Santos, I got a headache and don't want to go ashore even though it's the first port in South America. Who cares...
6 p.m., a crew member calls me and asks if I wanted to go out for a beer. Upon my question for how long he says an hour or two. Ok, after I kept asking him if I could tag along on his shore leave I can hardly say no now.
We're leaving the ship around 6:30 p.m. and then the harbour. Right in front of it is a news stand where we change a couple of Dollars and walk straight into the bar right next to it. I'll try to describe the locale but am not sure my description will do it justice.
It's a simple concrete building with the charme of a basement. Inside and out are a couple of plastic tables and chairs. In the corners are crates of empty beer bottles. A part of the crew is there trinking beer and using the free WiFi to Skype with their families. Also some locals are at the bar and you get the impressino that the local AAs are on a field trip. But everybody is having a good time. In the corner a red, digital Jukebox with a display and a huge speaker are hanging . Brasilian music is blearing out of it and I really mean blearing. I'll get to the loo later.
So there we sit and drink our beer (there are bottles of 0.3l, 0.6l and 1.0l). Well, it's not as easy as it sounds as the beer is ice cold and I mean that literally. Due to all the ice in the bottle hardly any beer comes out. All of a sudden the sky turns dark and a yellowish cloud is racing towards us followed by black storm clouds. I've never seen weather change this quickly before, breathtaking. We look for a dry spot and try to escape the dust which is blown up by gusts of wind. After an hour or so we go inside as it gets more and more uncomfortable outside. We join the rest of the crew who have not yet returned to the ship. Everybody in the bar is trying to talk to us and so we sit there between friendly people and drink our 0.6l beer, must have been the third one by then. After that I go to the loo. It's about 1x1.5m and has a white wooden door. And for the first time in my life I'm glad that I don't have to sit down to pee. So I do it from a distance because I'm afraid I'll catch something otherwise. The cocroaches which are watching me don't seem to care.
As the rain subsides around 10 p.m. the crew goes back to the ship and my chaparon asks me if I'd mind going to the bar of his girlfriend. It's about 200m down the street. Sure, but only for a small one because I'm already quite drunk as it is.
This bar has a similar layout as the first one but with one big difference, it's clean... They even have two toilets. As in the same bar here also music is coming out of a similar Jukebox. As soon as it stops one of the guests or an employee goes over, throws in money and selects the next couple of songs. Why didn't I bring my ear plugs? Anyhow, my colleague needs some more liquid courage and before I know it I have a new bottle of beer standing in front of me. Only the fact that we have to be back on the ship before midnight keeps me from drinking even more alcohol.
Back on the ship instead of taking the stairs up to the 7th floor as usual I take the elevator. I'm afraid that I won't make it if I take the stairs. In my cabin I flop down on the couch. I wake up 2h later due to all the noise from the cargo loading and everything is spinning. So the beer goes trough my head again and off to bed I go...
What can I say? This was my first step onto South American ground and it is undescribably different... But I'll certainly tell you more about it.
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Sunday 05. November 2017
What can I say? I was a rather slow day...
Due to a defect with a crane our departure was rescheduled from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Consequently we arrived late in Paranagua.
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Monday 06. November 2017
7:20 a.m., the phone rings... I'm to be at the gangway at 8 a.m. because we are to show up at immigration!? What? That doesn't make any sense at all but who am I to criticize an agency. We are to be back on board at 9 a.m. because the captain wants to leave at 11 a.m.
Around 8:45 a.m. the port agent shows up to bring us to immigration in his car.
9:00 a.m., we've left the port and are on our way...
9:14 a.m., he stops in front of his office because he needs some papers???
9:32 a.m., well that was quick...
9:40 a.m., we get out of the car in front of a police building. You can see that it has seen better times. During the boom times Brazil must have been quite wealthy. But this thing has seen better times and not been maintained for probably 30 years... We wait in front of an empty office just like two other port agents with loads of passports.
10:05 a.m., somebody actually shows up and after 5 minutes we get our passports back. Great, now I've got a stamp under "Official Remarks" instead of under "Visas"... I guess no one will notice until I want to enter the US and then the stress beginns. Who cares...
10:30 a.m., we're back on the ship, loading is almost finished.
5 p.m., we're leaving the port after having barely missed the departure window so we had to wait for the next tide.
We only have half the caro left, otherwise we have too much draft (13.3m before, now 9.05m) so we can make it up the Rio de la Plata.
Next stop, Buenos Aires...
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Tuesday 07. November 2017
1:00 a.m., the clock is set back one last time.
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Wednesday 08. November 2017
We should have arrived in Buenos Aires today, actually...
We were on time around 10 a.m. at the mouth of the Rio de la Plata, the river of money. However, you have to know that this river is about as deep as the North Sea off the coast of Sylt. So, when there is a low tide, the river is gone. Even though it feels endlessly wide. Only the narrow, artificial canal remains. In this canal passenger ships have the right of way and exactly one of these is just comming down the river. Around 2 p.m. we hoist the ankor and make our way up the river. We're the second of probably more than 5 vesels. I can't see more because the distance between them is a guesstimated 1km.
10 p.m., we can see the lights of the city for hours now. I go to bed.
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Thursday 09. November 2017
According to the 3. mate we made bearth around 2 a.m.
A last breakfast on board and then I say goodbye to the people who have made this trip so memorable.
The port agent arrives on time around 10:30. Off to customs we go... Or not? Well, to do this we have to leave the port... Ahem, hello, we want to get out of here... Fat chance, would have been too easy. After about 10 minutes the port agent has arranged for us to exit the port. Off to customs... What? What we want? Enter Argentina... Why our data isn't in your system? To make a long story short, back into the port to a counter where our data and a finger print are taken and stored in a computer. Back to the exit. This time we have to use our fingerprint to ex... Beep, fiep, nothing. Again, waiting, but not as long. To the woman at the computer, again Passports, again fingerprint. However, this time sche ensures that they are recognized. Great, off to customs.
Then comes the coolest customs conrol I ever had. All they want is to take pictures of a "check" for some training brochure... Well, in New Zealand I had to unpack everything, all of it... Thanks for sparing me that.
After that the port agent shows us where we can find a cab and that's that.
So it happens that Julian and I are standing at a crossing waiting for a cab to drive by. This is not the same as in Germany, every second car seems to be a cab. I signal one and it stops in front of us. After a short question if would also accept Dollars and how much the fare would be everything is clear. I get into the black and yellow Radiotaxi and off we go. My driver is not very talkative and even my tries to start a conversation with my poor Spanish don't pay off. Maybe I should have talked in German with "Werner Daniel Hernandez" (according to his license).
After 20 minutes I arrive in front of the hostel. Without the house number I'd never have found it. Except for the plate next to the bell stating "Chill House" there is no other hint.
After a short wait the door is opened by Estéban who shows me my room...
So here I am, Buenos Aires.
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