Punta Del Este, Uruguay - March 13, 2008
Discovered by the Spaniards in 1516, Punta del Este is one of the largest and most fashionable
seaside resorts of South America.
Punta Del Este is the nicest city we
have visited on this cruise. It is a resort
and retirement area that is well
maintained. We started the day by
going ashore by tender. The ship had
to anchor quite a way from shore so
the tender ride was 20 minutes each
way.
There were several sea lions in the
harbor area including the three at left
(two in the water and one that jumped
up on the pier to get food from the
tourists!)
The city is very clean and contains
many modern buildings and a lot of
new construction especially in the
beach front areas.
We walked into town before our bus
tour to do a little shopping.  We also
found this nice little ice cream store
and managed to order something (very
few people seem to speak English).
We had lunch at the local McDonald's!
The bus tour was very interesting and
took us all around Punta Del Este (we
took almost 200 pictures!!).  This looks
like the ocean (in the right photo), but
it is actually a large river that empties
in to the Atlantic.  This is fresh water
for several miles along the shore.
We also stopped at a local art museum
that features all Latin artists (it was
some pretty strange art!!).  The
building was quite nice and is privately
owned, but open to the public.  The  
housing development around the
museum is called "Beverly Hills"... we
felt right at home!
Kathy was misbehaving and trying to
hide behind the expensive artworks!
Next we went to Casapueblo - you
might remember seeing it on the
Samantha Brown travel show. (I will
have more on Samantha Brown in
tomorrow's edition!). The artist built
this (strange) house on the side of a
cliff and sells his art from it and part of
it is a hotel.
When we got back to the ship we relaxed and drank
the bottle of sparkling wine the ship had provided us
for our anniversary.  It was a great day and the early
evening was still warm enough for us to sit on the
veranda and watch the sun set.  How do you like the
nice rose I got for your mother? (I am taking credit for
it, but actually our steward left it for us like he does
every day).