Circumnavigation South America Mariner Jan 6

[s2000drvr]

s2000dryr -

 

Can I ask you a huge favour? When you have a moment (and only when...) could you gently remind Ray Solaire that he said he would e mail me to get the list of the CC people who will be on the Mariner for the TA after you disembark? Rachel gave him my e mail address but here it is again -- Thompson "ar" verbier.ch Tell him I don't want to seem "pushy" - that's not me!! - but Wes has just posted the plans he has made with the CD for his cruise on the Voyager in terms of a "meet and greet" for CCers - and his cruise is a month after ours!!

 

Many thanks ! I really would appreciate it!

Gerry

 

Yes, no problem to relay your message to Ray. Will ask him in person, or I will send him a note!

[Hambagahle]

Thanks SO much! That is very kind.

 

Can't wait to hear all about Montevideo. At least there I presume you will be docking?

Gerry

[s2000drvr]

Here some links of pictures, not sure if one of these have been posted before:

 

http://photobucket.com/PortStanley

 

http://photobucket.com/PuertoMadryn

[Hambagahle]

What on earth was that Welsh tea room doing in Argentina?? Most astonishing!!

[s2000drvr]

s2000dryr -

 

Can I ask you a huge favour? When you have a moment (and only when...) could you gently remind Ray Solaire that he said he would e mail me to get the list of the CC people who will be on the Mariner for the TA after you disembark? Rachel gave him my e mail address but here it is again -- Thompson "ar" verbier.ch Tell him I don't want to seem "pushy" - that's not me!! - but Wes has just posted the plans he has made with the CD for his cruise on the Voyager in terms of a "meet and greet" for CCers - and his cruise is a month after ours!!

 

Many thanks ! I really would appreciate it!

Gerry

 

What I did was I sent Ray a note with your request today. Hopefully, you will hear from him!

[s2000drvr]

Day 38 Montevideo, Uruguay

 

Woke up and immediately did our one hour walk on the 12th deck with the wind blowing ferociously at us. We saw the sun come up and it was well worth the effort. Beautiful sunrise, bright blue skies and a bit warmer than yesterday.

 

Went to CR for breakfast and had a leisurely one seeing our tour did not start until 10:25a.

 

We did the Old Town Walking Tour. We got on the coach which delivered us to the plaza. There were 29 of us, however, two people missed our bus and we waited just a short time for them to catch up with us at the plaza. The plaza was a nice spot where we saw the differences in the older buildings and the newer ones. The Radisson Hotel was there, along with IBM Uruguay. We did not like how the tour was going, so we did our own thing for a while, then caught up with the group at the Opera House. Before we got to the Opera House, we saw the antique market. It is not what I expected, but there were old items mixed in with new items, like jewelry, key chains, sweaters, etc.

 

The Opera House was just beautiful inside and out. The ceiling was magnificent with the glass chandelier in the center.

 

We then broke away from the tour and did our own tour, walking along the streets, checking out the stores along the way. Leather is a big item here and there were some beautiful purses, shoes. We watched people drinking their tea in the special cup and the thermos of hot water under one arm, always seeming to be pouring and drinking the tea. I do not know how they can sleep at night with all that caffeine.

 

We walked down to the Meat Market which is a place where there are many, many restaurants, some outside, a lot inside that have these huge wood burning pits where they are roasting all kinds of meat, sausages, intestines, sweet breads, kidneys, etc. We watched to try and understand how to order.

 

We chose an outdoor restaurant so that we could hear people playing drums, guitars, etc. in the little square that was near us. We ordered a meat pile for 2, even though there were 5 of us. I will give you all a link to the pictures of the meat pile. There were potatoes, chicken, ribs, sausages, etc. We did not eat it all. I only had the chicken as I did not like the steak, but everyone else did. The sausage was good, but I did not try the blood sausage. The meat comes to the table in a large round pan piled high. The pan sits on another pan which has charcoal underneath it to keep everything hot. It was phenomenal.

 

We love Uruguay!! The city of about 1.2 million consists of the new city and old city. We only visited the old city. The streets are cobblestone. The buildings remind us of Europe with the small balconies overlooking the streets. What a time we had and we are coming back in a few days on the 15th!! Cannot wait to return!

 

Dinner was in CR with Dorothy and George. Rich and I ate little as I think we ate ½ a cow at the Meat Market.

