This is it, we've overcome all potential hurdles and only global disaster can stop us now. But I am getting ahead of myself, as usual.
October 22, 2022
We got up at 5:45 this morning. That is bad enough, but imagine 5:45 am after a big steak dinner that ended at 11 pm. So, ya, we did not get a lot of sleep. We had to lug our bags a few blocks to find a cab due to the extensive road work, directly in front of the Waldorf. I had to move my rubber boots to a small carry bag (one of the ones from MEC, for Andrea's info, those little bags are perfect!).
We got to Burquebus ferry terminal at 6:30. We walked right up to the check-in. By the time we showed our passports and dropped our bags, the line up was already forming.
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| Fancy staircase but those railings were not great for gripping |
The ferry was 2 hr 45 minutes. It was a grey rainy day and a choppy crossing. I only got up from my seat once, to hit the loo and exchange some money. It was a weavy, unstable walk. There are limited hand bars on the boat so I was just as happy to stay put. Of course, I did not think to take out my zappyzappy wrist thing. I was fine but if it had gone on for a few more hours, that might not have been true.
Money. I exchanged US $ to Uruguay pesos (30:1 Can, 40:1 US). From what I can tell, there is only one version of an exchange which makes things easier. However, Amy the Accountant discovered that if you pay by credit card here, there is an automatic refund of the 22% VAT tax. So, in Argentina, don't use your card, use cash. In Uruguay, use your card, don't use cash. Which is just as well. I think I mentioned that we are running our of actual cash. It is quite a bit more expensive here than Argentina, and Argentina was way more expensive than we were expecting.
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| Raining |
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| The port |
We arrived to pouring rain. We went through security and customs. At the border agent, we asked for a Uruguay stamp in our passport. Our person could not but she talked a lot and really fast and then pointed at some random point in the room. Amy and I tried to figure it out but mostly we just took a few steps and then looked confused. She came out and showed us where to go, some other guy at a different window. We managed to get our stamp. Very exciting. We are going to have to remember to do that when we get to Ushuaia. We want that Argentina stamp! But I digress.
We took a cab to the Dazzler! Something about that name almost requires an exclamation point. There was a G Adventure guy wandering around handing out welcome packages. No new info really, but we were given a time for our Covid test. 6:30 tonight.
It was really raining so we just went next door for a burger. Again, I am just not getting the appeal of the food here. I can't believe I am saying this, but too much cheese people! My burger has so much cheese, and an egg. and ham, and bacon. Everything is just too much. There was no 'just a burger' option. They all had cheese and egg, even the vegetarian option.
We killed enough time with lunch to be able to check into the hotel. We had stored our bags so I needed to get into mine to get my proof of vaccine so we could properly check in with the G Adventures folks.
When we were talking to our G Adv. guy, showing our proof of vaccination, I asked about the thruple again. He searched and searched and said that he doesn't see another person in our room. WHAA! I am trying very hard to not get overly excited but it is very difficult. Maybe he just doesn't know how to search the guest list properly. We won't know for sure until we get to the boat and have our rooms assigned. I am telling you this as I knock on wood, not to curse ourselves but because I may not be able to tell you what happens until the cruise is over. Everyone loves a season break cliffhanger don't they?
As we were waiting in line, there was a single woman sitting nearby so I asked her if she was in a triple. She is. I said she might be our thruple. We had a nice little chat. She is from Alberta. We had seen another single woman with a North American accent book in earlier as well. So... we'll see.
It was raining all day and we had the covid test at 6:30 so we stuck around the hotel. I used the Business centre to write the last post. We watched the BBC, the ONLY English channel, for a bit until it was time for our test.
We were so nervous. Neither of us has any symptoms, we are both quadruple vaccinated. But a Covid diagnosis, even asymptomatic, would be the end of our trip. But Hallelujah, we were both negative. What a relief! They told us that everyone tested so far was negative. Only 17 people left to test.
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| My health care professional who gave me my test. I have heard there are terrible but he was gentle with my nostril |
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| Negative! Yay! |
After that, we went to dinner is this weird high end food court place. We got pasta. Fine again. I had a beer. It was good. they do make good beer here.
Finished off with an ice cream and then home to bed. The Dazzler! is a much better hotel than the Waldorf and 100% less road construction. But I don't think the staff would beat the Waldorf's in a hand to hand contest.
Ok, this is the end of today. We are going to explore Montevideo a bit tomorrow. Our bus to the boat leaves here at 2pm. I will try to write a bit more tomorrow but if there is no time, I will just hit publish and this may be it for three weeks. If so, I'll see you in Ushuaia with one million posts! Hopefully we get to finish up tomorrow though.
Good night.
Sunday, October 23 (Day 1 of the cruise!)
We have an hour to kill until it's time to board the bus that takes us from the hotel to the boat. We pooled our last few Uruguay pesos and we are sharing one dessert and one drink at a bar/cafe across the street (and stealing their wifi)
Today, we had our free breakfast and then took a bit of a circle tour of Punta Carretas, the area we are in is a lovely point with a lighthouse at the end. But first we went to the Sunday Market. claro!
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| We bought some boat snacks from this little food stall |
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| The parrots are nesting. It was a cacophony of parrots squawking |
We saw the lighthouse but did not actually walk down to it. We were running out of time.
I packed my card reader in the bag that has already been taken to the boat so I will try to upload a few photos from my phone and then that will be it.
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| This is literally counting our pesos to see what we could afford |
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| This plus a bottle of water is what one can get for $400 Urg pesos. |
See you in several weeks!
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