This morning we pulled into port in Fortaleza, one of Brazil's closest major cities to the equator.
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| pilot boat guiding us into port - Fortaleza, Brazil |
It’s way too hot here for someone who's still wearing winter clothes. Seriously, I am so very thankful that I had a pair of tennis shoes with me. Otherwise I would still be wearing my Uggs!
Oceania provided a shuttle to take interested passengers to the RioMar Shopping Center while in port today. RioMar is a huge 3 story shopping mall that probably appeals mostly to the youth. Unfortunately, about the only thing I accomplished was getting in a lot of steps and working up a sweat. The mall hosts almost every kind of store you can think of; however no big department stores with clothing like we are used to. The boutique-type small clothing shops were definitely geared to much younger, much taller and much thinner women than myself. It was very discouraging. I was hot and frustrated, so I decided to just continue "making do" as I have been. Thankfully a lady I met on our other world cruise offered to let me wear something of hers, so I’m no longer worried about having to miss Oceania’s “event” that is planned for Rio. Those events are the highlights of the trip.
Ronnie at RioMar Shopping Center
Unfortunately, we had not been informed of the event dates when we booked our excursions, and we had planned to go up to see Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio that same day. Thankfully we were able to change our excursion to the following day, but that means we’ll be getting back to the ship around midnight and getting up for an early excursion the following morning. I’m sure we’ll be exhausted with them back to back, but we really don’t want to miss either of them.
Some fellow passengers went to the beach today, others to the mall and I’m guessing some of the braver ones ventured out on their own. Fortaleza’s large outdoor craft market (Beina-Mar Feininha) with 700 vendors sounded like fun, but honestly I’m not sure I would have enjoyed spending very much time outdoors in this somewhat oppressive heat. I was already sweaty and ready to get back to the ship after a couple of hours of mall walking. So we caught the shuttle back to the ship for a late lunch, followed by a lazy afternoon that included a shower and a nice long nap.
I think I broke my own record today - only 2 photos!
Barbara- Equatorial heat is awful. You an't take off enough clothes! It is easy to understand why men there wear lightweight loose clothing and women wear dresses! Ronnie made a good photo on the palm lined walkway. You've taught him to be a good model! Hopefully you are having cooling foods and cool drinks.
ReplyDeleteModa Feminina and SaffiraPlussize are sizes I found that fit me in Brazil. They were all too long, though. I think Talbots should expand.