Change of Plans. It Happens

You’ve all experienced travel when plans change and being on a cruise ship is no different.   You can have you published itinerary and do all your home work on the ports looking at attractions, historical sites, and watching you tube videos that were recently made but as they say the best laid plans !!!  So our itinerary once again changed and instead of going to Punta del Este our captain changed our plans.  The winds and weather prevented us from going and instead he was able to get us into the port of Santos.  

I had copied pages for all the ports we were going to from the web page “What’s in Port” but of course I had nothing for Santos.   So what I will share is a bit meager.  They told us that there was a Coffee Museum there which is or was an important product for them.  They also say there is some beautiful architecture which you expect in almost every port because all the immigrants came from countries bringing their heritage for designing and building with them.  

Santos also has a large Aquarium with at least 50 tanks.  You can do lots of walking here but need to be aware that not all areas are safe as in most ports. 

We did our own thing in Santos as the ship provided a shuttle bus to a large modern mall with several floors and a large grocery shopping area.  

We were invited the day before to a complimentary South American Wine Tasting Event.  We also had light snacks to go with the tasting.  We got to sample all of these wines!!

That night before Santos they put on a kind of fair on the pool deck!  The band played and they had popcorn, cotton candy, sliders, little corn dogs, French fires and all kinds of fair food!!  



Even  all flavors of candy apples!! 

Somebody had to try one!!  It turns out it looked a lot better than it tasted!! Ha ha

Nice busses took us to town 

Historical statues were numerous but often the plaques were missing. 

These huge grain containers were so colorfully painted!!



This woman was famous as the Metropolitan University Governor and known for her hard work in revitalizing the university. Claudio Silva 




Lots of outdoor venues were setting up. 

Some beautiful residences with lush vegetation and interesting wooden doors and garages 

We took this photo to show they cover all the air conditioners with wire cages I guess to keep out birds from nesting inside. 

The town had a very nice two way bike path! 

And Albert Santos Dumont who the town was named after and was a great humanitarian.

 Santos had lots of beach line and lots of folks were enjoying it. Surprisingly the beaches were very clean . 


This is the Southern Lapwing. 

Some better shots 

This connects the beaches that are divided by the canal 

And several condos looked like this!!!  Leaning!   We found many and we heard that they were hurriedly built without proper ground and soil testing.  Glad I don’t own one.

There were some nice park venues and walking paths 


This is the Pied Water Tryrant!  We saw several and of course are new birds for us 

I will make you fishers of men…. Or so it appeared.  

I looked for a plaque but found none. 

The old cathedral amidst large apartment buildings.  It looked so out of place.

But inside it was very ornate and inspiring 

The confessional.   


The stained glass was so ornate and everything was magnificent.   There were several people in the church praying as we quietly entered.  

This form of transportation was common.  This young man looked as though he was going around collecting garbage to put in a bigger truck. 



A few more Social Flycatchers




This company we had to look up. They are a huge orange juice company.  They have distribution centers in the US, China, Japan and almost all over the world.  Santos has huge orange plantations!!!  No one told us a thing about this company so we were surprised to see such a large presence and structure at the port.  It greatly adds to their economy for sure .

“The purpose of life is to live it, to taste it, to expertto the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experiences “.  Eleanor Roosevelt