Arrival in the Amazon, Caruso and Fitzcarraldo

Finally, after a very frustrating and tedious journey, Robin has arrived at his destination and joined Seabourn Pride.
All started off well, in that he arrived at Manchester airport on time, but things deteriorated from there.

A delay in take off resulting in a missed connection and a 10 hour wait in Paris....

Those following Twitter will have read about events as they unfolded, and the support and advice on, 'ways to amuse oneself during long delays at airports', were much appreciated.
Special thanks must go to one of my Twitter friends, missmussell, over on, 'The Omniscient Mussel', for providing games and advice during this time!

On reaching Sao Paulo, and once more 'waiting', Robin was rather amused to hear someone calling his name.
It was a magician, who had appeared from nowhere, and was accompanying Robin on the final leg of his journey.
He was pleased to have the distraction of some much needed company by this point.

But after 38 hours Robin arrived in Manaus, Brazil, and was able to recover from his journey in luxury.
Incidentally, Robin made it with only about 3 hours to spare...no wonder we were all getting a little tense here.

Manaus is an incredible place, situated in the middle of the Amazon forest. But it isn't as one would imagine. Having become very wealthy in the early 20th Century, Manaus is a bustling city.
The Opera House, built during the heyday of the rubber trade was once visited by all the most famous Opera Divas and Maestros.

Thankfully Robin has a few days to recover and acclimatise before his concerts, the first one not being until Friday and the second a few days later.
When Robin joined Seabourn Pride she was actually docked on the Rio Negro, but within a few hours set off to cover the 4 miles to the Amazon.

He's ready for it though.
Last time I spoke to him he was heading up to the top deck armed with an old 78 of Caruso, which he was going to play at high volume.
If you are unsure what I'm talking about, then you are probably unfamiliar with Brian Sweeney Fitzgerald, a rather eccentric character. His story was told in the film, Fitzcarraldo.