Juanico Winery

Sunday January 9, 2022

We thought we would be relaxing on the Viking Jupiter for another day but Viking surprised us by adding another chance at tours of Montevideo at no charge.

We chose the Juanico Winery, the biggest and one of the best wineries in Uruguay producing about three million bottles wine each year.  

History of the Winery     Wine Lover Review

Tour Buses

Corn Plus Grapes

Vineyard

Tasting Room 

Down to Cellar

Wine Cellar from 1830

Wine Tasting

Grapes                                                        Wine to Bring Home

                  Shipping Containers  Port                                                  Guard Starboard

Colonia del Sacramento - Day 16 and Change of Plans

As we waited for our us to depart this morning for the colonial town of Colonia del Sacramento, a ship's officer boarded the bus to remind us to remember to wear our masks at all times. We didn't think any of his reminder. Now, we know that someone tested positive and that would significantly alter our plans for the rest of our trip.

Colonia del Sacramento was established in 1680 by the Portuguese to keep an eye on the Spanish across the Río de la Plata River at Buenos Aires.  Its historic quarter is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Colonia del Sacramento

Bus Trip  to Colonia

As we rode along the well maintained freeway, we passed farms with fields green with produce, corn? or soybeans? and brown as hay appeared to be been mowed recently. We saw cattle, beautiful horses, very nice farm houses along with some in disrepair or maybe abandoned little buildings. 

According to our guide, farmers and ranchers are, for sure, on the top of the economic pyramid although they are always complaining and getting government loans. Exports are beef, woodchips and soybeans in that order.  

Uruguay generates 100% renewable power: Wind, Biomass, Solar and Hydroelectric. We saw many wind turbines in the distance as we rode along.  Uruguay actually sells power to Brazil and Argentina.  It has a stable government, good middle class and is highly taxed.  They provide free education through university for all and health care.  The country has about 3 million population with 12 million cattle.  Beef is king here and they consume the highest per capita beef in the world.

Portuguese House - Tile Roof, Spanish roofs are flat

Left - City Gate  Right Portuguese stone "paved" street 

Portuguese built with stone, Spanish built with bricks. 

Left - Lighthouse behind Convent,  Right - Church

Street Scenes 

Returning to the ship in the late afternoon we learned about the COVID case and that we would not be steaming for Buenos Aires in the evening as planned.

This morning, January 7, we were informed that we would remain in Montevideo for 2 more days on the ship.  Viking is rescheduling our departing flights as we cannot enter Argentina to fly out of Buenos Aires as planned. That is the mess that one case can cause even though the COVID positive person is in quarantine ashore.

Of course, we cannot leave the ship now except for transport to the airport. We have been told that most of us will depart by Monday but we haven't heard anything yet about our flight.

Update - Saturday Morning, this morning we have our new flight schedule. We will fly out of Montevideo Monday morning on a Viking charter flight and spend the night in Miami before flying to Fort Myers via Charlottesville, NC on American. We should be home Tuesday evening.  Hurrah!

 

Montevideo by Bus and Foot

 We arrived this morning at the port of Montevideo to dock at a shipping container facility with hundreds of if a thousand shipping containers stacked about the port.  One ship off loading containers provided entertainment as we watched the cranes work.  A few days later we watched as some of the containers were trans-loaded unto barges probably for shipment up-river. 

Viking Jupiter just barely fit between other smaller boats berthed along the dock. Alas, I have no pictures to show the amazing close fit. 

According to our guide a terminal for cruise ships in under construction so future cruise ship passengers will not be competing for space with shipping containers. 

Tug Assisting Viking Jupiter Squeeze into a Tight Spot Alongside the Warf.

 View from Port

View from Starboard, Note Dry Dock on right side of photo

Container Ship Unloading Containers

Later in the morning we boarded buses for a tour of Montevideo. 

Palacio Legislativo del Uruguay

Construction of Palacio Legislativo commenced in 1902 with completion in 1925;  the architectural decorations were not completed until 1964. 

 

Across the busy intersection, stands a tribute to democracy sculpted by the Uruguayan artist Rubens Fernandez. 

We stopped next at an indoor market, nearly empty of shoppers due to the early hour and the fact that many people are on holiday early January.

Uruguayans consume more beef per capita than any other people in the world.  

Everyone Complies with the Mask Mandate in Uruguay.

 

A Repurposed Volkswagen Minibus

Off the bus in the central city, we walked through parks and pedestrian only streets to end at Bar Facal. 

Palico Salvo completed in 1928 houses private residences and offices. It lies along the Plaza Independenca.  General Jose Artigas is the Father of Uruguay. In the building to the right, are offices of the UNIT, an organization for ISO 9000 quality certifications. Richard audited chemicals plants to ISO 9000 standards in a previous life. 

A tour is not complete without a little window shopping. Burger King is everywhere. We also looked around the Torres Garcia Museum before lunch at Bar Facal.  

Founded in 1882 by Galician Manuel Facal and his brothers,  Bar Facal is the oldest Uruguatan downtown bar. Our lunch was a sandwich like a Cuban with beef, of course, replacing the pork. It needed a little BBQ sauce. The Tango dancers perform Monday - Saturday at 1 PM on the street corner. Click here to see them dance! 

