Got back on the bus and this time headed for the beach just 2 hours away near Punta del Este. Guess you could say the bus stops here…at least for a good week! We quickly put on our suits & spent a couple hours in our lovely hotel pool then a couple at the beach which is just a short hike. It's very much like a Lake Michigan beach surrounded by sand dunes. The Atlantic is cold so that made the air refreshingly cool under the hot sun & about 90 temp. Later we walked down to a small grocery store and got enough food for the next several days. We ended up going back there several times for food, Coke Light & a shade umbrella. We had a good rain one afternoon & another one morning. Other than that, the weather has been wonderful. We play a lot of cribbage & learned two new card games. We are totally relaxed. There are a few other families here and it's fun watching the kids play in the pool and on the beach. Just wish they were MY grandkids! One brave boy asked us where we were from in English. We just don't hear English here. We had a nice chat with him & his mom who called our Spanish, "Baby talk." Truth. The major attraction here is Casa Pueblo so we did go to town one day to see that. It's the unique home built on a cliff overlooking the ocean by Páez Vilaró, a local artist. Paez said he used his imagination, muscles & friends to build it. He died a few years ago & now his home is part hotel & part museum. It really is a stunning, sprawling, massive masterpiece. A glowing white with sea blue accents building with soft curved roofs & passage ways. The rooms are filled with his art: ceramic, painting & sculptures. Ironically, one of his sons was a survivor in that plane crash we'd learned about at the Andes Crash Memorial last week.
All our other days are the same: sleep, eat, beach, pool, read, cards, phone calls (via WhatsApp), sunset, repeat. We'll be leaving here by bus to Montevideo, then ferry to Buenos Aires & then cruise to the southern tip of South America! Cruising has never been our style but since there's no train, bussing would take a week, & a plane ride would by pass everything between Buenos Aires & there, we decided to cruise. It also seems like a good way to celebrate our 75th birthdays and our 55th wedding anniversary. We know we are truly blessed to be able to celebrate both!
Two tidbits I've been meaning to add:
Tattoos are thing & gas prices are about $5 a gal in Argentina, Uruguay & Paraguay.
Here's something that Rog wrote:
> The Earth is the same, but our view of it has been altered. Our perspective has changed. We have seen several mugs and maps showing the continent of South America oriented in a way that looks upside down to us. South is at the top.
As seen from space the Earth isn't always oriented with North on top. The people here are not always "under" the northern hemisphere. It is just that maps have traditionally been drawn with North at the top.
There is another way our perspective has been challenged here.
We are Americans…but are Argentinians and Uruguayans not also Americans? I think they are. South Americans. How about Canadians and Mexicans? Being American describes many who do not live in the US.
I think Bad Bunny would agree.
Roger
