Montevideo, Uruguay

 The capital of Uruguay is a relatively small city compared to Buenos Aires and Rio.  That is, as we remember those cities, since both of them were cancelled on this trip.  A couple of side bars: First, Uruguay likes to play around with their neighbors!  Uruguay likes to be #1 when at all possible. It says they are #1 in the world in the most meat eaten person.- they have so many cattle, etc., that the meat is relatively inexpensive for locals so maybe their thoughts are true.  Uruguayans have free healthcare if you forget about the taxes they pay to make it "free".  Their health care system is also fairly good.

The semitropical climate allows lots of beautiful plantings in the public areas.

The government office building

   

One of the leaders in the
fight for independence.

The oxen are not crooked in this picture.  

They are headed for the waterhole, and we are headed for home.

Punta del Este, Uruguay

 Since we have 3 extra days on our cruise, we have added one new port, and we will go there on 2 days.  The same tours are available both days, and then there are only 3 possible tours.  We chose the included tour, "Discover Punta Del Este and Punta Balena."  One of the others was a bike tour, and the other was longer than we wanted to take, so it had to be the included tour.

Punta del Este is the "Riviera of South America."  During their summer season, the population swells from 30,000 to over 400,000.  Since we are not quite into summer, the beaches were not crowded.  Originally, buildings along the beach were limited to 5 stories, but demand was such that the rule was abandoned.  Now they are a lot taller.

A lighthouse in
Old Town

If you have the penthouse apartment,
you get a special elevator.

We started out in the "Old Town", stopping to see the monument there, passing this old lighthouse.  The most interesting thing at this stop was the inset mosaics in the area.

In many areas new vegetation has been planted to slow down erosion from the wind.

Our next stop was to visit the famous         

"Hand in the Sand."  If the hand is this big, how big is the rest of the person buried there?

We stopped to admire the undulating bridge.  I do not know why they built it with permanent waves, unless it was to slow down traffic before we reached a very exclusive neighborhood.  How exclusive is it, you ask?  It is so exclusive that the houses do not have street numbers and the streets have no names. They are known by a name only.

Notice the sign with the name of the house.

One of the many multilevel houses.

The last stop was at Punta Balena to view, from a distance, the former home of a famous author.

 The cliffs opposite the house offer nice winds for parasailing.

We saw several of this type enjoying the afternoon winds.

The end of the point

 

They Go All Out

 
The Chef and his staff create beautiful arrangements at every meal in the World Café.  The presentation in the Chef’s table is beautiful.  Every item delivered to your table at The Restaurant and Manfred’s is garnished and plated to perfection. 

Yet, sometimes they surprise us.

A few days ago we had a Brunch at the World Café from 9:00 to 2:00. There were the usual items plus fancy pastries, Mexican style eggs and a dessert bar with macarons and white and chocolate candies.  Not only that, they got busy carving fruit and arranging vegetables.  I will let the pictures talk for themselves.

 

There have been Christmas trees and garlands in several places around the ship since we arrived.  Now they have added more – much more.  The chef told me that they have been working on these for three weeks.

COVID did it to us again

 No, we are not sick.  Our whole ship is healthy, or at least free of COVID and Norovirus.  However, Latin America does not believe that

We were scheduled for a whole day of tours in Montevideo, Uruguay.  However, the authorities there decided that everyone on the ship from the Captain down to the lowest crew member and all the passengers needed to take their version of a COVID test before anyone could go ashore.  It did not matter to the authorities that everyone had tested negative on every day of the cruise.  They needed their own test.  That meant that each deck was given an hour during which each passenger must report to the Theater to have two swabs stuck up their nose.  This took from 6:00 until 1:00, so all tours were moved to the afternoon, and, since we had to leave the port by 5:30, all tours over 4 hours were cancelled.  That included my tour.

We survived that, but it was disappointing for those who had never been there and had booked longer tours.

Then came the next news in the form of a letter from the Captain delivered to each stateroom.  Argentina will not let anyone into the country who had been in Africa within the last 14 days.  Well, that should not be a problem, since both of our stops in Africa, Morocco and Senegal, had been cancelled.  But, no.  Cape Verde, hundreds of miles off the coast of Africa is still considered to be Africa, so we could not land in Buenos Aires until December 7, 2 days after we were supposed to leave Argentina.

This meant that All tours in Argentina were cancelled and Viking had to decide what to do with us for 3 more days.  If you booked your flights through Viking, they had to reschedule all those flights.  If you booked your own flights, it was up to you to make those changes.  With all the Viking staff on the internet making arrangements, individuals had trouble getting on to make the changes.  We, fortunately had booked through Viking.  Darrell just confirmed that we have the same flights, just 3 days later.

Well, as one of the captains said, "It is what it is."

Sea Days

 When land is several days away, what can you do besides eat?

There are at least 6 lecturers on board, covering everything from global politics to life behind the scenes in the White House to space and astronauts.  Each day you have the choice of hearing 2 or 3 of them live or you can see and hear the lectures whenever you feel like it on the television set in your room.  I have enjoyed watching them in my room, sitting with my feet propped up and knitting. 

Do you want to find out about emeralds, for instance.  A representative from the jewelry store will be glad to assist you. Need a sweater or shirt with a Viking theme?  Visit the ship store.  They have all that and other souvenirs plus a small room with such necessities as deodorant and M&M's (Yumm).  

