Boca da Valeria, Brazil

Sea Date January 13, 2024

 What an amazing experience today. Boca da Valeria is a small village of about 150 people.  Only about a dozen cruise ships visit all year.  It is quite an event when they do. Schools actually close for ship days.

We were advised there are three things to do in town - walk along the coast and visit the small town, pay one dollar to take pictures with the children who bring their pets to town to show off and sometimes dress in native costumes, and pay the captains to take you on a boat ride on the Valeria River. I, of course, was spending dollars like a made guy in Ba Da Bing strip club.  The children were too cute and sweet to resist.

We randomly picked a captain, Ezekiel, to take us on a boat ride.  Boy, were we lucky.  As far as I know, we hired the only captain who not only took us for a ride but also took us to his home.  He was so proud to show us around.  He and his wife were the parents of 9 children.  We met most of them.  The parents have a small bed but all the children sleep in hammocks.  The kitchen was quite simple.  But the children were watching Saturday cartoons on Roku TV.  They had raised bed gardens, a chicken coop, and caught ample fish from the river.  Ezekiel walked us through his small village, downstream from Boca da Valeria.  His brothers and mother have homes in this town. Truly a charming family eager to welcome us and we were thrilled to have experienced a small slice of their life.

Back the the ship. We grabbed dive in food for dinner and brought it to the Gallery Bar for some NFL football.

    

                                                      Arlene selected our boat - great job! 




    

                                                View of church in center of town from the river.




    

                                                Beach on the river.


    

                                                      Large church outside of Boca da Valeria.



    

                                                                     Ezekiel's home


    

                                                            Raised bed gardens.

    

                                                                              Their lanai.

    

                                                                Kitchen



    

                                                                      Bedroom 1


    

                                                    Family photo prior to last baby.


    

                                                                Bedroom 2




    

                                                                Treasured pet.




        

                                                                        Ezekiel's town

    

                                                                A working pay phone!!!




    

                                                              Turtle munching on a mango.





    

                                                   Back on the boat headed to town.  No cars.  

                                                    Boats and horses are transportation options.


    

                                                    Turtle is along for the ride.



    

                                                               St Paul, Catholic Church.



    

                                                        Jim found the bar in town.


            

                                                           Lovely water view from the bar.

                                        

                                                 So many beautiful birds in the Amazon region.

                                                         It is very hard to get good pictures.





    

                                                It rained as we headed back to the ship.  Befitting

                                                          for the rain forest territory.






Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Sea Date May 10, 2024, Our Last Day

Image
 Sea Date, May 10, 2024  Our LAST Sea Day I toured the ship early in the morning to say goodbye.  It seems so strange to be leaving. Lots of Goodbyes. Farewell from the crew on the Main Stage. Last lunch. Our Goodbye Party. Bounce Reveal. Captain Frank's Goodbye Video. Karen and Monica's hysterical photo and video montage. Award ceremony.   Last No Bounce gathering at Seaview. Many tearful goodbyes. You really become family!                                                                                             Rangga                                                      ...
Read more

Sea Date, May 11, 2024 THE END

Image
 Sea Date May 11, 2024 O, what a once in a lifetime, around the whole world adventure! Departure Day Good morning Ft Lauderdale - 128 days, 38,000 nautical miles around the world, 44 ports and 24 countries !  What a trip 😎 (Thanks, Elizabeth. ) Port of Fort Lauderdale.  So many goodbyes. Arlene and Pierce couldn't fit her collection into the 2 seater. He left her and 3 bags, drove the one hour home.  Unpacked,  then returned for her. Hopefully,  home and rearranging her museum. Lots of shoving suitcases into our rented SUV. Last lunch with Kevin and Monica Bruning Bradlee on 5th Avenue. Dolce and Salato. Sunset on the home balcony. Cloud cover.                                                            So long to our supercalifragilistic crew!
Read more

Naha, Okinawa, Japan

Image
 Sea Date February 25, 2024 Day 2 Our tour concentrated on the Ryukyu Kingdom, the Imperial rulers prior to Japanese control. The Ryukyu Kingdom was a kingdom in the Ryukyu Islands from 1429 to 1879. It was ruled as a tributary state of imperial Ming China by the Ryukyuan rulers and treated as a vassal state of Japan at times.  They were the trading intermediaries between China and Japan . In 1879,Japan sent a military unit and annexed Ryukyu. Suiko, our talented, kind tour guide was back with us. It was a gray day with an off and on drizzle but still pleasant for touring.  We started at Syuri Castle Park.  It is the most famous landmark in Naha.  The G8 Summit that President Clinton attended held a large banquet here. It was the castle for the Imperial rulers of the Ryukyu kingdom.  Unfortunately, most of it was bombed in 1945, rebuilt and then burned in 2019.  The government is in the process of rebuilding trying to use authentic material and...
Read more