31.1.11 cape horn

31.1.11 Cape Horn and the Beagle Channel

Just a quick one to say that whilst I was downloading the Falklands Blog we started to approach Cape Horn, we have how just passed through safely and are in the Beagle Channel.  It was very exciting and very very windy however we watched a film of Irving Johnston in 1929 on a square rigger. and we had a very easy time.

We are  heading for Port Williams to clear customs and then we will land in Ushuaia in Argentina at about 2.00am.  It was comparatively calm with a force 11 wind and so here are a few pictures. For us it’s just gone 6.00pm David has heard the news of the Liverpool and Newcastle transfers and is desperate for a proper English paper to get the full details.

Tomorrow we go to the Tierra del Fuego the land of fire.

30.1.11 Falkland Islands

29.1.11 aboard the Aurora day and 30.1.11 Falkland Islands Stamp collecting battlefields and Dress 28 and 29,

We’ll start with the evening of the 28^th January and Dress 28 worn by my NBF Maggie, Maggie a fellow model (!!) we were invited to the Captains reception, the dress code was Formal:  Maggie is enjoying the best of health at this time and is determined to stay fit and well after brushes with the Big C, the evening was a great success and everyone had a good time.  It seems her mother was a nurse at the hospital where I was born Joyce Green in Kent small world.

Since leaving Buenos Aires the weather has been gradually getting colder and rougher as we head south however walking on deck has been exhilarating and varied.  But before we left we had a tropical party so dress 29 is me in my Tropical party outfit which is now going away until February, it’s a Ralph Lauren skirt I’ve had for ages and M&S tee shirt and flower. Everyone goes to a lot of effort to dress up and David’s Pink trousers put in another appearance.

Tropical Party Dress 29

All about Aurora

On the 29^th we had a sort of ships open day where we were able to find out more facts and figures about the ship and information about the intriguing logistics of the ship.  The event was held in bright sunshine on one of the terraces round one of the three swimming pools, a lovely setting.  Fruit carving, rubbish compacting and recycling, weight of the ship, food consumption, maps and charts it was all very interesting and great to chat to the people responsible for making the voyage enjoyable and keeping us safe and well. We have 821crew from 27 countries on board and the Personnel manager comes from Heswell: And the ship weighs over 76,400 tonnes

It was also very reassuring to know that we 2 stabilisers weighing 190 tonnes, one on each side, this will be more and more important as pass through Cape Horn.

30.1.11 Falkland Islands

The sun rose at 5.30am and we were advised it would be 12C, the transfer to Port Stanley subject to weather would take place in ‘tenders’ small vessels carried on board which would be lowered into the water and would take us the 2 mile journey to port.

We woke and the sea was like a pond, the morning mist cleared to a bright, sunny clear day, the weather was absolutely perfect.  The wild life and birds are fabulous with dolphins, 5 types of penguins, hunting birds land and sea, cormorants, diving into the sea everywhere.  And the water is crystal clear there no pollution. 

Coming to the Falklands is for us one of the key highlights of the trip; we wished we had more time here to explore the wildlife.  We wanted to see the battlefields and monuments and we were incredibly lucky to have as our guide Frank.  Frank is a retired artillery serviceman, he is so passionate and knowledgeable about the subject and the life he and his family have made on the island it made the trip very memorable.  So dress or costume 30 is Frank in his official uniform shirt, fleece badge and hat.

Frank dress 30

There is only one main road which goes out of Stanley as a fully constructed road them is just graded gravel.  It is very bumpy and very dusty and you cannot drive over 40mph. All other roads to farms and communities lead off this road and are tracks or gravel.   We stopped for refreshments at the community centre of Port Pleasant this is where all the amputations took place for both Brits and Argies and not a man was lost. The whole day was very moving. 

A few Falkland Facts

There are over 700 islands which make up the Falkland Islands. South Georgia is 700 miles

away.  The population has grown with the increased interest following the war; however the sheep still outnumber the people 350 to 1 (600k sheep). There are 1500 military and 6 typhoons based here.   There is only 24inches of rain a year; the average temperature is 15C with strong winds.  The entire population is of British origin although they now have people from St Helena and Chile to help with the emerging tourist visits.  They are building a number of new timber frame new homes and have plans for a further 200 in Stanley.  It is so charming to see the brightly coloured roofs I wonder what it will be like in 10 years. Mrs Thatcher gave island born people the opportunity for the first time to own land after instigating compulsory purchase from the Falkland island company who had owned all land since the early 1800’s.

Stanley the two whalebone arch in cathedral grounds

As always one of our objectives was to find the post office and their stamps, which we did easily we fell into conversation with the designer of many of the stamps for the Falklands Tony Chater.   David was delighted to meet a stamp designer, also to have examples of the stamps he recently designed for the Island series Bleaker Island.

In honour of the British status we had a Union Jack sail away at about 6.00pm, and stood watching the islands disappear and the cormorants dive until about 7.30pm

Buenos Aires 26/27.1.11 dresses 22 again 24,25,26,27

26.1.11 and 27.1.11 Buenos Aires Argentina and the Tangos Dress 22 (again) 24,25,26,27

Somehow Dress 22 did not download yesterday so I’m putting a new tango Dress 22 into this post

Dancers in La Boca

Two days was never going to be enough for this city, we always expected that we would want to come

back for more and we do. I also think I’ve finally sorted out importing the pictures so let me know if this format is better and works.

Dress 24

Plaza de Mayo and the Casa Rosada

Casa Rosada where Evita addressed the crowds and Madonna sang to 4,000 extras in the 1990s during the making of the film Evita is here and it is still the focus for demonstrations and public formal addresses. The cathedral and old viceroy buildings surround the square which was built in to celebrate the May revolution and independence.

Dress number 25 is Sau

 who with her husband make silver jewellery, we bought earrings.  Every Thursday and Friday there is a small artisan market in the shaded café patio of the old viceroy government house in Plaza de Mayo. Her Tee shirt is from one of the other stalls The web site is www.patiodecabildo.com we spent a very restful hour with great coffee, practicing our Spanish.

As first time visitors from Northern Europe we were at once familiar with the architecture, Italian Neo                                                         -Renaissance movement, Art Nouveau, Neo-Baroque. 

In the early 20^th Century the city council determined that Buenos Aires should become the Paris of South America appointing Haussmann the architect responsible for the wide boulevards and planning for Paris to re-design the city.  This was done including underground railways and impressive mansions and public buildings. There are also many cool parks, green squares.

The last 60 or so years has seen much political unrest, rampant inflation, the 76/83 ‘Dirty war’ when ‘000s of people disappeared and regular rioting and demonstrations (there was one whilst we were there on the 26^th) However, there is wealth, industry, much investment in the poorer areas of the city and a very visible large middle class.  The shops are London standard except for the Harrods block, it closed in the 1990s’ and stands in the centre of town completely empty a vast empty retail space, no squatters, no graffiti or damage just abandoned.

There are no-go after 5.00pm areas and we certainly didn’t wear any valuables during the day but it is a very exciting, vibrant, big, cultured city.

Eva Peron Duarte - Evita

Any tour to Buenos Aires will take you to the Vault of the Duarte familia and Evita the second wife of Juan Peron.  This means that there are a large number of people all heading for the same small building; this is not good in 32C however we saw it.  The cementerio de la Recoleta opened in 1819, one can easily see the coffins within I trust we showed the appropriate respect.

