montevideo, uruguay...

Uruguay is a small country...wedged between Argentina, Brazil and the Atlantic Ocean. Though it is comprised mostly of fertile soil and grassy prairies...we never saw that side of the country.

Our port of call was Montevideo...the capital city which has 1.8 million residents (mostly Spanish and Italian). Over half the population of Uruguay lives here. 

I was looking forward to exploring the city which was the birth place of my good friend, Anneliese .  Her family left the country when she was a child....and she has never returned to visit.

It seems that many boats ran into trouble and there they stayed....right next to the cruise ship terminal. 

We went on shore...and took a tour of the city with its 14 miles of beautiful beaches!



It is a rather lovely old 'seaside' city...though the 'sea' is actually the Rio de la Plata River which is 140 miles across at its mouth.  No wonder it appears to be an ocean rather than a river! It holds an enormous amount of water...since it is the end flow of two rivers (the Uruguay River and the Parana River).  This is the second largest draining basin in South America and carries a huge amount of silt out to the sea. 



And that explains why sailboats sail on seas of brown...in Montevideo!  Though we saw many people swimming out there...the brown water looked less than appealing to me. 

The beaches though were lovely! It was summer vacation while we were there...and it seemed everyone was out on the beach having fun.

Palacio Salvo is an iconic building of Montevideo...constructed in 1925 and standing 100 meters high...it was South America's tallest building for many decades.  It was originally intended to be a hotel...but is now a mix of residential and commercial space.

And then there was the impressive Palatio Legislativo (the government building)...also completed in 1925 to mark the 100th year of independence for Uruguay.  Designed by Italian architects...featuring local Carrara marble walls, ceiling murals and gold relief work...the building is a National Historic Monument.  Quite lovely!

We learned a little of the city's history...that it was founded in the 18th century by the Spanish, and over the years its citizens fought against the British, Spanish and Portuguese for independence, as well as neighboring Argentineans and Brazilians. Today Montevideo is the major commercial center of Uruguay.   We visited Old Town...just steps away from the modern, bustling city square.  All that remains of the old fortified city is the original city gate...which now divides the old from the new.

The beverage of choice in much of South America seems to be 'tea' (an infusion, actually).  Not just any tea...but yerba mate.   And it would never do to drink it from a regular mug.  It is steeped in a special gourd called a guampa...then sipped through a bombilla (straw with a filter on the end). I couldn't resist bringing home a souvenir for my son-in-law...who would feel right at home in Montevideo, sipping on his favorite beverage!

As for trees...we mostly saw eucalyptus or palm trees.  The eucalyptus trees were introduced to Uruguay from Australia in the late 1800's...and have been a boon to the economy.

Apparently the fishing in Uruguay is good as well...though these fishermen never looked too serious about their sport!

Our time in Montevideo was over before we knew it......and a tugboat showed up to push us out to sea.

 See what I mean about muddy water?

And soon the city of Montevideo was but a memory.  A good one!

don't cry for me argentina...

Buenos Aires is apparently known as the city that never sleeps...
 

...and from the vantage point of our hotel room it looked like that was the case.  We arrived a full day before our cruise was to begin...so we set about exploring.

On foot!  I think one might need special training to drive in this city.  We had no idea how the traffic flow was supposed to work at this intersection...and judging by all the traffic police, we weren't the only ones.


The following day we took a city tour...visiting some of the city's top attractions.

At the United Nations Square we saw the Floralis Generica...a large steel sculpture gifted to the city by architect Eduardo Catalono.  It stands 23 meters tall and weighs 18 ton.  And here's the thing...it is open during the day and closes its petals at night.  

Looking rather like Hawaii's banyan tree...Buenos Aires boasts many old fig trees (ficus).   The one pictured here is several hundred years old.

La Casa Rosada (or 'pink house') is the executive mansion and office of the President of Argentina. And if you are familiar with 'Evita'...here is where you can see the balcony from which Eva Peron gave her famous speeches.  She died when she was she was just 33 years old...adored by the masses and hated by most of the upper class as she stood by the side of her husband, Juan Peron. It’s an interesting piece of history!


