Living with 568 People on a Ship

It makes for some interesting experiences. You have to be there for most of them, but I will try anyway.

We all are designated numbers. (This is something I think we are all grateful for. We represent forty-something nationalities… I don’t care how common a Serbo-Croatian name it is, I don’t know how to spell it. Three digits is much easier.)

Last night, over sushi and sake, I (235) was giving Rolf (005) a hard time for the way he drives (he was at the helm for the choppy leg of the previous day). We started talking about the first officers. We have three. I was having dinner with two of them, Rolf, 005 and Christofer 007. Double O Seven, that never gets old. Christofer actually is 007.

This morning in a different funny interchange, I had breakfast with 231, Nadja, and 501, Marcos. I was telling them about an instant message conversation I had with Ben Claydon. Ben was telling me about his Harley. I said, “He likes to drive it in the Nevada desert. He went on about the wide open spaces and how free you feel when you ride a Harley.”

Marcos, a real masculine guy sitting at our table for breakfast says, “Yeah, kind of like the tampons.”

Nadja and I look at him and explode laughing. “Kind of like the tampons? What the hell are you talking about?”

Since that moment, all day, Marcos has been trying to dig himself out by explaining that tampon commercials always go on and on about how free you feel, and there is even the brand stay-free.

But he made the leap from Harley to tampons. We won’t let him live it down. He is screwed.

Lastly, there are the mushed and mangled English phrases the non-native speakers come up with. Today’s was: “When the shit hit the shovel.”

This is “When the shit hit the fan.” + “When push comes to shove.” + an extra l at the end for effect.

“When the shit hit the shovel.”

All in all, it makes for a lot of fun and a lot of laughter. (And for those of you who have heard me laugh… a lot of noise too.)

We laugh and joke constantly in the most good-natured way. It is amongst the charms of ship-life.

Anyway, a picture of Rio for you:

Rio!

(Rio! requires an exclamation mark. I don't know why It just does. I guess its the city's vitality.)

Our entry to Rio was met with a flurry of activity on board. Initially it was because we had been at sea for five days and everyone wanted off…

Our arrival was not met by fanfare, but rather stray bullet fire upon the ship. (Mom… since this has been written by me, I am most definitely not shot dead.)

Rio is a strikingly (perhaps not the best word choice) gorgeous city contrasting sky with mountain ridge in sharp lines, and mountain ridge with buildings of eclectic styles, including my favorite, art deco.

The trees overflow with their own leaves and those of vines wrapping all the branches.

For as bad as Italian drivers are, I think the Brazilians are far worse. Green lights mean race the car next to you to squeeze through the next narrow area and red lights mean honk so the people traveling with the green lights know you are coming.

Red lights are merely a suggestion.

And unfortunately, there is a reason other than eagerness. People are afraid to sit stopped in a car. It makes them a target. So at 3 am, while we drove home with a former shipmate and a Brazilian, there was no way he was going to stop at the red lights.

I don’t know how much of this is reality and how much is fear. However, I mentioned this practice of not stopping at red lights to another Brazilian on the ship and he said, “Of course not. You never sit at a red light late at night. Who knows what could happen?”

The night life district was the usual packed group of twenty-something’s wearing 80 degree weather appropriate wear, spilling into the streets from open air restaurants and clubs, except in Rio all the streets are lined with the luscious trees. Plus, there are little kids selling goods out of old cigarette vending style trays wrapped around their necks and protruding from their stomachs. The trays have gum, candy, cigarettes, etc.

It did not really seem much different from Westwood, Santa Barbara, Santa Monica or Miami in terms of night life.

I definitely plan to return to Rio, and not just for a day next cruise. The natural beauty of the dark jagged ridge against sky, water and man’s creations is awe inspiring, riveting and utterly magnetic. The plant life is so lush as if to incite you to live.

There are at least ten crew members going hang-gliding tomorrow.

I desperately wish I did not have to work!

The crime, as my Brazilian friend Edson says, “Is a shame.”

It is nearly five am. I must sleep for work is at 8am and more importantly to prepare for dodging additional small arms fire. (Mom! It is a joke… I hope.)

Stupid: What ever it is in man’s nature that propels us toward violence.

Cool: The gorgeous beauty of Rio’s exquisite ridge line.

Critical Knowledge

Tonight,

I learned....

Perhaps the most important, and highly guarded secret in ship life....

I learned who to bribe for a hot pizza at 1:30am.

*Smirk*

I have the POWER!

Amazon Chachkas

I am exhausted, so this is going to be a visual entry of the things I bought and didn’t in the Amazon. (The actual Amazon, not Amazon.com.)

All these items are entirely made of natural components from the Rain Forest and the Amazon River, with the exception of the steel of the knife.

This is a dart gun/horn/noise maker. It is about two and a half feet long. The darts are the cotton tipped things at the bottom. To shoot a dart, you place it in the tub of the gun and blow hard at the other end.



This is a wall ordainment. It is made with fish bones, tree resin and the eyes are tree nuts.



This is a gift for my sister and her fiancée. I know my sister will appreciate the craft of the ordainment and he the fact it is a knife. (He is not nearly as crazy as that sentence makes him sound.) These are two different views of the knife and sheath.





And lastly, the piranhas. Everywhere tourists were, were lines of stuffed piranhas for sale. I didn’t buy the stuffed fish, but I got this shot so you could get the experience. These are just a few. You have to image hundreds of them every place you went. It is just weird.



Bed time.

How are you?

I am good, good.

Just ask the mosquitoes, they think I am delicious.

I Am In Brazil...

I went hiking in the rain forrest the other day.

Its aptly named.