Tuesday 27 January 2015

Days 18 and 19 - Sunday 25th and Monday 26th January 2015 - Montevideo

Days 18 and 19 - Sunday 25th and Monday 26th January 2015 - Montevideo

Firstly apologies to anyone who has noticed the reduction in blog entries the past few days - we have been so busy that I've got rather behind! But I have a lazy afternoon ahead of me so I will endeavour to fill you in on the past 2 days which were both spent in Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay.

We got up at 6.00 on the Sunday to watch the beautiful sunrise and then the sail in to Montevideo. In fact I was on the balcony so early that I even saw the pilot enter the ship (via a very wobbly looking step ladder!) to help guide the captain into the dock. We could see lots of boats all around, as Montevideo is situated at one side of the enormous Rio de la Plata, with Buenos Aires in Argentina on the other side, and it is a popular route. As we approached the city we could see beaches, tall buildings, and the famous hill which apparently gave the city its name - legend has it that the first man to sail in to the city called out "Monte vide eu!" which mean "I can see a hill" in the old language! Another story says that it was the 6th hill as the sailors went from East to west down the river, and so they marked it in their records as 'Monte-VI-de-EO' meaning 'hill-6 (in Roman numerals)-from-East to west'. Whatever the truth is, it was a pretty hill with a fortress on top!

We stayed on deck for a while watching the captain squeeze the ship into the tight harbour, and then had breakfast before meeting in the theatre for the first day's tour - A Day in the Countryside. We set off at 9.00 starting with a quick city tour, visiting the main square in Montevideo 'Plaza de la Independenzia' which has a statue of Uruguay's national hero General Jose Gervasio Artigas who helped the country gain independence. It has pretty fountains and trees, and is surrounded by some interesting old buildings. We also stopped to take photos of the enormous and impressive Congress building with its intricately carved columns on the roof. 

From here we set of for a drive of about 45 minutes to the main focus of our visit - a traditional ranch called Estancia La Rabida. This is owned by a Uruguayan family who all live and work there (from the great grandmother who built the estate with her husband, down to the 5 year old great grandson). Once our coaches entered the first gate, we drove for another 15 minutes past fields full of corn and soya and cows, before reaching the centre of the ranch, as it is so huge - 3650 acres altogether! We were greeted by a number of the family on horseback waving large welcome flags! 

Right by the entrance was a horse with her newborn foal who we stopped to coo over, before heading to the main area where unlimited free drinks were being served. I had some lovely fresh lemonade with mint, while JL discovered the local Uruguyan wine. We had a little look at the animals who were roaming nearby - a number of horses and a few cows, and JL looked longingly at the enormous barbecue which had just started cooking! We soon climbed into trailers, sat down on bales of hay, and were taken on a tour of the ranch - it was gorgeous! On the way we past some of their 650 dairy cows, as well as many more fields of corn and even a wind farm with 9 turbines. 

The ride eventually stopped, and we got out and were led down a cobbled path to the beach by the river (it is so wide here that it is hard to tell if it is a river or still the sea - in fact even the guides seemed to disagree with each other over this!). A couple of the family members had accompanied us on their horses and happily rode them along the beach and into the sea. We were given another drink and some yummy biscuits filled with dulce de leche, and spent a bit of time taking photos and paddling. Then back onto the trailers for the leisurely ride back, this time past the main house with its traditional thatched roof and own swimming pool! Wow.

When we arrived back, lunch was ready. This was an absolute banquet - even I found plenty to eat! They started with trays of grilled sausage, vegetables and bread for people to nibble on. We then went into a barn where there were tables of salads and hard boiled eggs and pasta dishes set out - we collected what we wanted and then made our way to our seats - on hay bales! I was full by the end of this but most people (including JL of course!) then went back outside to collect as much meat as they wanted from the barbecue, and some vegetables which had been roasted in a traditional clay oven. Dessert was fresh strawberries - they were divine! :-)

Then came the bit I had been waiting for all day... They brought out one of the cows, and we got to try our hand at milking her! I have always wanted to milk a cow! I was however rubbish at it - it looks so easy but there is a definite knack to it. The owner filled up an entire glass of milk in the time it took me to get about 2 squirts! Then a load more people had a go, more or less successfully - the cow was very tolerant!

We were then taken on a short walk through some pretty herb gardens, to where the family had built a set of taps bringing up water from the freshwater aquifer which stretches under most of Uruguay and much of Argentina, Paraguay, and Brazil. The lady was explaining that there is so much drinking water there that they can literally leave the taps on without worrying about it, and she did - it made me cringe!

