Rio Grande, Brazil

Brazil Map

            Saturday, 7 Mar 2020 – The ship was scheduled to dock at Rio Grande at noon.  Rio Grande is a port city in southern Brazil.  The city lies along the Rio Grande (river), with a population of 198,048, as of 2011.

            We awoke at about 8:00 AM, much earlier than usual, and went to breakfast in the Terrace Café.  We sat near Theresa and Mattie from Tennessee, cruising from Buenos Aires to Rio de Janeiro, and Alvin from Boston, cruising from Buenos Aires to Cape Town.  During the conversation, we learned that Theresa is a retired school principal and lives in Memphis.  She belongs to Little Flower Catholic Church, but sometimes attends St. Augustine (Jesse’s home church).  Mattie is a retired school teacher, and happens to be the cousin of one of Jesse’s high school classmates, Emory.  Alvin is traveling alone right now, but his wife would be joining him in Rio de Janeiro.

Shuttle Stop

Because the pool was very cold (again), we didn’t swim, but Jesse went to the reception desk and complained.  Before we left the ship for our Iguazu Falls tour, the water was always warm (and it was always warm on our previous cruises, too).  After lunch, Jesse went ashore and took a complimentary shuttle to the downtown area and back to the ship.  He decided not to get off the shuttle after he reached the downtown area.  Since we were busy writing e-mail letters, we did not dance tonight and waited until later than usual before going to the Terrace Café for dinner.