Sleepwalking

Figuratively, not literally. After only 5 hours of sleep on Thursday night, a long day on shore, and then a long night in Montevideo, I don't know how I'm up and functioning at the moment. Mind you, it's 10:00 am, but I could have slept until 1 if I had the time. Today is our last day on the ship and suddenly the last few days have just flown by. I have so much to do before I leave yet I have a jam packed day.

The best part about being on this trip w/ Amazing Journeys is that I didn't have to figure out what to do when we learned that we would be going straight to Montevideo. AJ managed to keep the Punta del Este tour, but also give us free time in the town. It was a long drive, but well worth it! The Uruguayan countryside is beautiful. The country is similar to Iowa in size, population, and primary economic source -- agriculture. From there, the 2 part ways. The highest point in the country is 1500 meters. Punta del Este, which is billed as the riviera of South America, is a laid back resort community. We first stopped at Casapueblo (see link in earlier post). The building is beautiful.

The artist's work (spacing on the name at the moment) is vibrant and I ended up buying a couple lithographs. The most exciting part was the artist came down and signed all of our purchases. I got a picture of him signing my purchases and a picture with him. A very nice man.

We then had lunch in town and instead of shopping, a friend and I walked along the Malecon (the sidewalk b/w the road and the beach) for 40 minutes. It was so nice to get out and walk! I have been such a slug this trip, partly b/c the ship was too rocky to exercise in the gym and too windy on the jogging track to attempt anything. Afterwards, we went to the Ralli museum, which specializes in latin american art, specifically surrealism and more modern works. They also had a number of Dali sculptures.

We got back around 7:45. Since we were docked overnight, we took advantage of Montevideo and did not each on the ship. A couple of us walked (about a mile) to a tango bar for dinner and music. The Uruguayans, like other latin american cultures, don't start going out until after 10 so we were very early. Kind of like seniors at an early bird special. A few more folks from our group showed up and we decided to go to a parrilla (grill) instead for some dinner. We found a great place and had a wonderful time. We finally finished dinner around 1:30. We headed back to the bar, but no one from our group was there so we took a taxi back. I then stayed up until about 3 talking w/ my roommate. Hence, the sleep fog I'm in at the moment.

I have the Jewish heritage tour in a couple of minutes. I will try to get back on later today to update. If not, I may not get back on here until I'm in Iguazu on Monday.