Maceió, Brazil

Day 48; 22 February

Pronounce this one “mah-say-o” and you are correct. This port is located below the horn of Brazil and was a flourishing indigenous community when the Portuguese arrived in the 16^th century. Now the principal products are caustic soda and plastic. Unfortunately, part of the beautiful beach is polluted. To the South of the harbor and farther to the North the beaches are clean. I did see a dolphin in the harbor and fishermen pull dinner from the waters.

Our run up the coast was timed well and we arrived just as the strike of longshoremen ended. No waiting and by 1245 we were tying up to the new concrete pier.

Noon Report: 09° 44.46'S and 035° 44.49'W. Total distance 12,242 nm, 280 nm noon-noon. Wind E 13 (4), Course 013°. Sea state 3. Air and water temps reported same at 28°C 82°F.

There is no walking off the ship into town here and not much to see. Of three tours offered here, we took one that turned out to be chosen by most of the passengers so we found a caravan of tour buses awaiting.

Our first stop was the artisan street in Pontal da Barra where locals sold their linens, woven mats, lace, wood carvings, pottery and such. These were of quality. Then we were taken to the Metropolitan Cathedral for a look see and that and the local government office buildings. More enjoyable was the watching of teens dressed as clowns demonstrating in the street against drunk driving. (We saw more of this throughout the city.) The rest of the tour was a drive-by look at the Palace, government buildings, old churches, markets, fruit vendors, residential/commercial communities and the football stadium. A brief stop at the highest point of the city gave us a vista of the city while besieged by vendors chanting “buy,buy, buy.” That stop was 15 minutes but we were all back aboard in 10.

in Pontal da Barra

 

street scene

a soup seller

The rest of the ride took us past many more small mom and pop street shops selling car parts, clothing, mechanics services, plumbing supplies and so on from the front of their dwelling. Almost exactly the same as we see in Costa Rica. We drove past Sam's Club and a large upscale indoor shopping mall, past incomplete towers of apartments and finally to the beach area Paruçara where the beachfront was clean and busy and at night becomes the heart of the night life. Hotels, boutique hotels and condos line the waterfront. Behind these are lesser expensive apartment buildings. Our guide did a fine job but there was just not much to see here. We were pleased to be back on the ship. About 2000 (8pm) we sailed. The view of the city at night was better than the day view.