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From: Sherman Rootberg
Date: Tue, Feb 26, 2008 at 4:01 PM
Subject: Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Still At Sea Getting To Devils Island About Noon
Bobbi said I could try to continue writing by going down to the computer club and type there. I did give it a try but I don’t think it is going to work.
I wasn’t there ten minutes and they threw me out and said I couldn’t come back unless I abide by their rules. It seems you must remain fully dressed while there. I have found that I type much better while in my underwear. They say I can’t do that anymore so I guess this may be it.
Last year they couldn’t stop at Devil’s Island because of bad weather. I know it is always rough here. That’s how they kept prisoners here.
We were there about eight years ago when we last did the Amazon. It is still French and is even on its own time. We were in a ship about half the size then and it was still hard to find a spot were we could drop anchor. Actually, no one goes on Devil’s Island. We go on Isle Royal. That is where the prison was. Devils Island is 
where prisoners were sent after they did their time in the prison. Only a small row boat could land there and then only once or twice a month.
When we were there last, it was a bright sunny day. The old brick prison was mostly fallen down or caved in. Only a very small portion was saved for display. Still, what was left still standing was very interesting. I remembered it as a nice walk on a dirt path. Maybe forty five minutes is all it took to walk around the prison. 
There is a small museum with a story from the French that claims the book Papillion is totally untrue. It is very hot and jungle covered but we could see Devil’s Island very clearly.
It has been raining hard most of the night and this morning. Even if we can land and send tenders, I am not about to walk around in wet mud.
The weather was beautiful. The calmest I have ever seen, in this 
part of the Atlantic, in the many time I have passed here. We did go ashore in a tender, walked around a little, and quit.
As I said, we had been here before and it was about 95 degrees in the shade and there was not much of that. I was not about to climb stairs and go up hills after already walking about two blocks. So we went back, took very much need showers, and I am trying to figure how to send pictures on the ships computers. They have all kinds of stuff to make that almost impossible but here goes a try. 
From: Sherman Rootberg
Date: Mon, Feb 25, 2008 at 1:26 PM
Subject: Monday, February 25, 2008
Monday, February 25, 2008
At Sea On The Way To Devil’s Island
Depending upon how you look at it, I have good or bad news. My computer died. This is the end of the blog for this year. Okay, don’t be so sad or is it wild with joy?
I can’t go down to the computer room to type the blog, but I will go down from time to time to look for email. So, if you write to us, we will get it sooner or later. We will be getting home on March fourth. That’s just about eight days from now.
If it is something important, we can still call you, but please send your phone number. Our phone list is on the non working computer.
From: Sherman Rootberg
Date: Sun, Feb 24, 2008 at 8:16 PM
Subject: Sunday, February 24, 2008
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Santarem, Brazil
This is our last stop on the Amazon. We got here at about 7:00 in the morning and the ship was tied up, cleared by customs, and ready to disgorge us by about 8:30.
This was another town whose highlights were nothing,or maybe less. However, it does sit on the conflux of some huge rivers. We took a tour on one of those double decked, river queen type boats. It picked us up right across the dock from the ship. We did have to walk through another river boat to get onto this one.
Our guide was very knowledgeable but we heard very little. The speaker system was far too soft for the loud engines and the guide had a speech impediment.
One thing we are still not sure, is where his ancestors came from. It sounded like he said they were Jews from Morocco. There were Jesuits in the area that were early settlers and he did mention Jesuits several times. We had decided he must have said Jesuits from Morocco. Later when we got back to the ship, we see there is 
A Hebrew word written in large letters, in a booklet he was selling. Now we are really confused.
Again, the tour took us to a spot where two different rivers and different waters met. There was a big difference in colors here too. The big river boat took us down some very tiny and shallow waterways that had been dry land just a month ago. It got to be very deep jungle. Excuse me. We have been informed, by the Mariner’s on board expert, that the word jungle is no longer 
politically correct. Jungle congers up evil, dangerous and foreboding thoughts. The correct term is now, rain forest. Same definition, more beautiful thoughts. Okay. More bull.
The guide kept calling out the different birds we saw as we went along. He was calling the Snowy Egrets, Snowy Egrets, jut as we do back home. We saw some very large Iguanas and a few birds I don’t think we see in Florida. However, the day we left from Ft. Lauderdale, was supposed to be the coldest day in five years.
