Pole to Pole with Silversea - Buenos Aires to Manaus - Part 2

 4/3

Today my tour was called Discover Olinda and its Carnival.  Well...we did and it was awesome!  Our dock was in Recife and it was a short ride to Olinda.  Discovered by the Portuguese, located on a hill with a killer view.  It's called Olinda because linda is Portuguese for beautiful and it is.  Of course I met a dog along the parade route.  We also had an armed police escort the entire time we were in Olinda.

  

We went to 2 churches.  St. Benedict Monastery, very ornate. The door was made with wood from a jacaranda tree.  Cathedral de Sao Salvador do Mundo, very simple with the amazing views.

Our guide kept saying they had a surprise and they did.  They put on a mini carnival just for us.  Being part of the parade and after dancing at the restaurant was so much fun!

We had a nice lunch and entertainment at a place after the parade.  More dancing.  I danced a lot with Matthew, one of the clowns.  He was a wonderful dance partner!  Also took off my socks and shoes to cool off in the pool there.

Another video and photo of my dancing with Matthew.

On the way back we stopped at an old prison in Recife.  One original cell and the rest are vendors.  Beautiful building for a prison.

Got back to the ship, showered and took a nap.  Then trivia.  This is my new team and our leader.  All from Australia and me, Zaid from Columbia.
Jim, Lin, Zaid, Yvonne, Grant, me, John and Athenie.

Cristiana did a talk on sharks at the briefing.  Turns out Recife has more shark attacks than anywhere else in the world.  Tomorrow I dune buggy and swim in Natal, which isn't far away.  I may not get in the water.  🤣

4/4

Today Natal.  Beautiful sunrise.  Views into our pier.

  

Quite a few of us signed up for the dune buggy ride.  Although, here they pronounce it dune boogie.  I rode with Zane, another one doing Pole to Pole.  I have never done a dune buggy ride and it was so much fun.  We went through so many different areas.  They have 1000 dune buggies here and you need a special license to drive them for tourists. Lots of photo stops.  Beautiful scenery.

Margaret, Richard, me and Zane

Different part of the dunes run by different groups.  Line for the fee.

  

One of the coolest things was getting across the river.

One stop we had the opportunity to zip line for $5.  A few of us did it and it was a blast!  Getting videos from Zane later and will post.

  

Fun with all of us.  On the beach Lin and Grant and Jim and Athenie.

We stopped for a drink and two of us ordered Coke light.  This is what we got, which was way better!

The day was so much fun!  Sadly the zipline video is too long.

4/5

With my sea day I tried dividing the zip video in two.

How we got back up the hill.

Lots of good lectures today.  Malcolm had one on parrots, which we have seen and hope to see more.  

Alex spoke about the Amazon and I am very excited to get there!

A few amazing facts.

- There are more trees in the Amazon than there are stars in the Milky Way.

- 20% of the world's oxygen comes from the Amazon

- If you were in the Great Smoky Mountains you might find 25-35 different tree species in an area of 2 soccer fields. In an area of 1 1/2 soccer fields in the Amazon you might find 300 species.

- More than 1 of 4 flowering plant species reside in the Amazon.

On average, a new species of animal or plant is discovered in the Amazon every other day!

Tonight we went out on deck to look at constellations.  It was pretty clear and many stars.  Saw both the Big Dipper (upside down) and the Southern Cross which aren't always seen together.  

Another sea day tomorrow and then I am really looking forward to Sunday in Belem.  Thirty years ago we hosted an exchange student from Belem, Ricardo.  We have stayed in touch.  Ten years ago I visited his family here.  In November he and his wife and two children were in Florida and I got to see them there.  Sunday those 4 and his mom will be joining me on the ship for lunch and I will get off to visit a little.  A highlight of the trip!

