Last Day - 18 March - Leaving Montevideo :-(

Our last day was a free day. We had arranged to meet Stella's niece, Inez, who was going to take us shopping. Inez speaks no english and we speak little spanish - the start to a VERY interesting day out (just as well I had my dictionary!). We had a successful tour of the shops, made a few purchases. Met up with some of the group for lunch - last chance at Lemon Meringue tarta! We were able to stay in our rooms until 5pm when the bus picked us up and took us to Montevideo airport. The first photo is taken from our seat on the bus - can you guess what it is? It's a petrol station - on the side of the road! How's that for a quick fill? Traffic snarls - who cares???

Had fun at Montevideo airport trying to spend our last pesos.

David took this photo from our window - the view of the Andes Mountains was breath taking! So big - it seemed to take forever to fly over them! LAN flew us to Santiago, and a short time later we were enroute to Auckland. Upon landing in NZ, David and I moved very quickly to the Qantas club lounge to enjoy a hot shower and freshen up! About 40 minutes later, we were flying to Sydney. By this time, some of us were feeling unwell with sinus problems..... landing in Sydney and then having to take off again and land in Brisbane was excruciating! Obviously it was time to come home! 31 hours of flying - but it was worth it!

Sadly, this is the end of my adventure - stay tuned - hopefully there'll be more!

Punta del Este! 17 March 2011

Only 1.5hrs from Montevideo, we arrived at Punta del Este - the beach resort where the rich & famous from Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil spend their holidays! We had a very interesting drive along the panoramic route visiting Piriapolis and Punta Ballena. We had a delicious lunch at the marina, complete with local sea lions; then crossed La Barra bridge

http://www.explore-uruguay.com/la-barra-bridge-picture.html. The best stop was at the unique, white house called 'Casapueblo'. Built by Carlos Paez Vilaro - painter, sculptor, poet - who, in the 60's started to build.

Casapueblo is the house of noted Uruguayan artist Carlos Páez Vilaró located in Punta Ballena (Whale Point) near Punta del Este, Uruguay. It is a homage to the artist's son Carlitos Paez, one of the sixteen survivors of the crash of Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571. Casapueblo is now a citadel-sculpture that includes a museum, an art gallery, and the Hotel Casapueblo.

Built around a tin box called La Pionera (The Pioneer), Páez Vilaró designed it with a style that can be equated to the Mediterranean coast houses from Santorini.

Today a museum, Vilaro still lives and paints in Casapueblo and shares his house with visitors from around the world. Sunset at Casapueblo is one of Punta del Este's most genuine traditions.... Alas, we had to return to Montevideo before sunset - oh well, maybe next time!

16 March: Tour of Uruguay

David not well this morning, preferring to stay and sleep in the hotel room. I met Stella and the group at 10am and we walked across the road, to wait for the public bus! 18 Uruguayan pesos to downtown Montevideo (18 de Julio - Plaza Indepencia)!

This port area serves also at the border of the old and new parts of the city.

Ciudad Vieja (Old City) is the name of the oldest part of the city of Montevideo, capital city of Uruguay. Nowadays, Ciudad Vieja is a barrio (neighbourhood or district) of this city. In the last couple of years it has gone through a major transformation that has made it the main nightlife centre in town. It is in this area where most of the nightclubs are, and also it hosts the 'Mercado del Puerto' a traditional venue for Uruguayan food and beverages. The main port of Uruguay (being the main Big Draft port in southern South America) is located in Ciudad Vieja.

We had lunch at the portside area in an asado (grill house).

The afternoon tour was in another bus, we were taken to look at Government House in Montevideo. Frances, Robin and I were dropped off after the tour at Montevideo Shopping Village. Had a delicious afternoon tea of Cafe Cordata and Lemon Meringue tarta. Walked back to our hotel along 'the rambla' took us about 40 minutes.

David was feeling better upon my return to the hotel. We had to be ready for 8.30pm pick-up to go out for a dinner show called 'El Milognon'.

http://www.welcomeuruguay.com/montevideo/the-milongon.html

Stella told us it was the story of Uruguayan culture but - alas - the whole performance was narrated in spanish and we just couldn't keep up with it - so we had very little idea what they were singing or saying!