Rain! For the first time the tourists woke up to the wet stuff. And not just a drizzle but a showy, blowy storm. Gusting wind whipped whitecaps of the Atlantic and traffic splashed through big puddles on the Ramblas. What a relief that this sort of weather had held off until the rugby programme was complete. Although it has been cold, especially at St. Brendan's, it has been dry and bright. The pitches have been firm and dry, except for areas at BACRC. We have been so lucky.
Some hardy souls had ventured out to see what Montevideo offered on a wet Sunday morning. Sadly we have not really had time to do the city or the country justice. Everyone I believe has found the people friendly and welcoming and what we have seen interesting, but the over-riding memory will certainly be a rugby one.
The boys were all delivered back to the hotel. Some went off, some mooched around. The billets had been great - house parties and some more late nights. One lad's hosts went out to dinner at midnight, then on to a club.
I do have to mention the pharmacy thing. Wet Sunday morning in a hotel on the edge of town, need some paracetamol. Find a chemist open, taxi there and back, drag. Oh no. Ask at reception, no problem, £1.50 and the local Farmacia will deliver them in 10 minutes. How does that make economic sense? It's great though. Sudi didn't believe us so we did it again.
On to the buses at 1:30pm or so for the schlepp to La Colonia. Not much visibility through the condensation but this part of Uruguay looks like flat, rich pasture, pretty much like the other side of the River Plate estuary. Arrive at the port in about 2 hours, check-in and board the 16:30 sailing. I think I have got Pam fooled that the crossing will be smooth despite the weather but the white lie is soon discovered, as the boat pitches and rolls a little. The crew hand out bolsitas (little bags) just in case but I do not think anyone was actually sick, just a few gone quiet. Pam said she loved it, let's go cruising. Amazing what 6 Kwells can do. Pam even had a sandwich – chicken and lettuce – the only one seen so far on tour with no cheese in it. Off in two buses to the Mayflower Suites Hotel. I am willing to bet that the first thing done in every one of our 28 rooms was to run the hot tap. Mercifully the agua caliente was flowing at last.
Buses came back at 8 o'clock to transport us to the Tour Dinner. This was at a place called Spettus, in the renovated old port, the Puerto Madero. Walking in it looked quite posh and we were not sure it was entirely suitable. We needn't have worried. The boys swarmed on the most astonishing “salad bar” I have ever seen. Stir-fried prawns, huge langoustines, mussels, pasta, rice, serrano ham, a huge whole Emmenthal cheese, breads, fresh anchovies, salad leaves, roasted tomatoes, aubergines and courgettes, beetroot, hearts of palm, fennel, olives, artichokes, potato salad, coleslaw, even Brussels sprouts with bacon bits. Everyone loaded their plates once or twice and wondered why each place setting had a pair of ice tongs at it. Were we supposed to use them for bread rolls? Silver service icecubes? The answer came on half-metre skewers groaning with cuts of barbecued beef. The waiter carves half a slice and waits for you to grip it with your tongs to prevent it dropping off and splashing everyone with juices. You can have as much as you like, and choose what my family call outsidey bits or the inside rare meat. Or both. And it keeps coming. Only the occasional offer of chorizo and morcilla blood sausage interrupts the flow of beef – sirloin steak, the chewier but flavoursome vacio or flank, rib-eye and fillet. Cross cut ribs as well, extraordinarily tasty. Oh, and one small bowl of chips per table of six, for variety. No-one was counting but we think only Mark Hine and Lawrence MacSwan were still looking for more beef when the waiters began to flag. And more chips, naturally.
Speeches and awards were made but I am not going to detail them here. You had to be there. It was that kind of trip. Those who were will remember it; those who were not will see the effect in their boys. It was all-you-can-eat and all-you-can-dream.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment