Advertisement
Hello everyone,
Here I’m writing my very first blog here from the Southern Cone (Cono Sur). It’s the second time so far that I’m visiting the southern hemisphere, where they’re experiencing winter at the moment.
At the moment I’m in Buenos Aires, just arrived from Montevideo.
Trip I departed with Avianca from Curaçao, making a stop in Bogotá, Colombia and then continue to Santiago, Chile. I arrived in Santiago at 4:00AM and I went to a hostel in downtown, got a private room and rest. Santiago was very cold in the morning, about 5°C. In the afternoon I went back to the airport and flew at 4:30PM with Aerolineas Argentinas to Buenos Aires (Aeroparque), Argentina. There Paula was waiting for me and we drove home where I met her father, Horacio. The temperature in Buenos Aires was 18°C which is very warm for this time of the year. I met Paula in Darwin, Australia while working in The Vic. I always kept contact with her and when I told her I wanted to come to B.A she said that I could stay at their place. We just stayed home that evening, where I was hearty welcomed, and we talked
a lot, especially about Argentina’s current situation and the crisis of the end ‘90s, about the current world cup, about Buenos Aires and about Curaçao etc.
The next morning Paula’s father took me to the docks of Puerto Madero here in Buenos Aires, where I boarded the Colonia Express ferry to Colonia in Uruguay. From Colonia I took a bus further to Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay.
Uruguay Republica Oriental del Uruguay is a small country compared to it’s neighbours Brazil and Argentina....it’s more than 4x the size of the Netherlands and has about 3,5 million people. It has a relatively high standard of living and is considered as the safest country in Latin America. “Uruguay Natural” is the tourism slogan promoting the country abroad and so says the stamp I received in my passport when I arrived. Rio de la Plata runs between Uruguay and Argentina.
My first impression:
Old, old-fashioned, buildings are not well kept / not well maintained, most buildings need a good painting, it looks very grey, like it’s still in the 1970’s here. Some parts are dirty, especially the countryside outside Montevideo (the capital): lots of rubbish along the road. In
the city it’s cleaner but it used to be a problem in the past I heard.
I was surprised to see quite a lot of coloured / mixed people in Uruguay. Then I learned that there was slavery in Uruguay and some stayed here, many mixed with the whites too. I never knew about slavery in this country! Slavery was abolished in 1846.
I found the Montevideo to be very expensive too, compared to the salaries people earn here.
Montevideo, the capital I arrived by bus at the Tres Cruces terminal. There Diego picked me up, I know him from Couchsurfing. He had some things to do for work so I accompanied him. When he finished, we drove around Montevideo a bit and we got off the car and took a walk. We strolled along the Ciudad Vieja (colonial neighbourhood). This is a very nice part of the city. Other than the Cathedral and many colonial buildings, the Mercado del Puerto and surroundings was also interesting to see.
We also walked through a part of downtown, including the Plaza de la Independencia and the place with the “Uruguayan stars” on the floor. It’s like in Los Angeles where
the celebrities put their star on the street; this is the Uruguayan version of it.
The Rambla is also interesting to see. It’s like a very long walkway along the river, along the southern coast of the city. Of course I also walked through the Avenida 18 de Julio, which is the main avenue of the city. The weather was quite warm the day I arrived, around 20°C. Later that day, and the day after it dropped to around 11°C. The whole day it was cloudy and late afternoon there was a tiny bit of light rain. During my last day it rained a lot in the morning and later it remained cloudy and got colder.
Another great place was the Museo del Futbol at the Estadio Centenario. This is the stadium where the first FIFA World Cup was played in 1930, which was won by the host, Uruguay. Downstairs there is a museum which was very interesting. I also went in the tribunes of the stadium. The stadium was finished in July 1930, just in time for the start of the World Cup then. In the finals, Uruguay won 4-2 from Argentina. Like many structures in Montevideo, also
the stadium needs a good painting; I found it a little bit run down and old....not well kept.
I was hearty welcomed by Diego’s parents, very very nice and friendly, can’t complain at all. They ordered food and I had a good “chivito” which is typical Uruguayan. It’s like a hamburger, filled with steak, onions, tomato, mushrooms, with a sauce of your choice....withy anything you like....it’s thick and not “easy” to eat. But it’s good!!! I also tried the “mate”, which you don’t pronounce like mate in English but in the Spanish way. It’s like a grass that they but in a bowl and they put hot water in the bowl and with a special, metal straw they drink it. It’s like a tea, it’s very Uruguayan and in Argentina they drink it too. In the evening Diego took me to some of his friends in the neighbourhood where we had some drinks, watched some TV (Family Guy!) etc. just hanging out a bit since it was Monday and there wasn’t anything particular when it comes to nightlife in Montevideo, same for Tuesday, were we went to a birthday party of one of his friends and they had a
bbq.
Everywhere people were talking about football, on TV, on the radio, in the newspapers, on the streets, they were selling a lot of Uruguayan flags and so on....obviously, because it was the first time since 1970 that Uruguay qualified for the semifinals of the world cup. They were about to play against the Netherlands and I am for the Netherlands, so I was always making jokes about it to Diego and his parents. During the game, Diego went to watch the game with his friends and I preferred to stay home and watch it. Uruguay lost 2-3 but people were still proud of their team and there was a celebration in the Avenida 18 de julio which was an amazing experience! I can’t imagine how it would have been if they had won the game.
After all, I left Uruguay with a very good impression of the country and it’s people; I found them to be very warm, welcoming and helpful. Every shop/restaurant etc I went to, they treated me very well. Of course I couldn’t have been treated better by Diego and his family. Hopefully I’ll come back to Uruguay one day soon and in the
summer, to visit other parts of the country, including places such as Cabo Polonia, Punta del Este and Rocha among others.
That’s all for the first blog entry. Now it’s time for Argentina!!!
Take care,
Elton
Advertisement
Tot: 0.094s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 13; qc: 34; dbt: 0.0434s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Arco
non-member comment
On the road again
Hi Elton, het reisvirus moet weer bevredigd worden zie ik ;)! Mooi om te horen hoe de Uruguyanen de wedstrijd hebben beleefd. Hier was het ook wel feest maar ik heb niet als een mega volksfeest ervaren, misschien na vanavond met de finale! Veel plezier nog op het vervolg van je reis. Leuk om je verslagen weer te kunnen lezen! Chau!