I'm Not Dead Yet

Once a teacher, always a teacher.  You just teach different subjects and different people.  Since I was once a teacher, here is today's geography lesson.

I say that when you stop learning, you might as well be dead.  Well, I am still learning.  I grew up in Minnesota where there is a town named Montevideo. So, like any good Minnesotan, I called it Mant- ah- vid' io, with the accent on the vid and the country was You rah gway with the accent on the You.  Now we are in South America and I learned that it is mohnt eh vi day oh with the accent on  day.
Uruguay is the second smallest country in South America, right across the widest river (some say estuary) in the world.  It is 250 miles across from Montevideo to Buenos Aires, Argentina, our next stop.

This is a large city known for its miles long Rambles, an Arabic word meaning sand.  This is a green space that separates the high rises and high price hotels, apartments and condos from the ocean and beach.  The beautiful beaches and the long green "park" are the favorite places for the tourists and citizens to relax.

Again, like most cities, there is a city square, surrounded by government buildings, offices, banks and hotels, with a statue of the national hero riding a horse in the middle of the square.

The President's office building

This "gate" separates the old city from the new city.

One of the 19th century buildings

I took only a scenic ride around the city to see the major sites.

A monument to the country's pioneers

Darrell went on a tour to find out about the Admiral Graf Spee, a German battleship, the pride of the German navy in World War II.

Route and battles of the Admiral Graf Spee, showing
ships which she sank.

 She sank many allied ships before engaging in a battle just off the shore of Montevideo.  The ship was badly damaged.  Since Uruguay was a neutral country, they could not afford to offend either the Germans or the British, so they gave the Captain just 3 days to repair the ship and leave Uruguay's waters.  Knowing this was impossible, the Captain sent the crew ashore, rigged explosives to detonate as soon as the remaining crew were off the ship and sank the ship.  Later the Captain committed suicide rather than return to Germany and face Hitler.

Graves of German sailors killed in battle.