Mar 7 Rio Grande, Brazil

As we work our way back north, and into warmer weather, we enter Brazil in the sleepy town of Rio Grande.

Since our docking wasn't scheduled until noon, there was an ATW coffee event advertised as "Greatest Muffin Ever."  The cooks took the Voodoo Donuts approach to muffins as there are cheese, raisin, pineapple, egg, and of course, bacon muffins available.

 Beverages in differing flavors to complement the muffins.

 The comedy stylings of Leslie and Damien.  Cynthia was invited onstage and honored for her multiple posts about the Around The World trip on Facebook.  I have no picture of that because she took the camera with her. 

 There was a small local dance group welcoming us to the port.  We hustled past them to catch the shuttle bus into town, about a 2 mile trip.

 Rio Grande looked like a once prosperous city that has fallen on tougher times.  There were grand buildings that hadn't been maintained or were now vacant.

 This is a portion of the sidewalk in front of the building above.

 The street we drove up on was cobblestone like European streets.  Also very bumpy in a shuttle bus.

 Lovely park

 Here's another decrepit but once grand building

 The main park in town had several water features

 ...and a small bamboo garden...

 ...and inevitably a statue.

 There were several large banyan trees in the park, with roots slowly taking over everything.

 Here's interesting paving for a park area -- slices of tree embedded in concrete.

 The shopping street on a Saturday afternoon.

 The locals were happy to see us.

 The cathedral, now closed.

 But you can get an education at Albert Einstein College.  I don't think Al is on the faculty.