Though visiting cemeteries is not usually at the top of my 'bucket list'...I must say that Recoleta Cemetery in Buenos Aires warrants a visit.  It is considered one of the ten most beautiful cemeteries in the world...and even trumps the amazing cemetery we toured in New Orleans a few years ago.

Rest in peace!

This cat seemed to be doing just that...in the shade of the ornate mausoleums.

The cemetery is like a miniature city...with streets and alleys.

Behind every door lies a story!

La Recoleta is one of Buenos Aires most visited sites...and for good reason.

It is the final resting place of Eva Peron...and there is always a crowd gathered around her tomb.

The La Boca neighbourhood...with its colourful houses and pedestrian street has an Italian bent.

 

We strolled the Caminito...a cobblestone pedestrian street...

...watched tango dancers

...and checked out the shops.

 
That's what tourists do...right?

From there it was on to the Metropolitan Cathedral...the main Catholic church in Buenos Aires which is located in the city center...overlooking Plaza de Mayo.  Approximately 90 percent of Argentinians are Roman Catholic.

Originally built in the 16th century...it has been re-built several times since then.  Quite beautiful!

Inside the cathedral is an ornate mausoleum containing the remains of General José de San Martín...the South American liberator who fought successfully for freedom in Argentina, Peru, and Chile.   We heard a lot about him during our time in South America! Two soldiers stand on guard over his flag-draped coffin.

Enough of museums and cathedrals.  It was time to eat...and dance.

 

We ate.  They danced the tango.  And I somehow missed the memo about 'no photos'.  And so I took one...a rather fuzzy one...before I clued in.   They put on a fabulous show!  The finale?  'Don't Cry for Me, Argentina'...sung so beautifully.  I can't even begin to count how many times we heard that song over there.  Now that we are back home...I plan to watch Evita.  I really wished I had done so before before we went!

It was time to make our way back to the cruise ship...

...where we had one last glimpse of the city before we set sail. 

Several hours later we found ourselves back on that pool deck...to watch the Superbowl game on a warm summer evening on the waters off of Argentina.

Can you believe I actually kept hubby company up there to the bitter end?  And yes...it was a bitter end.  We were rooting for Seattle.  Of course.


And so ended our stay in Buenos Aires.  Next stop?  Uruguay.

february...at home and abroad

We were away most of the month...and returned home last weekend to find that spring had arrived in our valley!

The magnolia that always blooms at the beginning of April...is blooming.  As are the daffodils...the crocuses...the Easter rose and the heather.  And the snow has been rapidly disappearing from our favorite peaks.

Let me give you a brief overview of our most excellent adventure...and then I'll take you back to some of the ports of call over the the coming weeks.  We took a cruise around the Cape Horn of South America...a cruise that began in Buenos Aires, Argentina and ended in Santiago, Chile.  We added on a week-long land tour in Peru at the end...and were so glad we did.  Let's start at the beginning.

It seems there is no simple way to get from Vancouver to Buenos Aires...and after trying unsuccessfully to book our flights, I finally gave up and opted for the flights that were made available through the cruise line.  The price was right...though I was a little leery about flying via Toronto and JFK at the end of January.  For good reason!  We barely made our connecting flight in Toronto...and then sat on the tarmac for an hour while the plane was de-iced.  In New York, we ran to our boarding gate and arrived just as the last of the passengers were loading.  Whew!  Had we flown a day or two earlier, we would have had to re-book our flights, since JFK was shut down due to the storm of the century (the one that never lived up to its name!).  From there on, it was smooth sailing to Argentina.  We left Vancouver at 8 AM and arrived at our hotel in Buenos Aires the following afternoon at 3:30. We had a full day before the scheduled cruise...and we were ready to explore!

We stayed right in the heart of the city and had a wonderful time walking everywhere!  The city felt like Paris to us.  Once we were on the cruise ship...we learned that Buenos Aires is known as the 'Paris of South America'. 

Our first port of call was Montevideo...the capital of Uruguay and home to almost half of the population of the country. I have a good friend who was born in this country...so I took notes.

