Blogs from Uruguay, South America

After our return from Ushuaia, we stayed at the nice hotel, Palacio Paz, near our previous Sheraton Hotel and in a nice park setting. I'll go more into some random nights in Buenos Aire later, but this was just a holdover for our early morning ferry to Montevideo, Uruguay. We checked out of the hotel around 5:30am and walked about 20 minutes to the Buquebus Terminal. Here, we had a very easy, smooth check-in, including immigration for both Argentina and Uruguay in one location. It is a lovely terminal and we just got some juice and coffee while we waited to board. Our ferry was almost empty so we had our pick of seats. I slept 2 of the 3-hour ride to Montevideo. On arrival, we quickly picked up our backpacks and exited the terminal. I ... read more

Blog 6 When I ended the last blog, I had just seen the tango show. The only thing I had left to see was the famous Ateneo bookshop, set in an old theatre. I had marked it in my maps.me app and got in a taxi. It was miles away and the taxi was 2,000 ARS, by far my most expensive. It was an Ateneo bookshop but not the one I wanted, I got the correct address and then another taxi, 1500 pesos !! It was beautiful and deservedly is said to be the most beautiful bookshop in the world. I got a taxi back to where I had eaten breakfast as I had left my, very expensive, water bottle, it could have just added to the expensive day. Thanks to my VPN I watched the ... read more

Today was our final “sea” day which means no stopping at a port today. Here are a few things we learned about South America. The toilets flush backwards… as in, they swirl the other direction when they flush. It is dark at 6pm every day, 365 days a year. They have 12 hours of daylight 365 days a year. The country and the people overall are poor but their shores are lined with Asian based banks like The Bank of China. I’ve already said the Brazilians onboard and in the shops have been rude. Brazilians love to hate Argentinians and Argentinians hate to love Brazilians is a “known” saying around here. Frankly, I don’t think the Brazilians like anyone. Today on the boat overheard speaker they announced “Happy Hour – Buy 6 coffees, get 6 free” ... read more

We arrived in Montevideo, Uruguay bright and early on Saturday, February 11, 2023 for a 10-hour port of call, the second day of our two-day visit to Uruguay. Montevideo, as well as our next port of call, Buenos Aires, Argentina, sits on the banks of Río de la Plata or "river of silver." Where the river empties into the Atlantic Ocean, it forms a funnel-shaped indentation on the coastline. Depending on the geographer, the Río de la Plata may be considered a river, an estuary, a gulf or a marginal sea. If considered a river, it is the widest in the world with a maximum width of 140 miles. “Montevideo” is a word I just like to say. The same holds true for “Uruguay.” I even fleetingly considered Uruguay as a retirement locale. Uruguay is probably ... read more

Una settimana in Uruguay... CHUY: Città di confine tra Brasile (Rio grande do Sul) ed Uruguay comodamente raggiungibile con un lussuoso autobus notturno da Florianopoplis. Perchè proprio Chuy? Semplicemente per il fatto di essere la prima città uruguaiana dopo la frontiera, anzi, esattamente -sulla- frontiera! Avenida Brasil taglia il suo centro e costituisce la linea di confine ufficiale: Brasile a Nord ed Uruguay a Sud, con la città divisa in due e la possibiltà di passare tranquillamente da un paese all'altro più e più volte al giorno, andando a Nord soprattutto per fare shopping, mentre a Sud si trova il centro amministrativo, i migliori ristoranti e gli hotel più economici. Lo ammetto, nulla di indimenticabile, mo ho comunque l'opportunità di osservare da vicino i miei primi esemplari di individui uruguaiani: gente a prima vista tranquilla e ... read more