Oops

An alert lurker has pointed out that somehow Punta Arenas fell off the map. I'm fixing that post. Guess it got scrambled with one of the intermittent internet connections that plagued me. I'm disappointed in the rest of you that didn't notice. Fixing it, and hope you enjoy the penguins.

Sao Luis and trying to leave Brazil, Grenada and the journey home

We arrived at the airport in Salvador da Bahia bright and early, and as always, the first order of business is to pay the fees. We located the operations office, and requested our invoices. Once again, we watched as the young fellow working the computer plunged into the deep mysteries of the program that was to produce the information. Again, he was on the phone for the better part of an hour as he tried to put the correct information in the blanks. He was in and out of the program, generally looked puzzled, and after about an hour and a half, he produced an invoice almost three times as much as we'd paid at any other airport in Brazil. We of course questioned this, without result for a long time, until finally someone was called in to translate, and explained that we'd parked on a very expensive area of the field. Never mind that it was where we were directed by ATC, with a marshall in place to wave us in. When asked where on the field one might have found less expensive accomodation, he pointed first on the airport diagram I gave him to the car parks, then the runways. It was obvious that his qualifications didn't include any actual knowledge of the airport layout. Finally a passing airline employee was able to tell us where the less expensive tarmac was located, but the issue was not negotiable, so we reluctantly paid up. About double what one would pay for overnight hangarage at a big city airport. Once again, the flight to Sao Luis, named after Louis XIII of France, by the French naval officer who founded the place in 1612, and is located on an island. On landing and being directed first to a parking spot quite near the terminal building I questioned the ground controller about less expensive alternatives. His command of English didn't include any understanding of my querie, so I shut down and talked to an employee of the fuel company who told me parking where I'd been sent wasn't allowed, and he volunteered to lead me to what I figured was the cheap seats. Fired up and was directed to another site, closer to the terminal on the other side, which I again questioned. A passing airliner was able to translate my concern to the controller, and I was told that the price was the same. Our accompanying aircraft, on landing was directed to the more modest accomodations.  We arrived too late to see much of the place other than our drive to our hotel, which was a resort type place situated across from the beach.

Yet another hotel window

And lest there be any confusion

We did manage to squeeze in a bit of pool time and a walk on the beach, and in the morning, it was off to the airport to clear outgoing customs and do the invoice dance again.

We were not disappointed on the invoicing front, as it was again a two hour exercise. The invoice for the first aircraft was generated in about an hour, but the second proved impossible, and finally the operator, apparently getting tired of me breathing down his neck and tapping my watch, wrote it up manually. The parking price was about the same as preivious airports other than Salvador.

Back to clear customs and immigration, and we were now informed that this airport did not offer the service due to terminal renovations taking place. She gave us an alternative, Belem, which was on our desired route to Cayenne in French Guiana. Before departing, we were informed by the tour company back in Florida that clearance at Belem was a nightmare that typically took 5 hours, and that Macapa was a better choice if it was open on weekends. The local immigration lady was asked to confirm, and after a phone call she said no problem.

Off to Macapa on the Amazon delta, about 2 miles north of the equator. A few thunderstorms and rain showers, and as luck would have it we arrived in the middle of a pretty good shower, did our instrument approach (a full VOR procedure), minimums 640 feet, stayed in the clag until right over the runway, which we picked up too late to land, so execute the missed approach and back into it for another try. The showers had moved by this time so we got in, followed shortly by the other aircraft. First significant weather in over a month.

Next surprise - we could do part of the exit process, but not the immigration release handled by the Federal Police, as they didn't work weekends at that airport. We begged and pleaded, but nothing could be done. Our only alternative was again Belem, which we'd flown over on the way, about 200 miles back. Belem, however, required 4 hours notice of international departure. By this time we were far too late in the day to make our destination, and with the thunderstorms having increased on our route back to Belem, we chose to try again in the morning. We found a very helpful English speaking person in the flight planning office, and he phoned his contacts at Belem so as to expedite our departure the next day.

