Montevideo...

Montevideo is quite a nice town. Due to it's location there is always a seabreeze, which makes it feel less like a big city. With my horrible spanish I managed to get everywhere where I wanted to go. it took some questioning and a lot of not understandble answers but I spend a very nice time here. I finally had a lot of time for myself and some of the stuff, which I couldn't aknowledge until now came up. Mum and dad did get a share amount of time and thoughts while I was walking through the old part of Montevideo and that was good. They deserve that. It's a pity that they are no longer around, although I can hear my father saying: "Anitra, you cannot go there, you can not leave Beat again. It's not safe for a little girl" and I would love to respond: "Pa, I am a big girl now, more than big, I am over 50i. Yeah parents, they can be a pain but they are always there for you. Miss you pa!!  Well my little brother takes over pa's part. He is worrying a bit now, but easy Erik, everything is gone be alright (Bob Marley).

Let's continue with Montevideo. I didn't eat much there! Remember I had this lovely dinner with Beat, during those 3 days in Montevideo I was living on that.. Everywhere I turned they offered carnes i pollo, it smelled like meat, no way I could bring myself to enter one of the restaurants. there was a McDonald, but........... ok Beat will probably go there once or twice, because I am not there to say no. Es wäre extrem inkonsequent wenn i jetzt da pommes essen würde. Also habe ich meine Dürrfrüchte, Nüsse und Brevitacrackers gegessen, habe Früchte gekauft und habe es überlebt.

Seit gesternabend bin ich dann endlich auf der Bark, so nice to be back. Some of the crew are the same as last year, Val is here and her husband Martijn, yes they finally got married. Erik is here, so we'll have a lot of LUNCHTIMEs. The ship is almost the same, a couple of more firewarners, until now more sails as in the Antarctic. Looking forward to sail with all of them up.

After we got our introduction to the Bark and they showed and explaines useverything there is to know when you are a crewmember, we had a lovely dinner. Food is always excellent on board and they have extra stuff for vegetarians, mhhhhh. During dinnertime a big sealion showed up next to our ship and proudly showed us his belly. he was so quite!!! He gave us a pereformance of synchronized swimming. His 4 paws/fins came out of the  water completely synchronised with the small waves which where rolling through our small harbour. it's a pity that we weren't allowed to swim in the harbour. I finally could have had my swimming with the sealion(s). there will be other times!!

now it's time to say goodbye, the ship is due to leave in 10 minutes and that means no more internet.

my friends enjoy all the birthdays, which I'll miss, Sinterklaas and all the other nice events which you will have during my absence. write to you again as soon as I arrive on the Falklands.