After a rest of two days at sea we docked in Rio De Janeiro at about 7:00 am. It was dark, misty, and raining which didn’t bode well for our 8 hour tour.

Our first stop was at Corcovado mountain and the statue of “Christ The Redeemer” overlooking Rio. In order to get there you board a tram for the 25 minute trip to the top. Once you get there you have to go up 2 sets of escalators to reach the Statue and those magnificent views of Rio.

Sadly that was not to be. The mist stayed around at the summit and, even though it’s huge, we saw no view of Rio and were barely able to see the statue (top picture) which pales to what we should have seen (bottom picture). We waited 25 minutes at the summit for the mist to clear then we had to start our trip back down. About 10 minutes into our journey down, we got our last view of the summit, and it was perfectly clear! Argh! So we had to settle for a view from one of our next stops, Sugarloaf mountain (right Picture). But we were able to get a great picture of Rio from the tram.

From then on the weather was beautiful. Where a week ago we were talking about how cold it was, now were complaining about how hot it is. It was in the low 90s and high humidity.

On our way to the next major stop, Sugarloaf Mountain, we drove by two of the most famous beaches: Ipanema and Copacabana.

While viewing Ipanema beach, our guide showed us the statue of the song writer of “The Girl From Ipanema”. The girl is real but is about 75 years old now.

Next we traveled to Copacabana. We made a quick picture stop here but we did see a great sand sculpture there!

It was now time for lunch. We went to the “Fogo de Chão” Churrascaria restaurant. It is a Brazilian steakhouse. On each table is what looks like a cardboard coaster. One side is red and the other green. When you get to the table, the coaster is red. You go to the buffet and a get a plate of side dishes, potatoes, vegetables, etc. Once you return to the table, you turn the coaster to green, then the fun begins.

Until you turn the coaster to red, huge skewers of meat are brought to your table for your choice: sirloin, beef ribs, beef sausage, spicy sausage, pork roast, chicken legs, chicken hearts, and others. This place is all you can eat.

After gorging ourselves we reluctantly left the restaurant for our last stop of the day, Sugarloaf Mountain. It is known worldwide for its cable cars and panoramic views of Rio.

To reach the summit, you have to take two cable cars. Each cable car is capable of holding 65 people. The first cable car ascends to the shorter mountain Morro de Urca, 220 m (722 ft) high.

The second car ascends to Pão de Açúcar, 396 m (1,299 ft) with terrific views of Rio. Of course, at each level, there are restaurants and souvenirs stores aplenty.

After descending, we made our way back to the ship.

When you look at a map of South America, you will see that Montevideo, Buenos Aires, and Punta del Este all lie on the Rio de Plata, a very wide-mouthed river between Argentina and Uruguay. The travel between these cities takes all night because the ship kind of wanders in circles in the ocean to be able to arrive in port at the appointed time. Anyway, we arrived at Punta del Este (sometimes called the St. Tropez of South America) which is a nice getaway destination for Argentinians, especially during Carnival weekend. The beaches are beautiful and many hotels have been built to cater to the tourists. It happened to be rainy on the day we came into port. Our tour guide explained that this is odd, but wonderful since the area has been in a drought. Coming from Southern California, we certainly sympathize with these people, so we continued on our tour in the rain.

There are a few very interesting sights in the area, besides the beaches. A famous sculpture called, “La Mano”, (the hand), by Chilean artist, Mario Irarrázabal is along one beach. I copied a photo from the internet because Ron’s image in the rain only shows four fingers due to the number of tourists in the way.

We saw an interesting bridge built with a distinct wave. It was pretty interesting driving over it in a fast bus. We also visited a Gaudi-inspired building on the beach by Carlos Paez Vilaro called “Casa Pueblo”.

After this city tour, we headed off to the country for lunch at a ranch called Siglio XX. It is an alpaca farm as well as a restaurant, museum and small resort. The alpacas were cute. I was surprised to read that their wool is only harvested once a year.

We were greeted as we walked up to the ranch house with an assortment of beverages and were handed a beef empanada almost before we sat down. A salad bar was set up and trays of cooked meats were brought to each table. My favorite was the sausage (beef chorizo) but I was not brave enough to eat the round, black blood sausage. Ron ate the flan with dulce de leche while I had strawberries and whipped cream.

It was a very quiet ride back to the pier since most of us napped after the wonderful meal. That night we left the port on our way to Rio de Janeiro.

