Before Rio

Travel quote: "I can't control the wind, but I can adjust the sail." -- Ricky Skaggs

In 2019, we visited several ports that are repeated this year, especially those at the beginning, in the eastern part of South America. Belem and Recife are two in Brazil that are repeats this year. As a result, I opted not to do a tour because they are mostly ports where one tour covers the bulk of the sights to see. Not all may agree with me on this, but to each their own.

In Recife, the oldest synagogue in the Southern Hemisphere is one such sight that I missed last year, because it was pouring cats and dogs and elephants the day we were there. So this time, my friend Bonita and I wanted to go. Looking at the GPS, we saw that it was just an 8 minute walk from the cruise port. Perfect!!

Not so perfect. The ship's port guide was busy warning everyone not to walk alone anywhere in Recife. It wasn't safe, he said. Crime was rampant, he said. You could get mugged, he said. Sigh. We think he was slightly overstating the dire situation, but once Bonita's husband heard this, he nixed Bonita from going, by saying HE wasn't going. She and I hemmed and hawed, wrung our hands, and finally decided to be safe than sorry, so we didn't go.

Turns out, several tours went there, and several people from those tours walked back to the ship from the synagogue, without a care or worry. Well. We heard all about the synagogue from those that went. I could see how very disappointed Bonita was, and I felt bad. To me, it didn't matter that much, but I had wanted to see it too, and I wanted to support Bonita in the endeavor.

Turns out, it's not a working synagogue and hasn't been for quite a long time. When the Dutch ruled the area, the Jews and the synagogue were "allowed" to worship there and live there, but when the Portuguese came they gave the Jews 3 choices - convert to Christianity; leave, or be killed. So some converted and most left. The Portuguese covered it up and built stuff on top of it. Many years later, during an excavation, the original synagogue was discovered, and a museum of sorts was created. That's what exists today. There's not much to it, but it is sacred ground, wouldn't you think?

So, no real pictures. My friend Kathi and I did take the ship shuttle into the center of old Recife to the old prison which is now a crafts market. We wandered around for a little while and then came back. And that was that.

I don't have many photos of the two stops, but I am including pictures from our first Chef and Sommelier dinner in the Pinnacle Grill. It was a very nice menu with wine pairings for each course. 7 courses in all. Yum.

I've also included a few pictures of some of the crafts we've done on sea day afternoons.
And they say there's nothing to do on sea days................

Our first jewelry project

A very handy bag/basket made from cute turtle placemat. I get a lot of use out of this in my cabin to hold odds and ends that I use often.

A folder to keep cruise-related papers.

Turtle earrings

Complicated instructions for the craft-impaired (me)

Second necklace with South American jewels.

Now, it's specialty dinner and wine time..................

Mushroom something or other

Duck breast

Cheese plate (these are out of order, as the cheese was our last dish)

Filet mignon medallion and oxtail

Palate cleanser - tomato and watermelon sorbet

Tuna

Dessert - that yolk looking thing is mango and it was sitting inside the eggshell when placed before me, but I was in a hurry to eat it and forgot to take the picture before I removed it...