patriciawatt

After Antarctica, we were thrilled that we got into and enjoyed the Falkland Islands. More often than not the weather does not allow ships to get into that harbour, and now we are making our way up the east coast of South America. We had a lot of days – 19 – and a lot of ports. Most of these ports we visited on the disrupted 2020 Around the World cruise which was halted in Rio because of Covid. However, the highlight for me this time around was our first stop after the Falklands in Punta del Este, Uruguay.

A beautiful coincidence happened here as an old friend from Arizona days, Cecilia, happened to be home visiting her family and we were able to spend the day together. She told me to invite a couple of other people if I wished and so I asked Milt & Jenny, dear friends from the 2018 & 2020 Around the World cruises to come with me. Cecilia is a wonderful ‘guide’, so generous with her time and through her eyes, we saw so much of Punta del Este which is a charming oceanside town.

She was also proud to show us where she was born, San Carlos, a small town not far from Punte and also she took us out into the countryside for lunch and to show us an old house she had bought just recently. It is bright cherry red and is called La Casa de Roja Ceibos. It is like an old century farmhouse, or maybe a hacienda I guess, and it has a swimming pool and sits on about 30 acres of land. It also came with four dogs and a cat and Cecilia was in the middle of restoring it. The interesting story though is that unbeknownst to her, the house had once belonged to her great-grandmother, passed to her grandmother and then her mother and then sold. So I guess she was meant to have this place. The roja Ceibos is a beautiful red flower and is the national flower of Uruguay. The house should be finished by now and can be found and rented through Airbnb. I would stay there in a heartbeat. It was a very special day for Milt, Jenny & myself and we all appreciated Cecilia’s generosity in showing us this lovely part of her country.

In Buenos Aires, Argentina, a multicultural city with eclectic European architecture and a rich cultural life, you find one of the most diverse cities in the Americas. The city and the country in general has been a major recipient of millions of immigrants from all over the world. Here we had our ATW Event, the first of many special events organized especially for the Around the World passengers. We went to the beautiful ‘La Rural Argentina” agricultural hall and were treated to a beautiful evening of the history of tango, music, dance, art and food. It was a montage of dancers representing the immigrants who came here, mostly from Europe, with little money, spent time in the streets and danced what was to become the tango. The dancers dressed in period clothing and took us through the decades showing how the dance has evolved into the rather sensuous dance it is today. It was so beautiful to watch these talented performers and partake of the local food and drink.