How about a hair cut, manicure or pedicure.  All available.  So are massages and reflexology.  The spa is open with its steam room, sauna with just heat and no steam, or a room full of snow to cool you off.  Did I mention the hot tub and current pool where you can swim without going anywhere?

Try some machines or weight lifting in the Fitness Center.  You can even watch yourself in the full wall mirror.

If all that sounds too organized, you can do as much or as little as you like.

Perhaps you prefer cards or board games.  There are Bridge lessons and groups who play Mah Jong, and just about any card game you can think of.

Then there are my favorite activities. 

 About a dozen ladies gather every sea day morning to knit or crochet hats for newborns at a hospital in Buenos Aires.  So far we have 32 hats to deliver when we get there.

One of the Cruise Directors, Heather Clancy, designed a table specifically for jigsaw puzzles.  People drop by and put in a few pieces or stay for hours (or days) if they like.

What ever you choose, sea days can be just as interesting and enjoyable as days with tours.

What Do You Do on a 21 Day Cruise?

 Well, there are shore excursions, but I have told you about the ones we took, and Malaga (Spain,) Casablanca (Morocco,) Dakar (Senegal,) Recife and Rio de Janeiro (Brazil,) which were cancelled.  Valencia, Spain, was added, as was Madeira and Cape Verde.  That still leaves a lot of time.

The short answer is EAT!  And, you do not have to cook or wash dishes!  You have trained chefs preparing a wide variety of dishes, and you can eat as much or as little as you want.  That presents a problem when you get on a scale.  Oh well, eat, drink and be merry, for next week we diet.

There is no shortage of places to eat.  The largest is The Restaurant, which is just as it sounds.  There is a menu which changes every day, but there are also favorites which are always available.  We eat here the least.

We have unlimited access to the specialty restaurants, Manfredi's and Chef's Table.  Manfredi's has a menu featuring Italian cooking, with a fish of the day and a pasta of the day.  There are soups, appetizers, side dishes, desserts, and 6 or 8 main dishes to choose from.  The only problem is that the portions are huge.  The chef visited our table and said that it is the Italian way.  I usually order a half portion and still have trouble finishing it.  This is probably most like a fine dining experience at home.

The Chef's Table is our favorite of the specialty places.  The menu changes every 3 days.  This is a five course meal with wine selected to enhance 4 of the courses.  First there is the dish to arouse your appetite, then the First Course.  This is followed by the "Granite," (pronounced gran-ee-tay), an ice of several flavors blended.  This is followed by the Main Course, a fish or meat to match the theme of the meal.  Finally, the dessert.  The portions are beautifully presented and of a size that does not overwhelm you.  

Several of the wall pictures are "moving" pictures.  The one shown below starts as bare branches, the buds slowly form and develop into flowers.  Then the petals fall and the sequence starts again.  Other pictures show flowers growing or underwater scenes with plants growing and swaying in the current.  So far we have had evenings featuring the Route of the Indies highlighting spices that were introduced to Europe by early explorers, a California menu, Xiong (oriental) and Norwegian.  They are all good.  

The Pool Grill serves hamburgers, including the Pancho   

Villa with guacamole and the Viking Burger with cheese 

and round bacon.  They come with salad and French 

fries or onion rings.  They also have chicken, hot dogs 

and a salad bar.  Small tables are located near the 

pool area.

The Wintergarden is also on deck 7.  This is a nice quite place to relax and read or knit or whatever way you like to relax.  Every afternoon on sea days they serve High Tea.  The menu features many (25+/-) types of tea, including herbals and decaffeinated.  Then they bring out a selection of tiny sandwiches, some open-faced, and small cookies and tarts.  You are served a pot of hot water, a container which sits on top of the pot which holds whichever tea you have chosen.  You pour the water and let it steep to your liking and enjoy.

    

Mamsen's

Also on deck 7 is Mamsen's, named after Torsten

Hagen's (owner) grandmother.  They serve breakfast, including waffles, cheese, fruit, and rolls.  In the afternoon they have open faced sandwiches, and in the evening they have soup and fancy cakes.

The first deck bar also has pastries all day long.

The last place I will mention is the one where we eat most of our meals, the World Cafe.

The buffet is arranged in 3 sections, cold which includes fruit and cheese.  In the evening it has scrimp, crab and sushi as well as salad.  The hot area has scrambled eggs, bacon, mushrooms, rice, French toast, vegetarian items, eggs benedict, baked beans, oatmeal, conchae (rice cereal dish) and an omelet station.  There is usually some special egg preparation, such as baked eggs with ham.  The last section has breads, a toaster, coffee cake, and rolls.

At noon, the cold section features cold vegetables, several salads and freshly made-to-order chef's salads.  The hot area has vegetables, starches, prepared dishes like lasagna, meat with various sauces and a carving station.  There are also vegetarian selections.  Everything is labeled as to whether it contains milk, eggs or gluten.  There is also a main dish you can order, such as grilled shrimp.

In the evening the cold area has shrimp, king crab legs, octopus salad and several kinds of  sushi.

The last area has breads and fancy desserts and cookies as well as an ice cream/sorbet section.

The other side of the deck has an identical food selection, except they have fresh pizza and fewer desserts.