September 24,

We were up and about by 0730. Our suite has a tub with a Jacuzzi (it doesn’t work).☹️ This morning we went up to the top, on the tenth floor, to go to the pool. It is a heated one. We wanted to test my knee – see if it will help it any. It felt good, so we may be doing this every morning. I did okay with the walking we did yesterday also. We did not by any means get in our 10,000 steps but it’s a gradual start.

After we finished our swim, we went back to our room and showered, then we had a light breakfast of some yogurt and two chocolate/coconut cookie bars we’d gotten on the second and last leg of our flight. Just 34 hours ago!?!…seems longer! Anyway, I could not have coffee as we are still needing to go to the other Lab coffee cafe to get it ground. So I had a couple of mini cokes as Jeff had his hot chocolate. I then blogged as Jeff did some planning, and figuring how to get us to one of the other coffee shops.

Around noon we went out. The weather is lovely today, not windy, the sun was shining, and it was supposed to go to 73° today! We went back to the Independencia Plaza. The same lady approached us for a tour, I said no. The guards weren’t changing, but we went under the statue to visit the mausoleum of Jose Artigas. It was all in Spanish, displaying dates that are prominent in Uruguayans history. Two guards were standing on either side of an urn, maybe? We left as it wasn’t so much for us. It was free entry though. From here we went to get a bus card. It seems you can get the card for free by showing a passport, but you need Uruguayan cash to put money on it. So Jeff tried an ATM, but it would not take our Visa card. UGH!! Also all ATMs seem to be run through the same bank. Double UGH!!! So we went to lunch.

We chose the Mercado del Puerto, or Port Market. It has been turned into a grilled meat restaurant hub with a few touristy shops. This worked for us as we went for grilled food. We were greeted by a wait staff inviting us into “her” place. She showed us her grill and we went into La Maestranza. We were given bread and two sauces: a chimichurri and a mayo/tarter based one. We loved the chimichurri salsa! Then served our entrees: Grilled Lamb with side of fries with creamed mushroom topping and Grilled Salmon with a salad and Roquefort salsa (sauce). They were so very great! The portions were huge, especially Jeff’s lamb serving. We also had a Uruguayan Cab Sav. I was entertained by a little boy beside me, probably two years old. So cute. We paid 3,323 UYU which is $83.16, and found out we both got a free serving of ice cream. We had a coconut one and a mint one – both different consistency and taste, but good – nice ending! We left the mercado and found another ATM and used a different card, which worked, so we got our bus card charged up.

Now we went back to our hotel, I had done enough on my knee today. But Jeff dropped me off. He went on the bus to get my coffee ground and pick up a couple of other things. I blogged. Jeff called and updated me. The first place couldn’t grind it, so he had to go to the second place, which thankfully, was able to grind it. When he returned he said he had gone on four different buses, but he was successful. We probably won’t have supper, as we’re still full. Tomorrow should be a busy day…we have plans.