Wednesday, Day 109 - Apr 25 - 8am to 6pm, Tender, Punta De Este, Uruguay

A city of beautiful, chic, beach resorts, marinas, museums, fascinating shops and picturesque countryside. Sea Wolves Island with its colony of endangered sea lions and seals and the 18th-century city of Maldonado with its many enchanting buildings, cathedral and lovely museum are just two of the points of interest of this port. The blue Atlantic waters are a huge tourist attraction. During the season, October to March, the city grows to over a million people filling the line of condos along the breach front. The rest of the year it is a sleepy little village filled with empty high rises and closed restaurants.

When we were here on the Mariner in March of 2011, we did a city tour and visited the two famous museums, the Casapueblo and the Ralli Museum. The city was hopping! Today we had planned to do one of the free ship’s tours; the one doing a city tour and a visit to a privately owned classic car museum. But, the tour bus/tour guide thing is wearing very thin with Dick and he doesn’t really want to get on another tour bus. So we cancel the tour. Carolyn talks to the tourist representative on board and gets a map with a detailed walking tour of the old and new parts of Punta de Este. Since it is a beautiful, mild day we decide to get a taxi and follow some of the walking tour, though the tourist lady is not to hopeful about the taxi since it is now off season.

Breakfast as usual then we work on getting caught up on the blog. With several port days in a row we get way behind on our reports. Since the tour groups have priority on the tender, there is really no rush to get off.

About 2PM we head to the tender. They are using local tenders today and it is a long ride into the pier. The pier serves both the yachting group and the small fishing fleet. The fishermen are still cleaning the day’s catch and baiting their long, multi-hook lines. There is a colony of sea lions living on the pier near the area where the fishermen work and taking advantage of the free food.

We walk up to the main road, but have no luck getting a taxi. The only one we see tells us he has an airport pick up soon and can take us to the airport, but that is all. He says the plaza with the crafts market is only about three blocks. But we run into some people from the ship and they tell us most everything in the new part of town is closed. There is no one on the streets. The town looks dead. There are only about 12,000 people in town during the off season! 

The sun is out and there is a pleasant breeze. The sidewalks are good so we decide to do the part of the walking tour that goes through the old part of town. We walk on across the peninsula to the Atlantic Ocean. Then walk along the Rambla in front of Englishmen Beach. It is too rocky for swimming but there are several men fishing. The seawall walk goes around the tip of the peninsula and back along the River Plata to the little harbor where the tender docks. After a ways along the Ocean front we turn inland to the light house and parish church in the center of the tip of the peninsula. This is a lovely neighborhood of both old and new beach homes. The light house is on the high point of the tip and was built in 1860 and now works on electricity. The crystal prisms that make up the lighting system were brought from France. There is a very pretty, small church across the street. From here we walk back to the pier and head back to the ship.

It is about 4:30PM and we have a dinner date with our Australian friends. They did the Regent overland safaris in both South Africa and Namibia and we are eager to hear their stories. We meet for cocktails at 6:30PM and head to the Compass Rose at 7:15PM. Dick arranged with our head waiter to have our favorite table set for four. This is a good dinner and the safaris sound wonderful, especially the one in Namibia.  We call it a night about 9:15PM, in time for them to make the show, a comedian, and us to get  to bed before we fall asleep standing up! It has been a very nice, low key day!

Tuesday, Day 108 - Apr 24 - 8am to 6pm, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Buenos Aires rivals Madrid or Paris for sophistication and culture. The tree-lined boulevards of fashionable Buenos Aires are home to superb restaurants, art galleries, museums, the magnificent Teatro de Colon and the brightly colored houses of La Boca barrio. As the sun sets, Recoleta awakens and the passionate melodies of the tango rise from the milangas along San Telmo’s cobbled streets. Few cities in South America share the ambiance, lifestyle and amenities that make Buenos Aires so endearing. We visited Buenos Aires two different times on a land trip to visit Mendoza and Iguassu Falls on the way to and from our Antarctic cruise in 2008; spending a week total. Then we had three days here on our Circle South America cruise in 2011. We are looking forward to this stop and the last Special World Cruise Event.

In the morning we take the shuttle to the Plaza Hotel which is just two blocks from our favorite leather shop. We walk to the shop and try to order new vests for both of us and a new jacket for Dick. We have bought items here every time we have visited. Today though, the lady owner who we have worked with each time is not in and no one can speak English or access the records. They try to call but can’t reach her. So we leave a note and a leather choice and will try to email her. We do a little shopping on the nearby pedestrian street. 

Next up is a 45 minute, $15 taxi ride through horrendous traffic to get to the Zanjon about 11:30AM, site of the World Cruise Event. 

From there we walk to the San Telmo Square and check out some of the antique shops. They are full of wonderful eye candy...silver, gold and china items and furniture from a bygone era, beautiful but totally impractical for today’s lifestyle, at least ours. Carolyn does spy a jewelry set that she loves. It is sapphires and diamonds in a classic 1900's setting and it now has a new home.

By now it is almost time for the third World Cruise Event so we walk back to Zanjon in time to meet the arriving buses from the ship at 1PM. The final 2018 World Cruise Event is an afternoon of eating, wine and entertainment at Zanjon de Granados in the San Telmo neighborhood. El Zanjon de Granados is believed to be the site of the first settlement of Buenos Aires in 1536. We spend the afternoon exploring this fascinating architectural site. We descend from a beautifully restored 1830s house into an impressive labyrinth of wide, vaulted brick tunnels, long walled off and buried on the site. We enjoy a spectacular luncheon in this wonderful historical structure which offers a glimpse into five centuries of urban archaeology, followed by fabulous “Evita” and tango performances.

While we explore the tunnels we have glimpses of tango dancers and hear about life in the early times. After we see the tunnels we gather in another underground area for delicious small bites of salmon, chicken, veggies and fruit in cream cheese combinations on crackers and pastries along with free flowing wine, beer and soft drinks. All the while, actors in period costumes are portraying 1900's street scenes all around us. After that we are taken to a ball room in the house for a late lunch/early dinner (aka lupper at our house) and more entertainment.

The food is good and plentiful, the service is great. There is plenty more wine and beer. Plus, we have vignettes of entertainment relating to the history of the house and the Tango all during and after the meal. By 4:30PM, when we start heading back to the ship, we are a group of mellow, happy campers. Regent  redeemed itself with this event. It was in true Regent style!

We get back about 5:30PM and get cleaned up and in our jammies. Dick goes to bed and Carolyn orders a room service snack and reads until she falls asleep in the chair. Apparently most of the 190 world cruisers did the same thing as us. They said the dining venues were empty.