Uruguay

Taking the “tender” to shore and stepping onto the pier of, Punta del Este
We are welcomed by a family of Sea Lions. Soon we found out that local
fisherman had hauled their morning catch on shore and were busy cleaning &
filleting the fish for sale. The Sea Lions received their share of fish which was
not for sale, the remains like the skin, heads etc.
They were happy with any morsel that was thrown in their direction.
Slowly we ventured further into the town, just amazed at the beauty of
everything.
The shops it appeared are not opening their doors until about noon. We were
searching for a bank to change money, we wanted to exchange our Brazilian
“Reais” to Uruguayan “Pesos”. But no bank was open. Banks open in this town only
after 16.00 hours.
Finally I decided to go and have a try at an ATM machine, we found one and I
entered my card, punched in my code and started the process, I had to
abruptly end it, because the machine was telling me in Spanish instructions which
I didn't understand.
Walking further we found a place that exchanges money, so the problem was
solved.
We walked some more, in the direction of the beach, were supposedly there is
some kind of monument “The Hand”, as it has come to be popularly called, is a
plastic work standing here since the summer of 1982, when the Chilean artist
Mario Irrazábal was invited to take part in the 1st International Meeting of
Modern Sculpture in the Open Air held in the City of Punta del Este. Having seen
“The Hand” and looked around the beautiful beach we continued our way. This
town is the summer paradise for much of the area of Latin America, the summer
vacation resort.
Later that evening we boarded our cruise ship and continued to the next place
to visit, Montevideo.
Map in hand we looked which way to go, and decided to go through the “Ciudad
Vieja” or as we say the Old City.
The pedestrian street was empty, the shops just about to open, the “Policia
Touristica” all the time helpful with giving directions so we walked through all
kind of small streets until Constitution Square, there the open souvenir – flea
market was full of life, with tourist and locals mixing and rubber-necking at the
various stalls presenting their wares.
Avenue 18 de Julio is the main shopping street and we found ourselves now in
the centre of town after a while we looked for a taxi, finally one arrived and in
our best speech we explained that we wanted to go to “Mercado del Puerto” to
the Sea Port Market.
There the street entertainment was in full swing, it was lunch time so we went
inside the market building looking for a place to sit.
All around there are eateries with huge open grills to cook the meats, we found
a couple of chairs and a table, the waiter came and we ordered, showing him a
picture on the menu.