Montevideo

The vast grasslands that makeup Uruguay were the birthplace of the symbol of the Pampas - the Guacho.  These South American cowboys arose in the 18th century and made a rough tough living capturing the wild horses that escaped from the developing large ranches and then using them to capture the escaped cattle.  They had few possessions apart from a horse, saddle, poncho & knife. Today Montevideo is a city of about 1,800,000 people, almost entirely of European extraction, chiefly Spanish & Italian stock.  It is the largest city in the country, home to half the country's population.

Gary & I took a shuttle to the center of town and walked around looking for an old friend that owned a music store.  Unfortunately, along the way a thief tried to pick Gary's pocket.  He caught the fellow's hand but he was a kid and took off immediately.  Gary, of course, tried to catch him but couldn't.  Being a pretty smart traveler he had nothing in that pocket.  Most of our money/credit cards/cruise card, etc., were elsewhere.  The day could have been a complete disaster, but ended well...the thief got nothing.

2nd Day -

We went to the internet cafe at the dock and sent a few e-mails.  Afterwards we walked to an interesting area near the ship.  Several vendors selling trinkets & jewelry and some really nice restaurants.  They all had open grills cooking everything from fish to lomo & sausage.  Once again we had lomo for lunch (when in Rome) and again it was great.  Walking further, in the old train station were many huge individual grills surrounded by large bars with several stools. The hall was filled with people also seated at small tables eating lunch.  There were hundreds of people everywhere.  It was incredible!  Check out the video, it's worth a thousand words.

 

 After 2 days at sea we leave for Stanley, The Falkland Islands.  Most of the time ships cannot stop there due to high seas.  We have been very lucky to have made it in twice before.