Uruguay, 1/12/16

Montevideo, Uruguay, 1/12/16

Last night we sailed across the Rio de la Plata (actually an estuary rather than river) arriving in Montevideo early in the morning. After the bustle of Buenos Aires, the city and entire country seems to move at a more leisurely pace. Our guide, Pilar, said they live by the manana principle. Uruguay (it's not a Spanish word and is pronounced ur-ooo-why) is the second smallest country in South America with a population of just three million, and like Argentines, descendants of Spanish and Italians. The capital city is a mix of colonial and modern architecture. Lots of squares with lots of statues of various generals and presidents. And beaches. Unlike Buenos Aires, the Uruguayan coast line is sandy and the water fine for swimming and thus a popular vacation destination. We drove along the waterfront Rambla, with river front beaches on one side and high rise apartments on the other. In the summer dogs are banned from the beaches so they have special dog beaches. People love their dogs down here.

After stopping here and there throughout the capital, we drove about 25 minutes from the port to the Bouza Winery. Family-owned and only ten years old, it started wine making with locally grown tannat grapes. They now have a young white that tastes like a Portuguese wine as well as a merlot. We toured the place then went into the gorgeous dining room created in an old brick building that had been on the farm forever. We tasted four of their wines along with some terrific breads, sausages and cheese and then, lunch! Well, for ten of us. The other two at our table were vegans who sipped water and watched us eat farm to table vegetables, lamb and beef (absolutely the best ever--the cattle roam the ranch eating only grass) while one duo played tango music and another duo tangoed through the dining room.

While I was chit chatting with the couple from St. Louis on my left, Jim was talking to the couple from Colorado on his right. Then he turned to me and asked, "Who was your Master Gardener friend who was a meteorologist for the Weather Channel and moved to Boston?" "Lisa Booth. Why?" And Karen, the Coloradan said, "She's my cousin."

Annnnnddddd, rim shot

At sea on the 13th, and then back to Argentina on the 14th to Puerto Madryn and a 2-1/2 hour ride to Punta Tombo to see the 200,000 pairs of Magellanic penguins who nest there. First penguin sighting of the cruise! Then another sea day before the Falklands on the 16th. We've been told that wifi there is iffy at best so this might be the last for a while. When we leave Stanley we'll be headed to Antarctica (!) where we'll spend the next week cruising the coast and channels and straits and then the Drake Passage around Cape Horn.  You can follow the ship on line; just Google, where is the Zaandam.