The Miami area is overloaded with Iguanas that were let loose and have over populated since they have no natural enemies. When it got really cold, these things were falling out of trees and bushes as if it were raining Iguanas. If you go for a boat ride into the Everglades, you will see hundreds or maybe thousands of birds in the same amount of time. You will also see dozens of Alligators. Twelve to fifteen foot long alligators are not uncommon. The Cayman here, only get to be about eight feet and we never saw any. They hide. Alligators don’t care if you see them.
It was still a very interesting ride through this RAIN FOREST. We got so close to the sides that we were hitting branches of trees. We saw locals fishing in small canoes and we saw many houses and live stock farms abandoned because of the high waters. At times I knew the captain was pulling the boat out of gear so we could break our way across areas of fallen trees and other heavy plants. Every once in awhile he would have to throw the engines in reverse and gun them to remove the build up of foreign objects from the propellers.
After a while the captain put the nose of the boat into a grass bank and they got out the fishing gear. Just like the last time were here, eight years ago, they were handing us hand lines bated with beef. This time there was clear monofilament line rather then the string we were given in the past. That last time we were the only boat fishing. This time I think there eight and all not far away. We were fishing for Paraná in the shallows. There were very few caught, three I think. They were all tiny except the last one. It was just small. The last time we caught a bunch and many more chewed off 
the line before we could get them aboard. I think the monofilament was too slippery for them to bite off or we didn’t get enough hits to give them a chance. At any rate, they released all that were caught. The guide did tell us stories of witnessing people getting eaten by these Parana. One when the dummy went swimming while they were cleaning fish at the rear of the boat and another where someone got cut as they fell into the river.
It really was a very pleasant ride through the rain forest jungle. These things I would do again. Maybe I will hire an air boat in the glades when we get back. It is a great way to spend a day.
We got back to the ship by about 12:30 and at about 1:00 PM we were moving down the river while we had lunch. Speaking of food, Richard Fenn, the hotel manager, obviously didn’t get enough of us the last time and has sent an invitation to join him for dinner again tonight. I would hate to see a grown man cry, besides he orders some really good expensive wine. So I said okay. Just this one last time.
From: Sherman Rootberg
Date: Sat, Feb 23, 2008 at 4:48 PM
Subject: Saturday, February 23, 2008
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Parantins, Brazil
Just another weird little town on the river. Less population then three million does not get you city status in Brazil. This place is just considered a town. About one hundred thirty thousand. But just because it is small by Brazilian standards, does not mean it is short on weird.
Its big claim is a huge carnival like festival they have here. During carnival the population doubles but no one has thought to build a hotel yet. All the visitors must camp out.
You think the carnival in Rio is a little nutz? It is almost reasonable 
compared to this nut fest. I don’t know if you want to read about the history of this thing, nor do I care much, but here it is anyhow. Pay attention, there will be a quiz later.
First off you must remember, these folks are a mixture of Portuguese, Spanish, Indian and African Slave. The Indian and African part is still not completely sure or comfortable with the 
Catholic religion or customs. They still have shaman (witch doctors). In Manaus, the shaman was the guy that knew all about all the plants and which ones to use for which ailment. Even in the big cities, they have not given up old beliefs.
So here is the story of how it began. Many, Many moons ago there was this queen. She was really prego and about to burst. She had a terrible craving for ox tongue, but only the tongue of the king’s prize bull. Being a wimp, El Kingo says, okay, kill the sucker so Queeny can have the tongue.
This was a very beloved bull and it’s death made the people very sad. So they went to the shaman and asked what they could do to get back their beloved bull.
Okay, so it sounds like a bull story. It sounds like a bunch of bull to me too, but I didn’t write the bull story this time. I am just repeating it. Wait. It gets worse.
The shaman says that the only way to bring back their beloved 
bull is to have a very happy festival and do happy dances with smiling faces. They had a very large festival with many dancers and sure enough the bull came back to life. And the bull was so happy to be alive and so happy the people had resurrected him, he danced along with them. That’s about all the bull I can take but it goes on.