[RachelG]

Love your description of the "meat pile". And I agree, I don't see how they can sleep at all drinking that much caffeine.

[Hambagahle]

Meat pile sounds incredible! And the open pit roasting! I am sorry that our SA cruise did not stop in Uruguay - or at least, not while we were on the ship. Montevideo sounds entrancing!

 

Thanks for passing the note to Ray. Will let you know if he is in touch!!

 

Gerry

[tillington]

What on earth was that Welsh tea room doing in Argentina?? Most astonishing!!

Dydy achos a 'n fawr percentage chan 'r Patagonian bablogaeth ydy chan Cymraeg ach a Cymraeg ydy gostega'n hwy 'n flaen dafodiaith.

Caffwn ceodod hon was ffaith 'n hysbys at odiaeth boblogi !

A large percentage of the Patagonian population is of Welsh descent and Welsh is still their first language. I thought everyone was aware of this!

[s2000drvr]

Day 39 Buenos Aires, Argentina Feb 12, 2012

 

What a glorious day! The sun was shining, bright blue skies. We did our one hour of walking where the wind was a bit strong. Off in the horizon we could see the skyline of BA. By the time we were winding down our walk, we were pulling into the docking area.

 

Because we had an afternoon tour, we had a leisurely breakfast in CR. We spent the morning relaxing around the pool reading.

 

Lunch was great in CR, then off to do our tour of the Highlights of BA with the Evita Museum. We had to take a shuttle to the terminal where we met our tour guide and the coach. It was a smaller group than most of the other tours we have been on. Our guide spoke excellent English and was very knowledgeable.

 

We drove to the Plaza de Mayo where we got off the bus for 20 minutes and could check out the cathedral and the Presidential Office, which is painted pink. You cannot miss it. We did notice that there is graffiti, litter abounds in some places, and there are the homeless. One can tell this is a large city.

 

We toured some of the neighborhoods, from the middle class, upper class and the slums. We got off in the middle class area and were able to walk around for 30 minutes. There were some craft areas, souvenir shops, lots of eateries where there some couples doing the Tango. It would be a great place to hang out and have a drink or eat if time permitted. The houses were brightly painted making it quite interesting.

 

From there we were shown the upper class area which was quite nice. We went to the Evita Museum which was fascinating. I especially liked seeing some of the dresses that she wore, hats, shoes. Unfortunately, a lot of the descriptions were in Spanish, although some were in English. There were two floors that we explored.

 

After a bit of more driving around the area which we were now in the Recoleta area. I love this area as we have seen some of this area on a tv show called House Hunters International. Lots of nice small eateries, shops. We then went to the cemetery to see the mausoleum of Evita. The cemetery is quite large and we have not been in one where there are so many different kinds of mausoleums. Every one seemed different. Some you could see the coffins stacked on one another.

 

This tour was great. We got the feel of BA and it is like any modern city, with all the upscale stores, malls, eateries.

 

By the time we got back to the ship, we quickly changed and headed down to CR. They opened CR 30 minutes earlier to accommodate those of us who were taking the Tango show!

I have to say, if anyone is taking this trip, The Tango show is not to be missed!!

 

I do not know how many people did this tour, but we filled the hall. There were tables that sat mostly 8 people. These tables were rectangular and were perpendicular to the stage. We were served water and had a bottle of Melbac that 4 of us shared. Unfortunately or fortunately, we were seated in the center table, at the edge of the stage. Rich sat right in front. We had to creek our necks a bit, but watching the couples dance the Tango upfront like that and seeing the fancy footwork was unbelievable. The costumes had Rich's eyes bugging out!! I think he enjoyed it more than he is telling me!

 

They had a small band that was fantastic with accordions, etc. Next was a gaucho who did this spinning of these two ropes where there is a ball attached to one end. When he spins the ropes, the balls hit the floor and he is stomping his feet in rhythm. He was fantastic.

 

Of course, there were soloists, both male and female, which were outstanding.

 

This show was just terrific and the dancers were amazing in all that footwork. One would need good knees to do that kind of dancing!

 

Tomorrow another day in BA!!

[s2000drvr]

Here is another link for some more pictures.

 

http://photobucket.com/MontevideoUruguay

[OrpingtonT]

Really interesting posts. Makes me want to go to Uruguay.

