MUAYONTEVIDEO, URAGUAY

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MONTEVIDEO, URAQUAY JANUARY 28 - Wow! What a beautiful day. Full sun, 88 degree, breeze, couldn’t be better. Sunrise 6:03 am; sunset 7:58 pm. Took a “highlights” tour which gave a good overviews of a city of 1.2 million. All the pluses and minuses you might expect, great sections and poor sections. The old section, especially, had great architectural details and was very inviting. A few more miles and we were very much in poverty areas. The litter was amazing to me. Maybe it was because it was a Monday morning and the weekend cleanup crew couldn’t work their magic yet, but it cast a poor shadow on the beauty of the area. Many statues in the parks throughout the city. The tour was, as advertised but I had difficulty understanding the guide because of his accent, good. The English was fine, but I still I had difficulty understanding everything. The beachfront communities were especially nice but, I assume, the most expensive areas of the city. I went back to the ship, had lunch, did my laundry, spent some time in the hot tub and then walked back to the city. There’s a big Mercado within walking distance of the port; many restaurants and shops on pedestrian only streets. I was interested in a local beer, but it was getting close to happy hour back on the ship, so I went back.

Good show tonight and a good dinner at Canaletto, the Italian specialty restaurant on Holland America.

All in all a great day with a lot of interesting sights. I would do it again for a few days, but not much longer.

Tomorrow, Buenos Aires!

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