Montevideo, Uruguay

Sunday, March 3

Internet on board ship is dodgy.   We are writing the blog everyday but not always able to send it.

The ship left late last night (maybe it had something to do with the crew announcements in code that we heard), so the ship really booked it during the night.  

There was a tugboat that helped us dock.  Could the reason be all those sunken ships that we see?  We can see at least 20 from our balcony.

We docked at 9 am in Montevideo, Uruguay. It was a beautiful hot day. 

Montevideo is Uruguay's capital, population 1.4 million.  It is the southernmost capital in the Americas.   Montevideo hosts the longest carnival in the world, starting in January and going through March.  It is said to be the city with the best quality of life in Latin America (I guess that's why everything was so expensive here???). 

As we were getting off the ship this morning, we saw a line of several dozen people with luggage waiting to get on.  Did they miss their connection in Buenos Aires?  Was it because of the strike???

Today we booked our own tour with Baja Bikes, starting at 11 am.  The name Montevideo supposedly comes from the Portuguese "Monte vide eu" which means "I saw a mountain".  Oh oh, does that mean there are a lot of hills on this bike ride????  Frankie was biking at the gym 3 days a week to get ready for this one tour, but it turned out to be easy peasy.

The tour was 3.5 hours long. There were 9 of us and our guide Michael.

Some of the sights we saw in the city:

Then he took us to the Rambla.  Rambla is a 22 km long promenade along the beach. He says it is the longest continuous walkway in the world.  It had a barely marked bike lane.

We stopped in a park where we ate boxed snacks. Frankie's gluten free one was better than Anton's.

Uruguay has a Holocaust Memorial!

After the bike tour, we walked around the Mercado (Market).  The smell of Montevideo is bbq beef.

The ship sailed at 6 pm.  The show was supposed to be Rock City, but apparently some of the dancers were sick, so a singing trio did an impromptu show doing Michael Buble-ish music.