Day 54 - Luanda, Angola

Dec 2 - Luanda, Angola is another new country! I am not sure if I said before, but there are a few complaints about the ports of call. People expect a lot from these countries that seem to be struggling with poor economies. Now the captain is stating that we cannot expect things to be like countries where there are many tourists and fine accommodations. Yes, most places have some high-end hotels, but these are typically not by the working ports where we arrive. I certainly expected ports like we have been to. In fact, in most cases, my expectations have been exceeded. Today was only a slight disappointment. We had a shuttle bus to a small, local market with a small area of tents set up. The little market had a booth for tourist information and free postcards! There was a very prestigious hotel, Hotel Presidente, just across from this but no stamps available. The place that sells stamps is closed on Saturday. It looks like most things are closed. We wanted to eat lunch in town. We saw a restaurant, but it was not open. There were a lot police walking around the area. After a brief walk, it was back to the ship for lunch. It is warming up a lot with mid 80’s today but only 63% humidity. It will get warmer. The departure from port and views of the night sky were amazing.