These festivals got bigger and bigger and soon the Church had to stick their noses in. All the people including the police were joining 
in and there was no order. Actually, the Church decided the people were having too good a time and that had to be stopped. Of course it was also considered too pagan and uncontrolled by the church. So the church came up with new rules. This festival would take place in front of the church and it would become a competition. There would be two groups of dancers. The white bull dancers and the black bull dancers. I know. More bull. Today, that is what is happening. It is a huge carnival held in a stadium that holds 80,000. The costumes, dancers, and floats rival the carnival in Rio even though on a smaller scale. At the end of the dances, now the people vote for who was the best. No longer the Church.
There was a much smaller, much shorter version of this carnival, preformed for us today. I was feeling crappy but Bobbi went. She says it was really amazing. The costumes were not be believed. The dancing was terrific. The girls were all beautiful and let it all hang out. I guess I will have to make due with her pictures. She did buy a DVD in Portuguese of the real carnival, called Boi Bumba. I looked at it but it was mostly a fat guy sweating and looking like a pig while singing. He must have been a very important sweating pig type person because he wore very dark cool dude sun glasses. There were very few shots of scantily 
dressed womens, so it lost my interest quickly even though there were some really nice costumes and huge caricatures of many of the Amazon animals. The DVD was not a total waste though. It did put me right to sleep.
From: Sherman Rootberg
Date: Thu, Feb 21, 2008 at 9:34 PM
Subject: Thursday, February 21, 2008
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Manaus, Day II
We got up bright and early this morning and then went back to sleep because we had no reason to be up bright and early. We did finally manage to make it out of bed and we went down for breakfast. The plan for today was to take a little look at Manaus. We had not been here for eight years and we could see the entire dock area was completely changed.
It required a shuttle to get out of the dock area. H. Stern and another jeweler were providing free trips to their stores. Both 
were about half an hour away in a nice section of town. Both were also in the same nice hotel. We had already taken Stern’s free ride in Rio so we decided to give the other guy the honor of hauling our rear ends across town, for free, this time.
This other guy is Amsterdam Sauer. That takes a lot of typing, so I will refer to them as AS from now on. Just to be nice, I am not using the full name or its abbreviation. The full name is Amsterdam Sauer Stores. I am sure you can figure out what that 
abbreviation is.
At the bottom of the gang plank there was a van waiting. Actually several from different stores and for different tours. That van took us only as far as the port terminal. We had to walk a distance through this building. It contained some small stores and restaurants. We saw little or no customs or security. Once out the building we had to walk quite a distance and climb up then down the ramps of a very long high bridge. By the time we made it to 
the bottom we were very warm. It was mostly sunny today and of course hot. By this time we had lost the other couple on the van and there was only one new couple traveling with us in this second van. It at least had reasonable air conditioning. It was a KIA so I am sure you have an idea how well it rode. There was just ourselves, the other couple, the driver and a guide. This van hardly had the power to carry us let alone a full load.
We had opted to just go directly to the Tropical Hotel where the 
store was located. We could have had most any kind of tour we wished, but this was all of the town we wished to see. We had to go by whatever few points of interest there were anyhow. We did drive by the old opera house. I had no wish to see the interior again. It was nothing special. Never mind. Bobbi says it was very special. It was beautiful, I guess. The town had changed quite a bit in eight years. We could not recognize most of it.
The nice area of town contained some very nice houses and many 
nice high rise condos. Everything was located near and overlooking a very clean section of the Rio Negro. There were large clean sand beaches and many parks. Everything was very green and well landscaped. We were told this area was safe for swimming. The water was warm and the piranha did not go into this acid water. They can swim in it. I think I will take a pass. The ship is also docked in the Rio Negro. You should see some of the things we see poking their heads out of the water.
Yesterday we walked out on our balcony just in time to see this weird pink think come to the surface and hang around for awhile. It looked to be about three feet long. About the front third of its length was a very narrow mouth filled with upper and lower nasty looking teeth. It did not spout or breathe air and it had a regular fish tail. It was too small to be a pink dolphin. Those we have seen before. A pink dolphin would never be alone. We also saw this huge black fish come to the surface. I don’t know if it was friendly or not and I have no desire to test it. Later last night we saw a film where 
a guy caught one of these things using a bow and arrow with a rope attached. After he shot the arrow through the fish, it towed him and his boat all over the place. When it was finally pulled out you could see it was much larger then the man. Besides the Cayman, and those things, who knows what else is in there. I have read stuff about some really nasty parasite thingies that travel up urine tracts and we just read about another that goes into your ears and nose and eats everything it can on the way out across the inside of your head. A lot of babies are lost to these parasites due to washing them in these waters. Miami Beach and the Caribbean keeps looking better and better, thank you.
