A lazy day at sea

This is my early morning view on Day 44, with only 136 days left on our ride around the world. As you can see from the photo, today is a sea day. In my case, it has been a very lazy day. There are plenty of things I could be doing both in our cabin or around the ship, but today I chose to be lazy. I had intended to go to a cooking demonstration this morning but actually forgot about it until it was already over. Instead I ate a late breakfast, caught up on some emails, enjoyed a late lunch in our room and took a nice long nap this afternoon. Like I said - lazy!

wake up view - Day 44

I did work on my Bible study this afternoon in hopes that I will have adequate internet to participate via Zoom tomorrow. Of course Ronnie who is forever disciplined stuck to his personal routine of eating at normal mealtimes, exercising, taking a nap and working on his research. He is prepared for his online Men's BSF (Bible study) tonight and he's usually able to participate with no problem because it doesn't start until 10 pm (ship time) and not as many people are using the internet at that time of the day. I take a book or my laptop to the library while he's doing that.

Since I don't have anything special to write about today, I'm going to share some photos I took of the port in Buenos Aires. These aren't the kind I normally take but they will hopefully give you some idea of what goes on in shipping ports. 

Have you ever stopped to think when you buy something how far that product had to travel in order to show up on the shelf at your Walmart or Dollar Tree? Me neither. I’ve mentioned before about how huge and busy these port operations are. These photos don't begin to show the scale of how large this equipment is that lifts these containers, but keep in mind that each one fits on the back of an 18-wheeler truck. And these huge lifts are picking them up and putting them on truck after truck after truck. All. Day. Long.

use passenger buses for scale

row after row of containers as far as the eye can see

truck after truck pulling away with a single container

I’ve also talked about some of the things that have to happen during the time we’re in port for this and other cruise ships. Unloading all the trash the ship generates, plus loading up fresh food, beverages, paper goods and other supplies can be an all day process! These things have to be done in addition to routine maintenance at every single port. I snapped a few photos of our ship yesterday as we walked back from our bike ride. 

 

many hours spent restocking the ship

                 

loading more supplies

constant exterior maintenance is required (re-painting)

sorting, compressing and hauling away trash

 

 

 

Biking in Montevideo, Uruguay

Day 43 was a fun but very tiring day! Here's our view as we pulled back the curtains this morning.

pulling into port, Montevideo

 

In order to meet our guide for a bike tour this morning we had to leave the ship around 8:30 a.m. What was supposed to be a 2 hour bike ride ended up being a 3.5-4 hour ride. Thankfully, our group was small (our guide, Ronnie, a lady from Ohio and myself). I haven’t been on a bicycle in many years and am undeniably out of shape. However, saying I’m out of shape implies that I was at one time in shape, which is a stretch. Let’s just say it was a long ride and I had to take 2 muscle relaxers and a 2 hour nap after we got back to the ship!

I had booked the ride through our travel agent (not a ship excursion) and I’m glad I did, as some of the ship groups were huge. It was nice with just the 4 of us and being able to stop fairly often for him to explain what we were seeing or to adjust my gears. As it turned out, our guide was from the US (Virginia) so naturally he was very easy to understand, and we could not have asked for a more beautiful day, weather wise. 

Statue of Bruno Mauricio de Zabala

Montevideo, established in 1724, is the capital and largest city of Uruguay. People who live here make up about 1/3 of the population of entire country of Uruguay. It has a huge port and is the hub of commerce and higher education in Uruguay. It is home to a number of museums, many of which are government sponsored with no admittance fee. I'm sorry that we didn’t have the time to walk through some of the museums or cathedrals. There are also many beautiful monuments here but I could not snap photos and stay upright on the bike at the same time.

market area near port

Plaza of Constitution

a little history with tour guide Mike

 

The city of Montevideo is very bike friendly. I managed to only run one red light (I was already into the intersection when our guide yelled “red light!” but it was too late; I was committed and thankfully made it safely through). There are many monuments around the city and naturally I could only grab photos when we were stopped for our guide to tell us what we were seeing or on the way back to our ship after we had put the bikes away. I would have loved to spend more time just browsing through the shops, but we were pooped, hungry and ready to get back to the ship. I snapped a few photos of vendors on the streets selling their wares as we passed through on our way back to the port. I also noticed (as we rode and walked) many people sipping mate in just the way it was described.