Luckily, we had two sea days before we reached Rio. During those days I worked on some art projects while Ron took some more cooking classes and attended some lectures. The ladies at our dining table were very taken with the Gauchos when they visited the Pampas. I drew one for them. I had to use pictures from the internet… one of the gaucho and a different one for the horse.

After the long and tiring day yesterday, we decided to do a short and fun tour today: a culinary walk in Buenos Aires. We got a real treat with this tour as we got to sleep in! Our tour didn’t start until 10:30 (the tours usually start at the 8:00) so we had a leisurely breakfast then off to the tour.

The tour started with a two hour bus ride around the city where we revisited several of the sites from yesterday. It was great to see them again without buckets of rain!

One new location was a bridge called “Woman’s Bridge” located in the Puerto Madero district where all the streets are named after women. The architect has described the design as a synthesis of the image of a couple dancing the Tango. Residents can’t seem to decide if they agree or not!

Then the Culinary part of the tour started. The tour visited 4 locations starting with an appetizer of beef empanada at “La Guittarrita”, a first course of two small sandwiches (beef and Beef Chorizo) at “La Cañita”, the main course starting with Fried Cheese (yum!), a giant platter of beef roasts, squash, French fries, rice, and more fried cheese at “Las Cholas”, and finally, two scoops of ice cream (chocolate mousse, Dulche de Leche w/Caramel sauce) at “Persicco”. There was also a paired wine for each course (not with dessert). Each of these locations were selected as they had some unique spin on typical Argentinian food.

We returned to the ship at 3:00. Next up, Dinner at 5:30, ugh!

Sadly, tonight we leave Buenos Aires and move onto our next stop, Punta del Este, Uruguay.

After a long day of touring, I regretted the fact that we had signed up for another excursion in the evening to a Tango Show and a dinner. We had attended a cultural show in China as well as a Flamenco Show in Spain. I had rather low expectations for this evening’s entertainment, but I was blown away by the show. We drove to “Cafe de Los Angelitos” and were led back to a surprisingly large theater with rows of tables where we were each given a tiny appetizer, a bottled water and a glass of wine. The theater was nice, but not so large that you couldn’t see well.

I had expected a repetitive series of Tango dances, but I was very wrong. The five couples took us through many different time periods of Tango, from the turn of the century, to the 20’s, 30’s, even the 80’s and modern times. The dancers and dances were varied and very skilled. There were two talented singers and an amazing combo. The evening flew by and everyone I spoke to was very impressed.

The dinner was given in an apartment that used to belong to a couple who gave it over to a chef and manager to become an exclusive “closed door” restaurant. The dinner was served on the fourth floor of a old building. This meant many, many stairs to get to the dinner. A couple of the people in our group had to take the elevator which looked like a small version of something from Thoroughly Modern Millie.

The dinner was served in four stages with excellent wine and coffee. Stage 1 included cuttlefish. Stage 2 was white salmon. Stage 3 was an amazing piece of beef and stage 4 was a chocolate mousse with coffee ice cream. The food was very interesting as was the conversation around the table so I forgot to take pictures of Stage 2 and Stage 4 as it was eaten before I was able to photograph the plate.

This was a fun night and we got back to the ship about 10:30 p.m.

After our visit to Plaza de Mayo, it was time for a refreshment. We drove a very short distance to Cafe Tortoni.

Cafe Tortoni was opened in 1858 and was named Tortoni after the Parisian café of the same name where the elite of the Parissiense culture gathered in the 19th century. This cafe in Buenos Aires has served as a meeting location for many famous Argentinian and international artists, authors, Tango dancers, etc. including one of my favorite authors, Luigi Pirandello (theater of the absurd) (“Six Characters In Search Of An Author”).

We were served croissants, tea sandwiches, and a demitasse of coffee. A nice break from the touring. The cafe was filled with busts and artwork of the important people of the time. I was especially intrigued by one painting of a famed Tango dancer of the period.

The cafe also gives daily Tango lessons and Tango shows during the week.

Next up on our tour was a visit to an area call “La Boca”.

La Boca is a popular destination for tourists visiting Buenos Aires, with its colourful houses and pedestrian street, the Caminito, where tango artists perform and tango-related memorabilia is sold.

The real show here is the loudly painted buildings and what looks to be papier-mâché figures watching from the balconies. There is a lot of art on the walls too. With all its Tango bars and restaurants it would be a great hangout at night! Paul used La Boca as the subject of his next watercolor project.

After a morning of touring, it was time to go back to the ship for a rest before tonight’s dinner and entertainment excursion.