The ride had shown us just what we wanted to see and now we ended up a nice hotel with very pretty grounds. There was a whole court yard like a small strip mall at the entrance to the hotel. As we were told, there was a Stern store a short way inside and just around the corner was AS.
As long as we were there we did go to the AS store. They offered drinks and we looked around. They had black sapphire watches but not the same styles as Stern. We liked the Stern watches much better and we didn’t even ask a price on theirs. What they did have was a lot more modern design in their jewelry then Stern. Stern is well known and very highly over priced but also very frumpy and old fashioned.
Back before we started and again when we visited Stern in Rio, Bobbi had said that she had all the jewelry she needed and didn’t want anything. I was a bit skeptical but she stood by it when I kind of hinted a little while at Stern’s. At that time I was just testing and was ready for a full retreat should she have been even slightly interested in anything. So now I was really brave. I had this guy bringing me out all kinds of gorgeous stuff. $40,000. That was cute. How about that one? $70,000? Yeah, that’s nice. Then I started looking at stuff a person might really buy if they were dumb enough. I don’t know one from another but there are some of these blue stones that I really like the looks of. There are many different kinds and I don’t know one from the other and when told, I don’t remember for two minutes. I don’t care if they are really just high priced glass, but if they are the right shade of blue and the right cut and placed in very yellow gold settings, I think they are the prettiest.
Sitting in a box, with a lot of other things we were being shown, was a smallish pair of rectangular cut earrings. They were each just a little larger then two carat diamonds would be. Stupid, stupid, stupid. How can I be so dumb. I have been married for almost 45 years and I guess I will never learn. Never even ask or look or go anywhere near jewelry. You can never tell when they will turn on you, no matter what they say or promise.
Free ride? In a pigs eye. Free tour? Free tour my AS. I could have hired the most expensive limo, guides and lodging for the entire stay and got a lot of change back. So I guess you have figured out, I am now the proud owner of these really pretty earrings. They are made for pierced ears. Mine are not. I guess I need a couple of more holes put in my head.
We did walk around the stores at the front of the hotel. Most were upscale and some even the same as those back home. One even had mounted piranha. Tons of them and no more money then ones I had bought on the beach.
As we were asking to get transportation back to the ship, we were asked how we liked the mini zoo. Zoo? What zoo. Sure enough, just out the rear of the large lobby was a very nice little zoo. First we saw a small Jaguar. I don’t think she was full grown. She had been rescued from the wild as a very small kitten and raised by people. When you came near her cage she would sit at the front. She would make little licking gestures just like my dog does when you pet him. She would also roll over on her back obviously wanting to be pet. Her fur was thick and beautiful. I want her. She was obviously very well fed and taken care of. There was also an Ocelot, some monkeys, parrots, and some other birds. It was very well kept up and the animals and cages were very clean. There was also a nice kiddy park with very nice equipment.
When we finally did get ready to go back there was a full van of people waiting. Don’t ask me why, but the guide says to me I could get in the front. He will sit in the back. He had no idea who bought what and at least one guy did buy some stuff. I guess someone had told him too, how important I am. Some old witch in the back kept complaining that her husband should have been in the front. She only shut up when I turned around and gave her one of those evil eye looks I learned from Bobbi.
We had a another real good and interesting day, but now I won’t have cab fare to get home when we get back to Florida.
From: Sherman Rootberg
Date: Wed, Feb 20, 2008 at 7:27 PM
Subject: Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Manaus, Day I
Due to a swifter then expected current, we arrived an hour later then scheduled this morning. Why they didn’t just go faster, I don’t know. At one time last night I saw they were going less then four knots. The last ship I was on here, flew up the river. Rarely less then 25 knots except through towns. Perhaps that captain was more familiar with the river or maybe this one is overly cautious. He seems so on other subjects. We can no longer ride on the top level of the tenders even though they are made for it and we had been doing so until he came aboard and ordered otherwise.