Now, it is back to the boat to watch the cranes move more containers!

Montevideo

 

Punta del Este by Bike

 

January 4, 2022 - Thunderstorms forecast for the morning did not arrive. They did arrive in force for our afternoon bike ride. As the shy darkened in the west, we dawned yellow vests and helmets. Off we went pedaling single file as instructed. Before we had gone two blocks, one young lady broke ranks, pedaling hard uphill to fall-in right behind the guide. Stopping at our first point of interest, the light house, our guide looked back to exclaim, “We have lost half the herd already.” The rest of our riders had stopped practically before they started as one lady had fallen off her bike before she got out of the parking lot.

Getting Ready to Ride

With wind blowing now in earnest, off we went the whole herd, mostly single file, with our guide in front and two young Viking females at the tail to assure no one got lost. Yesterday, four riders got lost when held up attempting to cross four lanes of heavy traffic, the rest of riders ahead vanished. Our friends who were on the ride complained, Viking listened and added the young Viking females to ride astern. 

Lighthouse - Looking East                               High-rises Along Beach - Looking West

The Hand from the Sand

Starting  to Get Wet

The wind blew harder; thunder rumbled, lighting flashed in the distance, the sky began to sprinkle, we decided to continue with the beach on our right and heavy traffic beside us on our left. The sky dumped water on us sideways. The roads filled with water. Time to cross the peninsula and return to the marina for a tender ride back to the ship. I was completely soaked but not shivering.

Safe in Tender but Soaked to the Bone with Jan from Sanibel

A few hours later out on the sea as Viking Jupiter sailed for Montevideo, Punta del Este still lay under low dark clouds. We were sailing into sunshine.

Viking Jupiter Before the Rain Came

   "La Mano (The Hand) is a sculpture in Punta del Este by Chilean artist Mario Irarrázabal. It depicts     five human fingers partially emerging from sand and is located on Parada 1 at Brava Beach in Punta  del Este, a popular tourist town in Uruguay. It is also known as either Los Dedos (The Fingers),  Hombre emergiendo a la vida (Man Emerging into Life). In English, its popular name is The Hand.

    It is a famous sculpture[ that has become a symbol for Punta del Este since its completion in February 1982 and in turn has become one of Uruguay's most recognizable landmarks." - LaMano - Wikipedia

Uruguay Arrival January 3, 2022

We anchored this morning off Punta Del Este about 7:30 AM in dense fog to end our repositioning cruise fifteen hundred miles and three days and twenty-one hours from Cape Horn. 

Bridge Cam - Anchored in Fog

Morning Fog

The fog, unusual for this time of year, hinted at clearing a few times, socked us in again and then finally lifted about 10 AM. 

Just Curious About Us

All sorts of jet skis, power boats and sailing craft cruised by to wave hello and take a look at us including this guy above. 

Med Moor in Punta del Este

At 1:20PM, a small boat delivered us to the marina for a  two hour bus tour of this resort city of stunningly modern high rises and beautiful homes owned mostly by Argentineans and Brazilians we were told by our guide.

Admiral Graff Spee's Anchor

December 13, 1939 - Three British ships badly damaged the Admiral Graff Spee, a German pocket battleship, in the Battle of the Rio de la Plata. The German ship put into Montevideo for repairs but having been forced out to sea by neutral Uruguay after only 72 hours, the ship's captain ordered the Admiral Graff Spee scuttled in the river.   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_cruiser_Admiral_Graf_Spee

Watching Hang Gliding at Punta Balena (Whale Point)

From Punta Balena just up the coast, we could see the beaches on the shore as well as our cruise ship out in the river. 

Viking Jupiter

New Year's Eve and Richard's Birthday at Sea

 

Day 10 December 31, 2021

Today is Richard's 75^th Birthday! To mark the occasion the Viking staff delivered a complementary bottle of Sparkling Wine with a birthday cake (sponge cake with chocolate layers covered with fresh berries) So delicious.

We tried to walk a mile around the Deck Two's outside track but the wind blowing spray off the high seas forced back inside where we we walked down the passage ways like drunken sailors! 

The Captain announced that since our ship was not welcome in Argentina even though we had had no Covid cases in a over a week with daily PCR testing), we are heading to Uruguay for a 4-day stay at two different ports. Viking delivered a letter to us stating that when we return home, their “customer relations team will contact us.” They state they want us to be “lifelong Viking travelers” and will extend an offer to us to travel again with them. We and the rest of the passengers think they will give us quite a credit to book another voyage. We are very happy with that because we are treated like royalty on board and would gladly cruise again with Viking.

Today was packed with interesting ship lectures (we really enjoy the Astronomer who has worked with NASA). We got together with our new friends and had a wonderful dinner and sang HB to Richard. There was an amazing show on the pool deck to ring in the New Year.

Day 11 January 1, 2022

Happy New Year! Conditions on the sea are smooth and the water is blue. Everyone is happy and looking forward to Uruguay.

1400 Hrs:  43deg 47.4' S  59deg 02.1' W

Cruising 17 mph NNE  under a clear blue sky

Wind NW light at 10mph, 57 F