Jan 13th, 2020 Day 10 of 128

This is officially the longest cruise the girls and I have ever been one.  Previously our record was 9 days.  Today we came into the port at Belem, Brazil. We had to tender on and off the ship.  Luckily, we are inland toward the tributary that the Amazon river flows to the Atlantic through so the waters were calm and the transitions were easy.  We visited the Our Lady of the Nazareth Basilica, The Botanical Gardens and Zoo, the Ver O Peso market, and the Cathedral de Belem. It is a very poor country today in stark contrast to 200 years ago when the rubber barons made this town one of the richest in the world.  Some fun things we saw today that reminded us of home were Shell Gas stations, Uber eats bicycle deliver guys, Pizza Hut and a Mc Donalds.  The Botanical gardens had over 450 different kinds of plant that are indigenous to the Amazon basin area so it was a great way to see the diversity in one small place.  We didn’t get off the ship till later than expected due to a delay in the tender boats and so we didn’t start our excursion to 9:30 and we didn’t get back on the ship till 4:30pm.  There was no food involved in today’s excursion.  Luckily I had grabbed some fruit and boxes of fruit loops from the buffet this morning to tie everyone over.  I will be much better about planning next time.  We even had an issue with our tour bus at one point and he had to roll back down the hill to a flat area before he got a “running start” up the hill to make it a second time.  I did notice we had a police escort following us throughout the day today.  It makes you a little concerned why it is needed and at the same time gives you some comfort that they are there.  We are very conscientious about removing our jewelry before we visit these countries and are avoiding making ourselves targets.  It is a valuable lesson for each of us.  I have more pictures to share today of all our adventures so please enjoy them.  Tomorrow is a sea day.  Megan and Nana have haircut appointments so they can have some bonding time together. I am looking forward to an early night, as I didn’t sleep well last night.  Hugs and Love from off the coast of Belem, Brazil…Debra

P.S. This sleepy head cannot get photos to load tonight and I am exhausted. So I will attempt to load them on in the morning for you viewing pleasure. Sweet Dreams!