Miami and Caribbean

Oct 19 to Oct 23 = South Miami beach, nice beaches, glorious weather, a few nice restaurants and interesting locals, one who sang 1 in a million about me to Caro to get her takeaway food from her as a gift…... We met little Snitcovsky, Carla’s sister who lives in Miami for the past 10 years and her partner Renato.

Oct 24 to Oct 31 = Providenciales, or Provo to the locals, which we now count as after ‘living’ there for 7 glorious days. Bad start of rain downpour on the back end of a hurricane in Honduras and my bag being broken open by the TSA in Miami and left open in the hold of the plane, was made up for by the upgrade to the premium new suite in Italian Village (thanks Sharon in New Jersey) The rains stopped and we had 7 glorious days of crystal blue, warm waters and 33 degree days interrupted only by eating in one of the 18 restaurants and drinking a few different rum vodka cocktails on the white powdery sand. No laptop, no blackberry, no blog, no phone calls…. A relaxed chilled out break with some very friendly people. We made a few friends along the way, hi to Mike and Jen from Maine who got married there. Really nice couple and we shared a few dinners and drinks and even had a crack at Karaoke. Queen’s ‘Don’t Stop me now’ will never be the same again. In a good way ;-)

On day 1 we went out on a Hobie-Cat light sail-boat with Caro as the skipper. I won’t say I was scared because a local named Jack moved around just in time to stop us flip over J

We snorkeled over amazing reefs off a boat for 3 days running and on day 2 Caro found, or rather was found by, a large manta ray floating effortlessly and silently beneath her. She waved for me to come see and when I did he scurried for cover as he had either never seen such an effort-filled swim or someone so good-looking (you decide)

We played tennis, we had a food and wine pairing event and a little booze cruise one evening.

On our last day we went for one last swim in the stunning ocean, waved goodbye to Big-Bird and to Elmo, to Beverly who serviced our room so well and a really nice lady, our travel agent Sharon who visited from New Jersey and one of the beaches managers Andre who offered us a limo to the airport. It’s good to be well connected…..

Mau and Sis get married!!!

Oct 14 to 17 = Destination Camburi beach

Near Sao Paulo in Brazil for Carolina’s little sister Gabriela’s wedding to Mauricio the Corinthians fan. We landed in Sao Paulo after getting a nice move to Emergency Exit by a darling United manager in JFK and Alcides (Caro’s wonderful dad) was there to meet us after 9 hours of flying followed by a 2 hour drive to the beach. The torrential rain along the way took a little from the tropical landscape, but luckily the weather cleared for the wedding, which was right on the beach at Camburi. The next day it was unfortunately back to raining, which eased the sunburn opportunities sufficiently.

Caro: The wedding was amazing, starting with the weather, everyone at the beach. The venue was a restaurant by the sand and the ocean. All were beautiful, happy and relaxed, even bride and groom who in fact had tied the not at a private ceremony in SP. The day was only celebration all round. Delicious food, drinks, lots of dancing and a very personal ceremony that saw friends and family saying their most caring and tender words. I'm happy my sister found her beloved match!! Welcome to the family cunhado!!

Dec: We got to meet Caro’s bro, mum, uncles and aunts from both sides as well as many cousins and of course eat her mum’s great food and help her dad with the 6 kegs of Heineken he had brought for the occasion. Throw in a bbq by her dad on day 2 and the Brazil rapido trip was good until we return in November.

Last night in Sao Paulo before rejoining the rtw itinerary back into Miami, 5.30am start in Sao Paulo after a 1.30am finish when Caro’s friend Andrea called over to kill me for keeping her best friend in Australia. Crazy girl but likeable. We’ll see her later in the trip when she has told us she will join us on our trip... We paid for extra legroom on the flight to Miami and got good service from TAM who moved us to a direct flight!!

Goodbye for now.

NYC & Bronx

Hello Times Square & 42^nd street and Broadway, welcome to Bloomingdales and 5^th Avenue (which had a massive interesting Columbus Day parade), around Rockefeller centre to see the skating rink and 10 guides, strolled Central Park, from Grand Central Station to Lexington Ave to see the Chrysler Building, Park Ave eating at Spark’s great Steak restaurant downtown.

We met Lee & Cara Coomber for an Italian dinner in Soho and met Robbo and her man who were visiting.

Visit was short but sweet and left us wanting to go back for more.

The Bronx

Getting Uncle Charlie’s GPS and computer working the way he wants. Getting to know some of the local treats and locals in the Bronx (Italian bread), deli cold cuts and getting Caro’s nails done $8 and Dec’s Vanilla Ice haircut $12. Caro’s home cooking of pasta & soup to help me get over my traded flu. Mum & Dad visiting for the last day from Ireland.

From Caro: Shame we didn't get to spend more time with Ambrose and Eileen, but their visit won us a delicious Turkey dinner before we left, yum!!