[Hambagahle]

Yes, no problem to relay your message to Ray. Will ask him in person, or I will send him a note!

 

Mayn thanks! Ray just e mailed me. And I have sent him my list...

 

Gerry:)

[Taxguy77]

Love your description of the "meat pile". And I agree, I don't see how they can sleep at all drinking that much caffeine.

 

It's not tea as you know it, it's Yerba Mate. Very high in vitamin C, and quite good. The national drink in Argentina.

[RachelG]

It's not tea as you know it, it's Yerba Mate. Very high in vitamin C, and quite good. The national drink in Argentina.

 

Yes, but I think it must have caffeine or perhaps some other addictive substance in it. Our guide in chile drank it nonstop.

[s2000drvr]

Day 40 Buenos Aires, Argentina Feb 13, 2012

 

Another day, another blue sky with lots of sunshine. Today we decided just to stay around the ship, lounge, take it easy type of day. Most everyone was off on excursions and seeing that it was a turn over day, passengers were heading home, while new ones were anxiously waiting to come onboard. We figured it was the perfect time to soak up some rays.

 

Not sure how many new passengers there are, but there are lots of them. Have to look for familiar faces now where as before, there was always someone you knew.

 

Met up with Dorothy and George and decided to have dinner together in Prime 7 at 6:30p. This was the first time we could not hear ourselves. It seems everyone was partying in there and it was quite loud. Spoke to one of the waiters and he brought up the same thing about how loud it was.

 

This is a very busy port. There was a Costa ship in port yesterday, and they were doing the same change over. They sailed last night.

 

The cranes are busy loading and unloading all the containers. I believe this could be one of the biggest ports we have been in.

 

Tomorrow another day here in BA.

[Hambagahle]

I think that "tea" is the same "Maté" as we drank in Cusco??

 

But my reference to tea was a Welsh tea shop that was in one of s2000dryr's photos on her blog!

[Ka Honu]

Yes, but I think it must have caffeine or perhaps some other addictive substance in it...

 

Yerba maté does contain caffeine - slightly more than tea but only about half as much as coffee.

[s2000drvr]

Day 41 Buenos Aires, Argentina Feb 14, 2012

 

Another glorious day here in Buenos Aires. We did our one our walk, headed down to breakfast, then decided to head into the city.

 

We had to take a shuttle to the terminal, then a coach into the city. It left us off at the Marriot Hotel, right near Florida Ave where there are a lot of shops, boutiques, eateries.

 

We walked our way around up and down Florida, stopping and peaking into several shops. Found one shop which was quite interesting. It was clothing, of course. Found a fantastic red, wide leather belt, and a perfect off-white peasant type blouse. This area showcases leather jackets. There are plenty of stores selling them. If you want a leather jacket, then this is place to purchase one.

 

It was just nice strolling along at our own pace, seeing what we wanted to, stopping when we wanted. It was quite warm, and the sweat was dripping down our faces so we decided to head on back to the coach and then to the ship. The coach comes every 30 minutes, so it is never a long wait.

 

Do not know if I mentioned this before, but a few ports ago as we were pulling out of port, a gust of wind hit the ship and slammed us back into a piling. We never felt anything, but apparently the piling hit the dining room window and did some damage to it. It is now boarded up and the curtains are closed in that one window in CR. The repairs were suppose to be taken place in BA, but that did not happen. Not sure when it will be repaired.

 

We arrived back just in time to have a nice lunch in CR. Headed up to the pool to catch more rays. Dinner was in Signatures as it was Valentine's Day and we wanted to dine just the two of us. Our favorite Cream of Mushroom soup with roasted garlic was back on the menu. Yippee!!!

 

We lost another hour, so now we are 3 hours in front of East Coast time.

 

Tomorrow we are headed back to Montevideo. Can't wait to revisit this great little city.

[RachelG]

Yerba maté does contain caffeine - slightly more than tea but only about half as much as coffee.

 

Since our guide drank about twice as much as a person could possibly drink of coffee, that would make sense.

[s2000drvr]

Day 42 Montevideo, Uruguay Feb 15, 2012 (Again)

 

What a glorious day, again, here in Montevideo! After a late beginning, and being no tours for us, we decided to hike into town and do our own walking tour.

