Blogs from Uruguay, South America - page 5

Hello family, friends and fellow bloggers! Our first entry abroad comes from Buenos Aires, where we arrived yesterday after nearly a week on the road. Last week we had the chance to enjoy some final home comforts before we set off with both sets of parents and in laws, including a walk up the Grand Union Canal, a pub dinner, a final pint of IPA and some home made chocolate cake (thank you Lyn - we will miss these!). After some last minute resolving of a broken iPhone, a small flood in our bathroom and saying all of our goodbyes, after the longest of 10 month countdowns, we were finally ready to go... A long but very comfortable flight saw us arrive mid-evening for an overnight stay in Rio, to one of the most shiny and ... 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

At 08:47 this morning, after sailing 1,042 nautical miles at an average speed of 17.1 knots we docked in Montevideo, Uruguay. After two gloriously fine and sunny days sailing the Atlantic Ocean we were greeted this morning by a monsoonal downpour in Montevideo. Ideally we would have waited for the downpour to abate somewhat before venturing ashore, but we had a 'Wine Experience' booked and needed to get ourselves ashore - in torrential rain! - to meet our guide, Ryan. We put our raincoats on and headed down the gangplank and promptly got soaked from mid-thigh down. We followed the pedestrian path from the boat to the gate out of the port area. With no sign of Ryan we took shelter in the Tourist Information Centre. This ended up being the perfect spot to wait as ... read more

Geo: -34.8939, -56.1568The views from the ship this morning werent particularly thrilling. Just another port, similar in appearance to Beunos Aries. From here, the city looked like a rustic, concrete jungle. How wrong we were to be. We hadnt booked any tours or activities for Uruguay, as both ports were within shuttle or walking distance to the cities and tours going beyond the cities didnt sound exciting enough to justify the costs. We enjoyed breakfast on the ship around 8.30, and an hour later we were disembarking. Nothing whatsoever in the way of customs. We walked straight out the port into the street. The currency here is the Uruguayan Peso. 1AUD = around 25 URU. From the port wed planned to do a walking tour. We noticed a hop on hop off bus here however and ... read more

INTERNET IS USELESS ON BOARD SO THESE ARE GETING LATER AND LATER MONTEVIDEO, URUGUAY 27th January Montevideo is the capital and largest city of Uruguay . The southernmost capital city in the Americas, Montevideo is situated in the southern coast of the country, on the northeastern bank of the Rio De La Plata. The city was established in 1724 by a Spanish soldier, Bruno Mauricio de Zabala, as a strategic move amidst the Spanish-Portuguese dispute over the platine region. It was also under brief British rule in 1807. Montevideo has consistentl... read more