2025 South America cruise on Regent

 We were late getting out of Buenos Aires last night because of shipping traffic and a very narrow channel that we had to sail.  We were stuck behind a couple of container ships for a while.  This is a tender port and we arrived about 90 minutes late, but the captain requested local tender boats which hold more people than the ship's tenders so we were able to get all of the tours off.  He said he would stay late if necessary to get some of the longer tours back in time. Our tour was Highlights and the Classic Car Museum.  Once again, we were very impressed with Uruguay.  Punta Del Este is a lovely beach town on a sort of peninsula so there is the River Plate on one side and the Atlantic Ocean on the other.  The beaches on the river are calm, but the ocean beaches are a bit wilder.  Both are beautiful.  There are dozens of large condo/apartment buildings, especially along the beaches.  We're told that the latest census in 2011 showed a p...

 Today's tour was "Tigre Basin and River Tour".  We drove north of the city for about an hour on nice roads and freeways.  This tour was similar to our river cruise in Belem, Brazil.  The river we were on is a tributary of the Plate River and life here is very similar.  This time the boat was much bigger with two decks.  We elected to sit up top even though there was no shade.  The temperature was around 80 degrees so that wasn't bad and we were either covered, or had sunscreen and hat protection.  The big difference on this river was the quality of the houses.  Most were pretty modest, but some were almost palaces.  Around 3,000 people live here, but I'm not sure if that includes the weekenders. Part of the Buenos Aires skyline as we sailed in These boats are used as river buses.  People strap their luggage, etc to the top. The Rowing Club An art museum This is a larger property than most, but still sort of typical of many homes al...

 We had a tour scheduled that included a city highlights tour then a meat and beer pairing, but we decided we'd rather do a similar one that skipped the meat part and had a beer tasting and visit to a mercado (market) instead.  They were full, but we went down to see if there were any cancellations, and lo and behold, there were 2 seats now available.  Turns out it was our friends Bob and Bo who turned in their tickets a little while before, so lucky us. We've been here before but this tour took us to different places.  We still think this is a very nice place.  Our guide, Sebastian, is a native.  He said you pronounce it oo-ra-way, with a slight guttural on the last syllable.  The whole country is only around 3 million and half of them live here.  It's a modern, clean city. The Parliament building.  A country of 3 million has 99 Representatives and 30 Senators.  Our guide thought that was a bit excessive. We couldn't go inside, but they...

 We've noticed a bit more coughing around the ship the past few days.  Both CD Andrew and Captain Ahlbi have reminded us to wash our hands often.  No mention of any gastrointestinal issues - if that comes up, they usually take precautions like taking away self-serve at the buffet lines.  Let's hope we don't have to do that. The lecturer Bill Lee and his wife Jeanne got off in Rio, so we have a new lecturer now, Eduardo Shaw, who is from Argentina and knows a lot about this part of the world.  He gave a talk this morning on The Gauchos.  It was very interesting and personal because his father worked on a ranch so he knew many gauchos.  They are amazing horsemen, live a very simple life, and are very welcoming to strangers.  He used paintings to illustrate their dress, their living accommodations, and the kind of land they thrive on. Next up was Terry Bishop's talk on the Falklands and its history.  Being British he could tell us of the respons...

 Today brought an unexpected pleasant surprise.  We'd never heard of Itajai (pronounced eet-a-jai) but it turns out, it is a very nice place.  Our tour was "Camboriu Highlights and Cable Car".  Itajai is in the southeast part of Brazil, and Cambroriu is around 20 km south.  Itajai is a nice town once you get out of the immediate port area.  Once again, the port is primarily commercial.  But this part of Brazil is clean and, for the most part, well-maintained.  And once we got to Camboriu it was beautiful with lots of greenery and huge apartment/condo buildings.  There a few very nice beaches and the highrises are mostly centered to face them.  It is sometimes called the Dubai of Brazil, and it's easy to see why. A view from our balcony as we sailed in This is a very commercial port We took a tram up to the first stop which was the Atlantic Forest Station.  Here, we took a walk around amongst the greenery and then down (and back up!)...