Home again, home again, jiggity jig.

We woke up in Montevideo to discover two interesting things.  1.) The Queen Mary II had docked at the port during the night.  Kate rode the Queen Mary I on its penultimate transatlantic voyage on her way to study abroad in France, so she wasn't very impressed.  This version of the Queen Mary is stunningly large and so extravagant next to Montevideo's working port.

2.) The Plaza de Independencia betrayed nothing of the previous night's wild activity.  Like Buenos Aires, Montevideo is kept clean by a large group of city garbage workers.  They aren't necessary employed by the city or unionized, but they all have uniforms and are loosely affiliated with each other, dividing up territories so as not to overlap.  They roam assigned neighborhoods with push carts and more often than not, horse drawn carriages.  They sort through garbage which can entail breaking apart plastic garbage bags and looking for plastic and cardboard.  They haul away the rest of the garbage to a dump and bring the cardboard and plastic to be weighed and sold for re-purposing.  They are also apparently adept at removing small bits of confetti from cracked sidewalks and streets.  One would never have guessed at the Carnaval celebration which ended only hours before.

We walked about 5km along the waterfront from the downtown to a more recreational area.  Montevideo has a number of really suitable urban beaches which were being used by families and some tourists.  Off the beaten path, we managed to find a sweet little museum called Museo Nacional de Artes Visuales.  The exhibition was mostly contemporary multimedia art done by Uruguayans, but there was also a very interesting and unusual exhibit of Finnish design and textiles.

[The well hidden but worthwhile Museo Nacional de Artes Visuales]

We stopped at a beach side restaurant for lunch and decided it was about time to try Chivito, the national dish.  I think Chivito was traditionally made with goat meat but these days beef or chicken seem like the more popular options.  It is essentially a layered sandwich with ham, chicken or beef, fried egg, mayonnaise, lettuce and tomato.  I'm not sure I'd have it again, but at least I can say I tried a Chivito in  Montevideo.  Please notice the predominance of french fries.

We continued wandering along the waterfront, amused and amazed by the variety in this city.

[Kate in her UV protective get-up]

Feeling sunburned (me) and hot (Kate), we sat down for a windy beer. 

We made our 9 pm Buquebus ferry departure without incident.  The trip was quite rough and the very polite crew members kept requesting passengers stay in their seats to avoid injury.  Literally no one paid any attention.  After all, what kind of trip would it be if you were deprived of the opportunity to sip wine and eat an unlimited supply of hot dogs?

Kate tried to get a little sleep on the four hour journey while I listened to my iPod (Yes.  I am now one of those people).  Please enjoy this picture of Kate's sleeping outfit.  Mind you, I had no plans to photograph her until I noticed that quite a few of the passengers around us where snapping photos of her.  I couldn't miss out on the opportunity too: