Penguins, Penguins, Everywhere!

4x4 Adventure out to Volunteer Point - this was the tame portion when we could take photos

The many 4x4s that made the trip out

Greetgins from all the little guys

Excited?!?

The King Penguins - majestic and beautiful

Time for a little waddle

Walking through the grass

I'm ready... take my photo

Whatcha lookin at?

Calling to each other

Off to the beach!

Chinstrap Penguins returning from their swim

Climbing out of the surf

Ahh, who's showing off?

Two Kings walking right over to Amye

A little guy who still has his fluff, not ready for the water yet.

On parade

Walking through the grass

Us with the King Penguin colony - we're the one's in front :)

Absolutely beautiful day!





"Hey Bob, you know which way to the ocean?"
"No idea Bill, I'm following you"





Montevideo, Uruguay

Grilling of meat and vegetables at the indoor market

Enjoying a great lunch at the market: beef kabobs

Fresh local produce for sale on the streets

Colorful children's toys for sale

Independence Square

Taking a rest in the Square

Mosaic windows of a building

Antiques for sale on the streets

Dulce de Leche... mmmm so good

Wine Tasting in Uruguay

Beautiful Buenos Aires, Argentina

So far on our trip, we have visited the Caribbean, the northern parts of Brazil and the sprawling metropolis of Brazil. All great places; they’ve had their sights and their people, some areas were better and cleaner than the others, but Buenos Aires has not only a surprise but a place we’d love to go back to!

Heaving influenced by the Spanish, Italian and British, this is a very cosmopolitan, European and clean city. Of course we felt more comfortable being able to speak and understand Spanish, so it as a bit easier to acclimate, but what an impressive city. (We’re seeing a trend here of each place we visit... another impressive and amazing place).

Our first day we met up with a friend Cris who worked with Amye on the Eurodam. He’s now on the Veendam and we had a double call in Buenos Aires and got to spend some time together ashore for lunch. Knowing the city from his travels through South America, Cris led the way to a newly redeveloped area full of restaurants set along the waterways and overlooking part of the city. It was great to see him and get our first taste of Buenos Aires.

From there we ventured out on foot walking through the streets and taking in the sights with the hustle and bustle of the busy city. Easy to walk but massive, we finally jumped into a taxi to head out to a famous part of the city called La Boca. In essence, a working class neighborhood in an industrial area by the river, it has become a massive tourist attraction for its brightly colored buildings where every piece of material and metal sheetings are painted vibrant colors. There were artists lining the streets selling their paints of the area, paints depicting the sights of Buenos Aires and sights of tango dancers.

The streets were also lined with tango dancers performing at little restaurants, on the street corners for pictures with tourists and for the artists capturing their performances. Also lining the streets in this little area were rows upon rows of souvenir shops so you know it was a popular stop for many. The sights were great to see and take photos of and a much appreciated contrast of the buildings in the city.

Day two in Buenos Aires took us both on tours. Amye had an amazing time exploring the history and historical sights of Eva Perpn, or Evita, while Tyler took a city tour including the first subway in South America and a coffee stop at the famous Cafe Tortoni. Amye’s Evita tour took her from the museum of Eva’s life to the graveyard where her body now lies. We both learned a bit about Eva’s life, influence on Argentina, and the tragic end of her life at a young age. It turns out that Argentinians are not fond of the movie Evita, and if you feel in love with the streets of Buenos Aires and the people shown in the movie...go to Hungary! Only one scene in the movie was actually filmed in Buenos Aires, Madonna singing form the balcony of Casa Rosada, the famous “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina” song.

Casa Rosada - the President's place of work, where Madonna sang "Don't Cry for Me" from the balcony



Eva Peron (Evita) at her museum

  

Two days in Buenos Aires was not long enough, we’d both like to go back and visit more, including the outlying areas. Hummm, maybe a stint in Argentina is next on the list.

Enjoying some Argentenian wine!



Coffee at the famous Cafe Tortoni



The Colors of La Boca



 



More sights in La Boca



Time for a serious photo :P

Rio!!!

What a sight, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil! Am amazing array of high rise buildings set along the famous beaches of Copacabana and Ipanema. Although it was the middle of the week, the beaches were filled with people sun bathing, playing in the water and playing sports on the beach. Two things definitely stood out: the abundance of red umbrellas and red beach chairs which lined the beaches from all of the stalls along the beach renting them out for the day, and the people of all ages and sizes wearing the ‘barely there’ Brazilian two-piece bikini.

Our first day in Rio was full of exploring the city and it’s people via the Metro. We traveled from the port area down to Copacabana, along the beaches and back through the city. We did spend some time on the beach, but it was a HOT day and the time in the sun was draining. The walkways along the beaches seemed famous for their black and white tile designs--the same pattern stretching as far as the eye could see. We took a break with some refreshing caprihanas, the local drink akin to a mojito with lime instead of mint, and some empanada snacks.

With an overnight in Rio, we hit the town with some friends Chris and Candice, going out for dinner in a very bohemian part of town with live jazz music, eclectic restaurants and lots of local activity. In this part of the world, the town comes alive after 9:00pm once it’s cooled down and everyone is ready to go out for dinner and a good time. Needless to say, we got back from dinner and hanging out around 1:45am, in time for some sleep before our crew tour the next morning at 7:30am.

