Monday, February 27, 2023
We were out on deck before 8am this morning! The naturalist, Richard, is out there every morning, taking pictures that he is willing to share with us. I figured his GIANT camera and excellent skill would be all that is needed to get great shots, but I thought I should get out there early at least once.
We saw nothing. EXCEPT THE AMAZON RIVER!! WOOOOOOHOOOOOOOO. We entered the Amazon River, crossed into the southern hemisphere for the first time, and are in Brazil!!! Everything all at once! Please notice Keith’s awesome, river appropriate shirt he wore for the first time today.
We played trivia at noon….and won! We played with Brad and Regina who are near us in the picture. I never got the names of the other two who just happened to be sitting there. They knew no answers, but we are always happy to have a full team and to share the fun.
Play along:
- In what country is the Grand Canal, the largest manmade waterway?
- What is tinnitus?
- What do people with gynophobia fear?
- What country supplies ¾ of the maple syrup to the world?
- What is the hardest substance in the human body?
- What land mammal has the highest blood pressure (it is not me)?
- How many edges does a cube have?
- This is the flag of what country?* (see below)
- What is the name of the dot over an “i” or “j” called?*
- William Morrison invented candy floss in 1894. He joined with John C. Wharton to create a machine to make it in 1897. What was William’s profession?
- True or False, Batman has a butler named Albert.
- What do these mean? One pt per picture (see below)
- What Disney film is based on a book by Dodie Smith?
- Built over 900 years ago by William the Conqueror, it has been a fortress, a court, a torture chamber, a prison, an execution location, and a museum. What is it?
- Under what letter does 15 appear in bingo?
After lunch, we headed up onto the top deck to watch the river. Keith is fascinated by how wide the Amazon is. He was giving us play-by-plays as he watched the map as we rolled along. “It’s going to get even wider up here!” “It’s going to be about FOUR TIMES AS WIDE after this island!” “The Amazon is the 5th deepest river!” “It can be 30 miles wide during the rainy season.” He is adorable.
Brad and Regina went off to a port talk, which was full and they couldn’t go to, then walked around deck 7 a few times for exercise, before coming back to hang out with us some more. While they were gone, Keith and I put some chairs up near the front of the boat and just watched the river – all by ourselves. There has been a lot of talk about keeping balcony doors shut and curtains closed at night to keep bugs away. The little outside pool has been drained, and doors that lead directly outside are closed. I think it was keeping people inside – I think they thought they weren’t allowed outside (I heard some people saying that) – because we were outside from 1pm until 7pm and saw a total of fewer than 12 people. Those 12 people came up to try to take sunset pictures. We taught Brad and Regina to say the great quote from our 4-year-old grandnephew when he saw a bunch of people mid-way through pandemic, “Oh, no. People!”
Some amazing clouds showed up as dusk fell. We reluctantly went back inside before bugs came. We went to an acoustic show with guitar entertainer John (how he is always introduced) and singer Amy in a lounge. There was some dancing (okay, one song. But it was dancing). Then we went to the guitar guy’s show – an entirely different guitar guy – in the theater. It was a really cool day.