Random Brain Dropping and Photographswill returns in late October. Once again it is something we've never done! Yeah, it's another cruise but this time it is an ocean and river cruise combined. Arrive San Juan, Puerto Rico four days before departing on our cruise October 24. This ship is not a floating geriatric city of 5,000 it is a floating geriatric village only 930 passengers. Nola aboard.
Sorting out vaccinations and health requirements has become somewhat mystifying. According to Viking, the shipping agent, we are required to have a Yellow Fever vaccination. Primary care physician prescribed malaria pills and a tetanus shot but wait there's more! The travel nurse said we really needed none of the above but suggested Hepatitis A vaccination. If you are considering a trip like this be sure to talk to your trusted health care provider and shop around for the best deal. Then decide what you feel comfortable with. Yellow Fever vaccination can range from $180 - $320 per shot.
First stop is Barbados and then on to Hello Yellow Devils Island in French Guiana where one cannot disembark without a certified Yellow Fever vaccination certificate. Then onto the Amazon River estuary where we greet Mary Malaria. We will spend a total eight days cruising the Amazon. Our primary destination is Manaus, the seventh largest city in Brazil, home of the famous Amazon Opera House built by Rubber Barons. There is an interesting movie about the building of the opera house calledFitzcarraldo by Werner Herzog.
After our Amazon adventure we will visit three other Brazilian coastal cities where Mary and Mellow both reside. We will end up in Buenos Aires after a day in Montevideo, Uruguay.
Since we were in the neighborhood we added a week in Buenos Aires at the end of the cruise for flamenco. All together we will be gone for thirty seven days. October 20 until November 25.