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Published: September 21st 2007
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Our holiday is winding down and I find so is my enthusiasm for blogging. I haven't updated for ages so here is a backdated update, as much as I can remember.
From Melo we caught another bus to Montevideo, this was usually about a 6 hour trip but we managed to catch a bus that broke down. It broke down about an hour from our destination and we waited for another bus to come, about a half an hour and off we went. The bus station is quite a distance from the town centre and off on another taxi. These cities have lots of one way streets so there is alot of going round and round and you think the taxi driver is giving you the run around but you eventually find your way to where you're gong, he probably is giving you an extra bit of a trip as well. We again did lots of walking around the town. It is full of the most beautiful architecture but has the occasional modern high rise in between the good bits that we think should be pulled down, because it really looks peculiar. Beautiful, ugly, beautiful , ugly etc. We walked
around the waterfront in the old area and found a port that is huge and fenced off. We were told about the Saturday market held in the old port area and we were too early. It turned out it was all food joints anyway. There was a market of antique stuff in a plaza near the hostel and we had a good look.
I found an add in the paper about a rural show so we went off to find it on Saturday afternoon, we travelled by city bus. It was like all rural shows with heaps of cows, pigs, sheep, llamas, horses, chooks, rabbits and exhibitions of all sorts of stuff. Exhibitions from most of the countries in South America and some of gallagher fences and ear tags. The show grounds were in the middle of town in a park that is permanently set up for rural shows. The Animal sheds are huge brick buildings and like at our shows there are men looking after their cows and sheep etc. The best part of this show was that the men were gouchos in their really cool clothes. The show goes on for 10 days and they are busy
keeping their livestock looking stunning, with special washing places and hay and straw changed all the time. The cows had the most huge udders I've ever seen and we managed to order a meal of barbecued udder. They had to invent this recipe to use up the udders. It was a different sort of meal and I must admit that I could not eat much of it.
The day we were there was the day the appaloosa horses were on show. They do it different over here. The horses were put through some games such as barrel racing and they were ridden only by men. I really could not understand why they were doing it, but Paul said all the horses except one were stallions, so I think the reason they were put through their paces was so that the gouchos could sell off the stud use of the horses. There was no dressage or jumping as we know it. As this show was going on there were men putting up goal posts and I thought next was going to be a game of rugby on horseback, but no - it was a game of American football, on the
same paddock that heaps of horses had been being horses on for days. We both can now say we do not understand American football and we do not want to know anymore. Every night they have a different concert and this night was American country music so we caught a taxi back to the hostel.
At one of the plazas we visited the mausoleum of Artigas, the hero and liberator of the country. His remains are under a huge marble construction with a statue of him above it. You walk down some stairs and under the area is a very large room with two soldiers gaurding the container of remains in a glass box. He has been deceased for over 200 years and we did discuss the cost of paying the guards every day for 200 years.
Paul bought a sheepskin coat for $170 US and it looks really neat. However it weighs a ton so he has to wear it because it is too heavy to carry. The man in the shop said he has lots of Russians buy the coats, this has made Paul think he will never get to wear it at home and I have said we can turn it inside out and stuff it and use it as a cushion so it is of some use.
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