Will publish pictures later. Next port is Buenos Aires then Falklands
Montevideo, Uruguay 25 January 2011
(Latitude: 34 53'South Longitude: 56 11'West)
(Time -2 hrs GMT)
We pulled into Montevideo and twirled around so that we were facing the exit for another quick getaway Susan and I were trying to recall some outstanding feature or event that happened while we were here in 2004 and apart from Punta del Este, a very nice beach resort about 80 miles out of town, the only remembrance that we have is some very nice balls of cheese that we brought home for $2 per ball.
The ship docks right up against the city and it was easy to walk off the ship into town. The shuttle bus drives the 5 or 6 blocks into the center of town to take those who are less able, then they can slowly walk back to the ship;
We take the tour of the city visiting a wonderful statue of an ox train commemorating the immigrant’s entry into Uruguay and similar bronze statue of a stage coach entry of the immigrants. We visit the parliament building, a very unpredisposing edifice that hides a wondrous inside with marbles of all colors, paintings, frescos and the pomp and ceremony of a capital building. Upon return to the dock, we walked into town for lunch and pottered in the shops
At the dock I am happy to find some of the relics from the German pocket battleship Graf Spee that was scuttled just 3 1/5 miles off Montevideo harbor in December 1939. The anchor was on display along with a very large optical range finder used to lay the six 280 mm (11 ins) guns. By guile of the British Embassy and the two cruisers outside of the River Plate, they duped Captain Lansdorf into believing that half the British Navy lay in wait outside the harbor. As he was low on ammunition, he scuttled the Graf Spee to prevent it falling into enemy hands.
We have decided to change our table from second sitting to first as we find that we are eating at 9:30 and coffee at 10:30. Not only are we beyond hungry but there is no time to do anything interesting for the rest of the evening
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| Town square Montevideo |
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| Docking At Montevideo |
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| Roy teaching the Tango? |
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| Susan getting ready to leave town |
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| Anchor to the Graf Spee | . | Aurora in background |
The name Montevideo is reputed to have come from a Portuguese sailor who espied the only prominent natural feature seen from the sea which is the Cerro, a 450 ft knoll and he called out, “Monte vejo eu”(I see a mountain). Uruguay is about the size of England and Wales has about 3.2 million people, 1.8 million live in Montevideo at the Rio de la Plata, the huge estuary of the Parana River system.
Europeans first sighted Uruguay in 1516. There were several clashes over the next two centuries and the Spanish formally founded Montevideo in 1726. It ceded from Brazil in 1828 and after a stormy and bloody history Jose Ordonez, in 1918 put together a constitution for the country’s social system, apparently unparalleled anywhere else in the hemisphere, including the United States; an eight-hour working day, paid holidays, social security for the aged, free medical treatment, legal divorce, nationalization of almost all essential industries and services, abolishment of capital punishment, separation of church and state and so on, perhaps something that president Obama might have his eye on, obviously Mubarak did not offer the Egyptians these options. We are current with the news from BBC, Sky News and CBS but not in port.
Uruguay is the breadbasket of South America. Over the millennia, large amounts of soil has washed down and blown down from the Andes forming huge alluvial deposits 1,000 ft thick. This deposit obscures normal landscape features and with deposits of clay supports lush grass and over the years great herds of cattle have appeared.
Uruguay is not a normal tourist destination with the seasonal exception of Punta del Este – a major international bathing resort 85 miles east of Montevideo.
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