Days 20-22 Jan 25-27

Day 20 (Future plans) Friday Jan 25
Met a lady at breakfast who is going back from NZ in April on a cargo ship, she will be one of only 6 passengers on board (there is room for 12), they call at 30 ports and it costs £2700, which sounds a good deal to me and worth thinking about for a future trip maybe. Of course there is no entertainment, you have to make your own, and you need a hobby, but apparently most ships have a gym and some have a swimming pool. I did briefly investigate this but couldn’t find out anything, she has given me the name & address of a guy in Napier who arranged things for her. Trisha is trying to persuade me to go with her and Hilary in a 3 berth on ‘The Mary’ in 2010, in order to do the other half of the world cruise, if she is doing it then, we don’t know for sure. I will think about it, but think I prefer my own company really and I won’t be able to afford it anyway!
Went to a really good lecture on Montevideo, apparently it used to be the second safest city in the world after Tokyo, not quite so safe now but up there. 93% of population is of European extraction, I used to work with a German lady from Uruguay, I believe lots of Germans went there after the war, as well as Portuguese & Spanish descendants I suppose. I know a lot more about the geography of South America than I did before this trip.
Had a salsa lesson again, with added steps, did well at the time but can’t remember a thing now, & I didn’t write the steps down so I’m in trouble! Spent time on my house plans this afternoon, have decided to stop at the initial ones until I reach Auckland, because it is impossible to really relax and enjoy myself while trying to decide where the cooker and sink should go etc. I think I need a proper kitchen planner and bathroom planner now, since I can have the windows where I want them obviously but Ron, the guy in NZ hasn’t got the expertise to know all the options and I don’t want to commit until I’ve had the time to think properly with no distractions. Probably sounds odd but I don’t want to be a recluse on here!
Musicians who can play 40 different instruments entertained us this evening followed by the Carnival ball. Enjoyed watching all the dancing but didn’t dance myself.
Day 21 (Spectacular (should have been)) Saturday Jan 26
Got up at 5.30 to see Rio de Janeiro (river of January), which was spectacular in the darkness. The trips all left on time, we all went to the Christ the Redeemer statue this morning, which would have been wonderful if the trip itself had been better organised and we had managed to see anything. We queued for half an hour for the train at the bottom of the hill only to be told we would have to wait another hour to get on it. So (eventually) the bus returned and took us to Copacobana and Ipanema beaches which were great but it was very cloudy. This meant of course that by the time we got to the statue it was shrouded in mist and so was the view. Since I am terrified of heights this wasn’t altogether a huge disappointment to me, because I’d probably have passed out if I had been able to see anything! Actually it did clear a bit just before we left so the others were able to take photos, I managed one! I felt it was the lesser of 2 evils, and having come to Rio you must do one or the other or both, but I would never have managed the cable cars up to Sugarloaf. We did get to see it several times from afar.
In the afternoon, after less than half an hours break and no lunch, we went on another 4 hour trip to the Botanical Gardens and the Tijuca National Park, which was terrific, with a very good guide who was amusing and knowledgeable at the same time. We saw Toucans chasing parakeets and Hilary saw some monkeys too, as well as lots of wonderful plants and trees. We also got several good views of the Christ statue which by this time was not in cloud at all (just our luck).
With no break at all, Trisha and Hilary went off to a Samba show in the town, where there was a power cut and they’ve now got half their money back, despite the fact that the show was almost over. The rest of us watched the local show brought to the ship which was very colourful but went on too long, we were all very tired. The highlight of my evening was being in the queue for the self-service Lido restaurant immediately after the Captain(Ian McNaught) and the Staff Captain(Hamish Sunter), & yes Wendy, the captain is from Sunderland.
Day 22 (Silent) Sunday Jan 27
A quiet day at sea, in more ways than one, see below, after all the excitement of yesterday. Went to a Foxtrot class, was partnered by a very small Japanese American who was about 5ft tall but extremely polite and a very good dancer thank goodness. Beat the guys in the quiz (again), then spent more time putting the rest of Trisha’s photos on my laptop. I look forward to sorting it all out in NZ. We sat on deck to do it (out of the sun) and Hilary noticed that we were going extremely slowly. Then the captain announced that one engine had stopped, we were running on 3, but all engines would be stopped while they ‘put on’ another one, someone said there are nine, but they have to be put ‘on-line’. So we drifted completely silently for what turned out to be more than an hour, it was very pleasant, but I’m glad it wasn’t Cape Horn. When we got going again the Captain said we were not to let anyone on the QV know what had happened, I do think it rather serves him right for all his previous comments! We are now tanking along at a great rate, presumably to make up the time lost, and the ship is rolling quite a bit, fortunately we have now all got our ‘sea-legs’. I missed tea deliberately to sit on deck in the sun, have gone slightly pink where I missed bits with the sunscreen, but nothing to worry about. I do wonder where everyone goes in the afternoons, the ship looks practically deserted, and it is almost full. I think lots of people sleep in their cabins, there are lots of ‘senior citizens’ as I’ve said before, only the under 60s had to pay park entry yesterday and there were only 7 of us out of 2 coachloads!