Blogs from District of Montevideo, Uruguay, South America - page 2

When Kate was in the shower this morn , she asked me what it was like out. I replied , snow covered mountains and rain. She made the comment that we did not need to travel 4500 nautical miles to see this! Just a few minutes after I commented on the lack of civilization , we crossed paths with a small fishing vessel and the then overtook a 30 ft sail boat motoring along. What the Hell are they doing here! i suppose they could ask the same question of us. The channel is opening up and the low cloud is dissipating, time for a beer. Captain just advised us that we could expect nice cruising conditions for the next few hours, entering a very narrow, shallow channel , the Summer Channel. The ship would slow ... read more

Suzanne here... The night bus from Porto Alegre was fine. We were given dinner, then they put on a Simon Pegg film. We'd never heard of 'Hector and the search for happiness' and it wasn't the greatest film ever. But it kept us entertained until it was time to try and sleep. What I don't understand is why, on any normal bus journey I'm nodding off within ten minutes. But put me on a night bus and I'm wide awake. We did both manage to get some sleep eventually. I completely missed passport contol. The bus attendant handled all of that while everyone slept. The bus attendant decided it was time for us all to wake up, and put Bonnie Tyler 'Total Eclipse of the Heart' on, which didn't go down well with everyone. We liked ... read more

Again we took a cruise ship tour to get a quick and easy overview of the city. I had not read the itinerary in detail but the part that grabbed my eye was the market. First we stopped at the mandatory city square, then drove up the coast appreciating beach views. Next stop was a stand of trees full of squawking parakeets. At last we headed to the market. Yes it was colourful and yes there were stalls of local produce including from farmers. However it was rather clinical with all the goods in very ordered booths and as it took less than 10 minutes to walk around it was also very small. The best thing that can be said is that we were able to exchange US dollars to treat ourselves to ice cream. Our ... read more

Geo: -34.8939, -56.1568Yesterday, we were up in time for breakfast in the hotel. It closes at 10:30 during the week so we needed to make an effort to get up still adjusting to the time change and lack of sleep on the overnight flight. It was slightly better than yesterday, but still nothing special. The waiter today was more interested in providing service than the one yesterday. After breakfast, we walked outside for just a bit and found that the market had been set up in the street in front of the hotel again. I had read that it was only on Sundays, but it was blocking the street again.Philip and I spent the rest of the morning finishing packing and using the hotel's wifi to read and send messages not knowing how easy internet access ... read more

The $80 ferry-bus combo to Montevideo was more expensive than I'd hoped, but it was a fairly comfortable 3-hour trip. It rained nearly the entire time I was there, though it was unseasonably warm, so I still got in some nice walks and runs, especially along the Rambla, the road and trail that follows the coastline and then Rio de la Plata where it mixes with the sea. The miserable weather met my expectations and reminded me of home. There's a nice locally owned hostel called url=https://www.tripadvisor.es/Hotel_Review-g294323-d9787262-Reviews-Buenas_Vibras_Hostel-Montevideo_Montevideo_Department.htmlBuenas Vibras in a residential neighborhood, but still only a half hour walk to the bus station or city center, and only about 5 blocks from the beach. There are small museums with narrow scopes, like the '1972', which is all about the rugby team that crashed in the Andes ... read more