city with big beaches, high rise buildings, a lot of squalor and a reputation for street crime.   But it was always on our itinerary as the ship needs to fill up with stuff and clear immigration formalities before we head across the Atlantic.  We wanted to make the most of what little it has to offer.

 

But before I tell you about our visit to Fortaleza here’s a little amuse bouche.  We have another cruise booked, on the Dawn, later this year.  Because we have been messed around quite a bit on this current cruise - not only the itinerary but our cabin as well - we thought we’d see how Silversea behaves and consider our options.  At the moment I think we are about 70 percent on the side of bailing out.

 

Anyway, we were chatting to this guy on the Future Cruise Booking desk.  He wears a suit and tie and seems very keen to help.  We said we already had this Dawn booking.  He said he’d look it up, apply the discount, and see what else he could do.  He could get us an upgrade, on board credit, all sorts of lovely stuff.  And the next day we were presented with an offer which came in at about £3000 more than our existing booking.  I said we’ll stick with that.  He said, yes, that’s a good idea.  He looked a bit crestfallen.

 

Back to Fortaleza.  That’s something I hope never to say again because we will not go back to Fortaleza. The tour today was the absolute pits.   It was billed as a nature walk.  So we drove for half an hour through some scruffy areas and came to a stop near a sand dune which rose up beside a four-lane highway.  Some people climbed it. I asked our resident ophiologist, the charismatic Greg, why people were doing that.  He said they were channelling their inner Sean Connerys.  I loved that.

 

We drove around a bit more, past many high-rise blocks which filled our local motormouth guide with pride, and came to the nature walk, a mangrove swamp right in the middle of the city.   This was muddy and vaguely on the underside of whelming.  We saw perhaps three birds.  After half an hour we got back on the coaches and did another tour of the high-rise buildings.  I should mention here that there is only one building in Fortaleza worthy of serious scrutiny and that is the theatre, as impressive in its way as the opera house in Manaus.  Sadly, the theatre was not on the itinerary.  Nor was a pretty beach area.  Instead we were taken to a shopping mall and told to shop for 30 minutes.  We declined the offer and waited until the others maxed out their credit cards on knick-nacks from China.  We returned to the ship.  What a waste of time this was.

 

We knew Fortaleza would be rubbish.  And it lived up to all the hype.   We wouldn’t have minded so much had São Luis and Barra Grande remained on the itinerary.   But Silversea nixed them.  And having monitored a recent cruise with the Silver Nova,  I believe that the people on that ship had a far better, far richer experience of this part of Brazil and the Amazon than we have had on this so-called expedition ship.  We now have five sea days to get to Africa where I learn there is barely a 50-50 chance of making our first landfall at Tokeh Beach in Sierra Leone.  Are we downhearted?

I have no idea why Silversea chose Fortaleza. It is a windy beach city, which is nice for kite surfing or wind surfing, does anyone in the cruise would do that?  And the beaches aren’t very beautiful. There are great beaches at about 200 km, but does it worth visiting them as day trip. I consider that it is not a good idea at all.

I am sorrow you didn’t have great days in Brazil. Should you ever come to Brazil again, there are great things that deserves visiting. I would be pleased to tell.

1 hour ago, Fletcher said:

Thanks @mklions Insects have not been an issue on board.  A few mozzies and moths but nothing like the invasion you describe or the blizzards of insects we experienced on the Irrawaddy.  The issue here on the Wind is the rain - torrential last night and pretty grim this morning.  Hey ho.

The rainy period or strong convective activity in the Amazon region is between November and March, while the dry period (without great convective activity) is between the months of May and September. The months of April and October are months of transition between one regime and another.

2 hours ago, jpalbny said:

 

I've almost been there. In fact from a technical point of view, maybe I have?

 

We've stood at the corner of Argentina and Brazil, where we could see Paraguay, waving to us from the opposite shore.

 

We've been on a boat ride along the Paraná River, and we definitely crossed the midpoint, but we didn't touch the opposite shore. So we were in Paraguayan waters.

 

And the most objective evidence? Naturally, I picked up a cell phone signal and got the message, 'Welcome to Paraguay! Your T-mobile plan gives you..."

 

So, have I been there? I didn't put a star on my map. But, awfully close!

 

 

 

Great journalism. Hook the audience with a stunner in the first line, and they can't stop reading until the question is resolved! 

I only visited Paraguay once when I stayed 1 day in Assuncion, the capital.

But we know a lot of Paraguay because of a war. The Paraguayan War, when a dictator from Paraguay decided that Paraguay must have access to the Atlantic Ocean and invaded Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay. it was 1864, the war lasted up to 1870 and was won by Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay. This was a bloody war. The Paraguay was almost complete destroyed and half the population dyed. Brazil lost 50k, Argentina 18k and Paraguay about 150k (there is a huge debate about this number from Paraguay).