4/6

Last night was the Venetian Society cocktail gathering. They have one each trip and you are invited if this is at least your second Silversea cruise. On this leg out of 206 passengers 147 are Venetians. They give certificates to those that have reached milestone days. Like 100 when you get free laundry and an additional 5% off a cruise. One couple had reached 500 days which means a free 7 day cruise. The top 5 last night were 385, 390, 511, 712 and 772 days! I know people think I travel a lot but I am a novice!!!

4/7

I loved every minute of today!  Spending time with Ricardo and his family was a perfect day.  They could see us sailing in but his sister Flavia and her husband Roberto could really see us and I could see them in their window. 

 Ricardo and Roberto took videos of us coming into port.  He and Pamela came on the ship with Dani and Lucas and Ricardo's mom, Suely.  We had a nice lunch in La Terrazza at the buffet and then went back to their place.  It was so very nice to visit with his brothers and sister, nieces and nephews.   

4/8

Started today with a rainbow and then sea day turned to rain day.

It was a learning day for sure.  5 lectures.  First was Chris with Welcome to the Jungle.  For pollination in the Amazon rainforest only 12% is by wind.  Most important pollinators are bees and wasps. Then beetles and flies.  Spiders and be both good and bad, some can damage flowers.  Birds, bats and other mammals don't really pollinate but eat and then defecate and spread the seeds. 

Manuel presented the Amazon Rainforest - Millions of Years in the Making

The Amazon river used to flow west over 66 million years ago until dinosaurs vanished.  The tree canopy changed and a small mountain range with water on the west side changed 20 - 25 million of years ago and caused the river to empty east.  There are 1,100 tributaries running into the Amazon.  If the whole planet consumed water from the Amazon we would only consume 60% of it's water. There is a lot of conversation and research on what is the longest river.  The Amazon or the Nile.  There may never be a true answer.  They are very close and depend on what is looked at.  But the Amazon is the biggest.

Alex did a talk on Percy Fawcett and the Quest for the Lost City of Z.  He used Z hoping others wouldn't try to find it.  He did not find it.  He and his one son and another disappeared with a few theories on what happened.  He is one of 5 that the Indiana Jones character may be based on.  Some think he was crazy.  I think he may have eaten too many wild plants with hallucinogenic properties! 

Bia did Pretty in Pink, the pink dophins which we will hopefully see.  

Dan did Anaconda uncoiled.  He asked who hopes to see one in the wild.  I'm not so sure I want to see one in the wild.  Maybe from pretty far away!  

Shout out to Laura and Rick in Ohio for sharing their eclipse photos with me. She said robins began singing night songs, night birds started singing and bats came out.

4/9

Last night Cristiana did a talk on why some people have Wanderlust.  I am thrilled to know they have studied the reason I want to travel!

On that note I may or may not have booked things for 2025.  🤣🤣🤣

Then we had a crossing the equator party last night.  I am a pollywog since this was my first time crossing on a ship.  Initiation involved kissing a fish and taking a shot.  I believe they will do a bigger ceremony for pollywogs when we cross the Atlantic, but then I will be a shellback.

Our first Amazon stop is a little area called Furu Cajuba.  Tomorrow we will be at Cuariaca. 

This morning I was on deck at sunrise and saw, mostly heard, orange-winged parrots and chestnut-fronted macaws flying out for the day.  Then we saw black bellied whistling ducks.  I did get some very poor photos of monkeys in the trees.  Mostly I can't believe I'm cruising on the Amazon!!!

This afternoon we did the zodiac. Our driver was Frederico.  His first time in the Amazon and his joy was contagious.  He hooked us to a fallen tree for a little bit to just enjoy the quiet.

A barge with lumber

Termite mounds

Yellow rumped cacique and their nests

  

Greater Ani

Love this one.  Lots of butterflies, but only got this one and a bee.

Roadside hawk

Great egret

Buffalo

Turkey vulture

Crested cara cara

We ended with a rainbow

I know the scrolling is getting long.  I will start a new page tomorrow.