February 23, 2025

MONTEVIDEO, URUGUAY - Day 2

Today decided to do the Hop On Hop Off bus to cover a larger area of this Capital City. The bus does 2 routes - first the City highlights and the 2nd along the beach / shore line taking in more of the plush suburban areas. I did with mother daughter Whitney & Alionia and ran into several other ship people along the way. Below are from the City loop.

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Below is Shore Line loop.

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Pittamiglio Castle has a fascinating story. This building, now an Architectural College, supposedly hid the Holy Grail ( chalice Jesus used at last supper) from the Nazi's during the War - from 1944 to 1948. Pope Pius the 12th , supposedly had it removed from the Vatican for safety and had his childhood friend, take it here, for safe keeping. The building used to stand alone on the beach, but has since been penned in by the neighboring buildings. Pope John Paul was sent to Montevideo to bring the chalice back to Vatican in Rome.

More port fun, this time with Alionia and this young lady drinking macha tea, the national drink of Uruguay and Argentina. See them drinking and carrying everywhere they go!

KUANTAN, MALAYSIA

By Pat Patrick • October 12, 2026
Just the other day a friend asked me if I got enough down time while living this lifestyle. My answer was "you have to make it !" In the beginning, it was go, go, go, every port. We had lots of FOMO ( fear of missing out ) and we tried to cram in as much as possible at every port. Sea days, were our only down time and there were never enough. It was a tad exhausting. Now two years into this life, I can say there are some ports that just don't call me and I opt to get other things done. Kuantan, Malaysia was one of the Ports. I never got off the ship, either day we were here. I intended to this morning, but we had storms with loud thunder late into the night and then was awoken by a crew alarm around 6:45am. My energy was low, there were shuttle issues, town was an hour ride away and there is alot of air pollution, ( due to neighboring Indonesia burning organic materials, in preparation for the upcoming monsoon season ). So I bagged my plans and continued working on my never ending TO DO LIST!

Sad Passing of ODYSSEY Shipmate

By Pat Patrick • October 11, 2026
During our two years of sailing we have had several Shipmates come and go for a variety of reasons. Their health, has sadly been the reason for many departures. Cindy Harvey , would have loved to have lived out her days here on the Odyssey and even bought a second cabin and had an adjoining door added, to have a care provider, stay with her full time. However, Cindy's limited mobility, pain and confinement got to be too much - so she left us a few months ago. She went to an assisted living facility, on the coast of Oregon, to be near her family. Tragically she fell, was trying to recover, slipped into a coma and sadly passed away this week.

SANCTUARY OF TRUTH MUSEUM, CHONBURI, THAILAND

By Pat Patrick • October 8, 2026
The Sanctuary of Truth Museum is the world's largest hand carved wooden castle, located on the coast of Pattaya, Chonburi Province, Thailand . Conceived in 1981 by Thai visionary Khun Lek Viriyaphun the structure is built entirely from 4 types of wood - Teak, Mai Daeng, Mai Takien & Mai Panchaat and put together using Thai nailless wood joinery - mainly dovetails, carrying poles and tongue & groove. We started the tour in the workshop where the artisan, mainly woman, were hard at work. Since conception, the Museum has been an active construction site, thus we all wore hardhats! The artisans continue handcarving sculptures and columns, daily and will most likely continue for years to come.