Focus on Montevideo: The Rodó Park Area

Parque Rodó is across the street from the Rambla -- Montevideo’s long stone ‘boardwalk’ that runs along the Río de la Plata.

I came out of the park casino -- yes, there’s a Casino Parque ! -- shortly before sundown .. and realized that the geography of the area was about to produce a potentially awesome scene:  the sun setting over a large body of water from an Atlantic Ocean-side location.  That’s rare because the sun sets in the west all over the world, but here on the eastern side of South America, the Río has a special location.  It is not really a river, but a huge estuary stretching all the way to Buenos Aires, Argentina, so large that on this summer’s day (Feb. 27), it afforded a gorgeous golden sunset over the water.

I approached the setting sun walking on the Rambla past a patinaje, a roller skating venue that is half the size of a North American professional football field.  Scores of folks aged 3 to 30 were skating for fun and exercise.

Just past the skating area is stone seating perfect for looking out to sea, or in this case, enjoying the setting sun.

cccmedia from Montevideo

At sunset, there were no noticeable food or beverage vendors on this part of the Rambla.

Seeing bright colored lights down the way, I doubled back west on the Rambla toward them. 

It was an amusement park -- with multiple food booths.

And also:  about half a dozen carnival rides, including a ferris wheel, an above-ground ‘pirate boat’ swinging stern-to-bow on a pivot to lift riders 45 feet into the air .. and a scary fun-house called Casa de Terror.

As the boat swung back and forth on the pivot, the shrieking of the dozen riders was heard all over the park, crescendo-ing each time an end of the boat reached the high point of its ascent.

cccmedia from Montevideo