We had expected to be here earlier and had ordered just toast, juice, and coffee in the room. We had an early river cruise to take.
The idiots never did announce what the new time for the tour would be. Bobbi called to find out and was told it was now. She told them they were stupid and should have announced it. Were we just supposed to guess? So stupids R them, then quickly announced it.
As we walked down the gang plank there was a two story river queen type boat. We boarded and found a seat on the second floor. After about a 45 minute ride down the river and then up a wide tributary, we came to a set of floating buildings set up as restaurants. Here we left the river queen for long narrow boats they called canoes. They had benches with backs on them running the width of the boat. Each had five of these benches wide enough for three but we sat just two per bench. These boats were propelled by 40 horsepower Yamaha out boards.
We then set out down a waterway that got narrower and narrower. Soon we were in the deepest jungle you could imagine. Absolutely gorgeous. There were quite a few large white birds that we have in both Florida and Illinois. We call them Snowy Egrets. They were calling them White Herons. Whatever, we have one crazy one in Florida that goes running across the top of our hedges quite often.
We made several stops where we could just hear all the jungle 
sounds and a guide would tell several canoes at once about the area. A waterway we were traveling on was just a muddy path a couple of months ago. This year the water levels were much higher then usual. June is the lowest level and November the highest. You could see the water lines on the trees from the year before. The water would make the tree trunks black up to the high water mark. Even though we were already at medium level, the high mark was over 20 feet higher.
At some points the waterway got very narrow and overgrown. At spots the driver would have to tilt the engine out of the water to clear obstacles. At one point we could clearly see we were going over the hand rails of a bridge. We got up some speed, the driver tilted the engine out of the water and we banged across.
At several of these stops in the wider areas, locals in small boats would come up to us. They would have animals to show us. A Boa Constrictor, a Sloth, a Cayman, (alligator) and a baby local. 
Naturally they wanted money for taking pictures of them.
There was a fat woman running one of the boats and she had three children and a baby in it along with the animals. People would hand the kids money which they quickly gave to the woman. Bobbi thought it was a good idea to give the kids the wrapped chocolate from the ship. The kids took it but had to quickly turn it over to the woman. All Bobbi got was a dirty look from the woman who shoved it into the pocket of jeans shorts. Yech. She just wanted the 
money. The guide told us not to touch the animals. They usually have some kind of good stuff on them.
At this spot they also had giant water lilies. The world’s largest. Some over five feet across. We were told they would hold a Cayman who often sun themselves on them.
After riding thorough this very dense jungle for over an hour we had made a big circle and ended up back at the river queen boat. We had been very lucky. Most of the time we had sun with just some cloud cover. It had rained steady here for the last four days.
The river queen took us back down river to where the Rio Negro and the Amazon combine. They run in the same basin without mixing for 7 to 50 miles, depending upon who is telling the story. It is interesting whenever we see it.
From that point it took about an hour to get back to the ship. It rained lightly a few times on the way. As we were approaching the dock the sky was getting really black and storm clouds were rolling in. The engine on the boat was so loud you had to shout to talk to anyone. Even with the loud noise we could really hear the loud thunder. We barely made it up the gang plank when the skies really cut loose. We had a terrific time. This was another of those things you just have to do. The jungle did look a lot like many places I have been too in the past, and brought back memories of them, but still it was very different when you see the trees, vines, and many of the other things.
This evening I felt tired of the Compass Rose and Veranda Restaurants. I needed Oriental food. We went down to Latitudes and took a chance. You have to have a reservation there and at Signatures. My friend from the Voyager, Lei Lani is the manager there. I asked if there was any possible chance there was an open table. Sweet Lei Lani replied there was always room for me. The menu had changed and we were supposed to order a main course. There were about 10 choices but they all looked too good to decide so they brought us all of them. I think I hurt myself again. Whatever will I do when we get home. Bobbi already said she will not serve me like that. Maybe I should just stay aboard?
Then when desert came, it was some kind of sweet cheese cake with some kind of wild sweet sherbet. Sweet Lei Lani knows I can’t have too much sugar and brought me the desert menu from the Compass Rose. I just ordered some Boursin Pepper cheese and a few crackers. She brought me an entire cheese. Bobbi helped a little, but we really can’t move. There is a movie in the theater tonight, we were going to see. It’s with Dustin Hoffman and Natalie Portman. I hope we don’t pass out by then. Oh well. It’s just has a G rating. Probably not very good anyhow.
