Estancia La Rabida, Montevideo, Uruguary
Early this morning we entered the Bay of Montevideo, just as the German pocket battleship Graf Spee did in 1939. But under quite different circumstances. After docking we boarded two buses that took us into the city, where we visited the important and historic parts of Montevideo. Probably the most magnificent was the Parliament Building, where we marveled at the 53 different color marbles used to build the edifice, all from Uruguay. The name Uruguay stems from the Guarani, "River of the Painted Birds." We then drove 45 kilometers west from the capital, into the neighboring state called San Jose, and visited a lovely, huge (3,500 hectares or 9,500 acres), called La Rabida. At this ranch cattle is grown, for meat and milk, as well as sheep and horses. There we were introduced to the different workers, and we then were introduced to the typical Uruguayan barbecue, with marvelous meats of different animals, as well as to milking a cow, riding horses and a piece of untanned cow skin, and pulled by a running horse. In old cars and a tractor-pulled cart with bales of straw, we moved down to the hugely wide River Plate, where we would see the local "gauchos" (cowboys) do their running paces at the surf. But due to the SE wind, there was barely any beach where they could shallow off their prowess.
Local dances by professionals were shown to us, and some included spinning and whirling the "bolas" (stones with ropes attached, which spun by the gauchos high over their heads were used to hunt or fell running animals, entangling their feet). We even enjoyed one of these dances with fire!
Eventually the time came for our departure, and we finished the day with a short bus ride back to Montevideo and our ship for recap and dinner.
Early this morning we entered the Bay of Montevideo, just as the German pocket battleship Graf Spee did in 1939. But under quite different circumstances. After docking we boarded two buses that took us into the city, where we visited the important and historic parts of Montevideo. Probably the most magnificent was the Parliament Building, where we marveled at the 53 different color marbles used to build the edifice, all from Uruguay. The name Uruguay stems from the Guarani, "River of the Painted Birds." We then drove 45 kilometers west from the capital, into the neighboring state called San Jose, and visited a lovely, huge (3,500 hectares or 9,500 acres), called La Rabida. At this ranch cattle is grown, for meat and milk, as well as sheep and horses. There we were introduced to the different workers, and we then were introduced to the typical Uruguayan barbecue, with marvelous meats of different animals, as well as to milking a cow, riding horses and a piece of untanned cow skin, and pulled by a running horse. In old cars and a tractor-pulled cart with bales of straw, we moved down to the hugely wide River Plate, where we would see the local "gauchos" (cowboys) do their running paces at the surf. But due to the SE wind, there was barely any beach where they could shallow off their prowess.
Local dances by professionals were shown to us, and some included spinning and whirling the "bolas" (stones with ropes attached, which spun by the gauchos high over their heads were used to hunt or fell running animals, entangling their feet). We even enjoyed one of these dances with fire!
Eventually the time came for our departure, and we finished the day with a short bus ride back to Montevideo and our ship for recap and dinner.