We booked into a local "Hotel de Charme" the Poussad Ekinox, owned by a French expat. Interesting place, somewhat rustic in a local fashion, but very clean. We went for a stroll a kilometer or so to the bank of the Amazon. At this point, where it meets the sea, it is very wide, with the distance to the mid channel island about 10km. Lots of bulk carriers in ballast offshore. There was a nice seaside walk, with lots of food stands and families enjoying the Saturday.

Kite boarders on the Amazon at Macapa

Macapa is a city of about 400,000, and services a large agricultural and mining area. We were told by different people that it had a slower pace and less crime than Belem, on the other side of the delta. There is a fort on the bank, built in the 17th century to protect the access to the river.

We had dinner at a very good seafood restaurant, and invited our helpful friend from the airport and his wife to be our guests. Besides his day job, he teaches English at a public school and he and his wire operate a franchise language school in a nearby town. After dinner they drove us to a favourite ice crean parlour that specialized in concoctions using the native fruits. They were generous with their samples, and I think we probably consumed at least a full scoop before purchasing our choices.Altogether an enjoyable evening.

In the morning, it was off to the airport for the now daily dance. We had been assured that the invoicing would be quick, and other than a problem with the actual printing it was pretty good, taking only about 30 minutes. The flight to Belem was uneventful, and things went reasonably well there, other than the refueler charging aobut $10/US gallon. A little over two hours and we were on our way to Rochabeau, the airport at Cayenne, for a fuel stop. A sea change in the process after what we'd been through in Brazil, with fees (only $20), customs, and flight planning completed, refueled, and on our way in a little over an hour.

Next leg to Grenada, ever more comprehensable controllers on the way, and the weather clear with tropical puffy cumulous over the land masses.

We were cleared to 4000 feet, but still in the broken bases five miles back, so cleared for the VOR approach but picked up the airport in time for a visual.

Landing at Maurice Bishop Airport

The airport is named after its builder, Maurice Bishop, who staged an armed coup in 1979, then was himself deposed and subsequently murdered in 1983. These events triggered the controversial US invasion, one of the pretexts being that the airport was designed to support Cuban-Soviet military activity in the region.

 Nice day, about 27 C. with a good breeze so not too sweaty. We fueled while awaiting the other aircraft, then went in together for customs and immigration, reasonably quick and island friendly, then into taxis and off to our accomodation, La Luna beach resort.

This place was on a sandy beach in a small, shallow bay, mostly individual or semi-detached bungalows up the hillside by the beach. Our stand-alone bungalow had a nice deck with a plunge pool overlooking the water, open-air bathroom, altogether wonderful.

View from the throne

We were situated a bit of a drive from ST. George, and due to the confluence of ideal weather, geography, and amenities, it was popularly decided that we would limit our short experience on the island to the beach, water, and local eateries.

Brenda's natural element

Our travelling companions in the other aircraft left the next morning after breakfast for Costa Rica, on their way home to Los Angeles.

Farewell to our fellow travellers of the last five weeks

We spent the day on the beach, swimming and snorkelling. The bay is quite shallow, mostly under 15 feet deep, with wave action down to the sand and reef bottom. We saw mostly small fish, sea urchins, lots of conch shells.

We had an excellent meal at the adjacent restaurant on our last night, then in the morning, back to the airport and the next leg of our journey back to reality.

Farewell to Grenada

We had a planned fuel stop at Puerto Plata in the Dominican Republic, about 700 nm. away.

Approaching Puerto Plata

Big fuel truck for a little airplane

Typical cumulous buildup over the islands

Reasonable quick and friendly customs clearance and refueling at Puerto Plata, then off to West Palm Beach, Florida.

