January 23, 2020



Punta del Este, Uruguay



Today just did not go as planned.  First of all, I woke up 40 minutes before the alarm after having this dream (nightmare?) that I had agreed to teach one more year.  In the dream, I kept asking myself why I had done it since it meant I could not cruise.



Due to getting up earlier, I went to get my tender ticket just before 8 and was told it would be about 10 minutes before my color and number would be called.  That worked out to be accurate and we were on the tender at about 8:10.  The tender only took about 15 minutes to arrive at the dock (we had been told about 30 minutes) but a few more to unload.  I was off and walking towards town by 8:30.  Or so I thought.



When the port talk was given, we were told we were tendering to one location so I had figured out the directions from there.  Turns out we went to the other tender pier at the marina and my work was useless.



We had been given maps as we left the pier and I usually have a fairly good sense of direction – which totally abandoned me today.  Part of the problem was that some corners had no street signs and others only had the street I was on, not the cross street.  So, I could walk 2 blocks before I realized I was going the wrong way.  To make a long story short, it took me almost 40 minutes to get on the right street and I had been close to giving up when I finally found it. 



I had three goals – 1) find the Manos del Uruguay shop (they make beautiful yarn),  2) find a plastic pitcher in which I could make iced tea to keep in my cabin (the iced tea onboard is made from concentrate and is horrible), and 3) go to the public square where there were supposed to be crafts being sold.



Since I was coming from a totally different direction, I found the square first.  It was deserted –  no crafts.  I continued walking down the main shopping street and came upon the Manos del Uruguay shop – which did not open until 10.  Looking in the window, though, I could see they only had finished items – no yarn.  As I turned around I saw I was close to "The Hand” which I was going to find if I had the time, and the energy, so I went across to the beach and took some pictures.



I found a couple more stores that might have the pitcher I was looking for.  I found one but it was too big to fit into my fridge.  By the time I started back the Manos store was open and I confirmed they did not have yarn.  I slowly walked back and when I passed the square it was still empty. 



Three hours after I started, I returned to the tender pier.  I had walked almost four miles (according to the calculations I made on Google Earth when I returned).



I changed into my swimsuit and went to the Lido for lunch.  I sat in the sun for about 30 minutes before getting in the pool.  I had done not quite half of my laps when I started getting leg cramps.  At one point the muscles in both legs were cramped up.  I finally gave up on my laps for the day although I did get 45 minutes in the pool.  When I got out of the pool, one of my pool sandals had blown away.  I looked but to no avail.  I thought it might have blown under one of the covered tables set out for the sail-away.



I read some e-mails and did some research on Montevideo (where I am still hoping to find Manos del Uruguay yarn) before heading to trivia.  Instead of having too many players like yesterday, we only had four.  We ended with 14 out of 23 and the winners had 19.


1.How many Liberty Bells have there been?

2.How many LPs need to be sold for an album to go platinum?

3.What was the first of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World to be built?

4.What embarrassing single hole score in golf is known as a snowman?

5.What well-known company is the largest user of silver?

6.What was the brand of the first instant coffee which came out in 1950?

7.What two European languages does James Bond speak?

8.Which island country is the only member of NATO without a standing army?

9.Which sitcom character did People magazine dub the first Cold War kid?



I ate at my other table tonight because it was “Game Night”.  There were 15 players and we played three games.  In the first we were read the lyrics to a song and had to give the name of it.  The second game had two players with their backs to the screen and we had to give clues to the phrase that went with the picture, and in the third, one of the team had to sing a song only using la-la-la lyrics and we had to guess the song.

Decided to check with lost and found before I went to bed to see if my sandal had been found and it had!



Buenos Aires tomorrow (and it is supposed to be 90F!)



Trivia

1.2

2.1 million

3.Pyramids of Giza

4.8

5.Kodak

6.Maxwell House

7.German and French

8.Iceland

9.Beaver Cleaver

I passed this three times in my lost ramblings!

Home, Sweet, Home in the harbor

The Hand (Le Mano in Spanish) was constructed in 1982 by Chilean artist Mario Irarrazabal

The Hand symbolizes a drowning man 

 Jose Artigas in the square (without crafts) named for him.  He is a national hero.

fish market by the pier 

Smooth sailing until next time!