Ilheus, Brazil (continued)

Sun Dec 4

This morning we arrived at the city of Ilheus.

Our group leaders, Larry and Cheryl Stamps, found a meeting house and time for us to attend sacrament meeting today in Ilheus with the local members. It was about a half-mile walk from the ship on a very warm, humid day but I am really enjoying the warmth.

About twenty of us went which swelled the congregation to near the capacity of the small chapel. We met and talked with some of the members and missionaries and had a lot of fun with the children.

I am wearing the hand-woven blouse I bought in Macieo

There was a great spirit present, especially while singing the hymns and with the bearing of testimonies. After meeting we walked just a couple of blocks to a great churrascaria restaurant in a beautiful setting right on the ocean shore. Tucanos creates the same atmosphere and type of dining experience as this true Brazilian restaurant. There was a buffet salad bar and then the waiters bring around various meats and pineapple grilled on skewers to shave off what you want. It was a very good, genuine Brazilian feast.



The chefs and grill with our waiter in front

 We then returned to the ship to relax until our friends, Darvel and Dottie Allred, invited us to take a walk out along the beach near the port. We spent a little over an hour and enjoyed getting feet and hands wet on the broad sandy beach with virtually not surf where a few locals were also enjoying the afternoon.

At night after dinner we were entertained by a very good Italian singer who finished his show as an Elvis impersonator. It was quite fun to hear Elvis sing with an Italian accent although he did a pretty good job and looked a lot like Elvis.

Mon Dec 5
Today was spent entirely at sea as we head to Rio de Janeiro. Early this morning Mom was looking out the cabin window and spotted a whale breaching some distance away from the ship. It came out of the water about half way and splashed back in three or four times before it was too far back to see any more. It was a fairly relaxed day today with a meeting this morning with English-speaking passengers to explain disembarkation procedures. In the afternoon our group got together to watch the Pixar movie, "Rio." It was a lot of fun with Brazilian culture content and scenery. We then got together for a group picture on a stairway in one of the restaurants. We finished with dinner and another nice variety show that, for a change, was in English and included a few "oldies" songs. The special effects, stage flexibility, scenery, lasers and lighting in this theatre are quite impressive and superior to any we have previously experienced.