At half past five this morning, the pilot boarded the ship, and as the captain announced in his message yesterday, the beautiful and elegant Oosterdam (as he always ends his messages) docked at the pier in Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay. We didn't notice any of this. Kevin was supposed to make an announcement at quarter to eight, but apparently couldn't wait and did so at half past seven. Strangely enough, this time it could be heard in the cabin đ Not that it mattered, as we were already awake. We don't have a tour planned for today, as everything here is said to be within walking distance.
After breakfast, we took a moment to observe the city from the aft deck, observing the activities in the port, which is almost adjacent to the city center, and on the other side, we observed the Costa Favolosa and the ship graveyard.
Around half past nine, we disembark and head towards the old town. We weave our way through the taxi and tour providers that were absent yesterday but are now plentiful. At the tourist information booth, we receive a city map, which they distribute outside. We also step inside briefly and find another map before setting off on our exploration.
It's still quite early for the city. We notice that it looks messier here than in other cities we've visited. Not necessarily dirty, but somewhat unkempt. Soon, we reach the pedestrianized area. Cars stop obediently at every street we cross, as we've come to expect throughout South America. We stroll through the car-free part of the city where a few palm trees and some souvenir stands line the long street. We're on the lookout for an ATM to withdraw Uruguayan pesos, but we can't seem to find one.
We continue walking past the cathedral, which, while not very large, is unmistakably Catholic, although not as lavishly adorned as those in Italy, for example.
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Plaza de la Constitucion, several statues, but no ATM and also no store where we can find insect repellent. It is recommended to bring it tomorrow when we go horseback riding on the pampas. Let's hope we can borrow it from someone. Montevideo has some beautiful facades, but much of it is faded glory.
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| Airco's |
Then we spot the Puerto Market that Kevin recommended earlier this week. It looks nice with its restaurants, but it's still early and part of it is closed because it's for rent or something. We take a quick look around but decide it's too early for lunch, although it looks very appealing with the various meats cooking over open wood fires. We settle for just a beer for now. It tastes excellent, and we enjoy the atmosphere around us. Payment can be made in dollars, but they find the two $10 bills not good-looking enough, and there's a tear in the $20 bill, so that's also rejected. We end up paying the 500 pesos ($14) with the credit card. Jan's card should be fine, but it refuses to accept the PIN, which is absolutely correct. Luckily, mine works. We'll have to call home again later.
Om de tijd te doden en de eetlust op te wekken, lopen we de straat nog eens in en zien dan Alfy en To kill time and work up an appetite, we stroll down the street again and spot Alfy and Marianne sitting at a terrace. Naturally, we stop for a chat. I give Marianne a keychain with Delft blue clogs, which she's very happy about. I also give them the link to our blog, although it's in Dutch, of course. They ask for our email address too and insist that we absolutely must visit Minneapolis/St. Paul sometime. Alfy mentions that he's in the Guiness Book of Records and shows us a card from the game Trivial Pursuit, which is quite worn out by now. He did it again 8 years later and managed to score 11,030 points. After we finally manage to tear ourselves away, we decide to keep it budget-friendly and have lunch on board at the Dive In. It's our last chance for a hamburger there.
As we approach the ship, I mention how much I'd like to wash my hands. And then, at the entrance, they have wet towels ready for us. Lovely. Maybe it's with disinfectant, but that doesn't matter. At least you can't smell it.
The roof of the pool is fully open again, and it's very pleasant there. Two tables away, Bob and Nancy are sitting, and later on, Ron and Ann join us. Bob notices that I'm writing and we start talking about it. I give them the link to our blog, and they spontaneously invite us to Phoenix and/or Vancouver, depending on our travels and the time of year, to come visit. Ron jokes about doing our laundry for us, which makes the whole group burst into laughter. We exchange contact information and chat away. We really should start packing, though, because tomorrow night we have to leave our suitcases with tags in the hallway, and we don't want to have to do it all after a full day out tomorrow. Eventually, we manage to say our goodbyes, and then we start packing one suitcase.
That's challenging because we still have two days of warm weather here, actually three, and on the third day, we'll be flying to Toronto where it's winter again. Plus, we're going horseback riding tomorrow, so we need some things for that too. Jan checks us in online for our flight on the 2nd to IguazĂș.
We watch from the aft deck and from deck 10 for the unique departure. We're lying lengthwise along the quay, the Costa is to our right lengthwise with its nose facing ours, and to our left, also lengthwise like the Costa, there's a cargo ship. The area tapers off. Behind us is a wall that marks the boundary of the port, beyond which lies the ship graveyard. Between the Costa and the wall, we have to steer our bow to head towards the sea. It's quite impressive how the captain manages to do this, and we have quite an audience from the Costa. This time, the pilot probably serves a purpose. Because our ship is equipped with the Azipod systeem, the rudders can also steer the ship sideways, which is very convenient in this case.
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| The pilot |
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| Here we have to go through |
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| The carge shipthat was on our left |
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| The Costa Favolosa |
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| The custom building to the right |
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| succeeded |
We dine at the Lido and head to the Mainstage where a tango show starts at 7 p.m. It's an enjoyable performance featuring the tango in various versions, from slow and gentle to fiery, and during costume changes, as they are only three performers, images and information about the history and culture of tango are projected, along with the Malambo, which they will showcase later. It's fascinating to see how effortlessly and smoothly they dance, and their footwork is impressive! It's remarkable how they manage to distinguish each other's legs and continue seamlessly. The Malambo, the dance with ropes with balls attached, was also entertaining, although it could have been a bit shorter. After it's over, we head to M&G and then to bed.
