Hi everyone. Well I am returning to the land of the living. Tomorrow night is Kareoke so we will get Ken in form and find some back up Kennettes for him.

The costumes on these dancers were really quite remarkable. Beautifully done. The little village we were stopped at was so incredibly small. Quite amazing to think people live here. The offered a tender ride and the locals pulled up next to the tender to sell their trinkets. It was pretty hot. We did see the pink dolphins that are only found in the Amazon, too fast to take a picture unfortunately.

Today we were in a larger town, Santarem. A shuttle bus took us into the main downtown area. The one thing I thought was interesting is that men were standing outside the stores with microphones trying to get people inside. These were for the locals not for the tourists. Basic stores selling basic items and street and streets of these shops. They had one department store that was the only building in town with an elevator. Luxury items were very expensive. A 25" TV about $600 US a small refrigerator - probably 12 cubic feet, $900. How do they afford these things?? It was VERY hot so we did not stay long.

Today I joined in the No Limit Texas Hold Em game. I have never played with "real" people before only on line. It was fun - I was "on the bubble" which means that last one out before making money. Tom came in second. Yesterday Marcie won again. Plan on playing tomorrow I really enjoy it. One of the people has a program that helps run the game and I am going to buy that and chips and we can play on board during MUSH. I understand that Mark (Karen's Mark) likes to play so tell him to get ready. Tom said he would help run it being the expert that he is, it does take a lot of figuring out at certain times.

We had our B&K party tonight and the ship called and asked if two photographers from Holland could take pictures at the party for a Dutch Magazine called Hide and Chic. We said yes and they took lots of pictures so it will be fun to see if we can get a copy and see the article. The Officers came and we had wonderful hot snacks, it was very nice.

Having a great time. The ship is wonderful, the staff outstanding. Looking forward now to two restful days at sea. Terry Breen is on and she is such a good speaker she talks tomorrow so we wont miss that.

Played Trivia today for the first time, got 13 and the winning team got 14. TOMORROW!!!!