Sunday 25 December Feliz Natal!
J had a restless night, scratching and thrashing around. We woke just in time to skype the party at her mother’s place and see the grandsons. By way of curiosity and for a bit of fresh air we went for a wander round the block. A couple of shops open and several pharmacies, whence we collected cough medicine pour moi and some antihistamine and itch cream for The Blotchy One.
When we got back, J noticed something on the couch and scratched around for a bit before exposing a clutch of large bedbugs scurrying around under a cushion in the pile of the corduroy lounge. Aaaaaargh. We had always suspected that the ankle itches were mosquitoes but the arm bites always seemed to follow a spell on the couches. It transpired that they knew there were bugs in the dorms upstairs but for some reason were not doing anything about it. Surely they would have known about the couches? J is a mess of livid red swollen lumps. The only good news is that we were not able to find any in our bedding, so hopefully they are not in our room or our luggage.
Christmas is a very low key family affair here. Very little in the way of lighting or decorations. No big displays of Christmas merchandise. Seems they save their public energy for New Year, when Copacabana goes crazy with midnight fireworks and 2 million people on an all nighter.
We have been directing some energy towards researching alternatives to having to get another visa to re-enter Brazil just to exit again on the cruise ship. 95% of the boats on this side leave from Brazil and the rest stop here anyway. The alternatives are a couple of boats going up the West coast to California or Florida, or flying to Puerto Rico to catch one from there. Oddly, you reach Puerto Rico via Miami for $600, but if you just want to go to Miami, it costs $800? There are parallel issues such as not wanting to have to get a US visa and duplicate travel insurance for USA, and the rapidly diminishing number of empty pages in my passport. I have about 6 left out of 32 and the book is only just half way through its 10 year life. We will not be anywhere long enough to replace it (at immense cost) until Spain or Portugal. Too many visits to Indonesia and other self-important nuisances like India and China who take a whole page for their dumb visas, probably to try and justify the fees
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