Tango, Salsa & Samba Voyage Cruise
on the Azamara Pursuit
12/8/19 to 12/21/19

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Page 1 – Pre-Cruise in Buenos Aires, Embarkation & Ship
Page 2 – Cabin, Dining, Activities, Entertainment Ports of Call: Montevideo, Uruguay
Page 3 - Ports of Call: Sao Paulo (Santos), Brazil; Parati, Brazil; Buzios, Brazil
Page 4 - Ports of Call: Rio De Janeiro, Brazil
Page 5 - Ports of Call: Punta Del Este, Uruguay

Ports of Call (Continued)

Sao Paulo (Santos), Brazil

After two relaxing days at sea, we had finally arrived at Brazil. Our first stop was at Santos, the main port for Sao Paulo. It was a large industrial port.

With the drive to Sao Paulo being over 2 hours due to horrible traffic, our group decided to see the sites around Santos instead of taking the long drive. With Uber being available in Brazil, Bob and I both ordered one. I asked a security person in the terminal where I could pick up my Uber. She asked for their license plate numbers and told me that she would tell the guard to let them in. Bob had issues with his with the driver who was a woman trying to upsell him to take a tour rather than just take him to our first destination. So, Bob and Holly just took a taxi. I was having issues telling my driver to come into the gate. We had a lot of language issues in Santos. While we were trying to communicate with the Uber driver, a woman was standing outside of the fence around the terminal area trying to get us to come talk to her. We assumed that it was the same woman who was giving Bob issues, so we didn’t pay attention to her. We cancelled our Uber and then asked about a taxi, but the price had almost doubled, since they realized we were having problems with Uber. I then went back into the terminal to find out if there was some other place to pick up an Uber. She pointed to a sign that directed us to a gate at the fence. Paul, Gail and I went there and the woman who had been trying to get our attention pointed to the driver’s vehicle we originally had booked, who was next to the fence. She told him what we needed. She had been very helpful. She asked if we wanted a tour and we said that we already had plans. When at the port of Santos, look for the blue sign pointing to the gate if you are using Uber. I’m sorry I didn’t take a photo of it.

We got in our Uber and headed to the Coffee Museum where Bob and Holly had been waiting for a while. This building, which was the coffee exchange, was turned into a museum in 1998

The main floor entrance area was rather crowded since there were ship tours and other tours buying entry tickets. When we finally were able to explore, we looked at the large two-story area that looked like a congressional hall; but it was really the bidding room, where the daily price of coffee was set. Auctions were held there until the 1950’s. There was a large mosaic design on the floor and a beautiful stained-glass painting on the ceiling. It was quite an impressive room.

The Benedicto Calixto Triptych painting on the wall of the room depicts the urban and economic transformations in Santos.

Unfortunately, after that one room, there wasn’t much to see in the museum. Most of the displays were in Portuguese, although a few also had Spanish and English explanations.

We then climbed the stairs to the second floor to see the exhibits up there. There was one room that had what looked like a portion of the Benedicto Calixto Triptych painting made into a diorama type display with some of the figures set out from the main painting. Bob took a photo of me with Holly and Gail. I took one with Bob in it too.

We looked around all the rooms and I took a photo of Gail, Paul, Bob and Holly in one of them.

I then took photos of the upper level main hall and lower level from different angles above it. I was really pleased to be able to get a clean photo of the tiled bidding room floor without people walking on it.

We walked outside to continue to explore some sights in Santos that Bob had found and we all wanted to see. We had been warned that Santos was not a safe town to walk around. We didn’t have any jewelry on, but we did have mobile phones and large DSLR cameras, which could attract thieves. As we were walking around taking exterior photos of the Coffee Museum area, the woman who had helped us with our Uber driver at the terminal asked if we would like a 3-hour tour of the city. With it getting hotter, it was very appealing, especially with it only costing $75 US for all 5 of us. Plus, we were very concerned with walking around the city on our own and being able to communicate with taxis. Bob and Holly decided to do their own thing; but the three of us preferred the safety and air-conditioned comfort with our guide, Andrea. It was the right choice; she was just a pleasure to be with and very knowledgeable. Her email address is andreaginane@gmail.com.

Close to the museum was the train station.

Across the street was the Pele Museum. As we were checking out the museum store and café area, Bob and Holly arrived there. Bob and Paul are big soccer fans. I’m not. Our group passed on taking time from the tour to go into the museum section itself.

Andrea asked if we wanted to see the small church that we could see from the train station. It was the Sanctuary St. Antônio do Valongo. It was built in 1640 and is one of the first churches in Brazil.

I asked Andrea if it was pretty inside and her face lit up with her positive response. Boy, was she right about that! It was so unexpected from the unassuming exterior.

As we got closer to the altar, we could see the beautiful blue tile paintings on each side. Andrea told us about them and how the artist had painted himself wearing a suit and tie in one of them.

After leaving the church, we got into the car to head to our next destination Monte Serrat (www.monteserrat.com.br) , a well-known scenic viewing point. Andrea pointed out the building on the top of the mountain we would be going to as we were headed there. It was built there originally as a casino in 1927. Casino gambling was outlawed, and it is now just a tourist attraction.

