Montevideo, Uruguay

We were delayed about 2 hours leaving the dock in Buenos Aires.  We sailed down the river overnight and in the morning the Captain announced that we would be 2 hours late in arriving in Montevideo!  Something about high winds (??).  Well, we probably won’t ever know what caused the delay.  We do know that Montevideo is only a 3-hour ferry ride from Buenos Aires. It took the ship 12 hours.

As we sailed into the harbor, we noticed a ship’s junk yard or perhaps graveyard.  Guess they don’t sink them here, just shove them aside.

 

We had a tour booked with 14 others from our Cruise Critic roll call.  It included a bus ride through the city and then a wine tasting at a winery just outside the city. 

 
This was the first time we had a bus (16 pax) that the AC didn’t work very well.  Not only did it not cool much, every time the bus turned a corner the passengers in the back row got AC water dripped on them.  Taking photos from a bus window doesn’t provide very good pictures, but I got some and we did stop and get out of the bus a couple of times.  The city is clean with beautiful homes and business buildings.  Uruguay is called the “Switzerland of South America” primarily because of its small size, its high standard of living, and its extraordinary democratic institutions.

 

The whole coastline is lined with beaches.  Now this is where the river flows into the ocean.  The river water is dirty as it comes from the rain forests and with it mud.  You could really see the point in the water where the ocean water met the river water.  There definitely was a line, but not noticeable in photos.  Buenos Aires had no beaches.  No one would want to go in that water anyway.  But Montevideo was filled with beaches; those near the downtown are not recommended for swimming but those east of the town are less polluted. The river is 250 km wide at Montevideo, which makes it the widest river in the world.

 

Our first stop was at a monument that represents something about sea monsters.  Our tour guide was a very nice young lady, but she had quite an accent and it was hard to understand her words at times.

 

An interesting statue was at the Korean Embassy building.  It is of a Korean man bowing down, with his eyes looking toward Korea.

The Korean statue....photo on its side!

 

The Legislative Palace is considered one of the most beautiful legislative buildings in the world.

 

The LaCarreta Monument depicts a cattlewagon statue, which may be a tribute to the gauchos—the cowboys of the 18^th century.  I’m not sure as I couldn’t understand the guide.

 

After the city tour we headed to the Bouza Winery just outside of Montevideo.  It was a charming winery.  We enjoyed a wine tasting with cheese and breads.

 

 

 

Terry enjoying checking out an old John Deere tractor.  Brings back memories for him of growing up on a farm.

 

Back on the ship we left port during our dinner hour.  This was the first time we have not been on deck to watch the ship sail away from the harbor.  Wish we would have been on deck to see what happened as all of a sudden the ship tipped to starboard (right side in nautical talk) and from the dining room windows we could see the water rise up to window level.  Then the dishes started falling in the kitchen area and we heard crashes and clanking and people yelling out “Oh, no!, etc.”  This lasted only seconds but it was a bit unsettling.  When we returned to our stateroom, our cabin attendant said he was up on deck and saw a cargo ship coming toward our ship’s lane and it was way too close.  Our ship did a sharp turn to avoid the cargo ship.  We never did hear any announcement from the Captain about this. 

 

But we left the harbor safe and headed to our next port, Puerto Madryn, Argentina where we will see our first penguins of the trip.  I noticed during our day in Uruguay that my hair did not frizz for the first time since leaving Colorado.  The humidity must be going down, the temps are also a bit cooler, and the days are getting longer as we head down toward the bottom of South America.