Our route of flight took us over the Bahamas chain of islands, and as we got closer to Nassau and on to Miami Center's air traffic control frequency it became apparent big things were happening with the weather. Miami was directly under a cold-frontal storm system, and aircraft were being held all over the place. There were four flights from Europe holding over Nassau, and the airspace south of Miami was full of aircraft waiting for things to clear, and the controller was busy with aircraft that having reached their limit of holding fuel were having to divert to alternate airports. We had to penetrate the same line of weather, but farther north it wasn't built up quite so high, and had moved offshore after disippating much of its energy. We stayed high until past the worst of it, then with some creative vectoring on the part of the controllers were able to descend without much excitement for landing at West Palm. Customs clearance and a quick bag check, some fuel and off for a 20 mile hop to Boca Raton airport where we'd made arrangements to get the airconditioner adjusted and have some other minor maintenance performed the next day.

Inland waterway near Palm Beach

One more beach hotel with no snow in sight...

Second last hotel room window

and after freshening the sunburns, shortly after noon the next day we picked up the aircraft and took off on our first leg of the 2200 nm. trip home. We had chosen Clarksville, Tennessee for our overnight stop. It was about 1/3 of the way home, and my preference on cross-country trips is to choose stops at places we'd be unlikely to visit for any other reason. Clarksville turned out to be a good choice. The service at the airport was exceptional, with the loan of a car at no cost, even equipped with a GPS to take us to our hotel where we were given a preferential airport rate. The city has a population of about 125,000, and services an agricultural area and a large military base, Ft. Campbell, home of the 101st. Airborne Regiment. Our hotel overlooked the Cumberland River, a major waterway feeding into the Mississippi. There is a nice walkway along the river, leading up to the junction with the Red River at its northern end and with a statue of Wilma Rudolph at the southern entry. A sprinter, she was the winner of 3 gold medals at the 1960 Olympics in Rome and later became a teacher and civil rights leader.

On the recommendation of a couple we met walking along the river, we headed up to the historic town centre and the Black Horse brew pub for dinner.  The food was good and the atmosphere friendly, with lots of young military families.

Covering all the bases

The last hotel window



In the morning, off to Edmonton, with a fuel stop at Aberdeen, South Dakota, and the end of our journey.

After six weeks, the co-pilot is about tuckered out

Surprisingly, the ground was snow-covered from about the middle of North Dakota, right across Saskatchewan to Edmonton.

Passing Sherwood Park on approach into Edmonton City Centre

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A little bit disorienting after 40 days of travel, through so much geography, physical and cultural, to be back in the old familiar. We are extremely fortunate to have had the opportunity to experience this, and the trip has given us memories for a lifetime. We'd love to visit some of the places we stopped on this trip, with more time to enjoy them, but for now we'll enjoy the afterglow, and hope that you've enjoyed sharing a bit of our fun.

Brenda and Andy

Salvador da Bahia

We arrived at the airport at about 0930 for our planned flight to Salvador. First, as always, the airport fees had to be paid. These include parking, landing, navigation, taxes, and to be honest I'm not even sure what else. The payment is made in an administration office in the terminal. One would expect that it should be a simple matter of generating an invoice and acceptin payment, One could not be more wrong. That is in fact all that has to happen, but the computer program used by the offices (same sofware, all offices of the national airports authority) appears to be a source of great mystery to all who use it. The fellow working away at it was on the phone for the whole time he was filling out the form, and there appeared to be a lot of going around in circles and puzzled staring, the upshot being that we were over an hour and a half making payment for two aircraft. After this, it was over to the airplanes for fuel, and call up ATC for engine start and airways clearance, about another 25 minutes. After all that the flying part is easy. Flight was about two hours, and we arrive at Salvador in the early afternoon.

Arriving at Salvador da Bahia

We were directed to parking by tower and a marshall on the ground, and a bus transported us to the terminal for cab to our accomodation, the Convento de Carma. This is a 16th C. Carmelite convent, recently converted to a hotel. Very large place, about 200 rooms, located in the old city atop one of the hills. It was located outside the old city walls, and when the Dutch invaded in the 1640's, we were told that the city residents, realizing they were outnumbered and outgunned, abandoned the city and took refuge in the monastery. When the invaders entered the city, the Salvadorans closed the gates behind them, and placed the town under siege, finally forcing the Dutch out a year later.