From: Sherman Rootberg
Date: Tue, Feb 19, 2008 at 7:33 PM
Subject: Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Boca Da Valeria
By the time we woke this morning, the ship was about stopped. Soon after it dropped the anchor. We were at a very tiny village of about 100 people or less.
We were going to take a ride around this village and up the small tributary on which it is located. We had been given tickets for the time we chose. Our time was 10:40 AM. There were to be only 30 people per 150 person tender. That way every one would have at least one window and we would be able to move around to get 
pictures and views.
The first thing we noticed was there must have been a lot of rain at this part of the river that had not yet made its way down stream. The current was very fast and trees, branches and all kinds of junk were moving quickly and in great quantities.
As we looked down from our balcony we could see many small canoe like boats, full of locals, all over the place. Many were 
clinging to the ships landing dock. They were being given all kinds of no longer needed items. One woman had been holding an old battered Radisson umbrella. We could see they were giving them empty containers and boxes of old uniforms, towels and linen that could no longer be used.
As the current was very swift, it was almost impossible to paddle against it. Many had strange outboard motors. I am guessing, the silt in the water would clog ordinary engines. These small engines 
were air cooled and had a very long shaft sticking out the rear. They would turn the engine from side to side to turn and lift up and down to adjust the depth of the propeller. These engines had one direction and two speeds. No gears. Just forward. The speeds were off and running. Often the ones with the motors, would have others without, hanging on.
We got to the lounge where we were to sign in ten minutes before our appointed time as requested. Everything was running ten to fifteen minutes late due to the fast current. The person directing when we were to go to the tenders was a French guy from the tour 
desk who knew us well. He had asked what time our tickets were for and even though many had been there before us, he whispered go ahead. Some people have not shown and there is room now. He understands how important I am. He took our tickets so no one would know and said to tell them to radio him should they ask for them at the ramp.
It had been raining lightly off and on and the sky was covered with low hanging clouds. Some of the cloud banks looked very mean but 
they held their water long enough for us to get aboard the tender. Earlier it had rained hard from time to time and then we could not even see the river banks. Now it was just foreboding looking. I guess that’s what a rain forest is supposed to look like and this is world’s largest.
As we rode out of the main river and into the small tributary where the village was, we started to have locals in their little boats hang on. There were whole families at times. They were all trying 
to sell us something. One had a monkey. Bobbi had some of the wrapped chocolates they leave in our rooms nightly. She was going to give it to the kids. Just don’t tell Lillian. She wants it.
Bobbi was handing some out to the kids. The monkey got very upset. He wanted one too. Bobbi gave him one. You should have seen the little sucker tear open the packaging to get at the candy. Sounds right to me. Isn’t that what the cruise line means to do with it? Feed the monkeys?
After riding by the village we made a startling discovery. This is the same place we visited the first time we were here. We think it was about eight years ago. There is quite a story that goes with this.
Originally there were just two huts at this location. A ship, from a now defunct Greek cruise line, broke down here. It took three days to get parts and repairs. During that time they started giving things to the locals who spoke no modern language at the time. After that they started making regular stops here. Quite often a retired, award winning National Geographic photographer, would be aboard as a guide and narrator. His name was McIntyre.
We were on a brand new ship from that line when we were here last. McIntyre was aboard. He was selling signed copies of his award winning photos to raise money for the people of this town. I am sure I have some somewhere. He bothered them until he got the Brazilian government to build a concrete school building.
We had no idea that this was that town. It looked completely different. There were no boats to be seen back then and now there were cattle. That was new. The house and buildings, all on stilts, looked completely different and there were lots more of them. The only way we figured it out was when we saw the school. It was now some kind of community building, but we knew it was the same building.
Later this afternoon we had a group playing local music with local instruments. It was in the Horizon Lounge and only for those doing the round trip. It was interesting as they made sounds of local birds. I don’t think they will make the pop charts though. It put me to sleep.
We had another very good and very interesting day. The boat ride around the village and along some nearby cliffs was great.