Monument to General José Gervasio de Artigas, Independence Square

Although very pleasant in the shade it was fairly hot standing or riding in the direct sun. I’m thankful I wore good sunscreen today and have Tylenol to help with muscle soreness. Our first stop was Independence Square where we learned about national hero General Jose Gervasio Artigas who is regarded as the father of Uruguayan independence.

standing guard

 

Montevideo's theater building

Holocaust Memorial

railroad tracks leading up to Holocaust Memorial

located on the shores of the River Plate

Proverbs 24:16 ... for though the righteous fall seven times, they rise again, but the wicked stumble when calamity strikes.

homemade wooden tricycle in market

fresh produce sold here

lots of places to eat

get rice here, get married at city hall (left)

friends & family throw rice when couple emerges

walkin' the dogs

market area

local artist selling prints

different flavors of gelato

mate cups are sold everywhere

yerba mate bombilla straws

bombilla straws filter the mate herbs

empty cigarette carton caught my eye

A Gaucho Festival

We had so much fun today at the Gaucho Festival. A gaucho is basically an Argentinean cowboy. We really didn’t know what to expect (we thought it might be something like a rodeo). We along with many others from Insignia (and several other cruise lines – 9 bus loads in all!) were driven out to Santa Susana, a traditional ranch in the Argentina countryside.

We all piled off the buses and were greeted by women in traditional dress carrying huge baskets of empanadas while drinks of choice were being served by the men. Afterwards we were given time just to explore a little around the ranch. In addition to the large event room where we ate lunch, there was a small chapel and also the original house which has been turned into somewhat of a museum. Guests could wander through the grounds, ride a horse or take a carriage ride around the ranch.

At lunch, we were served several courses by the gauchos. There were a couple of different kinds of salads served family style, next chorizo, then something akin to black sausage (think black pudding, definitely do NOT recommend!) then steak and seriously the best chicken we’ve ever eaten. It almost melted in our mouths, and finally steak. For dessert there was an ice cream dish that was really yummy serve with really strong, really sweet coffee (just like we had last night). I'm not sure a true coffee drinker could drink it.

Next was entertainment which was similar to last night with several kinds of traditional dance including the tango, bola dancing and singing. A bola is a rope-like device crafted of rawhide cow leather with balls on the ends that are filled with rocks. They are used by gauchos to entangle the legs of an animal and bring it down, similar to how an American cowboy would rope a steer. There is also a dance where the gaucho swings the bolas really, really fast, letting them strike the floor to create a rhythmic sound along with his dance steps.

After the meal was finally finished, we all went back outside and the gauchos entertained us. They put on a show herding the horses followed by a ring race (known as la sortija) where the gaucho had to race under a bar from which a ring is hanging and remove it by sticking a pin through the middle and yanking it down. Traditionally, the gaucho then gives the ring to a girl. If she is receptive to him, she gives him a kiss. If not, she kisses his horse! We didn’t have to do that but it was fun to watch.  

After the gauchos and horses finished, more pastries were passed out along with the national drink - mate. I gave it a sip so I could say that I tried it and I can now confirm that what I’ve heard is true – it's nasty. Even loaded up with sugar, it tastes really awful. I honestly can’t imagine anyone outside of Argentina or Uruguay liking it.

As you might imagine, I took a TON of photos and I will post a little of everything, along with some of my favorites. You will notice that the gauchos clothing bears no resemblance to the American cowboys clothing. Besides wearing no boots or (what we consider to be) cowboy hats, their belts are very different. We were told that the belt the gaucho wears has or may not have coins in it. The coins are an indicator of how much wealth he has. They also carry large knives in the back of the belt.

 

welcome to Santa Susana

 

 

 

open air dining/entertainment area

 

wood burning fire

some serious grilling

bolas

chairs made entirely from cow bones

leather place mats from cowhide

many different kinds of trees on the ranch (date palm?)

steak anyone?

belt with coins holds knife

yes, please!

chicken, mam?

busy gaucho takes time to pose

The Gaucho

I forgot to mention that our tour guide showed us this picture (actually it was the front book cover that I think she had as a child). She said that this is required reading for every Argentinean as soon as they start school. It is called The Gaucho and was written by Martin Fierro in 1872! She didn't explain what was so important about it but I just googled it and found the following. If you're interested in knowing more, just google the title and author's name.

"This is a poem of protest drawn from the life of the gaucho, who was forced to yield his freedom and individuality to the social and material changes that invaded his beloved pampas--a protest which arose from years of abuse and neglect suffered from landowners, militarists, and the Argentine political establishment." 

 

visitors are offered carriage rides

the Tango

folk dancers

 traditional folk dance

Argentinean bandoneon

 

la sortija (ring game)

got it!

photo credit: Ronnie (he should paint it!)

compare gaucho attire with western cowboy attire

We were late getting back to the ship and barely had enough time to take quick showers and make our 6:30 dinner reservation time in one of the specialty restaurants on board. We were seated in the very back of the ship by the windows with 3 Californians and we had a great view of the tug boat as it helped turn our ship around so that we could head out of the narrow channel and into the open water. As we were backing up, the sun was setting and I snapped this photo out the back window of the ship. It was the perfect ending to a very nice day.

 

                                                  Goodbye, Buenos Aires, Argentina!