URUGUAY, EVENTUALLY

After leaving Puerto Madryn, we were to have a day at sea before calling at Punta Del Este, Uruguay.  We didn’t do much other than lounge about, participating in a couple of trivia contests, winning one, reading and eating.  After a good night’s sleep, we awoke to find the ship parked well out in a bay, whitecaps on the water and a good wind blowing.  Punta Del Este was stretched out along the shore, but we weren’t getting any closer.  The port authority had closed the harbor due to unsafe conditions.  This was not a docking stop, and we would have had to use the tenders to get to the pier.  Due to the rough seas and winds, that wasn’t going to be possible.  PDE is the Cannes of South America, a luxury playground for the yachting set and upscale resort vacationers.  It has only 10,000 year-round residents, but gets a half million tourists between December and March.  It might have been nice to see, but it was not to be.  The captain moved us further out, and idled around for the rest of the day, hoping that things would change.  They didn’t, so we moved out to sea to await our passage up the Rio de la Plata to Montevideo.  We couldn’t just go in early, as the docks are tightly scheduled.  So, another day of lazing about at sea, forcing oneself to eat round the clock just to assuage the disappointment.  Life is tough, man.

We got up early the next morning as the ship was eerily quiet.  We had docked in the pre-dawn and the engines were shut down.  I went topside to check out our first view of Montevideo.  Unfortunately, the sun was not quite up and our dock is right smack in the midst of a very busy commercial port, with cranes, containers, the navy, and other cruisers all around.

We had signed on for a walking tour of the city, but it wasn’t scheduled to leave until 1:30, so we grabbed some breakfast and set out on our own.  We could walk into the city from the dock, passing the local welcome sign and the Uruguayan flag on the way out.

We did quite a bit of wandering, to get an idea of what everyday areas looked like.  But first we had to traipse up the tourist streets that started at the dock area.  Montevideo has a bit of a problem with pickpockets, so there are “tourist police” everywhere in their lime-green vests. 

Most of the older areas of the city have a Spanish colonial genteel decay feeling to them, serviceable to be sure, but quite run-down in appearance.  I thought the Coke ads were classic.

In 1811, Uruguay rebelled against Spanish rule, and gained independence in 1828.  Waves of immigrants flooded in, primarily from Spain and Italy.  Unfortunately, the country went through much strife, civil war, foreign intervention, failed governments, Marxist movements, military coups and juntas.  It wasn’t until 1985 that civilian rule was restored under a Constitutional Republic system.  Today, Montevideo has a little over 1.5 million residents, and has the usual European plazas, parks, fountains, and monuments to national heroes, and a few main boulevards, like this view down the Avenida 18 de Julio.

The picture at the right, below, shows the only remaining vestige of the original citadel wall and gates that surrounded the early city, the Puerta de la Ciudadela, built in 1746.

Here’s what it looked like back in the day.  The old city is built on a peninsula.

In the background of the gate picture is one of the oddest buildings I’ve ever seen, with the turrets bulging out over the main tower.  This is the Palacio Salvo, erected by a wealthy merchant back in 1925, and then the tallest building in South America.  It was intended as a hotel, but never used for that purpose, instead serving as an office building and apartments.  It sits on one edge of the main Plaza Independencia.  Apparently it had lavish external decorative metalwork, all of which was stripped off and sold many years ago.

Another unusual bit of architecture was this building sporting the London-Paris wording with its construction date.  I haven’t been able to find out the what and why of this one.  At one point there was some English influence here, but I haven’t read about any significant French presence.

We’d walked a few miles and it was getting time for lunch, and we had to be back at the ship to pick up our organized tour, so we headed off in what I thought was the most direct route back to the pier.  Well, it was, sort of.  It also took us through some rather mean streets with precious few other people about.  Just the type of place they always tell you to avoid.  We didn’t encounter any problems, and soon were back at the gates to the pier.

We had a nice lunch, I changed the battery in the camera, and we went back down on the pier where there were a number of buses ready to take the walking tour folks out.  I think we got lucky, because the guide on our bus was Enrique, a dapper guy of indeterminate age, with a droll humor and passion for his country. 

The bus didn’t take us far, just a ways out of the dock area, and we started the walk.  One of the first stops was back at the Plaza Independencia, where was situated the old and new seats of government.  On the left is the former National Government Office (1830-1972), with the new government building on the right.  The old one wins, hands down.

While we were standing around the plaza, this protest demonstration got underway.  There wasn’t much to it, just a bit of chanting and a solitary drum beating, mostly young people.  After a short while, they just broke up and milled about.  Enrique said he couldn’t understand what they had to protest about – the government apparently is extremely left-wing and caters to just these sorts of folks.  He suspects they just wanted an excuse to take the afternoon off.

A very neat place Enrique (below, left) took us to was a former mansion – the Palacio Taranco – built in 1910 for the Ortiz de Taranco family, that has been turned into a Museum of Decorative Arts.

The interior is quite nice, to say the least, with an array of fine furniture including Louis XV and XVI pieces.  In 1925, the future Edward VIII stayed here as it was better than anything the government had to offer, and in 1987 Pope John Paul II visited to celebrate the 1979 Treaty of Montevideo, signed in this room, which established a peace process between Argentina and Chile.

Besides all the pretty things to see, we were treated to an authentic tango exhibition on the courtyard terrace.  I say “authentic,” because these two were old enough to have invented the dance.  They were elegant, smooth, and romantic.  We were pretty amazed afterwards to find out that she was 78 and he was 80!

Actually, this was the only tango we saw.  We didn’t bother seeking any out when we were in Buenos Aires.  It’s nice, but . . .

After the Palacio, we wandered over to check out the Cathedral Metropolitana, built in 1790.  We had to wade through the usual alms seekers on the steps, but the interior was beautiful.  I think I liked it most because it was so very bright and airy.  We were pretty amazed to learn that what looked like white marble all over was actually a cunningly painted finish.  Even up close you couldn’t tell.

Coming out of the church, Enrique turned us loose in this large leafy square

which, of course, contained vendor stalls for all sorts of knickknacks and junk. 

Our last stop was at the Teatro Solis, the main performance hall for music, dance, and theatre.  The main portion was completed in 1856, and newer wings in 1885.  Our young guide was incredibly, ah, charming.  Yeah, that’s it, charming.  Safe description.

We liked Montevideo.  The people were friendly (except for the pickpockets, who got some of our shipmates), and the city had a liveable scale to it.  It also seemed less expensive than Chile or Argentina.  That said, it’s not really a destination tourist spot on its own, only in conjunction with a junket like we’re on.