We enjoyed a walk through the old city after our arrival, including a trip down to commercial district and its artisan market. The trip off the hill down to the lower level is by elevator at a cost of about 10 cents each way.

Elevator



The stuff for sale in the many market stalls was mainly tourist oriented. Salvador is now populated mainly be the descendants of African slaves, and the population is about 80%  black. As sometimes happens with enigrant populations, some of the cultural artifacts brought from the old country become frozen in time. While the home country evolves in its own way, the removed group is cut off, and things move in their own direction according to local conditions. In Salvador, there are things like musical instruments of African origin that have apparently disappeared elsewhere. Religion is predominantly Catholic, but in the days of slavery (not ended in Brazil until the 1880's) the African population maintained and disguised their own religious practices by giving their  deities the names of the Christian saints. so there is still something of a hybrid religion to this day, known as Candomble.

We had a guided walking tour of the old city the next day, which included a Franciscan monastery that had remarkable glazed tile walls in the cloisters. The scenes protrayed on the walls illustrated desirable virtues and values in blue and white tiles brought over from Portugal, and were arranged to by passed in a clockwise direction, so that each turn brought a statue of a different saint into view.

Bountiful nature, in this case represented a four-breasted woman

We continued to the cathedral, the first built in Brazil (Salvador was the capital until 1763), which was built mainly by slave labour and craftsmen. The African slaves included some very skilled carvers, but not painters. They had, of course, no experience of traditional European cathedral art, so they placed their own interpretations, the result being a unique Bahian Baroque, with cupids and saints bearing somewhat African features.

Detail of a carving

We continued to the main plaza of the old city, which has churches in every direction including a Jesuit church built in Portugal, the stones numbered, and the building disassembled and put back together in Salvador. The Jesuits were in conflict with colonial authorities, as promoters of education.

The Portugese apparently recognized that knowledge was power, and didn't want to see it dispersed outside their control. The Jesuits also innovated a system of banking, storing private wealth, for a fee, in their own treauries. This was too much, so the Jesuits were expelled from Brazil in 1759. One of their old colleges became the country's first school of medicine in the early 19 C., when the Portugese royal court moved to Brazil to escape the occupation by Napoleon.

Also in the square was a statue of a leader of the 17th C. slave uprising, Zumbi dos Palmares. Runaway slaves formed their own republic in Palmares in the early 17th C., and Zumbi lead the former slaves in numerous battles against the Portugese. He was finally captured in 1695, and legend has it that he was offered freedom and amnesty if he would foreswear the cause, but refused and was beheaded.

Zumbi dos Palmares

Another statue of note is that of the first bishop of Bahia, who on his departure to return to Portugal only reached a nearby island in the bay, where his spirit and strength were transferred to the happy cannibals who ate him.

Parts of the old city have been restored in a constant battle against the tropical humidity. The area is a Unesco World Heritage site, so there are strict architectural controls. Property values have risen, and many former residents take the money and move to suburbia. The restored areas have a prominent and well-armed police presence, as a defense against the scourge of pickpockets and thieves that troubles parts of many large cities. It appears to be effective, and our guide told us to avoid a wrong turn into an unrestored area, as they weren't policed. The streets in the old city are rough-cobbled (apparently in colonial days the only people who routinely travelled the streets were slaves), and the building facades very attractive.

Slave auctions took place on the steps

Pelourinho Plaza

Pelourinho Plaza is where the slave auctions took place, and is so named for the pillory which was also erected there for the flogging of racalcitrant slave. In modern times it is famous as the site of a Michael Jackson video, during which he performed in the square and environs, including from the balcony of the blue building above. http://originallilly.glogster.com/MICHAEL-JACKSON-IN-SALVADOR-BRASIL/

Slave church, currently under restoration

We enjoyed wandering the streets, and found a local artisan who produced a uniqe craft of knotted waxed cord, with polished stones and shells. Very friendly fellow, and among us I think we made his weeks wages.

Brenda's new friend

Our crew with a local lady dressed in traditional garb of a house slave.