When we got back they had harnessed up one of the horses with a cow skin at the end of 2 ropes and a new activity was offered (which we did not try as it looked terrifying!) - people would sit on the cow skin and hold on for dear life, while the horse cantered round the field and pulled them along! We also watched a beautiful juvenile horse being trained.

All too soon it was time to leave :-(. I have decided that I want to live on a farm one day! (Although it will be a farm which doesn't kill any of its animals!) We took the pleasant coach ride back to the city and got back to the ship just before 4.00.

We went for a wander along the dockside as we had spotted an Internet shop on the way in, so I used this to have a lovely Skype chat to my family, and JL had a leisurely look at his websites without me looking over his shoulder counting out the minutes! We then headed back to the ship for dinner (JL didn't eat much after his feast at lunchtime!) As it was Burn's Night, the menu was all in Scottish and in the middle of the meal we were stopped by a procession around the restaurant led by a bagpiper and a chef carrying a haggis, and then there was a recital of the famous Robert Burns poem.

In the evening at the theatre they had a local Uruguayan artist called Gaucho del Plata performing - he was a very amusing guy whose act mainly involved swinging small balls on the end of strings around! There were variations such as when he got a member of the audience up and knocked a flower out of his mouth with one of these spinning things, and another where he set fire to the strings! It was quite impressive! The only downside of the evening for me was I discovered that my hay bale at lunchtime must have had some sort of mites in it as my legs were covered in bites which had started itching like mad!!! I'm going off this farm idea...!

We went to bed on a non-moving ship for the first time since leaving Southampton and got a good night's sleep ready for a second day in Montevideo!

On the second day we had booked another excursion - Steam Train and Highlights. We boarded our coach at 9.30 and went on a quick tour of the city centre, seeing the same places as the start of yesterday's tour initially! The coach then dropped us off at the railway station where we boarded our steam train - built in 1954 and recently renovated by a local railway friends association. We had a half hour journey out of the city past rich and poor neighbourhoods until we got to the station of PeƱarol. We had a bit of time to take photos of the train and say hello to the local school children who had come to see us, and then got back in our coach which had driven to meet us.

We then embarked on a 2 1/2 hour tour of the city by coach with a number of stops on the way. We saw the wealthy area close by the station with many mansions and beautiful town houses, and some incredible churches and cathedrals. We stopped at the La Diligencia sculpture which is a bronze statue in the middle of a pond of a stagecoach and horses representing the original settlers here. Sadly a lot of the bronze from the statue had been stolen over the years. The next stop was at the monument to the last Charruas Indians, who were the 5 last indigenous people from Uruguay (after the rest had been slaughtered by the settlers) who were then taken to Paris and put on display there where they later died :-(

We drove past some rose gardens, a famous obelisk, the national football stadium, and some more statues including La Carreta (the stage coach) - another bronze sculpture but this time alarmed and guarded round the clock! The final stop was at the monument to the Fallen Soldiers of the Navy which was a modern sculpture supposedly symbolising a starving man clinging on to the side of a ship. There were beautiful views from here back to the city, showing the beaches that line the coast - we then drove past these beaches, and also some lush green parks, before returning to the ship.

We had a spot of lunch and then headed back out in search of free wifi which we had heard was available at the tourist office. Unfortunately half the ship had the same idea, the place was heaving and no one could log on! So we had a wander round the dockside, including the outdoor exhibit of some old ship relics, the most famous being the anchor and the range finder from the Graf Spee (a German battleship whose captain had purposely sunk it in the river in 1939 rather than lose it to the British). We then had a look at some of the local shops, and I chose a lovely magnet. I opened my bag to get out my purse to pay... only to find I had left my purse on the ship! JL's patience ended there so we went back to the room together and then I left him to go to the pool while I went back out (with purse this time!) to get my magnet and buy and send a postcard. I made sure to be back in time for afternoon tea though - scrummy!

At 5.00 today they were doing a line dance sailaway, so I went down to the pool to join in with some of the dances we had done so far in the classes - it was good fun. By 6.00 everyone was back on board and the ship was ready to leave - we went up on deck to watch the sailaway which involved a very tight turn in the harbour in order to get out - once again I realised how little I would like to be a captain!

We went along to dinner shortly afterwards, and from there to the evening's show by the Headliners theatre group - a seventies montage called Blame it on the Boogie - there were some fab costumes and very cool dancing! I then went to another show by a duo called Elektra who are trained classical violinists. They performed an exciting show with some classical pieces and also some Irish fiddle tunes and some film music - amazing. What a wonderful 2 days!!! :-)

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