20/01/13  -  We had a lovely evening in Rio last night.  We went for a swim at Copacabana beach then just sat there for a while before wandering around - it was cooler than during the day so pleasant. During the day we went up Sugar Loaf Mountain on the cable car which gave us fantastic views of Rio. We never made it up the Mountain to see the large statue of Christ The Redeemer as it couldn't be seen due to the Mountain being covered in mist and cloud however we got a peep of it on the way to the beach in the evening and again a good view as we were sailing out at 11 pm.  All in all we enjoyed Rio.

24/01/13 -  Two days at sea being lazy but managing to fill in the days!! Just had two days in Montevideo - the ship stayed overnight.  The first morning we went into town and just walked around and got some info from the tourist information office then took the hop on hop off bus and spent the afternoon touring around, getting off when we wanted to see something then on again until we had done the whole 10 stops.  We then hired a car and took a short drive out of the city before coming back to the Port to sort out where to park it for the night. We talked to some officials who said we could park it within the wharf area in a car park close to the ship. Up early the next morning so that we could make our way down the coast and perhaps stop for a swim, food and coffee and a good look at the little coastal villages. We went to pick up the car at 8am  to find that the chap at the gates wouldn't let us in until 10am. We managed to talk to the boss of the Port and a lovely girl from the Tourist office who spoke good English ( we have invited her to come and stay if she ever comes to NZ ) and they did their  best to help us but the guy was not budging and that area was not under Port control so we had to sit down and wait till 10. We had a lovely drive down the coast stopping for  coffee and walks at some lovely seaside resorts but coming home just after we had passed through a toll booth,  we were pulled over by a Policeman. He spoke no English and we couldn't understand what he was saying and what we had done wrong!!    He took Mason's  drivers license and we finally understood that we did not have our lights on and we were going to have to pick up the license the next day and pay a fine of 3000 pesos, about $170 US. We tried to tell him that we would not be here the next day, Mason gave him the car hire contract, Alice lost it and yelled at him and we thought she or all of us were for the cells!!  However he spoke to someone via two way radio and returned to the window and gave Mason  his license back and indicated we could go but not before pointing to his police badge and then Alice not  once but three or more times. It transpired that it is the law to drive at all times with your lights on. The car hire people (Avis) should have told us and I will be writing to them.

Today we had a bit of a sleep in ( needed it after all that stress) and managed to fill in the day with lectures on the Ports we will visit, cards and chatter with other passengers before having drinks in our cabin before dinner. We have a new Captain, a woman, and were invited to a reception before dinner but it was too much  of a rush so we missed out. About a 100 new people came on yesterday and I suppose the same got off. We are now on the Second sector of the cruise - we are doing four. Haven't found anything worthwhile buying - most things as or more expensive than home and not as good quality.