Monday Jan 30, 2023
Hi folks! We made it to Uruguay! We’re still cruising up the eastern seaboard of South America and today we spent the day in a seaside resort town of Punta del Este. I was actually here in March of 2020 right before Covid hit. It is a beautiful area and lots of rich people come here, especially from Argentina to get away from it all and enjoy the less crowded and slower paced lifestyle.
I coordinated this tour thru a gentleman named Diego, who runs Discovery Uruguay. He also coordinated our tours for the next 5 days (Montevideo, Buenos Aires, and Iguazu Falls (3 days). If those tours are as good as today’s tour we are in for a great next 5 days!
Our tour guide was Nelson and he is originally from here but his English was very good. This was a private tour for just the four of us (Sue, Stuart, Kathy and I). We had this very comfortable Mercedes Van for the 4 of us. He took us all over Punte del Este where we saw beautiful views, posh neighborhoods, a cool museum perched on a cliff looking over the ocean and many other sites. But the most important thing we found was the official sandwich… the Chivito! It has a bottom layer of French fries, then steak, tomato, lettuce and a fried egg on top… so of course we had to have one! I included a picture (if the pics will go thru).
The population year round is only about 12,000 but in the summer time (now) it jumps to 450,000! Many famous people have property here and use it as their getaway. And they also come for the temperate climate which we enjoyed today since it was sunny and 75!
Since after the tour, we stopped for the Chivito, we didn’t get back on the ship until late so we skipped dinner (WHAT??? Blasphemy on a cruise ship! Lol). After we got showered we went to listen to our favorite piano players. Oh, OK, we did end up getting a late night snack from the Lido Market!
Tomorrow we go to Montevideo, Uruguay. That is a lot larger city and we have an all day tour there. Should be fun! Hope everyone had a great Monday!
The Wandering Italian 