Post cruise

 On the morning if the last full day of our cruise we woke to find ourselves sailing through the brown waters of the Rio de la Plata estuary, even though we were four hours away from docking in Buenos Aires. Quite a change from the blue waters of the Atlantic Ocean. For us that last day on board was spent relaxing and packing, as we were to be up very early the following morning to disembark, then travel to the airport for a flight to the Iguazu Falls.

We arrived at our hotel on the Argentinian side of the falls late morning and this  was our first view of the falls from our hotel.

After freshening up and having lunch  that afternoon we walked to the magnificent Devil's Throat.

 

 

The following morning we were up early for the drive to the Brazilian side of the falls.

 

 

Another morning and four of us went for a walk in the Iguazu National Park to see yet another aspect of these amazing falls

while the more intrepid in our group did the boat trip into the falls.

That evening we flew back to Buenos Aires, several hours later than scheduled because of a strike, earlier in the day, by airport workers. This meant that we had to cancel the tango show that we had booked for that evening. Fortunately a group of tango dancers had given a performance on board the ship, the evening before we disembarked. So, we didn't feel too hard done by.

Our sight seeing wasn't over yet and we were up again the next morning to see the highlights of Buenos Aires. First stop Recoleta Cemetery and the grave of Eva Peron.

 Next it was on to the Casa Rosada and the Boca area with its brightly painted houses.

 We finished with a typical Argentinian meal of large portions washed down by a good Malbec, before returning to our hotel for a well earned rest and final pack, ready for our flight home the following morning.

Pre-cruise

Some of you maybe wondering where I have been and did I manage to return home without any problems. In the past when we have gone away February/March time, to get away from the UK's miserable winter, we have gone east to South Africa, India or Australia and New Zealand, but luckily this year we went west to Brazil and Argentina. So, no problems flying home. A year ago it would have been  a very different story when we flew from Singapore via Dubai to Manchester on March 7.

 A cruise from Rio de Janeiro to Buenos Aires or vice versa had been on our bucket list for some time. We started in Rio with three nights, before the cruise, staying in an hotel over looking Copacabana Beach.

 While we were there we did an excursion to Christ the Redeemer

 and to Sugar Loaf Mountain, but by the time we got there it was dark and all that we could see were the lights of Rio in the distance.

For the first two nights of the cruise the ship was docked in Rio, which gave us the opportunity to go to the Rio Carnaval on the second night. This had to be the highlight of the whole holiday and an opportunity not to be missed. Before the carnaval itself started there was a lights show and fireworks. Then came the samba dancers 

 

and the floats. 

 

 

 

 

(I have had to be very selective with the hundred or so photos that I took). 

It was a very late night and an amazing experience. The following afternoon the ship set sail south towards are eventual destination of Buenos Aires. During the cruise we had good weather and visited some interesting places but they were not worth writing about.

Sailing the high seas

 

Cheshire wife is enjoying herself on a cruise ship at the moment. Back soon.

Things can only get better

2025 started well enough. This time last year we were cruising down the east coast of New Zealand after boarding in Auckland on February 2. Stopping off at Christchurch we had a stroll around the now largely rebuilt city, after the devastating earthquake of 2011. Then went to visit my mother in law’s ninety year old cousin, who lives the outskirts of Christchurch. After sailing round the southern end of South Island we headed to Tasmania via Milford Sound

After Tasmania our next port of call was Sydney, where we sailed out early evening under the bridge with the Opera House in the background.

From Sydney we sailed up the east coat of Australia, visiting the Great Barrier Reef and taking a trip on a glass bottomed boat on a miserable wet and windy day, when the visibility wasn’t

Then it was onto Darwin - the hottest and most humid place that I have ever been followed by Bali and Semarang before arriving at our final destination of Singapore from where we flew home.

Once home there was plenty of catching up to do and things were moving along nicely until I hurt my right hand on our warped back door, bringing back the symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome, which a steroid injection the previous summer, had successfully treated. A second steroid injection was not so successful and surgery was needed at the end of July. This meant limited use of my right hand for six weeks, but my recovery was pretty good.

 In the meantime a cyst had appeared on my left eye. When this didn’t go away, more surgery was required at the beginning of October. This time the recovery was not so good and I needed antibiotics for an inflamed eye lid.

Problems come in threes and the next things was a swollen right knee, which an MRI scan showed is due to old injuries and is best left alone at the moment. A year ago I had no idea that all of this was around the corner. Now it is behind me and hopefully this year will be better.