Winter blues in Uruguay

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Uruguay is to planet earth, what Uranus is to the solar system… the butt of so many easily said jokes! I’d like to say that I’m above all this, but with the words of one of my greatest heroes running through my head whenever I think of it (“Hee hee! Look at this country! 'You are gay' ”) sadly I’m not. Thank you very much Homer J Simpson!

We decided to go to Uruguay as it’s a very easy hop over the water from Buenos Aires, where we had spent a couple of days exploring the city. We managed to get the cheapest ticket possible for a slow ferry that left Buenos Aires and arrived 3 hours later at Colonia Del Sacramento, a small smuggling port founded by the Portuguese to get goods into Buenos Aires. Upon arrival at the ferry port, our first contact with a Uruguayan confirmed the easy going nature that we’d been told about. We were asked by a customs official for the customs declaration form that we should have filled out (a form everyone else seemed to be carrying coincidently), at which we just shrugged and said ‘what customs declaration form’, he quickly glanced around and then ushered us through without saying another word… hmmm, can’t see that happening entering many other countries.

Colonia is a very small town, with small cobbled streets and pretty views over the Ria de la Plata River, parts of it are also named a world heritage site by UNESCO. As we’re in winter in this half of the world, it was very quiet with very few people and little life but we spent a couple of days exploring the winding streets bordered by colourful houses and looking in the art and craft shops dotted about. We also spent a large amount of time chasing the extremely noisy flocks of green parakeets that fly around the many plazas trying to take a photo, but we had no luck as they’re really wary of humans. Sadly the second day of exploring ended quite abruptly as the heavens opened and we saw the first rain since being in S. America, thankfully we only had a couple of hours sitting indoors till we boarded a bus bound for Montevideo the nations capital.

We spent the following day wandering around the very small capital city (population of only 1.3 million) as there really was no information in the book so we thought we’d just make up our own walking tour. The city kind of sits on a peninsula, with water on three sides so we started walking down the very long promenade that ran down the south side of the city, giving us fine views over the river and beaches, which no one was enjoying as it was freezing. We did manage to get close enough to a parakeet to take a decent photo though, which was about as exciting as it got. We turned into a park before heading into the city which again was very pleasant but due to the temperature it was empty, apart from the occasional dog walker. We didn’t find the city particularly attractive and apart from an obvious love of statues (they were literally everywhere) not very special at all. It does have a very European feel and we had to keep reminding ourselves that we were several thousand miles away in S. America. We can only assume that in summer, things become livelier and the city comes out of hibernation.

The next day was much of the same as we had a lot of time to kill before our overnight bus back to Buenos Aires left at 23:30. We bought some souvenirs at some of the craft markets and I got the other side of my lip pierced at a small studio as it was cheap and although the guy spoke only a little English he was very professional and did a great job. He also parted with some wisdom in his broken Spanglish which if anyone asks what Uruguay is like I’ll gladly pass on… “In Summer Uruguay is >gave thumbs up<, but in winter it’s >blows raspberry<”. Pretty much sums it up. For lunch we did visit the Mercado Del Puerto (Port Market) which is kind of like a food hall filled with restaurants with large racks of various meats over charcoal and we had an excellent time… the quality of meat on offer is incredible, not to mention the size of the portions. We filled up on some amazing steak and pork ribs, which was undoubtedly the best meat I’ve had in South America, something Argentina and Uruguay are famous for. It was all so cheap and the atmosphere was great, it’s just a shame it’s only open for lunch so we spent the rest of the afternoon and evening just killing time till our bus left.

I have to honestly say that we had a great time in Uruguay, but only because of the people, they were so laid back and friendly you really couldn’t help but enjoy yourself in their company. Although we weren’t particularly taken with the cities we visited we were given the impression that in summer things would become much livelier, and it would be a great place to come, and at least we got to tick another capital city visited off our list.

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Comments

[Callie]

A Uruguay lover agrees
Hi guys, just read your blog and I'm so disappointed you didn't get to see Uruguay at its finest. We spent 2 weeks there in January and it was one of my favourite places I visited in 5 months in S.America. I guess I'm glad I wasn't there in the winter! Some of our highlights included sunny days on the beaches of Punta del Diablo, hikes through gorgeous sand dunes, getting lost (through lack of enough buses) in Central Uruguay and meeting some incredibly friendly people, delicious food, cheap everything and awesome conversations with locals. I hope your next trip there is better, but I have to admit, I love you attitude about it!! Enjoy the rest of your holiday!

[John McPherson]

Loved it.
I too enjoyed Uruguay. I went once during the winter and I had a great time. I returned in that summer and I had a blast. The beaches, clubs, bars, walks on the rambla. Everything was great. It's nice because there's always something to do. You're also not limited to the capital. There's Colonia, Punta del Este, Piriapolis, and many more. Summer is the preferred time to go but winter is fun too. I'm returning next month!!!! Hopefully you two will return during the summer.