The capital of Uruguay (silent G)
Land ahoy….. finally!….. and front row tickets on docking.
We are now stopping here for a full day, night, and leaving tomorrow afternoon due to the strong winds. Punta del Este would require a tender.
Yes, that is Mark up on our balcony!
First stop, the Santiago Vazquez wetland for some bird time. Uruguay has a huge quantity of bird species.
A black-and-rufous warbling-finch
The full list:
Black-and-rufous warbling-finch
Chimango caracara
Common gallinule (moorhen)
Giant wood-rail
Great kiskadee
Great pampa-finch
Guira cuckoo
House sparrow
Monk parakeet – yes the ones we have!
Picazuro pigeon
Plumbeous rail
Rock pigeon
Rufous hornero – and it’s nest – aka ovenbird
Rufous-collared sparrow
Southern lapwing
White faced ibis – two long flying formations
White-winged coot
On the way there, the guide explained how some native birds are now finding they have all they need for food and not migrating. Much a reflection on something Milos had said.
Flowers are more adaptable than animals in that with a change from the expected temperature, they quickly react. The insects that then pollinate them are slower to react to a change in timing. However, over a period of time, they do so. The next to need to change their seasonal timing is the birds that feed on the insects.
We then headed in to town. Of course, we found and went up a tall building for a 360 view.
You can just see the ship in the distance.
And a cute little bar just behind the main tourist area.
The main square
The museum of art was impressive, to include a sarcophagus.
This seems to be a much less developed country. On the tour, we passed many slums, a noticeable number of people smoking, there was rubbish dumped even in the nature reserve, and a very interesting boat graveyard on the way in to docking!
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