Montevideo, Uruguay

Our first port of call, the capitol of South America's 2nd smallest country, Uruguay (Surinam is the smallest). This was a short overnight ride on the cruise part of our adventure from Buenos Aires across one of the widest rivers in the world (60 plus miles), the Rio de Plata.

Montevideo is filled with marvelous architecture mixed with lesser structures. The streets are energetic - stores, street vendors, parks, marvelous quality art, an 1800's renovated major theater and more. Five initial images below:

1) Plaza Independencia - the statue is a hero known not for his victories, but his vision and ideas. In the back ground is the new Executive office building of the President.
2) the Teatro Solis - opera, ballet, symphony - Uruguayan and international stars play here.
3) wondrous people sightings - young and old.
4) one of many parks
5) a statue of the gaucho - the cowboy - a history that is revered here and where there is a museum dedicated to the gaucho.

We took a 3 hour walking tour here and wished we had more time to soak in this wonderful ambiance of a proud South American Capitol. And one more thing - the literacy rate of Uruguay,where educate through graduate school is free, is 98%