 

There are plenty of stalls and little boutiques to check out as we headed up to the main Plaza. Lots of jewelery and I purchased a silverplate bracelet that is quite unique. It is made out of a fork and the tines are made into two hearts. We passed by all kinds of trinkets. One lady was selling her marinated cheeses in a glass mason type jar. Looked interesting.

 

There are a lot of dogs in this area, so one has to be careful of their poops. The city apparently does not have a poop pick up law, maybe they should think of mandating one.

 

We walked to the top of the hill to the main Plaza. This time we got to really check out some of the antiques, but nothing jumped out at us. It was a bit crowded in this area as the Star Princess was also in town, along with the Empress (not sure what line this is).

 

When we got to the Meat Market we decided to forgo any meat pile figuring there was just Rich and I and we could not do it justice. It was nice roaming around there without the mob of people like the other day. We did see our wine somelier and her husband so we went over for a chat. She was eating a huge steak and a large pile of French Fries. That dish cost just $10 and she told us later she could only eat half.

 

We had a quick lunch in CR and then headed to the pool for some roasting. We are almost half baked now. Rich does not like the sun as much as I do so he gets antsy after 15 minutes or so. We left to have our chocolate martini.

 

Dinner was in CR and we had the salmon with the vodka sauce with fettuccine. It was fantastic. We are noting new waiters as there have been some changes with new ones coming onboard.

 

Tomorrow it will be Punta Del Este, Uruguay!!!

[s2000drvr]

Day 41 Punta Del Este, Uruguay

 

The sun was shining, and the skies were blue, again. Loving this hot, humid weather.

 

This is a tender port, about a 10 to 15 minute ride from the ship to the pier. We had an excursion today called the Highlights of Punta Del Este. Along the pier we saw some sea lions in the water playing.

 

This is a great place, very safe, clean, modern. It is called the St. Tropez of South America and we can see why. Some of the homes are huge. Punta is a peninsula and one side is called the gentle side because it has the river on that side. The other side is called the wild side as it is on the Atlantic side.

 

We drove around and came to the lighthouse at the end of the peninsula, rocky shore line with waves crashing over the rocks. Very picturesque. We visited the Ralli Museum of Contemporary Art which was located in the area known as the Beverly Hills. The homes were very large with manicured laws, lots of shrubberies, flowers. The Museum was quite good as far as museums go. There were bronze sculptures in a nice courtyard.

 

From there we drove along a road and went over the wavy bridge. The driver gave the coach some gas and it was like a mini coaster ride.

 

Along the beach is a famous sculpture called The Hand. It is like fingers sticking up from the beach sand, very interesting. The artist won an award for his creativity.

 

We were allowed one hour to go shopping. The buys here were good in leather. It was a very pleasant place to shop. We were told that the crime rate is just about non-existent.

 

The line for the tender to get back to the ship was so long. We had bumped into Michael and he asked if we should do lunch in town. We found a cute restaurant called Kittys. One could eat inside, or just outside the building or go across the street and be on the pier. We chose the pier. The menu was all in Spanish, but the waitstaff figured out we did not know what to order, so they found us an English menu. We started with this excellent sangria, but they called it something else. There was a ton of fresh fruit and some ice, then he poured a bottle of white wine in and stirred. It was excellent, and so refreshing.

 

We ordered a grande plate that consisted of lettuce and tomatoes on the bottom, with some potato salad on one side, palm hearts, red peppers, then two minute steaks topped with ham and two fried eggs on top. Then this was almost surrounded by the most delicious French Fries!! Rich took pictures and I will post a link. It was so good.

 

By the time we got back to take the tender, there were only about 10 of us. We climbed the ladder to the top of the tender and rode up top. Never have done that before and it was great, wind blowing cooling us off.

 

Dinner was in CR with Dorothy and George and another couple from Sweden. We had great conversations and great food!

 

Tomorrow will be our first stop in Brazil: Rio Grande.

[mariners]

Your detailed descriptions allow me to visualize what you see even when you don't post photographs. Thanks so much for posting the regular updates.

[RachelG]

Lunch description is making my mouth water.

[Hambagahle]

Me too! You certainly have a great nack for finding good places to eat!

 

And I am intrigued by the fact that you rode back on the top of the tender. More intrigued that they let you do that! well done! What fun it must have been.