World Cruise Day 53/152 - Montevideo, Uruguay - Nothing says Valentine's Day like a good tomahawk to the heart

Cruise day: 53/152

Ports days: 18
Sea days: 35
Countries: 6
Continents: 2
Ports: 11

Today is our second straight day in Montevideo, Uruguay and I need to address a couple of things.

First - the sucky internet.  It still sucks.  I got some clarification as to why.  I had stated that one of the ship's antennas was not functioning properly.  That's somewhat correct.  What is actually failing isn't the antenna itself but rather its amplifier.  The initial plan was to get the part here in Montevideo during our stop on 2/13. That didn't happen as the shipping container wouldn't be here until 2/14.  OK - bypass that - send it to Cadiz, Spain to meet us there.  Then, we stayed overnight and are still here in Montevideo, but the antenna is already on its way to Spain.  This is a prime example of the logistic difficulty of planning a trip like this.  Things change, and no matter how much you plan, life happens.  Oh well.  The other important factor is the satellites themselves.  Because of our position, many of the communication satellites are low in the sky, increasing the relative distance and atmospheric interference.  Once we get over to Europe, the satellites we will use will be directly overhead and our reception will improve.  Yea!

Second - Montevideo - the name.  I explained yesterday that our guide explained the current thinking in how Montevideo got its name.

• Monte means mountain in Spanish
• deo carries the meaning of from east to west
• vi is the Roman number for six

A reader felt compelled to explain that "deo" means "God" therefore Montevideo means the sixth mountain of God.  Forgive me, but, I'll take the explanation of the person that actually lives here in Montevideo.  Plus, that would be Latin, not Spanish or Portuguese. And before you ask, yes, I know they are both derived from Latin. Still, "deo" has no direct translation from Spanish. Plus, I was relating this story to another guest who said their tour guide, who lives in Montevideo, gave the exact same explanation of the name as our guide.  Plus, the guide on our tour today explained how Uruguay is by design a secular nation.  The government does not endorse or promote any religion and leaves that choice up to the individual.  All religions are welcome, but none are directly or indirectly supported by the government.  To underscore that separation, when government leaders are sworn in, they place their hand on a copy of Uruguay's constitution.  Based on all those pluses, I'm sticking with the sixth east-west hill explanation.

When we arrived for breakfast, the decorations were up celebrating Valentine's Day.

That will hit full stride tonight when they will present another fantastic tomahawk steak dinner.  Gotta go light on the food today to save room!

This ship docked behind us this morning. The Crystal Endeavor is a 200-passenger megayacht operated by Crystal Cruises for Antarctic cruises.  It was being refueled.  We found that interesting as last week, the parent company of Crystal Cruises declared bankruptcy, and Crystal Cruises halted all operations.  I wonder who is writing the check for the gas.  If I was the harbormaster, I'd get the keys until I got paid.

Our tour today was the one included by Viking - a two-hour bus tour around the city of Montevideo with several stops for photos and information.  Our guide was interesting and explained how the Freemasons were instrumental in the formation of Uruguay as a nation and Montevideo as a city.  In one of the city squares, there are 33 palm trees.  These were to represent 33 patriots who lead the charge to independence, but...there were actually 67 patriots that were involved.  The number 33 was chosen as a homage to the 33-levels within the Scottish Freemasonry practice. Another interesting item is that, unlike other countries that are divided into states, countries, provinces, and such, Uruguay is divided into departments. 

Our first stop was in Independence Square.  This square commemorates Uruguay's independence and features a huge statue of José Gervasio Artigas, one of Uruguay's original leaders.

You can get a sense of the scale of this statue by looking at the woman walking by.

Behind the statue is the former office of the President on the left - now used as a museum, and the current office on the right.

The mix of architectural styles around the square was visually interesting.

We continued on to the legislative building. It is an impressive building with amazing detail work, especially in the columns up high behind the front of the building.

Statues graced the front areas near the building.

No matter where you are in Montevideo, there are interesting views and varying architecture.