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Tango

We saw the very poorest of areas – La Boca- situated next to the old docks and the first area that the immigrants lived. It’s still very poor and is the home of Tango. Dresses 26 and 27 are worn by couples who dance in the street for pesos we saw many outside restaurants and bars.   The tango was danced as a come on in the bordellos and only in the 70’s did it in anyway become a respectable dance, it’s now fashionable again with the young and not just for tourists

To watch tango we went to El Viejo Alemacen – the Old Grocery shop- the building has been there since the 1800’s.  The show was excellent so dresses 26 and 27 are from the Tango dancers.  The show was very intimate a small low ceiling building with 6 musicians including 2 playing a sort of concertina called a bandonlon, there was an elderly very experienced feature singer and bandolin player both of whom received rapturous applause and a standing ovation.

In two days you can only get a taste of such a large city so we decided to taste the other famous aspect of Argentina Beef and their Malbec wine (groan). We went to the recently restored Puerto de Madero and had the tenderest of steak.

Buenos Aires is certainly on the list for a return trip Me on the sun deck saying goodbye to Buenos Aires

24.25.1.11 Montevideo and Dresses 20,21,22,23

24.1.11 and 25.1.11 Montevideo and Dresses 20, 21,22,23

24.1.11 we have had a couple of lovely relaxing days at sea the weather has been glorious and a bit cooler at 26C. David is wearing his new Jaeger Dinner suit and is drinking a Kangaroo which is an Aurora style vodka martini. I am wearing dress 20, which I believe (from the dry cleaning label) I have not worn for 4 years.  There are thirteen formal nights before we get to Sydney and this was our fifth. 

25.1.11 Montevideo, Uruguay and was first sighted in 1516 by the Spanish explorer Juan Diaz de Solis; I am very pleased it was he rather that the Portuguese, as we can at last get to use our Spanish. The population is about 3.4m and are mainly of European:  Spanish and Italian extraction.  Uruguay is a smallest country in South America; they have a very stable economy National Health Service, 8 hours working days and social services.  Montevideo is easy to walk round and over half the country’s population live here.

Montevideo is situated on the Rio de Plata, the river plate, Plata is Spanish for silver and it was from this port silver and gold were taken to Spain pre 1800s’.

The river is very wide and more like a sea – 150 miles across to Buenos Aires.   Montevideo is also famous for the battle of the River Plate in September 1939 when the graf spee –a German battleship – was scuttled by her captain in the harbour after it was severely damaged by the Brits. We saw the anchor and various parts of the ship which have been recovered the full story is quite sad.

As with Rio there are many old buildings in the port and old town area which either are being or will be restored, for us it was great to see the crumbling facades and then the bright restored ones.

Mate:

The Uruguay people drink something called mate which is like a herbal tea, this requires a special straw and bong so we now own one of these sets. I was invited to try before we bought but declined. 

Tannat Wine:

We attended a wine lecture about Brazilian wines and learned of the Tannat grape variety and how a low tannin wine is produced, Uruguay also uses this grape so we bought some of the wine; dress 21 is the manager of the esencia Uruguay and her assistant.  Dress 22 is the owner of Bombonier Lourdes we walked past her shop and it was like Spain all the brands of wine, chocolate and nougat we know so we went in to have a look, it appears she specialises in importing typically Spanish products,  so we bought a bottle of the famous Tannat wine from Uruguay. 

Dress 23 is the one that got away, Maria Eva was lovely and trying to sell us some antique crystal for way too much but she and her mama kept us talking about Venice and Murano glass and who could resist that smile.

Our time here included a restored steam train trip and tour of the main sights, it’s an interesting place and they reckon they invented the Tango, but I think the Portenos of Buenos Aires will not agree.

Finding dresses is a real challenge everyone is so casual but with Buenos Aires tomorrow and Tango dancing I’m keeping positive. It’s been 35 C today and we’re ready to welcome the breeze as we sail the 150miles across river plate

23.1.11 Fashion show and Dress 19 goodbye to Brazil

23.1.11 Fashion show and Dress 19 goodbye to Brazil

I was asked to help with a fashion show by modelling for the Mayfair store on board the Aurora. I agreed and have spent the past two weeks wondering if I did the right thing, anyway today was the day of the show.  David said don’t worry there will be the husbands and a few friends, not need to be concerned. There were about two hundred people I had anticipated fifty.

