We left our room to get some breakfast while the ship came alongside in Montevideo and completed its usual checks whenever any vessels arrive in a new port. After we’d eaten we returned to our room to get ready for the day’s planned excursion (which would turn out to be incredible and possibly the best one we’ve ever experienced so far) but because we still had some time before meeting with our group I trained my camera on some more sights of Montevideo, or the little bit we could see from our fairly low vantage point.

The trip we’d arranged during our day in Montevideo was to a vineyard for a wine tasting. That vineyard was 35 kilometres from the Uruguayan capital, in Juanico, and to travel there we boarded a steam train that had been restored to working use by a local group of amateur rail enthusiasts.

Our steam train set off with plenty of whistles to announce its departure from Montevideo and then began its fairly leisurely trek northwards out of the city and through the Uruguayan countryside. Despite my general aversion to taking photos through windows on account of their general dirtiness and reflections galore I did take some video and a number of pictures of the various villages, houses, and people of Uruguay that we passed on the way.

We noticed many dogs running alongside the train. In fact, we noticed many dogs throughout our tour around South America; very much a land of dogs. The local Uruguayan people all came out to stand and stare as our steam train rolled past them too which led us to suspect the train did not run that often. Obviously, we did the very touristy thing of waving to everyone we passed. Not everyone waved back but there were some smiles.

There was a big, obvious wealth disparity as soon as you ventured very far from the centre of Montevideo. When you’re used to travelling throughout the UK and much of Europe with generally pretty even levels of income in whichever country you’re in it can come as a bit of a culture shock to move so quickly between fairly well-off (European-comparable) levels to what looks like close to abject poverty in very short order. I know that there are some people who think that tourism is bad but it can open up your eyes from the outside looking in and there’s no denying that it does bring some money to poorer areas even if the dispersal and use of that money isn’t always obvious or well-managed.

Once we arrived at Juanico train station we had a bit of time to see the steam train in all its glory (as it had been difficult to do so from the platform in the capital city) because there was a bit of filming taking place by one of the Princess Cruises ship videographers, Leandro, for the various promotional pieces and souvenir DVDs they produce on these trips.

The area of Juanico itself was devoid of much of interest but our next stop wasn’t too far away. We waited patiently for our coach to arrive and carry us onto the vineyard and I entertained myself with a few, final photos of the local landscape.

We then sat down to a meal, eight to a table, and wine glasses were presented. Then began the wine tasting and it was unlike any wine tasting we’d done before or since. Wine number one arrived and we slurped. Wine number two arrived and we slurped. Wine number one came back around to fill glasses up so we slurped again. Wine number three was also accompanied by wine number two for anyone who wanted more. Wines four and five were presented and wines one through three came around again as well in case anyone wanted a top up, and we did. Wine six was not alone, as I’m sure you can guess. I would estimate that we each came close to drinking two bottles of wine by the time it finished. We were quite merry.

Uruguayan Tango

We’d already seen a fabulous Argentine Tango when we were in Buenos Aires and now we were treated the variation of the dance performed in Uruguay (which to our eyes was the same). The tango dancers were wonderful.

At the end of the performance the two tango dancers approached some of the people who were watching to see if anyone wanted to get up and dance. I was approached. I said yes. I blame the wine. I apologised profusely for standing on the foot of my tango partner. There is photographic evidence of me “dancing” the tango in Uruguay. No, you may not see it.

We’d been sitting with Leandro, one of the videographers on the Star Princess cruise ship and that meant that video was taken of the occasion too. Upon sitting back down I turned to him and said “You will be nice and edit me out of any video, won’t you?” He smiled. On a later excursion we bumped into a couple we’d met around the ship a few times who excitedly told me they’d seen me dancing on the big screen as clips of the trips were played in the theatre while waiting to depart so, yes, there’s video evidence of me “dancing” the tango in Uruguay too. Bloody Leandro.

La Carreta is a national monument made from bronze and takes the form of oxen pulling a wagon. Its location is atop a small hill behind a pond. A path runs up behind the monument so you can get pretty close but the monument itself has plenty of signs around in numerous languages indicating that it is out of bounds to visitors. In addition a guard of sorts (possibly a volunteer) stands nearby to make sure that nobody gets close to the monument. We’d also been told by our guide as we got close to Parque Batlle that we could take pictures from in front and from the path but that we couldn’t get close to the monument. Why am I telling you that the monument is out of bounds and that people are not allowed near the monument and that this information is clearly posted around and that the guide had told us not to get near the monument and that a local Uruguayan person was close by making sure nobody got near the monument? Because some people who go on cruises seem to believe that rules are for other people and that they’re entitled to do whatever they want when they’re abroad. Suffice it to say that some shouting from the monument’s guardian in the direction of a handful of our fellow passengers on two occasions took place while I grabbed some photos of it.

We didn’t stay very long at the Montevideo Sign as it was time for us to head back to the Star Princess cruise ship after this. This completed our visit to Uruguay and our excursion to the Juanico vineyard by steam train, a very enjoyable excursion indeed and one I’d recommend if you like vintage trains and drinking ridiculous amounts of wine. We would be heading out to sea this evening on our way south down the Atlantic, around Cape Horn, then north up the Pacific around South America.