We drove past the national soccer stadium with seating for 90,000.  One of our tour guides said that in Uruguay, the only religion sponsored by the state is soccer.  Uruguay built this stadium in the 1930s when they hosted the world championship, which Uruguay won - a great source of pride for the country.  We didn't get a close view but saw it from a distance.

We were stopped at one of the more popular sculptures in Montevideo, Monumento la Carreta. It was created by local sculptor Jose Belloni in honor of the ox-cart drivers of the 19th century.

A colorful parrot was in a tree nearby with a friend. Check out the vivid blue feathers under the bright green ones.

Ohhhh, that feels good...

On the ride back to the ship, we passed more interesting, and not-so-interesting things.  First, we passed what is typical in a coastal city - a colorful set of letters spelling out the city name.

This used to be a fuel storage tank from a now-defunct British fuel company.  Nobody can agree who should be responsible for the remaining demolition, so here it sits.

The owner of this building had a flair for design.

What about this classic of boring, industrial, featureless, ugly, monotone design?  That's the U.S. Embassy, of course.

When we got back to port, we took advantage of our newfound freedom to explore on our own.  We walked through a market and then toured a few streets, taking in the architecture and sights.

We found it interesting that streetlights were suspended over the road from buildings on both sides of the street.

I don't know what they sell, but it is on sale!

Now here's something you don't see every day - a vintage Chevrolet Chevette!

This monument celebrates the recovery of a radar telemetry sensor from a German warship that was deliberately sunk to avoid capture.  The Captain had the crew rescued and then scuttled the ship, sending it to the bottom of the river in 1939. It was finally recovered in 2004.

Back on the ship, we grabbed a light lunch to prep ourselves for the promised tomahawk steak feast tonight.

About 3:30 PM they fired up the engines and we got moving.  After pulling away from the dock, we pulled a 180-degree spin to aim us out the channel, and off we went.

We got a look at what looked like the Uruguayan Navy on the way out.

The big one on the right comes with its own helicopter.

We got escorted out between the break walls.

Once clear, we got a toot and the tug returned to the port.

We heard an engine so we looked outside - the pilot boat was approaching so it must be time for the local pilot to leave us.

He stayed with us quite a way offshore.  You can see the city on the left side of the photo below and in the second photo.

They pulled alongside the Star.

The pilot leaned out and grabbed the ladder handles.

Here he is standing on two vessels at the same time!

And...safely onto the pilot boat.

He gave a quick wave farewell and away they went back to port.

And so we are underway to our next port, Sao Vicente Island in the Cape Verde Islands.  Here is a rough idea of our path for the next nine days and roughly 4,500 miles.  For what it's worth, this is my approximation of our route - nothing official.

After hanging out on the veranda for the rest of the afternoon, we headed up to the pool deck for the tomahawk steak event.  It did not disappoint.  Our friends, Steve & Kathy, joined us for a lovely evening.  The appetizer was a Waldorf-style salad with wild turkey cut up and included.  Then, the main event came.  We split a tomahawk steak and twin lobster tails.

Everything was amazing as expected.  For dessert, they served a heart-shaped raspberry cake.

When we got back to our room, a rose and macaroons were waiting for us. Arlona repurposed our water pitcher.

If we had made it to Punta del Este today, our excursion was to go out to Isla de Lobos - Seawolf Island. It is a preserve and home to the largest colony of South American sea lions and South American fur seals in the western hemisphere.  The Captain decided he would give us a view of the island as we sailed out.  Unfortunately, we sailed about 30-minutes behind schedule so we got to the island after sunset.  I could just make out some animals with my camera, but there simply wasn't enough light to capture any images.  Oh well, it was a good effort.  Still, it was pretty and had a nice lighthouse. Combine that with a nearly full moon and lights of Punta del Este and it still was a photo op.

One interesting note - last night, I looked at the moon and noticed that it was nearly full with part missing from the right side.  That means it is waning or getting less full. Tonight, I looked and it looked more full.  That's weird.  Then it occurred to me...duh...we're in the southern hemisphere and it is reversed - the light moves from left to right,  not right to left like it does in the northern hemisphere.  So, we're still waxing and very near the full moon.

We are off and bound for the African continent. Nine days and 4,500 miles to go, give or take.  Happy Valentine's Day!