Heart of "El Mercosur"


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Published: May 26th 2008
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Hello Everyone,
Well, here I am back at it again in South America but this time I am not alone, my great friend Diego has accompanied me. We are here for 40 days like Jesus in the desert, lets hope that our trials dont come close to his. Right now we are in Montevideo with old family friends. Our first 3 days have been filled with laughter, food, and tango.
We arrived around noon on Friday and a good friend Juanma picked us up and took us to his house for lunch. First meal was milanesas my favorite. Diego and I stuffed our faces. We caught our breath after eating so much and went to the ciudad vieja, we visited the masoleum of Jose Artigas (Uruguay´s George Washington). We saw some old buildings then headed to "el mercado del puerto" the market at the port. We bought a bottle of medio y medio a delicious drink that get you happier a bit quicker than you think and enjoyed some more fine food from the "parrilla". We headed home and rested a bit and ate mroe milanesas then hit downtown Montevideo hard that night. The party here doesnt start till midnight so needless to say we stayed up past our usual bed time. Saturday was spent sleeping and eating some more great food. We enjoyed un mate con bizcochos in the afternoon, los bizcochos here are of first class. Some are sweet some are salty, either plain, or filled with dulce de leche or membrillo "Son una delicia" is what they say here, just so flippin good. After that we went for our first Tango lesson. A dance with more passion and love i have yet to see with my own eyes. We learned the basic steps relativley well and had tons of fun trying some fancier moves which we not quite ready for. After working so hard we built up an appetite that could only be fed by chivitos, a Uruguyan sandwich which better there is none. We plumped our bellies to el maximo and relaxed just enough time to attack the night again. This time a local bar for the "jovenes re-fashion" the super fashionable young adults. I felt like I was back in Upper Saddle River. We stayed there in to the wee hours of the night drinking Uruguayan beer and couple of whisky´s the national drink of Uruguay yet i dont know why.
Sunday came and what a day it was destined to be. We started the day fixing the bikes so we could ride on "la rambla" a rode that curves along with el Rio de la Plata. It was so perfect. Beaches with fisherman and soccer fields every so often, and after a huge bend in the road the majestic city of Montevideo came into view. We had to hurry home so we could make it in time to eat some chorizo, morcilla, molleja, matambrito, y asado hot off the parrilla. The meat here is the best. It is so tasty and the grass-fed cows outnumber the people here I believe. We ate enough to feed a small army, than ate some more, I am telling you I havent had steak like this since the last time I was here. We talked with the family here who are old family friends for hours over a few mate´s and showered up to go a "milonga." A "milonga" is tango house where people go to dance the night away. What an experience. It was wonderful. The first one we went to was full of old people and felt like a retirement home social, but the second was straight out the old movies where they show the tangueros dancing by candle light in a beautiful old house with 20 feet high ceilings and extrodinary glass work. I built up enough courage to get out there with the elite, "solo choque un ves" so thats not too bad at all. We finished the night with a flan con dulce de leche "que delicia."
Now we are on our way to San Carlos where my family lives. Tell you all about in few days. Until then cuidense y un gran abrazo,
El Viajero Charrua


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