When we arrived, I was surprised at how small the parking lot was. We were fortunate that there was a spot for us. Since the cog train was about to head to the top of the mountain, Andrea ran up the stairs to the ticket booth to have them hold it for us. We were glad she did, since we didn’t want to have to wait for it to return from the top.

We couldn’t see much on the ride up, since there was so much foliage on the mountain. At the top, we were able to walk around and get nice views of the city.

We went into the old casino building, which now had a small restaurant in it. We took the stairs up to the top level to get better views. It was a large open area. I took a photo of Paul and Gail.

When we left the building, Andrea took us over to the other side of the mountain top for a different view. It was next to a small church. I was able to see the dome of the Santos Cathedral from there.

From this viewpoint, Santos looked like quite a large city. Andrea told us that it only had 150,000 residents. It sure looked bigger to me.

On the way down from the top on the cog train, I was finally able to take a better photo of the Santos Cathedral. The exterior looked nice, but Andrea, said the interior was not that pretty, so we passed on going there.

We discussed what other attractions we would like to visit. We settled on going to Orquidario Zoological Gardens. We parked the car at the gardens and got a small snack across the street before going to purchase tickets for the gardens. To our pleasant surprise, seniors were free.

Near the entrance was an interesting statue. I took a photo of Paul and Gail in front of it.

As we started our walk, I was pleasantly surprised at how pretty and tranquil this small park was.

There were some areas with some small wildlife, but the main attraction was the lovely setting. Every once in a while, a strange looking rodent type creature would walk across the path. We came to where their home was not far away.

They had peacocks running free, but the only one we saw was on top of a structure safe from visitors. I also liked the owls. They were cute.

The orchid area of the gardens was a pretty good size; but they only had a small section where the ones that were blooming were located. It must be the wrong time of year for blooming, since Carol had more blooming orchids in our screen enclosure than they had.

Our last destination for the day was to visit the beach. The beach garden area is apparently the longest in the world at 3.3 miles. It is really pretty with lots of trees and different types of statues.

Andrea also pointed out that several of the high-rise buildings across from the beach were leaning. We stopped across from the worst one to take photos. I wouldn’t want an apartment in that one.

We then headed back to the ship. We were so glad that we had found Andrea. She had made our visit to Santos most special. She is an awesome guide. When I got back to the ship, I realized that I had left my Tilley hat that I had purchased 12 years ago before a trip to Egypt in her car. I emailed her and she said she would mail it back to me.

Paraty, Brazil

As the ship cruised into the port of Paraty, I was amazed at the denseness of the vegetation on the small islands. It was also a very mountainous area. I was getting excited about Paraty, which is a port that is rarely visited by cruise ships.

Since this was a tender port, the tenders were being readied for use. The tender platform was being used to pick up the pilot that brought us into the bay.

The bay is rather shallow, so we were anchored pretty far away from the tender dock. The tender ride in took 24 minutes. Fortunately, the water was very smooth that day.

Since our group had received a large amount of non-refundable on-board credit, we did take more ship tours than I normally like to. But it worked out fine on this cruise. Our group of five was taking the ship's walking tour of the small town of Paraty, a UNESCO World Heritage site. Our guide for the tour was Leidiana. She was a pleasure to be with and very informative about the area.

She took us down the long pier that had so very many colorful boats along it.

After we walked off the pier, we were on a rocky dirt road, which I never expected would be the smoothest road of the tour. My first order of business was to find a replacement hat for the one I lost the previous day. It was getting hotter and I didn’t need to have my head sunburned. What I found was not that great, but it held up for the rest of the cruise and only cost $7.50. Thank goodness I had it, since it would be a life saver in the days ahead.

When we got to the shoreline, we saw the first of the very uneven cobblestone streets we would be navigating for the next 3 hours. The old colonial town did look promising and was most photogenic.

As we walked to our first stop, an old church, we started to notice movement on the cobblestones. Small crabs were digging holes. It was like the road was alive. They were all over the place digging between the cobblestones.

Our first stop was a little church that had a nice classic look to it. As Leidiana was telling about the history of the area and church, a horse drawn carriage came by. I can’t imagine how uncomfortable a ride it would be on the very rough road.

When we were able to enter the church, we were told that there would be no photos allowed. There were several guards watching as though they were protecting the crown jewels. I couldn’t believe that photos weren’t allowed, since nothing could have been hurt by photos, even if people used flash. Plus, they weren’t even selling books with photos of the church, which could have been a reason to not allow photos. I did find one small area that was shielded from the guard’s eyes to take a couple quick pics to remember the church by. It was a nice little church.

We then walked over to a small museum that was a celebration of life. It was pretty much rooms with photos of happy people from all over Brazil.

Walking around the town did feel like you were visiting the past. The town had a lot of charm; but those uneven cobblestones were quite difficult to walk on. I was very surprised that no one in our group fell down. Perhaps it was because the roads were so bad, people took extreme care navigating them.

