Where in the World are Dave and Elizabeth?

 It came to Neptune's attention that there were many members of the crew on the Zuiderdam who were pollywogs, and he and his wife, the Mermaid Queen came to check it out.  Four groups of about 4 or 5 such scruvy folks were rounded up and brought to trial. Four of the ship’s musicians stood trial first, and they were sentenced to kiss the fish and be slimed.  Then a court voted whether they had to go in the drink or if they got a pass. No pardon. The pink, green, and blue slimed musicians had to jump in.  Kissing the fish. While this group and another were sentenced to a dunking,   two groups were given a pass. Actually, it was so hot, and I am sure that slime wasn’t comfortable.  I would rather have been in the pool.    If you look closely, you can see the mermaid Queen and Neptune in the upper right Can you see the bailiff behind the polar bear?  What is a pollywog? A crewman or crewwoman who is crossing the equator for the first time a...

 Blog by Dave: Elizabeth was a little under the weather so I went into Santarem by my self today 😞 We have turned around on our voyage up the Amazon River at Manaus.  The ship stopped at Parintins, the home of the Boi Bumba Festival and the whole town splits into two teams one Red and on Blue. Santarem is a town of about 350K people.  I took a tour titled "Santarem Highlights". First we visited a place outside of town that demonstrated some of the local fruits nuts and show how them make a gluten free powder called "cassada".  This is made from the same root where we get Tapioca, which without processing is poisonous.   First they peel the roots like a potato. Then they grind it with a hand cranked grinder: Then they put the mushy ground material in a special woven grass tube Then they site on a pole with leverage one the tube connected to a hook on the wall and squeeze out all the liquid. Which is later boiled to make tapioca Then they sift the material t...

  More delicious Amazonian food For the next part of our journey, visit we piled into tour boats and chugged about 30 to 45 minutes across more freshwater than I have ever seen. (I grew up on the St. John’s River and lived near the Mississippi for many years and hung out at various huge lakes and bays, so I have seen some freshwater.  😄The Amazon region of  Brazil seems to be a whole water world unto itself.). On the way, we crossed the of the meeting of the waters, where the River Solimões (The Amazon) and the River Negro run side by side without mixing. They have different PH levels, different amounts of silt, and different colors.  The rivers run side by side for a long way until they finally mingle, so you have dark water on one side and lighter on the other.  I am not going to attempt to explain where we ended up, because I don’t know! We came to a complex of floating open air restaurants where we were served a delicious buffet. I tried an Amazonian fish t...

Today was so full that I  breaking this in two parts.  We skipped Boca de Valeria yesterday and just relaxed on board. This stop is a tiny village where cruise ships sometimes stop and pass out gifts, like clothes or school supplies. The children bring animals from the jungle, like sloths or snakes or parrots, and ask for a dollar to let you pose with the animal. Something about that seemed to us as if it wasn’t good for the children or the animals. That could just be us, although our guide today warned us not to encourage the people we would run into today who would be doing the same thing. When we did run into it, it was hard to say no to holding adorable sloths.  I didn’t have any issues passing on the anaconda wrapped around a small man or even the caiman. 😂 We had planned to do an organized excursion today, which was good since we would never have been able to put all of our forays together. We began with a bus tour of an old quarter in Manaus, and we made a stop at...

 What do I love about Alter do Chão? Everything!  We turned down a gigantic river (Tapajos) that flows off the Amazon for this stop. Alter do Chão is a river beach town known as the Brazilian Riviera. The best thing about it to me is that it is truly Brazilian — or so I think. It has touristy aspects, but for Brazilians enjoying their own country. It is not overrun by foreign tourists, and hardly anyone speaks English. Travel bloggers and Instagrammers are beginning to talk about it though, and obviously the occasional cruise ship stops here. I hope Alter do Chão maintains its out of the way charm.  There are a lot of native Brazilian crafts for sale here, including beautiful woodwork items and earrings carved out of delicate fish skins.  There are many Brazilian foods and drinks offered, as well. One of the drinks, which I am not brave enough to try, has an herb in it which numbs your mouth   Toasted Cassava flour — side dish, topping, ingredient - versatile...