Blogs from District of Montevideo, Uruguay, South America - page 5

27. Dezember, Bariloche - Buenos Aires - Colonia (Uruguay) Der Stadtflughafen in Buenos Aires verläuft parallel zum Meer, welches wir beim Verlassen des Terminals auch direkt erblicken konnten. Leider gabs keinen Bus zum Hafen und so stiegen wir in ein Taxi ein. Der Fahrer liess die Reifen schon bei der ersten S-Kurve zweimal quietschen. Vermutlich war er früher ein Ralleyfahrer oder so. Er gab vollgas, hat in den Kurven alle Spuren genutzt, vor dem Grünschalten fuhr er los und beschleunigte auf über 100 km/h in der Stadt. Leider hatte die Schifffahrtsgesellschaft „Colonia Express“ Weihnachtsferien bis zum 7. Januar und so mussten wir zurück zu „Buquebus“ fahren. Der Fahrer hatte zuvor etwas auf Spanisch geschwafelt, was wir aber nicht verstanden haben. Vermutlich wusste er es schon. Nach nur 1 h Fahrt mit dem Passagier- und Autokatamaran bei ... read more

6/29 I got up, packed, and ate some breakfast while I waited for a cab to the airport. I shared the cab with Phil from Germany and got to my flights. It was a little difficult this time because of the language barrier and there were so many people, but not as bad as when I missed my flight because of customs. I saw the beginning of the Mexico v Netherlands game before I boarded the plane. Got through customs easily, exchanged money, and waited outside for the bus. The Uruguayan peso is really inflated and things are just as cheap here as in Brazil. $1 is the same as U$22. Also, it was freezing in Montevideo. Around 50 during the day and 40 at night, plus the wind was blowing since its a coastal city. ... read more

To fill the gap after the grounding of the space shuttle fleet Uruguay has built a replacement quarried from special local heat-resistant stone. I was fortunate enough to get a picture of the completed spaceship on its launch pad; three of the booster rockets are clearly visible (see photo 1). As with most projects there has been a gross financial overrun and so they have had to cut some corners on the transport system for supplies and astronauts to the launch pad (see photo 2). However, the government are confident that the imminent launch will be successful and have commissioned a celebratory tango that is currently being extensively rehearsed in the streets (see photo 3) ahead of the main parade after the launch. ^ Para llenar el vacío después de la puesta a tierra de la ... read more

Geo: -34.8939, -56.1568Wednesday, the 26th, was an onboard day. However, we enjoyed it thoroughly. At 11am we went to the Mariner Society brunch. This group is the loyalty club of Holland America Line. We were welcomed by the captain and then had a great 3 course meal accompanied by champagne and were given coasters of the ship at the end. Very enjoyable.We went to both quizzes for the day winning the afternoon one and then at 7pm our whole group gathered in the Italian restaurant on board, Canaletto's, for a celebration of the 5 members who arehaving birthdays on the trip, including Fletcher. They were all given a special cake and, of course, were sung to as a group. Good food, good company and good wine!The next day we had our first landfall in Argentina, when ... read more

2 hours west of Punta del Este sits Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay. Much smaller than most other SA capitals, you could be in any city in Spain but for the multicoloured housing all over the place. I know I aleady mentioned it but it really does feel Spanish being here. Culturally it feels similar, and visually too. We haven't eaten out here as we have majorly tightened our reign but again the food seems delicious! They are very big on burgers and hot dogs and streets have plenty of vendors. We bought one and oh my god was it good, cheap too. I was quite worried after PdelEste about the prices here but they are significantly lower but still much higher than Brazil. Uruguay feels much more forward thinking than Brazil, you are able to ... read more