Travel Quote: "When life knocks you down, roll over and look at the stars."
Following a couple of days at sea to rest up from our swinging time in Rio, we were revitalized and ready to hit three ports in a row - Buenos Aires sandwiched between Punta Del Este and Montevideo, Uruguay.
First stop - Punta Del Este. What a wonderful seaside resort! This was my second call to this great place. Weather was fantastic again, and I had booked a tour to visit the Ralli Museum and Casapueblo, two places I did not get to see last time.
Punta Del Este is a very popular getaway spot for South Americans and international celebrities. There is virtually no crime here - you can leave your valuables on your beach towel and go for a swim with no worries. The city is quite busy in the summer months, especially during January, but the rest of the year it's practically a ghost town. There are some wonderful residential neighborhoods here, and beautiful beaches. Nightlife is hopping during the summer, and there's a lot of restaurants and music venues to keep you coming back.
This is a tender port, with a longish ride - 1.5 miles. That can translate to about a 20-25 minute ride, depending on the waves.
Shortly after arriving at the marina (full of fancy schmancy looking yachts, I might add), we boarded our tour bus and headed for a nice little tour around the area. We stopped at an intersection called the Four Waters (there's even a restaurant on the corner called by this name), where, if you look forward, left, right and back, you will see water. Fun! a couple of blocks further, there's a pretty lighthous, built in France, but shipped here and reassembled.
Around on the Atlantic side, is Playa Brava, a very nice beach. It's also the "home" of the Hand sculpture, which I wrote about in my post last year. Depending on your source, this sculpture can mean several things. One holds that it is a monument to those who have drowned in the waters there. Another is that it is man being born from the earth, his hand reaching upwards to God. I rather prefer the latter.
This is the Hand, aka Monumento al Ahogado.
This shot, below, is a house whose windows are all made from the same glass as Ray Ban's.
On our way to the Ralli Museum, we drove over these two wavy bridges. They were fun to drive over, and our guide closed his eyes both ways. He didn't like them at all. Again, my friend, Karen MacDonald, got this view from a different tour. Thanks Karen for showing what I felt!!
One of the highlights of the day was a visit to the Ralli Museum. It focuses on showcasing art from living Latin American artists. It also displays European works from the 15-18th century. It is free to enter. There are four other Ralli museums around the world, but this one was the first.
A closeup of one of the many sculptures from the museum's outside garden.
A sculpture by Salvadore Dali, right at the entrance, just inside.
The museum included an exhibit with Chagall work. Below are several of my favorites.
Some of the artwork was creepily interesting, such as this one, below, by Enrique Campuzano, from Chile.
Girls' night out?? This is by the artist Beryl Cook.
In the sculputure garden outside, this was one of my favorites. Takes me back to my days as a child, playing this same string game.
Dali's famous image, the soft watch, suspended upon the tree of life. The wrapped woman represents desire, reality and the material world. The pensive angel represent the deeply religious aspect of man. "Notwithstanding these two aspects which guide our daily life, time reigns supreme, and therefore Dali has crowned time "king" - the master of all mankind."
The outside garden at Ralli. Lots of playful and thoughtful sculptures. I think they are by Fernando Botero, but cannot confirm that.
Our last stop in Punta Del Este was the home of artist Carlos Paez Vilaro. It's an all-white outside, with an interesting architectural design. It was hand built by the artist himself, and is an homage to his son, who was one of the survivors of the "Miracle in the Andes" plane crash in the 1970's. It reminds me very much of Gaudi's work. Carlos passed away a few years ago, but when he was still alive, he would often greet visitors and give them a tour himself.
A view from outside the front of Casapueblo.
Much of the private rooms and home of Casapueblo is closed off to visitors, but the rooms and patios we did get to see were very interesting. Hard to imagine Vilaro built this entire place with his own hands.
This is Marilyn and Rodney, two of my trivia team members. We were on the same tour today. They hail from Perth, Australia.
Carlos Paez Vilaro, himself, with his cat. I think this is a beautiful picture.
There were a lot of clippings from newspapers about the plane crash and his son's safe return. This is the artist, with his son.
Resident cat, gentle greeter of visitors. He enjoys a scratch behind his ears.
LOOKING FOR YARN IN BUENOS AIRES
My fourth visit to Buenos Aires, so I've been here, done that. Last year, Kathi, Pat and I spent one afternoon of our two day stay shopping for yarn in the well known street of Sabortini Ortiz. It's a 30 minute tax ride from the ship, but well worth the time to go, if you're a knitter or crocheter. They have a number of yarn shops along a 3 block area, and the prices are about 1/3 of what you'd pay at home.
Since we only had one day here this year, Kathi wanted to return to the shops, and since I'm a new knitter and (slightly) improving crocheter, I was interested in returning as well. I was going to be in search of getting more of this multi-colored yarn that I used to knit scarves for my granddaughters. I am hoping to crochet some little lap blankets for them using the same yarn. It's very colorful!
Here's Kathi, below, at our first shop. Look how happy she is! This is definitely her nirvana.
Some of the yarn I purchased. This is destined to be a long neck scarf. Also, I did find the colorful yarn from last year, and I bought enough to make two small blankets for the girls.
MONTEVIDEO
Once, again, another stop in Montevideo. This marked my 3rd visit. First time I went with friends Karen and Joanne to a few wineries outside of town. Second time was last year and I wandered the quiet streets on our Sunday visit. I also visited the Tango museum and the building in which it is housed. This year, another stroll along the pedestrian-only streets was worth the time. There was also a well known yarn shop outlet that Kathi wanted to visit, and since that was along the route, we both took a stroll together.
Below is the cathedral. I am not sure if I went inside it last year.
I think this is an archbishop that is entombed here.
The Independence Plaza. Nice big square, and one end contains the original gate to the city.
One of the smaller plazas, this fountain surrounded by birds chirping in the trees, was a welcome and shady spot to rest.
This plaque fascinated me, with the intricate carvings on the four corners. They represent Montevideo.
Here's the gate at one end of Independence Square.
Statue of Artigas, considered the founder of Uruguayan independence.
We passed this cute barber shop/hair salon - made just for kids!!
Some pretty tiled steps, typical in many of the buildings along the pedestrian walk. Many buildings are in major disarray, but some have been restored and are just lovely, like this one. This area has such promise.
Stay tuned for more Pig Tales!!!
