As I write it is already 2pm here and we are back from our tour and have had lunch. It is 90F with 51% humidity outside now. Clouds are building now. Our tour guide said it has been very dry this summer so farmers are wanting rain. Maybe they will get some soon.
Our tour, "Highlights of Punta del Este" was 3 hours and left ship at 9am. We are anchored today so had a 20 minute ride in a tender boat to get ashore and same coming back. Uruguay has as total population of only 3 million. 1.3 million of them live in the capital, Montevideo. There are 12 million head of cattle and 9 million sheep in Uruguay. Uruguay is a flat country with rich farm land and two extremely HUGE aquifers. The Guanani Aquifer lies beneath all of Uruguay and parts of Argentina, Brazil, & Paraguay. This underground water could supply the world (yes, I said world) with fresh water for 200 years. Uruguay also raises and exports a lot soybeans, wheat, and some rice.
Well, as I said yesterday, Punta del Este is know as the "St Tropez of South America" and has countless beaches making it a vacation resort area for Argentines, Brazilans, and people from all over the world. There are very nice, modern high rise condo buildings lining the beach areas. We drove through the residential areas with beautiful homes. There are quite a few retired people from the US living down here now. These homes are very expensive and quite large. There are no slums here! During the winter months here there are only 8,000 residents but over 150,000 in summer time. We stopped at the Ralli Museum featuring Latin American artists. There was a court yard full of Salvador Dali sculptures. The port was full of very nice yachts.
We were very impressed with Punta del Este and Uruguay as a whole. When rioting in the streets starts in the US (with our debt eventually we will be just like Europe today), I would consider this as my "safe area". The actor, Robert Duvall, has a horse farm near here.
We have requested an "Italian dinner" tonight in Compass Rose. Tonight's menu did not appeal to us so will be having fried calamari & shrimp as appetizer, Caesar salad, veal Parmesan, and spaghetti. Tonight's show is a Polish clarinet virtuoso, conductor, and composer who has performed all over the world. May give it a try.
We sail at 5pm for Rio Grande, Brazil, and will arrive there at 10am tomorrow.
Cut & paste the link below on another browser tab to see some great photos. Then click on first photo to enlarge it. Captions will be in upper right corner. Mid photo there is an arrow to go through rest of photos.
https://goo.gl/photos/8kZ3g5s9DdSMu13v5
Our tour, "Highlights of Punta del Este" was 3 hours and left ship at 9am. We are anchored today so had a 20 minute ride in a tender boat to get ashore and same coming back. Uruguay has as total population of only 3 million. 1.3 million of them live in the capital, Montevideo. There are 12 million head of cattle and 9 million sheep in Uruguay. Uruguay is a flat country with rich farm land and two extremely HUGE aquifers. The Guanani Aquifer lies beneath all of Uruguay and parts of Argentina, Brazil, & Paraguay. This underground water could supply the world (yes, I said world) with fresh water for 200 years. Uruguay also raises and exports a lot soybeans, wheat, and some rice.
Well, as I said yesterday, Punta del Este is know as the "St Tropez of South America" and has countless beaches making it a vacation resort area for Argentines, Brazilans, and people from all over the world. There are very nice, modern high rise condo buildings lining the beach areas. We drove through the residential areas with beautiful homes. There are quite a few retired people from the US living down here now. These homes are very expensive and quite large. There are no slums here! During the winter months here there are only 8,000 residents but over 150,000 in summer time. We stopped at the Ralli Museum featuring Latin American artists. There was a court yard full of Salvador Dali sculptures. The port was full of very nice yachts.
We were very impressed with Punta del Este and Uruguay as a whole. When rioting in the streets starts in the US (with our debt eventually we will be just like Europe today), I would consider this as my "safe area". The actor, Robert Duvall, has a horse farm near here.
We have requested an "Italian dinner" tonight in Compass Rose. Tonight's menu did not appeal to us so will be having fried calamari & shrimp as appetizer, Caesar salad, veal Parmesan, and spaghetti. Tonight's show is a Polish clarinet virtuoso, conductor, and composer who has performed all over the world. May give it a try.
We sail at 5pm for Rio Grande, Brazil, and will arrive there at 10am tomorrow.
Cut & paste the link below on another browser tab to see some great photos. Then click on first photo to enlarge it. Captions will be in upper right corner. Mid photo there is an arrow to go through rest of photos.
https://goo.gl/photos/8kZ3g5s9DdSMu13v5
