Cowbright: Lazy Day in Santos, Brazil

Today we’re docked in Santos, Brazil – a neighboring city to Sao Paulo, the 3^rd largest city in the world. However, Sao Paulo is still about 1.5-2 hour drive away so we decided to just hang around the ship and take the free shuttle to a mall about 15 minutes away in hopes of picking up a few things we needed.

view from our balcony today - Santos is a large city!

The experience of our previous long cruise definitely helped me know how to pack this time and what necessities I could (or couldn’t) purchase along the way. So I was careful to bring what I call my “stash” this time. It contains not only 6 months of my regular medications (along with any others I might possibly need) but also a 6 month supply of all my toiletries as well. We probably all have certain brands of products we like – makeup, hair products, toiletry items and such. I learned from our previous trip that there simply aren’t that many opportunities to shop in “real” stores (generally just souvenir type). And even if we do have an opportunity to go where I might find these things, the products and brands will all be unfamiliar to me.

So today we took the shuttle to the mall where I was hoping to find a few items I needed. It was very modern and as nice or nicer than many in the US. However, the stores are different, as are the majority of products they carry. And of course everyone speaks Portuguese (very few understand any English) so you’re kind of on your own when it comes to looking for specific items.

inside Praiamar Mall

a Lindt chocolate store!

...and a colorful place for kids to play

We found a food court and a McDonalds! I was anxious to see if they had my latest addiction – McDonalds mocha frappes. The poor girl had no idea what I was asking so she brought another worker to the front but she didn’t know either. Ronnie whipped out his phone to try to use Google translate and they still seemed confused but they finally pointed to coffee on the menu.

trying to decipher mocha frappe using Google translate

food court - but you won't recognize many of the fast foods

However, we discovered a Carrefour nearby – the French equivalent of Walmart - and I knew it was my best chance of finding what I was looking for. However, probably 98% of the brands they carry aren’t anything Americans would be familiar with.

toilet paper lines both sides of a long aisle

At that point, we had less than 20 minutes to catch the shuttle back to the ship before the drivers took their midday break. Try looking for triple A batteries, mouthwash, tape, anti-bacterial soap and an insulated coffee mug in a hypermart (think Walmart on steroids) under a time crunch. You don’t know where anything is in the store, you don’t recognize any packaging and everything is written in Portuguese. Even if you do find the section you think something might be in, the brands are all so different and without knowing the language, it’s still somewhat of a guessing game. But between the two of us, we managed to snag 3 of the 7 or so items on our list and make it back to the shuttle bus with minutes to spare!

I probably shouldn’t blog today because I have nothing interesting to share and I’ve basically accomplished nothing. Ronnie on the other hand has done his Through the Bible in One year reading, answered the daily Mensa quiz, played putt putt and worked on his art using color pencils to draw one of the photos I took at the ROXY. I took a nap. Ha! I don’t ordinarily do that but I woke way too early this morning so I treated myself. Oh yes, and I did work on my BSF lesson this morning.

a bit of Rio

Last bit of news. We discovered a restaurant onboard for healthy eaters today called the Aquamar Kitchen. It’s “designed to cater to health-conscious diners, including flexitarians, by offering a ‘wellness-focused’ menu with guilt-free, nutritious, and fresh, organic ingredients.” I had to google “flexitarian” and guess what? I am one! Lol Since I’m a flexitarian, I'm sure I will be eating there again, although Ronnie wasn’t nearly as excited as I was. No problem, though, because I can order from Aquamar and they will bring it to the Terrace Café where we usually eat at least once a day. Win/win.

one side of Aquamar restaurant

Here’s a sample menu if interested.

https://www.oceaniacruises.com/sites/default/files/2023-04/aquamar-kitchen-vista-sample.pdf

I'm not trying to imply that I'm a healthy eater. I just liked some of the options because I'm less and less interested in meat (especially beef) these days.

The sun was setting as we pulled away from the pier this evening. I snapped some photos from the balcony as the pilot boat approached. One almost has to hold their breath as the pilot makes the transition from the front of his boat over into the ship. A pilot boat is required by law to guide large ships both in and out of the harbor.