Friday, 3 December , Montevideo (Uruguay)

Thinking that Montevideo cannot be very interesting I chose  to visit Colonia del Sacramento, the oldest city in Uruguay, founded 1680. Good choice.  We walk on the original  cobbled streets, admire the original  Portuguese and Spanish houses and have dinner at a very old

 Spanish

Portuguese

 Example of a structure  combining Portuguese and Spanish architecture

restaurant, with smoky dark  wood fittings and faded tapestries. Food is excellent, so is the drink, the sea shines brightly blue and the  jacaranda and bougainvillea trees(they call it Santa Rita) are all in bloom.

As  we spend more time in South America the evening entertainment gets better.  We watch  tango shows, musicians who  can play the piano as well as the popular flute concerts , gaucho shows. The spectacles  are  entertaining and artistically superb,  but what  makes them different from the Anglo-Saxon  variety is the attitude of the performers. They really know  how to engage the audience; they talk to us, involve us in their performance, and as we watch we have the feeling that the artists really care that we  have enjoy.