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Grand Voyage--2012:  << Part 1 << Part 2 << Part 3 << Part 4 << Part 5  Part 6  Part 7 >> Part 8 >>
Part 9 >> Part 10 >> Part 11 >> Part 12 >> Part 13 >> Part 14 >> Part 15 >> Part 16 >> Part 17 >> Part 18 >> Part 19 >>
  Part 20 >> Part 21 >> Part 22 >> Part 23 >> Part 24 >> Part 25 >>

The second day, we decided to walk over to the Ecological Preserve and on the way over, we ran into two very different types of flowers that were almost the same color. One was on a street tree, while the other was a metal sculpture of a passion flower.


We passed a four-man rowing team just getting started early in the morning and then a neon sculpture that probably looks better in the dark, but still pretty cool in the day. 

   
We spotted a small flock of green and blue parrots amongst the pigeons in a park on the way over to the preserve.  First we walked along the wall on city-side shoreline, where many birds perched and darted into the wild areas looking for bugs. The vendors along this wide sidewalk had already filled the air with enticing smells of grilled meat and sausages--each one had created their own sidewalk cafe area with tables, chairs, porta-potties, and even interesting street art. 

 

 
Ancient wisteria vines covered arbors over some areas of the walkway and the patron saint of the Navy looks toward the preserve. We think this must have been a well-used waterfront at one time, but now the ecological preserve has replaced the deep water with wetlands.


Signs indicated that the geese pictured here were nesting, but we didn't see any on the trail we took. Maybe if we'd walked the outer trails, we might have had better luck.

  
We saw a number of birds including this mockingbird relative, which is about 1/3 larger than our Florida species. We don't know what the brown bird is, but it sure can strut its stuff. We saw some hummingbirds, but they moved so fast that we could not take a photo or even identify if they were ones we were familiar with. 


Many of these plants we've seen in Florida, too.
   

We walked the whole inner loop trail, which was about 1.5 miles, and then we headed back to the ship--also about 1.5 miles.

  
And speaking of familiar plants, sycamore trees have been widely planted around the city--we're out of the tropics for now. 

 
Check out the Spazzini Tur bus with its tandem turning front wheels. The car licensing is done on a federal level--not state. 


After lunch and a rest on the ship, we walked about 30 minutes with our computers to the nearest Starbucks where we spent a couple of hours catching up on emails and I started uploading some of these pages so you could see what we've been up to.

The next day we were headed to Montevideo, the capitol of Uruguay. There are many more passengers with us on the ship now. Buenos Aires is one of the big changeover ports, so some folks flew home from there, while many more joined us for the leg to Sydney, Australia--the next big changeover port. 
~ ~ ~  


The heavy winds caused our ship to heel noticeably and made for a slow entry into the harbor this morning. The city's jetty helped calm the seas near the waterfront.   

         
Montevideo is the largest city in Uruguay with not only all the government buildings and functions, but also all the country's universities. Even so, it's population of three million is relatively small. Again, the European influence shows in the buildings and also in the citizens. 

 

Here are some scenes from around the old city...

Interesting assortments of fruits and vegetables are displayed in boxes outside of markets. The building at the end of the Avenue of the Liberator is the legislative palace.

 

 

      
Maté, a stimulating concoction of teas and herbs brewed in special containers, is commonly consumed in much of South America. This truck driver posed for us drinking his from his own maté cup.


We saw a few of these single horse-drawn vehicles throughout the city, which all apparently deal with trash.

 
Not as many churches here, but obviously still well represented throughout the main old town center.

    
  No matter where we go, Florida apparently is never far away. 

José Artigas is considered to be the father of Uruguay even though he was in exile for many years. >>

 

 
We followed the city map provided as we disembarked, which indicated several streets labeled as an artisan area. We walked about two miles out to there, but it was not really for tourists. There were several places where furniture was made and placed out on the sidewalk for sale. But we met some interesting people and saw the real working neighborhoods of the city with car dealerships, repair shops, and street art.

 


As we approached the port from the other side we found this old fortified wall and a monument to some explorer--we never did find a plaque explaining who it was. Nearby, we found a tiled illustration of Charles Darwin's stops in Uruguay.


A vendor near the dock stacks mirrors against his pickup truck. The prices seemed pretty high to us--about $30 when we converted the peso to $$. 


The old Central Railway Station was once a beautiful building and we think someone could restore it as a marketplace.  It's an easy walk from the ship terminals, but now no one heads in this direction--an investment opportunity for you.

 

After our walk, we came back out to the tourist center next to the port where free, fast Internet was available. We could get to the Internet, but no email (not even online email), no Facebook, no Google, and no banking. Very weird. We could have gone to an Internet cafe, but we were running out of time...


As we left the port, the passengers on the other ship in town, The MSC Armonia, gave us a rousing send off.


We think this might be the entire Uruguay Navy.


Just outside the jetty a bunch of derelict boats rafted together make for an interesting study in color. Behind them you can see a tank farm and a refinery--more of the business-end of this city.

 

And now we'll have two days at sea heading south toward Port Stanley in The Falkland Islands and toward chillier latitudes. 

Dean's Log: Days 19-20

Itinerary graphic    On to The Falkland Islands... >>

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