Day 76 - Montevideo

 

Woke up in a new country today!

Montevideo was very tourist friendly, with walking paths for tourists clearly outlined.  We explored the Old City, by which we were docked.  It took about 20 minutes to walk the entire area.  There was a pedestrian shopping street, but many of the stands did not start setting up until after 10 am, so there was not much to see or do.  We wandered into the new part of the city, but it was much of the same.  We walked to the point labeled “Panoramic View” on our map.  There was nothing but a large (and unattractive) building.  We stopped for help at a tourism booth, and they told us the view was from the top of the building, and it was closed because the lift was broken.

We tried walking along the beach instead.  The body of water looked large enough to be ocean, but it was actually an enormous river.  It didn’t meet the ocean until Punta del Este, about 2 hours away.  The water was deep brown, though it didn’t discourage the locals from swimming in it.  Later, we came across a park with a small pond that was as green as the grass.  No one was swimming there.  For lack of ideas, we visited the shopping mall, which used to be a prison.