Montevideo, Uruguay

After spending one night in Buenos Aires, we boarded our cruise boat, and set sail for Montevideo, Uruguay. After dinner on the ship, we went on deck with our friends and a glow-in-the-dark star map and tried to find familiar constellations. We found Orion's belt, but it took us a minute to realize that Orion was upside down in the southern hemisphere. We didn't sample any local cuisine in Montevideo-just spent a couple of hours on the beach and headed back to the boat. It was a gorgeous day - 75 degrees and sunny. The beach was relaxed, full of locals who had spent the last night partying and were working through their hangovers while snoozing on the beach. I even took a swim in the water, which was very warm, but full of silt, which got everywhere and stained everything.

An interesting thing about Uruguay is its beef production. According to a NYT article, it appears that Uruguayan farmers are claiming the "grass-fed" cattle market, as Argentina moves toward a feedlot cattle-raising culture to respond to increased worldwide (and domestic) demand.