January 18 - Montevideo, Uruguay

So - where did we leave off yesterday? Oh yes - we had set off from Argentina and were headed across the bay to Uruguay. Sounds simple doesn't it? I suppose anyone following this is also eager to hear how a ranch in Uruguay compares to a farm in Saskatchewan. Well - we are wondering that too. We did cross the bay last night, at least most of it. Apparently Dale and I were really tired and slept really hard because we were aware that it was a bit windy outside but didn't notice anything in particular. Imagine our surprise this morning when we rose bright and early at 7 to get ready to catch ourt our at 8 and we looked out the window and noticed that we were not in port and that port appeared a good hour or more away (by our land lubber expetise). Hmmm. Shortly thereafter the captain came on the airwaves and announced that due to the incredibly difficult passage overnight and ongoing terrible conditions, we were unable to safely make it into port at Montevideo. Apparently we managed to sleep soundly through a FORCE 9 Gale - for all of you - that is big, BAD wind approaching hurricane status - and the heavy seas that go with it. We ended up bouncing and rolling at anchor all day - missed out on touring any part of Uruguay and Dale managed to read most of another book. I did some drawing and reading and kept falling asleep when I least expected it. Finally -at around 4pm the winds died down enough to allow the ship passage into harbour where we HAD to go apparently because we had to take on more fuel. We are in favour of this as we feel it would be bad to run out of fuel at either the Falklands or Antarctica. Needless to say - we looked at a small bit of Montevideo and can chalk Uruguay up as a place we need to come back to if we actually want to learn anything about it. On the plus side - Dale managed to get a sunburn today though he did a lot of complaining that he was cold in the 20 or so degree weather. My greatest problem was the sleep issue which made getting anywhere in my book a mite difficult. I am reading a book about Cape Horn that my sister gave me for Christmas and I am currently questioning the wisdom of reading it before reaching the Horn. Let's just say it is a little on the scary side and we may have to reconsider our lack of seasickness before it is all over. But we won't worry about that for now! We now must run to another 4 or 5 course meal (poor us) last night's desserts added up to 7 between 4 people. Apparently our waiter has us gauged as lovers of good food - mahi mahi and prime rib last night - all tasty and neither of us had to work for it or do the dishes afterward! Ahhh this is the life. More tomorrow and probably some picture if I can figure out the technology. 'til tomorrow then - D&M