Hanukkah and Float Your Boat

I attended a Hanukkah celebration today. I am
definitely not ready to sing (chant) in Hebrew.


Early in the cruise passengers were invited to build
a boat for the "Float Your Boat" contest. You were to
use whatever you had or could find on the ship and
the boat had to be able to float for one minute while
carrying six cans of soft drinks.

One of the participates in Road Scholars told us about
the boat he and his friend had made that was a
replica of the Prinsendam. He explained how they
had made it and it sounded intriguing so made a point
to attend the contest.

All of the boats except one floated but the Prinsdendam
won easily. It was incredible. The detail including
number of decks and lifeboats was amazing. Someone
said that considering all the time spent on it they hoped
they were able to take it home with them. Me too.

Bonaire

Today we were in Bonaire. We’ve been here several 

times but had not gone beyond the town. Today  

we and another couple took a taxi (van) around the 

island. We had an excellent driver who pointed out 

lots of things and took us to see beautiful beaches,  

flamingos, a salt processing area and old slave huts. 

Salt is a major industry here and what we all found 

really interesting was that the water was pink. 

Flamingos

Pink water from salt mine

Slave House

Headed Home

After three sea days, we stopped in Tobago. We 

visited a nice botanical garden. They had lots of 

Christmas lights up and I hoped to see them when 

we sailed. But no luck. Maybe too close, maybe too 

many city lights. 

We are in St. Vincent today but didn’t disembark. 

Road Scholar

December 7, 2014

We did not go ashore at our last stop on the
Amazon. The town was primarily a beach resort.
I met a gentleman earlier in the trip who has done
a lot of guest lecturing in SA. He is doing a private
group of presentations for “Road Scholars” and
said he had extra seats and invited us. I enjoy him
more than the ship’s lecturers.

I don’t know if he was kidding us or not, but he
said he was banned from HAL guest speaker list
because a passenger complained about his wife
being so frightened about what he said that she
couldn’t sleep. (It was something tongue in cheek
about what to do if encountering an anaconda.
Playing like a tree root actually makes a lot of
sense to me.) If she frightens so easily, maybe
she should stay away.

Boi Bumba Show

Decided not to try for music and don't know

why picture is not more clear. Hope you like.

Mini Carnival

.December 5


WHAT A SHOW!

Today we were in Parintins and attended the
Boi Bumba Festival show. It was magnificent.
The costumes were very elaborate and we
were up close and personal. A wonderful time
was had by all.

Meetin of the Rivers Amazon and Negro

Pitchers of water from Amazon and Negro

Scenes along the River - Part 2

Scenes along the River

Cruising and Meeting of the Waters

December 4

We took a boat trip into Amazon waterways.
I leaned today that there is no overland passage
from Manaus to other parts of Brazil. The only
road goes to Venezuela. As I said early, most
transportation is by boat.

We passed several villages, some of them
“floating villages”. The ones not floating are built
on stilts.

Our guide said they did not have running water and
had to “make” their clean water. I’m still not
clear on that.

Meeting of the Waters

I was fascinated by the “meeting of the waters.”
Many rivers join with the Amazon but unlike what
I was used to, another river doesn’t flow into it
and continue on as the Amazon. The rivers do not
comingle. They just flow alongside each other.

The different rivers can be easily distinguished.
The reason they do not comingle is that they
are different temperatures, flow at different
rates and contain different sediments. The
Amazon has a lot of silt. The Rio Negro
(where Manaus is located) and others
contain other items.

We encountered this “meeting” several times.

Scenes along the dock in Manaus

Manaus Opera House

Manaus

December 3

We arrived in Manaus today and spent the day on
board. Foster spent most of the afternoon
watching boats being loaded to deliver good
along the rivers. From early to late all sizes
of trucks are lined up and coming to dock to load
all kinds of provisions. These boats are also
used as transportation. People have to get to
boat early to get a good spot to hang their
hammock. It was fascinating to watch.
This is certainly a different way of life.

Tonight we went to the opera house for
an autistic show of jungle sounds.

I had heard about this elegant opera house in the
middle of the jungle. The building was beautiful
and the show was very good.