We had a large lunch at a plaza restaurant, with different local seafood preparations, so in the evening we strolled back up to the plaza and tried a local street food of west African origin, acarje. It is a deep fried bread made of bean paste, and was served with shrimp, fried vegetables, and a paste made of shrimp, peanuts and cashews. Very tasty and filling. We accompanied it with cans of Guarana soda, a Brazilian specialty made from a local caffeine-rich berry. The local ladies got a kick out of the fact that I was sweating so heavily in the tropical heat and hunidity, compounded by a post surgical quirck that left some salivary nerves attached to sweat glands so if the food's good I sweat. Very special.

As always our stay was short and left us with a taste of something we'd like to revisit, but on this trip we take what we get and enjoy it.

In the morning off to Sao Luis for our last night in Brazil and South America before heading for the Caribbean.

Rio de Janeiro

Here's what a little weather looks like on the radar...

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And out the window

On  final forRwy 20L,  Santos Dumont airport, Rio, with Sugarloaf in background

Nice flight to Rio, airport SBRJ, which is quite a busy regional airport. For the aviation inclined, the approach given was a circling approach that takes you perpendicular to the runway at the midpoint. At the 1500 ft. minimum altitude, the city blocks sight of the airport until you're almost on it. Given the clouds, the obvious choice was a turn on to downwind right for 20L, but tower called for cross the centre and downwind left.

We were sent to a parking spot directly behind a Challenger. I wasn't too fussy about leaving our little bird right in his blast path should he decide to depart, and told ground so. In our extensive (and unsuccessful) negotiations with the refuelers, I was assured the other aircraft wasn't going anywhere before our departure. In any case, into the terminal, no hassles, to the taxi desk to prepay our taxi fare (good system - saves a lot of potential hassles), into the car and away to our upgraded suite at the Palace Copacabana, another Orient Express hotel, directly across from the famous beach.

Another day, another hotel window

We had an afternoon tour booked, so an hour or so after our arrival we were picked up our guide, and taken first to the cog railway transporting us to the top of  Corcovada mountain, location of the famous Cristo Redentor, or Christ the Redeemer statue. Building of this monument was completed in 1931, in art deco style, of reinforced concrete and soapstone. It stands almost 40 m., with a wingspan of 30 m., and has a commanding view of Rio and its harbour. The railway was initially built in 1885, and climbs about 670 m., with a further climb now of about 40 m. to the base of the statue.

Christ the Redeemer statue

We were fortunate to get an intermittently clear view of the statue and the city, as it is very often cloudy. We were told that the place can get very crowded at times, especially during carnaval. The mountain itself was cleared and coffee beans planted at one time, but subsequently reclaimed in the mid 19th century with the planting of a number of tree species, many non-native. We saw jackfruit, a very large fruit native to southeast Asia which was introduced at the time and is now invasive, as well as the odd remaining coffee bean bush.

View of Sugarloaf from the statue

We continued from the bottom of the railway to the Sugarloaf tramway, for another climb and views or the area. This tramway was originally built in 1912, and was the second in the world. The current system was installed in 1972, and reaches the top in two stages, the first going to Urca, and then after a change of cars, to the top of Sugarloaf, so named because of its resemblance to the traditional cone shape of sugar as it was sold.

Pterodactyl, or maybe a frigate bird, over Sugarloaf



Regrettably, because of our weather delay at Iguacu, our planned two night stay in Rio was cut short, and we didn't even get a chance to enjoy the famous beaches. By the time our tour ended, it was evening, and we hardly had a taste of the capital of the cariocas, so it's another entry on the list of places we'll have to revisit.

