Unique Uruguay Day 3
Unique Uruguay
Day 03 - Monday, December 05, 2011 – City Tour of Montevideo, Uruguay
Monday in Montevideo – what a beautiful spring day! We met Bob & Susan for breakfast in the hotel and then we made arrangements for sightseeing tours for our two whole days in Uruguay.
The tour companies preferred cash so Bob and I went across the street to a bank to get Uruguayan Pesos. There was a problem with the ATM machines – they were all empty!
A gentleman told us that with all of the weekend festivities all of the money machines were empty. Until the cash was replenished, we would have to wait. After the trouble we had in Israel, we were happy it was not a problem with our card.
With cameras in hand, the four of us set out to explore on our own. Montevideo is well laid out and we had a good map. I had done lots of research before we left and we had Google maps of the places we wanted to see.
We walked from the hotel to the pier, about 20 blocks, past the Plaza Independencia. The shops were starting to open and the vendors were beginning to put out their wares in the park.
Every where we went we saw people with a thermos bottles of hot water and a cup like container made of a gourd trimmed in silver called a guampa with a silver straw for drinking Yerba Maté. This a strong tea made from the leaves and twigs of the maté bushes.
After circling the pier, we got a great idea of how Montevideo is situated on a peninsula that juts out into the brackish water from the Uruguay and Paraná Rivers emptying in to the Atlantic.
We had lunch at the Mercado del Puerto and then Gennie, Bob, and I trekked back to the hotel. Bob and I made another attempt to get pesos but had to try two banks before we were successful at getting cash.
At 2:00 Tamara, our city guide, met us in the lobby to go on a city tour. Along with Alfonso our driver, we traveled in a SSangyong van made in Korea. We spent the next three hours learning more about Montevideo, one of the youngest capitals in the Western Hemisphere.
For over 300 years this port was part of Argentina and Brazil and in 1825 Uruguay (meaning River of Birds) gained its independence from Argentina. Montevideo became a thriving port city.
We visited the Cathedral of Montevideo, the Plaza Independencia, the Parliament Building, Estadio Centenario (soccer stadium), several beaches, Palacio Salvo, Prado Park, and the Western Bay. This tour gave us a chance to see many colorful panoramas of the city.
The temperature was about 80° with a light breeze. The humidity was around 47% with scattered clouds making our afternoon very enjoyable. Tamara and Alfonso scheduled frequent stops for us to take photographs of the capital.
When we returned to the hotel at 5:30 we spent time going through all of the pictures and writing today’s journal. Because we had had a nice lunch at noon, we decided not to have another big meal.
At 7:30 we met Bob and Susan in the lobby and went out in search of an evening snack. We stopped at Facal, a restaurant with an outdoor patio only a few blocks from the hotel.
Gennie wanted to have ice cream right away, but we did manage to convince her to try a schwarma, a beef and vegetable mix on pita bread. Then we all had ice cream for dessert.
Bob and Susan walked back to the hotel but we decided to take a few night shots of the neighborhood. We got home at 9:15 and posted the journal for the day.
Accommodations: Balmoral Plaza Hotel, Montevideo, Uruguay - - - Meal: B
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Uruguayan Flag
Cathedral of Montevideo
Lunch at the Mercado del Puerto
Tamara and Guampa Vender
Indios Charruas Monument at Prado Pa...
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