 Anyway there were 22 models, we all experienced the same thoughts, why did we agree to do this, does my bum look big in this, I wonder if I can buy some of the clothes in the show at a discount. So between 12.00 noon and 5.00pm we had a great deal of nerves, laughter, checking our hair make up and accessories and finally to help us on our way Mayfair provided champagne all round.  I have met all sorts of interesting ladies with fascinating stories.  There are 22 models and Yanni the manager in the group shot I am only counting 1 dress for the blog which is me. 

One other thing as we say goodbye to Brazil is my Brazilian Blow out. In Berkshire Hannah the hairdresser called it the permanent blow dry with keratin conditioner. What it has to do with Brazil is unclear but I am very thankful to Brazil as no frizz and 10 minutes and its back in shape.

 The sun rose at 6.30am today the temperature is a steamy 30C and the sun will set at 8.02pm.  There is a little boat in my view from the balcony window and we wonder what he is trying to catch.

22.1.11 Rio and dresses 16,17,18

22.1.11 Rio de Janeiro,  we will rock you, and  Dresses 16, 17 and 18.

Our time in Rio started with an evening of Queen.  Great show and so dress 16 is of one of the singers in her ‘we will rock’ you costume. Queen are one of our favourites, wonderful evening and worth staying up for despite the alarm going before six the following morning so we could be on deck to see the approach to Rio.

Rio de Janeiro so named as in 1502 when the Portuguese navigators entered the large bay whist exploring they assumed it was the mouth of a river, they settled in the area 60 years later and the first crops were sugar cane. They then brought over African slaves and then in the early 1700s gold and diamonds were discovered, Rio became the capital of Brazil in 1763.  However by the end of that century it lost much of its prosperity as other countries were also competing for the sugar trade. In the early 19^th century Coffee became a major export. 

Here’s something which I didn’t know until we came here -in 1807 the Portuguese royal family and entourage 1500 in total fled from Napoleon and set up the capital of Portugal in Rio they stayed until 1821. One son Dom Pedro 1 remained and eventually crowned himself emperor of Brazil.  There was an emperor until 1889.

There are over 5 million people, and most of them seemed to be on the beaches during yesterday, the weather was 30/32 by 9.00 in the morning.  The views were incredible and crystal clear, giving us far reaching views of the granite outcrops, bays, beaches and high rise buildings.

The two iconic images of Rio are Sugar Loaf Mountain and Corcovado with its statue of Christ the redeemer. Everyone knows Copacabana. The cathedral; which looks very similar to the one in Liverpool: was most impressive and the stained glass and cool interior very moving.

  We had heard terrible tales of muggings, poverty and general unsafe but for us we found none of these things.  Of course they exist but during our short stay we saw beautiful buildings and many restored colonial areas, fabulous views and beaches, not one beggar, and lots of people with very little on enjoying the beaches, the weather and the weekend. Dress 17 is of a lady lying on her tummy in the water reading her book with one of the smallest thongs; she happily smiled and was keeping cool as the waves broke over her.

55% of the population of Brazil is under 25 years, and they rejoice in babies and female curves, we decided on the dolls which are everywhere that show their view of the female form. Dress number 18 therefore is the row of mulatto dolls.

We sailed away about midnight and watched the light from Corcovado until it finally disappeared.

19.1.11 Recife Brazil Davids Birthday and Dresses 12,13,14,15

19.1.11 Recife north East Brazil, Viva Las Vegas and David’s Birthday dresses Number 12,13,14,15

On board the Aurora on the 18^th was black and white formal night with a show from the entertainment team.  So the 12^th dress is me in Black and White and a cocktail hat, many others dressed in the theme so there was a lot of checking out each other’s interpretations of the black and white theme.

 The after dinner show theme was Viva Las Vegas and Dress 13 is worn by one of the performers. It was a great show and a great end to our sail across the Atlantic.

