Cities of the Rio de la Plata

Mouth of Rio de la Plata with Montevideo
in the background

Our ship moved north along the eastern shores of South America until we reached the broad Rio de la Plata River estuary where our next two ports were located: Montevideo in Uruguay and our final port, Buenos Aires in Argentina. The mouth of this river is 220 km wide (about 140 miles wide), the largest mouth of a river in the world.  It totally fooled famed explorer Ferdinand Magellan back in 1517 when he passed by the mouth and thought he’d found a cut-thru to the Pacific Ocean.  Yes, given this very wide river mouth, Magellan thought he had found a shortcut thru the southern tip of South America when he saw this inlet to the Rio, and that this would avoid taking ships around the dangerous Horn.  Of course, he was wrong; but, he later discovered a cut-thru which he called the "Straits of Magellan" further south of this river mouth, which did indeed "cut-thru" and avoid the trip around the Horn.   

         

Welcome to Montevideo

Montevideo, Uruguay

Uruguay is one of the smallest countries in S. America, with only about 3 million people total; it’s tucked between two much larger neighbors, Argentina and Brazil. The capital city of Montevideo, where over half of the population lives, has a nice laidback vibe. Uruguay was created and settled by immigrants, mostly Italian and Spanish, and much of the architecture has that European look.

We especially admire the former Uruguayan president named Artigas who is called the father of the country. He was also called the poorest president in the world because he donated his entire presidential salary to charity! How come no president has ever done that back in the USA?

Parrilla with large assortment of grilling meats

We spent half a day roaming the old city on our own. Lots of vendors set up tents & tables on a large pedestrian square near the port where we browsed the local goods while a man sang in Spanish while a couple danced the Tango. Inside the nearby Mercado (market), small cafes specialized in grilled meats cooked on open wood-fired “parrillas” (Spanish for grills, and pronounced:”par-eesh-as”). All those grills created a smoky but somehow very appealing atmosphere along with some thick, delicious-looking steaks.

Anne with her new mate-drinking artist friend

The favorite drink here in Uruguay (and also in Argentina) is mate (pronounced: “mat-tay”), a hot drink similar to tea but with more of a kick. It is served in a special gourd-shaped mate cup (the cups used to be made from actual gourds) and drunk through a special metal straw. Mate supplies are sold in all the stores: matching sets of cup, straw and thermos. People drink this stuff all day long, carrying their mate supplies (including a thermos tucked under the arm) everywhere they go. We bought a watercolor painting from an artist who was seated outside the market, painting and drinking his mate. The painting is a self-portrait of him drinking mate – a perfect souvenir from this mate-addicted country!

Tasting the fabulous Tannat wines of Uruguay

We wrapped up our visit to Montevideo with a winetasting to reacquaint ourselves with Uruguay’s signature grape, the Tannat. (You know we can’t possibly do a whole trip without at least one winetasting!) The friendly guys at the Montevideo Wine Experience bar were happy to serve us a tasting of three different Tannat wines along with a plate of crackers, cheese, and smoked pork. Excellent wines and a fun time! We rarely get to sample Tannat wines, as Uruguayan wines are seldom found in North America.

Vibrant shops and street vendors in the La Boca
neighborhood of Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires, Argentina

Our cruise ship stayed overnight in Buenos Aires giving us two full days to explore this exciting South American city of 15 million people.  Buenos Aires is the 2^nd largest city in S. America, exceeded only by Sao Paulo in Brazil. We had spent several days here in Buenos Aires back in 2008 and looked forward to seeing more.

Monument to the War in the Falklands

Anne had arranged a private tour for just the two of us with an excellent guide named Marcelo. We began our tour in San Martin Park; San Martin is a national hero who liberated the country from the Spanish. The park contains two very different opposing monuments: the British Tower, a striking Big Ben-style edifice that was a gift from the British in the early 1900’s; and the sober Monument to the War in the Falklands, purposely placed in a face-off position with the British building.

Marcelo explained that after Eva Peron died (the famous Evita) in 1952, President Peron was removed from office and exiled. He ended up marrying a stripper named Isabel, but managed to return to Argentina and get himself re-elected with Isabel as his Vice President. Unfortunately, Peron died in 1974, leaving his clueless wife Isabel as the new President of the country. The military took over and the resulting dictatorship was the beginning of what Marcelo called “the dark days.” During this time, anyone who disagreed with the corrupt military government soon disappeared permanently; there was an estimated 30,000 disappearances over seven years. The favorite “disappearance method” used by the military was to drug the person and throw them out of an airplane over the ocean. No body, no crime!

Gorgeous Jacaranda trees

All around Buenos Aires, we saw the colorful blue-flowered Jacaranda trees. These trees line the streets of the city and are the equivalent of our own cherry blossom trees that people seek out in early spring around Washington DC.

Colorful houses of La Boca

We visited the very colorful neighborhood of La Boca, one of the liveliest areas on Buenos Aires. La Boca was originally a port, and when sailors repainted their boats, they left any remaining paint for the locals. Naturally, the locals used these colorful paint remnants to decorate the outside of their homes in bold primary colors. Today La Boca is a fun, touristy place with a strong feeling of community.

