Uruguay is the second smallest country in South America and is bounded by the Atlantic Ocean on the east and Rio de la Plata (where several rivers flow into the Atlantic) on the south. Tomorrow we will be following the Rio de la Plata up stream to Buenos Aires. Uruguay has a population of 3 1/3 million, 88% of them are of European descent. This little country (about size of Colorado) has one of the best economies in South America and has the best health care and education systems. It is 9th in the world in soybean production and 20th in cattle production. Wool is also a big export. Montevideo has one of the most advanced container shipping terminals in the world and handles over 1 million containers annually. The international airport recently built a new, very modern passenger terminal. I have flown into this airport several times.
From my photos of the city you will see the beautiful old architectural buildings with European influences. We did not have a tour here today because we will be back here again next Wednesday. We will do a tour then. Why are we stopping here twice? Well, the third segment of the cruise begins in Buenos Aires on Monday. Two thirds of the passengers will be new so we will stop here for them. The next segment is 10 days from BA to Rio.
We got off the ship at noon and took a 2 hour walk through part of the city on our own. We were walking through the old part of Montevideo and you can see that it is very run down and in disrepair. It is unfortunate as these are interesting old buildings. People are starting to reinnovate some of them. The old train station has been turned into a "market" but it was full of parrillas. A parrilla is a restaurant that cooks ALL kinds of meats, sausages (called chirizos), and includes entrails on open wood fires. Actually, the coals were raked under the iron grates that the meats were cooked on. You will find parrillas in Uruguay, Argentina, and Brazil. Just one word--FANTASTIC! We will be dining at my favorite one in Buenos Aires tomorrow night.
When we got back to the ship they were still loading supplies onto the Mariner. I noticed our chef, Guido, was down inspecting about 10 containers of fresh fish that was coming aboard. He took EVERY fish out and then looked at it and smelled it to make sure it was good. This is what impresses me about Regent Cruises.
We will not be leaving here until 10pm so the pool deck is being converted into a large dining area and they will be barbequeing meats and fish for dinner under the stars. You may recall we did one earlier on the cruise. I will go up and take photos again but we will dine down in the Compass Rose restaurant.
It is a perfect day here with only sun, light winds, low humidity, and temperature of 80F. I wore Rebecca out with all the walking we did. I could tell she was not a happy camper that I had to walk a few miles through the city. She is napping now! Think I will go back out and get a local beer. Hope you are having a great weekend.