We then visited another old church. Photos of the interior were allowed in this one, but it wasn’t photo worthy.

Our next stop was another church. This one did have a nicer interior.

We passed several other churches during the tour, but we didn’t stop for them. Probably a good thing. We had seen enough of them. But we did enjoy walking through the old town and seeing the old structures that were in such good shape.

We stopped at a small shop that was mainly a liquor store selling the area’s cachaca sugar cane spirit. We got to try a sample of a few of them. Most people, including me, made ugly faces when taking a sip. It was not good.

Leidiana then told us that the tour was finished and that we could go back to the dock with her or walk around town on our own. She pointed out where the newer part of the town was located, so I thought I would check it out. I had to walk on the terrible streets longer, but I was curious. I’m glad I did, since I found that Paraty does have real streets that are smooth. It also showed the sharp contrast from the UNESCO protected old town area of the city.

I had enjoyed this port more than I had expected. As we left for our next destination, the slow cruise through the densely forested islands was a nice way to end the day.

Buzios, Brazil

As we came into the port of Buzios, it was somewhat foggy.

By the time we boarded the tenders, it had cleared up some. This was a much shorter tender ride, only about 10 minutes. This town was much larger than Paraty. It is a seaside resort town that many people from Sao Paulo visit to get out of the big city.

Our group was taking the ship’s Buzios by Open-Air Trolley tour. This would give us the opportunity to see more of this town on the end of a peninsula. With it being very hilly, it was the right choice. Our guide for the tour was Paula. She really loved her town and was excited to share it with us.

The trolley was an unusual vehicle, but it worked out well, since it was easy to take photos from, and being open, provided cooling breezes during the tour.

When we started our drive, a mostly German Shepherd breed dog barked at us and started to follow our trolley. Paula said that the dog did it every day. He did stay with the tour for the whole 2 hours. He wasn’t looking for food or affection from the group, he just wanted to be with us. We drove past a city park on the way to the seaside drive.

The beach area was quite nice. Some people were building some very nice sand sculputres/castles. Bridget Bardot is very popular in Buzios, since she discovered the town in the 70’s when she was trying to get away from the paparazzi in the big cities. She lived there for 3 months and put the small town on the map. As a result, their tourism business grew quickly, and they credit Bardot with making it a popular resort. One of the popular photo opps we passed by was the Bridget Bardot statue on the beach promenade.

The drive was quite nice with lots to take in. Further along we stopped to take photos of the Three Fisherman statue out on a small island close to shore; and another statue of former Brazilian president Juscelino Kubitschek.

As we continued the drive, we headed up into the hills. We were disappointed that it was still somewhat foggy in areas, which was taking away from the beautiful views.

Our first stop was at an elevated structure. Since I was still nursing my right knee’s torn meniscus, that had started a few months earlier, that had made my previous cruise quite challenging, I wasn’t wanting to climb a bunch of steps. But I did want to see the view, so up I went. Well, it was a total waste of time. The view was totally obstructed by fog. I was not happy about that. Hopefully, all the stops wouldn’t be this way.

The view from the other side of the road was much better and didn’t require any climbing.

Continuing our drive, we passed by one of the large homes up in the hills.

At the next stop, the view was better, but it is a shame that it wasn’t clear so we could see the real beauty.

We then made a beach stop. This was an interesting beach, since it had red sand and a rock wall. Rather than swimming, it seemed like this was a beach where people came to take selfies and/or pose for photos. It was most entertaining.

We then went to another scenic viewing spot where the fog wasn’t as much of an issue.

For our last stop, Paula warned us that the path down to the water’s edge was not an easy walk and to be very careful. She was right, it was not particularly safe in one area. The rest was fine, and it was worth the walk for the views. Our dog friend was still keeping up with us. Quite a daily exercise routine.

After the tour ended, we all headed to the beach to look at shops and a place for lunch. Bob had found a beach bar called Hako Sucos during his research, so they wanted to go there, and I went with them. Paul and Gail weren’t ready for lunch, so they did their own exploring. We headed down the beach promenade that the trolley had driven along. I wanted to get a front view of the Bridget Bardot statue. I knew we had to be getting close to it, when I started to see restaurants with Bardot in their names.

Unlike when we first saw the statue, there was now a que waiting to get their photos taken next to the statue. I was able to take some shots when people were changing positions.

The walk was most pleasant, but the path did get crowded in places. I was able to get better photos of the three fishermen from that path than on the trolley that I used for the earlier photo.

After a good walk, Bob said that we needed to turn right and go up the road. About a block away, we finally came to the restaurant. It was cute place, but definitely not a beach bar.

After a good bit of ribbing about the “beach bar” from Holly and me, we chose some lunch items and a local beer. We got a kick out of a sign on a tree. It appears to say “converse with voices” rather than using the internet.

The food was pretty good and it was an enjoyable lunch. After lunch we headed back down the promenade toward the tender pier, stopping at some shops along the way. It was a very peaceful and beautiful beach area. I can see why it is a popular resort area.