In Montevideo, tonight is 'La Noche de las Luces' - The Night of the Lights. When the sun begins to set, which is at around nine o'clock at this time of year, hordes of people flock to the Rambla, in their cars, in specially laid on buses, by bike, jogging, roller-blading, walking, carrying their matés, folding chairs and babies, and trailing small children by the hand.

[More:]

The Rambla is the wide road and pavement which winds twenty kilometres along the Rio de la Plata from the centre of Montevideo to the suburb of Carrasco to the East. On the 'Noche de las Luces' much of it is sealed off to traffic, and the street lights are switched off, as crowds find a spot to settle down and watch the superb firework display, which lights up the sky for half an hour from ten o'clock.

It marks the official opening of 'La Temporada' - The Season. From tomorrow morning, there will be a definite holiday feel in this part of the world: lifeguards will begin their duties atop their high perches, watching the kite-surfers, swimmers and paddlers, and the beaches will be cleaned daily for the next three months or so. Wealthy Montevideans will start thinking about heading to the star-studded resort of Punta del este, and less wealthy Montevideans will start their daily trips from the inner city to the beaches along the Rambla.

And my family will begin to arrive, in dribs and drabs, until by Christmas Day there will be fifteen of us, neither at Punta del Este nor at the Rambla in the city, but enjoying my garden.

Actually my daughter and her boyfriend arrived from London yesterday evening, and left again today for Ushuaia, right on the southern tip of Argentina, where it's probably still daylight now, at 11 p.m. They will visit the glaciers at Calafate (I'll post some photos when I've run out of Peruvian flowers), trek in Torres del Paine in Chile, then be back in about ten days.

Happy holidays everyone!