Sea Day 1

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We are in waters of the South Atlantic somewhere north of Uruguay. I am no longer sleep deprived. It feels nice. I woke-up this morning and watched the sunrise on our balcony. It felt amazing. I got ready to have breakfast at 7:30am and went to kiss Kamie goodbye and he decided breakfast sounded good to him, too. We both had steaming hot omelets. They gave us “toast” but it was not toasted – just bread with strawberry jam and orange marmalade. We sparked an entertaining discussion with several of the employees about coffee. I ordered a regular coffee with some milk. Then I put ice in it. This intrigued them and they approached me and started asking questions. They told me it would be normal for the Italians onboard to drink 10 espressos a day. There is an espresso maker in our room with two tiny espresso cups but we have never used it. I see them drinking the espressos at the bars. They said the Argentinians will add about 6 small spoons of sugar to their little espressos. The ship has little containers of white and brown sugars sitting everywhere. Later in the day I witnessed two people adding the sugars to their tiny cups of espresso. I would be running around this ship like a cat chasing a mouse if I drank that much coffee and sugar! And yet, for the most part, these people seem laid back and not really in a hurry to do anything.

This morning I noticed our boat stopped. Our butler came to ask if we needed anything and I told him I wanted to know why we were stopped. He did not believe me and so he came into the room and looked out our balcony and said “but there was no crew announcement.” We got to breakfast and I asked our waiter why the ship was stopped and he said “the ship is stopped?” I pointed for him to look out the window at the water and the small town we seem to be sitting near. He also said “but there was no crew announcement.” He hurried over to talk to the other employees and there was a discussion about what was happening and where we might be going. Just as we were finishing our breakfast, we were told we were stopped in Punte del Este, Uruguay but no explanation was given why the boat stopped. The ship is now screaming to Rio. We have another sea day tomorrow and then Rio! Whoo Hoo

Today was a lazy vacation day for us. I unpacked everything and organized the room. Kamie wanted to eat lunch (which is a surprise for him) so we had a short lunch. Pasta is always on the menu. I had a white lasagna (eh) and he had a shrimp scampi (wonderful). We’ve usually try to share everything and never order the same thing. He had a Brazilian mix dish of rice, fried plantains, black beans and potatoes. The actual way it was written on the menu was “farofa couve mantiega, carioca bean”. He said the beans were in some sort of flavored fat that tasted great. I did not try that crap. I had some braised beef in red wine that was so tender you didn’t need to cut it. Kamie had plenty of that too. I had a glass of Moscato and two glasses of red wine because the bartender brought me another glass to try and he wanted to talk to us about something. I don’t know what. We are constantly having staff come to our table to talk to us. We love it. I could write a book on India right now.

We walked a lot of the ship today to see what was happening. Most everyone’s swimsuits are lacking bottoms. They are thongs. I don’t care if you are 80 years old, your swimsuit is letting your cheeks sun on this boat. Frankly, they don’t look half bad. These people are in good shape, even the older ones. Tits and asses are everywhere. Some of these chicks could be in a Fast and Furious movie.

I had a long conversation with a family living in Argentina while I was standing in line to learn Costa will not allow me to access their app nor use my “American iPhone” nor this blog. This family I spoke with consists of a man, his 18 yr old daughter, and his other daughter who is maybe 16, and his wife. We started discussing pesos, Argentina, their way of life, etc. Interesting conversation. He said the banks in Argentina regulate how many American dollars they can buy each month. I believe he said they can buy $200 in American dollars each month. If they ask to buy $300 – NO. They said they save their dollars. Why? Because the American dollar is stable he said. The Argentina peso is not stable. He also said he buys American dollars on the blue market each month (it’s basically the Argentina money laundering unofficial market). I think the guy I was talking too probably has some more stories I’d be interested in hearing. He and his 18 year old daughter talked to me for a long while. She is currently attending University of Buenos Aires (for free – they only pay for her food, transportation, and books). His other daughter did not choose to do the traditional high school but instead, is attending a 7-year private school that is like a high school where she gets an associate degree also. It costs him 45,000 pesos a month. He also said rent in downtown Buenos Aires (like those poor, ugly skyscrapers with no a/c) is approximately 180 Pesos a month for a 1 bedroom apartment. Rent in a fancy skyscraper by the port is ridiculously expensive. He had a lot of interesting things to say but it was what he didn’t say that intrigued me. Frankly, he looked American and he talked like an American. His older daughter had pale skin and looked like a character off Little House on the Prairie. His younger daughter and his wife had dark hair and darker skin. The entire conversation left me with more questions than answers. Our dinner waiter flat-out said he was probably a money launderer or in the mafia.

I read today. Kamie read. Kamie decided he needed a nap. I decided to lay down and watch the ocean from the bed but woke myself snoring a short time later. It was nice. We were not hungry but we did go to dinner. Tonight’s conversation with the dinner crew – and I mean the entire dinner crew – is how many Argentine pesos it takes to buy one dollar. Everyone said anywhere from 200 Arg pesos up to 400. The crew started talking about how much each of them had paid in port and where they got the best deal. We were eating and could hear them at the bar finishing the conversation we had started with them. It’s so funny. These guys are from India, Pakistan, the Phillipines, etc and they have been on this ship so long they have become like the Italian Argentinos. By the way, what we have learned is there is a large Italian population in Argentina. They moved here during World War II and never left. Now, the families go back and forth visiting. Some consider themselves Italians and some consider themselves Argentinians. They seem to be similar in many ways.. but aren’t we all?

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Photos

Breakfast by the sea
This was our breakfast, lunch & dinner table every time we ate in this restaurant

This pool area was packed
Look closely. There's gotta be some butts somewhere

Main theater room
Every morning there was a large group of people attending some sort of instructional lecture here. We wonder if they maybe were on a business-sponsored trip? It was all in another language, obviously.

Comments

[Stacy]

insert title here
Lunch menu looks great to me! I would've went with the Chicken mousse, cream of mushroom soup, eggplant ravioli and maybe even the shrimp!

[Eeda and Jahn]

Menus
Nothing is ever what it says it will be... but the spaghetti. It's reliable. LOL