Dancing at the milonga

We also visited a milonga which is a tango dance club open to the public. Cafe Ideal, the oldest milonga in Buenos Aires, looked as if nothing had changed here since the 1950's. We felt as if we had entered a time warp and sat mesmerized as the elegant couples swirled by improvising their own special brand of tango. With it's agile moves in perfect unison, the tango is such a sexy dance; Marcelo said that dancing at a milonga was almost like having sex with a stranger.

Enjoyable Uruguayan beer

As you know, Frank always likes to sample the indigenous beer of any new location.  In Uruguay, we found the local beer called “Volcanica” was quite popular.  We thought it not bad, but nothing to write home about. 

Frank enjoys his new fave beer, Quilmes

In Buenos Aires, Marcelo recommended a local beer called “Quilmes,” so we gave it a shot.  If you are a beer connoisseur, we think you’ll find this to be a truly excellent and refreshing lager, and they also have a stout that is not bitter or harsh.  Even Anne liked the stout, and she’s not usually a fan of the dark. If you haven’t tried Quilmes yet, we highly recommend either version (light or dark) next time you get down Argentina way!!

Mate mugs for sale at the San Telmo market

San Telmo is a famous market in Buenos Aires where vendors line Defensa Street selling souvenirs, art works, and antiques. On our last day, we had a fun time in this market, strolling, shopping, and people-watching.  At 3:00 p.m., we had arranged for a driver to pick us up for the one hour ride to the airport, which is located just outside the city.  Everything was on track for us to have 4-5 hours to eat dinner and relax at the airport before our 9:20 p.m. departure flight back to the states.  About halfway to the airport, the traffic became unusually heavy and even came to a standstill frequently.  We were on a six lane superhighway to the airport with 6 lanes in both directions.  What could bring traffic to a standstill on a major thruway like this?  A big accident?  A broken down car?  A demonstration?  None of the above. 

Sports fanatics hang out the windows of a moving bus

It was soccer.  Yea, Argentina was playing Japan (in Japan) the following day, and the Argentine team just happened to be leaving from the airport on our departure day.  You wouldn’t believe the traffic mess created by the fervor of these Argentine sports freaks.  Thousands of young fans in busses, cars, and even walking were jamming up all the main arteries heading to the airport. These crazed fans were honking horns, playing loud music, setting off firecrackers and smoke-bombs, waving flags out the car windows, hooting and hollering things in Spanish that we did not understand, etc., etc.  

Young kids continue to celebrate their team

Busloads of kids were streaming along the highways with young people hanging almost totally out of the bus windows, sitting precariously on the window ledges in positions that were incredibly dangerous. These kids could have easily fallen out onto the road and been hurt or killed!  Thousands were walking on the sides of the highways in the direction of the airport; we guess these folks had no transportation and were going to walk the 45 mile distance to show their team support.  Some enterprising guy was even grilling meats right on the shoulder of the freeway to sell to hungry fans. Everyone was dressed in the red and white colors of their Argentina and/or waving banners that reflected the colors of their team.  Wow, that’s passion! Finally, the police vans rolled in and tried to control the situation as best they could, keeping people from walking across the highway or doing other stupid things.

Soccer revelers blocking access to the airport

With all the excitement and hoopla, we were only inching along at a snail’s pace, and we were all getting worried that this nuttiness could cause us to miss our own plane. In the end, our one hour ride to the airport became a frustrating nip-and-tuck 3-hour trip! Fortunately, we had provided enough buffer time for ourselves. With this intolerable delay, we were rushed in the end, but ok to make our flight.  We asked ourselves, what if we hadn’t planned that far ahead?  What about those travelers who were supposed to be on our flight (or another) and only started out 1 or even 2 hours prior to when they had to be at the airport?  Obviously, we know they never made it.  Nobody could have predicted this massive, unjustifiable delay.

The irony of the situation was that when we finally reached the airport, the Argentinian team had already left for Japan hours ago!!  So then, why were these crazed fans still storming the airport?  Yes, these people were flocking to the airport even after their team had long gone, preventing real travelers (like us!) from getting to the airport on time.  Scratching our heads in disbelief, and thankful that we’d made it to our own flight, we could only guess that these soccer nuts were just looking for an excuse to party. We have never seen such an ardent, vacuous commitment from supporters like this before.

Sailing around the bottom of the world

After visiting this most southern part of the world, we have a few thoughts for fellow travelers contemplating a trip here. This is a beautiful part of the world with sights you won’t see anywhere else.  It is also cold and desolate with no blockbuster or man-made sights: no Eiffel Towers, no Rocks of Gibraltar, and no thousand year-old pyramids. The attraction of this part of our globe is in the pristine, untouched beauty of the natural surroundings.

Unlike most cruises where the focus is on the ports, the highlight of this cruise was the ride itself. It felt exhilarating to trace the path of famous explorers like Magellan who risked their lives in tiny wooden boats to discover a route around the bottom of the world. We also loved the wildlife and natural beauty: whales, sea lions, penguins, albatrosses, glaciers, ice bergs, volcanoes, pure rivers with untainted water you can drink from, unexplored scenic mountains, and even the 20-foot waves (or higher!) of the seas surrounding the Horn.  With no large cities and scarce facilities, we concluded that you got to love the raw life in order to want to live in this isolated place.  We were able to see how people here cut an existence for themselves under harsh and even extreme conditions.  If you ever need to enter the witness protection program, the southern tip of South America might be a good choice -- they’ll never find you down there, in fact, they might not even bother to look!