19.1.11 The clocks went back again overnight so the late night was suddenly not such a late night, The sunrise was about 5.00am and we were ready to explore Recife and Olinda in the Province of Pernambuco North East Brazil.

A few facts

Population 1.4 million	Largest city in the region and 5th largest in Brazil
The name Recife comes from arrecife the Portuguese for a reef, the reef being the reason the Portuguese were able to form a port here	Olinda(4 miles up the coast) was originally the settlement and was discovered by the Portugese in the early 16th Century
French raided the town in 1561	Dutch invaded and settled for 24 years in 1630 and ousted the Portuguese
Portuguese ousted the Dutch in 1654	Dutch from here went north and settled on Manhattan and founded New Amsterdam (now New York)
First synagogue in the Americas founded in 1640	1710 became a Brazilian town and 1823 became city and capital of pernambuco
Recife is often called the Venice of Amsterdam of South America due to its canals, bridges and waterways	Original industry and reason for growth was (and remains largest) export is sugar cane.  And for those readers in Spain is one of the reasons for the decline in cane production in Motril area.
Has the highest quality of life in Brazil	Suffered badly in last decades of the 20th century due to decline in sugar trade.
Economy is bouncing back with development of high tech industries, tourism, conferences,	Olinda Pope John Paul the II visited the oldest church there twice
Geographically slightly larger than Portugal	The beach Boa Viagem is their ‘copacabana’ and really lovely with white powdery sand.
The city is only 4 metres above sea level	They have mangrove eco-system which they are working to preserve and restore as great damage had been done historically as they cleared the land for city expansion
As with all of Brazil there is an ethnic mix of White, Black and Brown and they happily refer to the mix in those terms	Rivaldo was born here 19 April 1972

I’ve listed the facts as I had not heard of the place, yet here it is 1.6m people, sky scrapers, booming economy, long and rich history and cultural background, we absolutely had a great trip. The temperature was 32C and they get an average of 70% humidity so quite sticky. The buildings along the water fronts are certainly reminiscent of Holland and are gradually being restored in many cases.  The high rise buildings along the Boa Viagem reminded me of north Durban South Africa, with very expensive apartments facing a gorgeous blue sea view and the natural swimming pools formed by the reef.  Olinda was declared a world heritage site by UNESCO in 1982 and is charming, with many restored - colonial some Dutch some Portuguese style buildings, there are 22 churches there and I lost track of which I was in by the end of the tour.

 As always we absolutely love the sights, smells noise and surprises of the shops and markets.  So in the afternoon we headed downtown. This is where we got dress number 14. It’s worn by Ana Paule who sold me some totally over the top earrings.  She is wearing one of the dresses from the shop and Andre the owner and designer is standing by her side.  They were very helpful and amazed that we were English speaking in Spanish with all of us throwing in some French for good measure.  Their shop is abajour mas www.abajourlilas.com.br if you are ever in Recife and want a locally produced and designed dress.

We thoroughly enjoyed our exploration of the town; souvenirs were plentiful and cheap and I have to confess to three pairs of flip flops, a tee shirt each and some local handicrafts.   The region is in the middle of the carnival season which attracts over 1m participants. It’s known as the most democratic of carnivals in the world as there is no charge to participate, and all ages enjoy the party.

Dress Number 15 is David it’s his birthday and he thanks everyone for getting the cards in to us before we set off on our trip, he has had a great day, the phones and blackberries worked as we were in port so he could catch up with base, the weather was fabulous, he got a card and balloons from the captain and a trip round a tropical city.  The evening finished with a tropical party round one of the pools (hence the pink trousers and an uncompromisingly tropical shirt) I therefore think he deserves to be recorded as number 15

Quite a long blog today, and I just wish I could post pictures of the sights, but unfortunately until we reach Australia we are struggling with very slow connections so dear reader you have all those lovely pictures to look forward to. 

Bizarrely on the night of the 19^th the clocks went forward an hour so we’re back to the time of a couple of days ago.