Next stop...Puerto Madryn, a Welsh settlement in the Patagonian region of Argentina.  We checked out the sea lions lazing in the sun on the beautiful beaches.  In the distance a storm was brewing!

In the Falkland Islands (comprised of East Falkland, West Falkland and some 776 small islands about 300 miles from the Argentine coast) we docked at Stanley and rode a 4x4 SUV across the island to see the rockhopper penguins.  How well I recall the conflict for control of these islands between Britain and Argentina in 1982.  The islands remain a United Kingdom Overseas Territory...and all the locals that we met were very proud to be British (and huge fans of Margaret Thatcher!).

They were most charming!

And then...we sailed around Cape Horn!  It was a cool day...but relatively calm when we navigated around the cape. Cape Horn is the southernmost tip of South America...where wild seas and strong winds are the norm and have kept human settlement away.  The only inhabitants are the 'lighthouse keeper' and his family...who belongs to the Chilean Navy. Just south of Cape Horn is the Drake Passage...once the only way for ships to move from the Atlantic to Pacific Ocean. 

Ushuaia...the gateway to Antarctica, is the southernmost city in the world.  We drove to the very end of the Pan-American Highway...which put us some 17,848 kms. from Alaska.  As I recall...it was much warmer in Alaska!

We saw many glaciers from our ship as we sailed by...though we missed the big one in Chile (the Amalia Glacier) as we had very rough seas that day and the captain stayed away from the shoreline to be on the safe side.  I wasn't much in the mood for viewing glaciers that day anyhow...I felt more like feeding the fish, if you know what I mean!

We spent some time in Punta Arenas, Chile...where we drove for hours across the Patagonian steppes and checked out the penguins at Otway Sound.  It may be summer over there...but the wind never stops blowing and winter jackets are the norm.

Puerto Montt, Chile was one of our favorite shore excursions. We walked off the ship and met a tour guide whose scheduled tour for the day had fallen through...and he offered to take us out on a private tour.  He spoke English well, taught tourism at the university and was  storehouse of knowledge.  We drove to the Osorno volcano (pictured above), checked out the farms...and the German villages and took note of the beautiful flowers growing everywhere.

Our cruise ended in Valparaiso, Chile...a large seaport just an hours drive from Santiago.  From there...we flew to Lima, Peru for a one-week land tour.  That landed up being the highlight of our trip! We spent one night in Lima and then flew to Cusco...elevation 11,150 feet above sea level.  Yes, altitude sickness is for real! Thankfully it was short-lived for us.

It was Carnival time in Peru and we enjoyed the parades and celebrations happening in every city square.

Driving through the Peruvian countryside...with farming happening on terraced mountaintops...was a treat!

The highlight?  Machu Picchu!

We met two other couples on our cruise who were also doing the land tour in Peru...and we became fast friends.  Tim and Julie were from El Paso, Texas and Bob and Brenda live in Arizona.  They were the best of travel mates on our Peru adventure and we had a lot of laughs!

We happened to be in Peruvian Andes during the rainy season...which means it rains pretty much every day!  We came prepared with rain gear...but actually enjoyed amazing weather.  The river flowing by our hotel at Macchu Picchu was muddy and angry!  Scary...actually!

We ended our time in Peru with a tour of Lima...the capital city that is known for its sunless, gray skies.  Really?  It was lovely when we were there. Being in a desert area...the city only gets 2.4 inches of rain per year (that's half of what Palm Springs gets). 

After three weeks of exploring South America...it was high time to fly home!

Oh what a treat for the eyes...this window view as we flew into Vancouver on a sunny February afternoon. 

There really is no place like home!

As I unpack my photos...I'll share our adventures at the various ports of call...tell you about the people we met along the way...the places we visited and the foods we ate (and those we were not brave enough to try!). 


This week, we caught up with all the kids, and the grands...visited Dad and Marge...and mostly 'took care of business'.  It seems I have spent much of the week in the office...and hubby has been working out in the fields.  Who knew spring would come so early this year?

Thanks for stopping by!