The end of our Easter Island and Patagonia adventure brought us to Uruguay and its capital city, Montevideo, for four days of relaxation, with a little sightseeing, taking in some carnival activities, and visiting two Uruguayan wineries. Uruguay is a small country, and I can’t say we saw it all because we didn’t come close, but we enjoyed our time here.

We met a guy while on Easter Island, an American who has lived in Santiago for years, who scoffed when we said we’d be visiting here, calling Montevideo in effect a second-rate Buenos Aires. I wouldn’t be that negative. I would describe it as a counterpoint. It comes off as maybe a bit less vibrant from what we saw in BA, but also more relaxed.

To be fair, we were only briefly in the center city and old town sections. First during a half-day city tour, then later on a return visit to a couple of museums and for a little shopping. We otherwise were happy to walk on the beach and hang out at our beachfront hotel. For this stop we went upscale, staying at the Sofitel in Carrasco, which is definitely a tony neighborhood. It is also quite a ways from the center of town, about six miles or so to the main Independence Square.

The beach was great for walking. Very wide and firm. It reminded us of the beach in Hilton Head, SC, where we have been spending the month of March in recent years. But at nearly 14 miles in length, it is definitely a lot longer.

Uruguay is popular in the summer as a beach destination for Argentinians. It’s kind of akin to the New Jersey Shore for people in the Philadelphia to NYC region. Argentinians take the same ferry we did, Buquebus, which handles cars and non-driving passengers. There were a lot of families on our ferry from Buenos Aires, many of whom were likely headed to Punta del Este (i.e. east point in English), where the Rio de la Plata spills out into the Atlantic Ocean. It’s about 60 miles southeast from our hotel along the coast.

The one thing we did do that was unique to Uruguay is that we went to a tablao, which is essentially a place where groups perform as part of the country’s annual 40-day carnival celebration. (In Spain the tablao is where flamenco dancing is performed.) We saw three murgas perform. According to Uruquay’s Ministry of tourism, the “Uruguayan murga is currently made up of 17 members: a stage and choral director, 13 members of the choir or ‘cuerda de voces,’ divided according to their tone of voice, and 3 members who make up the ’batería,’ made up of cymbals, bass drum and redoblante.”

In addition to the murgas, we saw one other troupe that did a little song and dance, a little singing, and put on a parody skit that channeled the movie “Coda” about deaf parents and a daughter who was a singer. It was amusing. We didn’t get all of the jokes, but we were able to follow the story.

The murga members all dress up in colorful costumes that are conceptually similar to what you see from the Mummers in Philadelphia or the Mardi Gras krewes. The unique thing about the Uruguayan carnival is that these performances go on for over a month. As we understood it, the murgas were performing at the tablaos as practice for competitions where the performances are judged and for which prizes are awarded.

We watched with a local guide and our driver Alejandro, who has performed as a drummer with murgas. He knew most of the members of the last murga we watched, which is also one of the oldest having been originated in the 1950s. They are known as La Nueva Milonga. Alejandro chatted with one of the performers before he went on stage, then introduced us to him.

I could see the fellow on stage chatting with one of his mates and pointing in our direction. During their act they evidently noted our presence and welcomed us to Uruguay. We of course would have totally missed it had our guide and interpreter not chuckled and said, “they are talking about you.” For a moment we each had a fear they would do something crazy Iike invite us up. We were both VERY thankful that didn’t happen.

We did not do our usual complement of sore-footed museum touring, but we did take in one that shouldn’t be missed if visiting Montevideo: the 1972 Andes Museum. It tells the story of the Uruguayan plane that crashed in the Andes en route to Chile. It recounts the story of how a handful survived the crash and a subsequent avalanche, trapped for 72 days in the high Andes. You can read about it on Wikipedia. There was a 1993 movie about it called Alive.

For our last day we engaged in a long-time favorite pastime: wine touring. Uruguay is the fourth largest wine producer in South America. Its primary grape is tannat, a French red wine grape that the country has adopted as its own. But it produces other varietals like Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon, plus whites like Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay. We had a nice tour and tasting at Pizzorno, a family owned winery about a 45 minute drive from our hotel. We followed with a leisurely four course lunch at another winery called Spinoglio.

Yeah, we were dozing on the ride back to our hotel, but it was a good way to spend our last day in South America. It has been an awesome trip. Now for the slog back to the frozen north