Iguacu Falls

Next leg was Buenos Aires to Iguacu Falls, Brazil. Because we were now leaving Argentina, we had to clear outbound customs. This involved first re-positioning the aircraft to the terminal building of this small airport, then submitting our baggage for inspection, and completing different types of paperwork. When we were finished and refueled, we learned that we had been assigned departure slots about an hour later. We tried to get permission to depart on a "ready" basis, but it appeared that the times were hard, possibly because of coordination with the airspace authorities in the countries we were passing over (Uruguay and Paraguay) and Brazil. In any case, the departure and flight were fine. We did encounter some weather for the first time on the trip, by way of some towering cumulous, with thunderstorms in the area, but no show-stoppers. Arrival at Foz de Iguacu airport in Brazil included a view of the spume rising from the famous falls. Stepping out of the aircraft felt like entering a steam bath, with temperature 30ish and about 95% humidity. We then had the arrival customs, immigration, police procedure, which is different in each country and often appears to be a brand-new and surprising business to the folks responsible. After an hour and a half, we were in the taxi on the way to the national park and our new digs.

The drive took about 30 minutes, to the Hotel Cataratis, which is operated by Orient Express (same as our Monastery hotel in Cusco) and is right across the street from the falls, on the Brazilian side. One of the first things we saw was a couple of toucans in the trees in front of the hotel. No magpies.

View out the hotel window

Once the other aircraft's passengers showed up, we headed off for a boat tour of the falls. It involved a trip through the jungle in towed wagons, then a 500 m. boardwalk and down a couple of hundred steps to the boat launch. The boats are Zodiac style, about 22 ft. long, powered by a couple of 125 hp. outboards. Most of the passengers are lined up on benches amidships, but we ended up right at the pointy end. The trip started in a fairly civilized fashion, smooth water, and nothing out of the ordinary other than a few tight turns for excitement. We approached a couple of the smaller falls, and the boat was edged up close enough to experience some moderate spray. Next, after the crew put the hoods up on their rubber suits, we spent about 15 minutes of what I'd call gratuitous soaking, nosing and backing directly into the minor falls, and doing tight turns then nosing into the swells thus created so that they broke over the nose of the boat, to the great amusement of the peanut gallery sitting in the benches. Then back to the launch, and opportunities to purchase videos and stills of the whole experience. We had expected more by way of an actual tour of the falls, but there are impassible rapids on the Brazilian side, and probable restrictions on passage to the Argentine side.

By this time it was early evening and over the souvenir shop we saw a number of quetis, or coati mundis coming down from the trees. These are a tropical raccoon, similar in appearance to the North American version but with a longer, flexible snout.

Home and dry out (at least we were sufficiently forewarned to have been lightly dressed). It was a tiring day, partly due to the heat and tropical humidity, so off to bed after dinner.

We had planned a 1300 depature from the hotel, so headed out after breakfast for a walk along the falls viewing trail. These falls are spectacular in their extent. The river is about 1200 m. in width above the falls, and 65 m. downstream. The total extent of the falls is about 2700 m. long, and max drop about 85 m. There are 19 major cataracts and a larger number of lesser falls. Most are on the Argentine side, and we viewed them from the Brazilian side.

A couple of views of the falls

On the walk back we came across another crew of quetis coming out of the trees, and watched them as , realtively untroubled by our presence, they came to ground and nosed around in the leaves, then wandered off.

A couple of the critters. Cute, but they have sharp little teeth.

The park is also a sanctuary for jaguars. We didn't see any, but did see lots of butterflies, and saw and heard a number of bird species, including kites that circle constantly high over the falls.

Back to the hotel for lunch.

Front view of the Hotel Cataratis

The skies had been darkening, and examining the weather reports and forecasts at our pre-lunch pilot briefing, we found thunderstorms in our area and enroute forecast with tops up to 46,000 feet. The other aircraft had a non-functioning weather radar, and with our limitation to 30,000 feet likely putting us right into the stuff, we elected to postpone departure to Rio de Janeiro until the next morning. Convective thunderstorms tend to be worse in the afternoon, after daytime heating has a chance to lift the moist air.
Although fairly extensive, the weather as forecast would be flyable in radar equipped aircraft, more so with altitude capability up to 35,000 or above, and in an air traffic control system where deviations from planned routing could be easily accomplished. In our circumstances, as strangers in the land, and with the language issues, the decision was easy, and was confirmed by the couple of inches of rain that fell over lunch.

In the morning we headed for the airport and an hour or so of bureaucracy, then into the air for the two hour flight to Rio