Day two in Rio started off with a tour up Corcavado Mountain to see Christ the Redeemer, the massive statue overlooking the city of Rio. We took a bus to the tram station where we boarded this trolly to travel up to the top of the mountain through the lush rainforest. When we arrived at the top we were greeted by the amazing Christ the Redeemer statue as well as amazing and expansive views of the city. The sights were unbelievable looking down over the city and the coastline. It was also a great morning for photos and especially with Jesus looking down on us. An absolutely breathtaking and humbling experience to be at the top of the mountain at the base of the status.

Another great day in Rio!
Side note: on the bus ride during the tour, we encountered something that has inspired a great business idea for Amye... shoes for dogs. There was a little white dog being walked on the streets of Rio wearing shoes (no joke)! In thinking of the dogs at home and their various shoe needs, we think this has great potential. Just think, snow boots for Penny, swim fins for Charlie, running shoes for both, and probably some Converse for Luigi. Let us know if your interested in investing, Amye’s working on some design ideas during her free time :)

The sprawling crowds of Ipanema Beach

Everyone deserves a high-five

The Copacabana Beach - a 4km stretch all the way around the bay (to the far right of the photo)

The two of us at Copacabana Beach!

A view of Rio (Copacabana beach and Corcavado with Christ the Redeemer)

Christ the Redeemer atop Corcavado Mountain

Us atop Corcavado with Christ!

A view down upon the city and surrounding islands. AMAZING!!!

They're Not Brazil Nuts

Our local tenders in Belem!

We’ve officially crossed the equator and made it to South America! Yesterday we spent the day enjoying the city of Belem, Brazil. Both of us were able to go on a Highlights Tour of the city and enjoyed the authentic local market, the city area, a beautiful cathedral and the botanical gardens with local wild animals. For our first stop in Brazil and South America, it was quite exciting. While not a city built on tourism infrastructure, the local feel brought us back to our time in Thailand and there were some great sights in the market. We saw the fresh fruits, vegetables, local pottery, fresh fish, meats, live animals and lots and lots of Par Nuts--in Brazil, they’re not Brazil nuts, but they are named after the state of Par.

The many layers of the Par ( Brazil) Nuts

Seeing the intense labor it takes to crack open the pod of nuts and then each individual nut casing makes you re-think easily popping one into your mouth. For Amye and her tour, they also saw a lady begging in her full birthday suit, only carrying a purse and grabbing on to the people in the tour. Let’s not say more about that!

A local vendor selling peppers in the market

The gigantic lilly pads at the Botanical Garden

We have another day at sea tomorrow before arriving in Recife, the Venice of Brazil which we hear great things about. They we’re on to RIO and taking a crew tour to Corcavado - the statue of Jesus up on the mountain which is supposed to be amazing.

Up to now the cruise has been great, we’ve had warm and humid weather and we’re settling in to our new home. For Tyler, the work pace is a bit different, quite slow actually, and a nice change from the 7-day Caribbean itinerary. Amye is enjoying her time to relax after our last contract but has also been helping out, attending travel lectures, planning out our days and enjoying the towel animals we receive each night from our stateroom stewards.

There are so many guests onboard who cruise the World Voyage every year, so we’ve had people come up to us asking who we are and what we do because they don’t recognize us. And then they remember our names just like that and we’re the ones trying to keep up with who’s who.

Tonight is our first major ball, the Black & Silver Ball, so we hosted a table in the dining room this evening and will be heading to the big event when it starts in just a bit. Everyone is decked out in their black, silver and white and there is much more of a romanticized classic cruse atmosphere onboard.

We continue to have a wonderful time working and cruising and this is just the start of our world adventure so we’re getting more and more excited each day for what lies next--especially for Antarctica later this month.

There was a full rainbow around the sun. INCREDIBLE!

Oh, Where to Begin?

Well, as you know we’re not in Thailand anymore :) Our updates to the blog have fallen to the wayside for quite some time, but it’s a New Year, a new adventure and almost our one year anniversary, so time to get back into the blog.

To start, yes we said almost our one year anniversary. On February 26, 2011 we had a beautiful and wonderful wedding on the beach of Waikoloa in Hawaii. We were blessed to have close family and friends there to celebrate with us and we made a big family vacation out of it as well. Our first year of marriage has been truly amazing and we continue to experience the world together each and every day.

Speaking of, another reason for starting the blog up again is because last week we embarked on a Grand World Voyage of 112 days onboard the ms Amsterdam. For us, we were in the midst of wrapping up our 3 month contract on the Eurodam in the Caribbean and looking forward to down time at home with family. It was Tyler’s first as Manager Onboard Marketing (the “MOM”) and things went very well although it was a busy contract. Amye was extremely busy working in Club HAL during the Holiday season with 400+ kids on every seven days for about a month.

One evening Tyler received an email from his boss asking for a phone call. Upon calling, he was offered a transfer to the Amsterdam for the Grand World Voyage roundtrip from Fort Lauderdale covering 7 continents in just under four months. So here we are, currently off of the coast of Brazil enjoying our first few stops in South America.

Although not working this contract since there are no kids onboard, Amye has been recouping from a busy contract and getting settled in to our new home in room 3370. She has been keeping busy helping out, attending travel lectures, planning out our days ashore, escorting tours and helping to journal each day of our adventure.

Our goal is to update the blog as often as possible and hopefully with many photos along the way as well.

We hope you all enjoy following along on our adventures!

Cheers & love,
T&A