15/01/13  -  Recife was a surprise in that it was much bigger than we expected. We took the shuttle into town and hired a driver for a four hour tour. First he took us to the old town which was really interesting. Lots of original old buildings which they are working hard on restoring. They hope to have it all finished before the Word Cup ( soccer ) and the Olympics in 2015 in Rio, I guess they are expecting lots of tourists. It was then on to a small town called Olinda where we visited an old Franciscan convent and the market place where we found many of the ships tours. Most of it reminded us of parts of PNG.  Next was the old jail which was now a shopping mall with boutiquey type shops in the cells. They had one cell original and  empty - apparently 12 people resided in each.  Last call was to a beach on the other side of the old town - quite a nice long sandy beach but our guide said that no one swims there because of the number of shark attacks, instead they all crowd into an area some distance away protected by a reef. We were deposited at a shopping mall where we tried for  a few hours without success to get onto the free WiFi. It was very hot outside so we had a coffee and an icecream and finally managed to get our emails downloaded and my blog done although I think I pasted it in twice!! Will have to fix it next time I manage to get on

16/01/13 -  Received some sad news today, RIP Brian. Feel so far away at times like this. Very quiet day just swimming and reading beside the pool.  Fairly hot. 

17/01/13. -  Arrived in Salvador at 8am. It was a Bank Holiday and it looked like the whole population was partying on the streets. We walked through the streets - the noise was horrific and quite scary - we had to make sure we stayed  together.  It was so hot. Wanted to go up in the elevator but the queue was so long we would have had about an hour or more to wait so gave it away and went back to the ship for lunch and to cool down - will go off later and try and contact family.  

18/01/13  -  Another lazy day today. Went to a lecture by the Captain about the war in the Falklands - he was the Navigator of the Canberra which was commandeered by the military to take troops to the Falklands. Played cards in the afternoon, went to dinner and a show and now we are in bed. Up early tomorrow as we arrive in Rio at 8am. We have all day and evening till 10.30pm so hope to see a lot during the day and some nightlife in the evening. Alice has been busy every day with Spanish lessons and painting and Glen ha been to some of the Spanish lessons and the choir. Hope I can get some handwork to do in Rio. 

19/01/13. -  Lovely to talk to you this morning Paula and Logan.  We have had a great day in Rio - very hot.  Came back  to the ship to get something to eat and get on to the Internet but will go off again for a few hours. We don't sail until 10.30 pm.  Had to take my photos off as they would not past onto the blog. Will have to see them when I get home.