Compact and chic Montevideo

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Having left Florianópolis, it was a 21 hour bus journey to the Uruguayan capital, with one change of bus in Porto Alegre. The border crossing was the easiest yet - the bus company took my passport as I boarded the bus, and when we crossed the border at around 4am they sorted out all of the formalities for me without waking me. Brilliant! Getting off the bus in Montevideo, the temperature difference was quite a shock. Easy to forget that Montevideo is the world’s second most southerly capital city and that, being July, it’s midwinter. Uruguay seems to be one of the most centralised countries in South America. It really is a one-city state: Greater Montevideo holds 1.9 million people, with Uruguay’s total population only 3.1 million. I’ve come straight to Montevideo, bypassing all of the towns in Eastern Uruguay just because they’re mostly beach resorts, which in winter must be deserted.

Montevideo feels like a smaller version of Buenos Aires. The city is very compact; everything is in easy walking distance, but there isn’t a great plethora of attractions. It’s nice to be back in a Spanish-speaking country, though annoyingly I’ve found myself accidentally slipping a few Portuguese words in when I speak Spanish (mostly saying “obrigado” instead of “gracias”. But hopefully that will wear off pretty quickly.

The hostel I stayed at was right in the centre, only 2 blocks from the main square. Unfortunately it had no heating so at nights it was really cold. After arriving from the bus terminal and dropping off my things at the hostel, I headed for the main square, the Plaza Independencia. In the centre of the square is an enormous statue of the Uruguayan national hero, General Artigas, and below this statue was a rather macabre mausoleum housing his remains. I timed my arrival quite well as just as I got there, they started the changing of the guard ceremony, complete with brass band. It took a lot longer to complete than I would have thought possible, but it was interesting to start with. Overlooking the Plaza Independencia is the most recognisable building in the city, the Palacio Silvo, which was at one point the tallest building in Latin America. West from the plaza and the Ciudad Vieja (Old City) stretches out on a small peninsula, with the River Plate (essentially the Atlantic ocean) to the south and Montevideo bay to the north. The whole city is quite small, so easy to get around on foot. The main shopping street was lined with handicraft market stalls (even in the rain), whilst the other main square, Plaza Constitución, had a sort of an antiques market on it on Saturday. The other area of interest in the historic centre was the Port Market, which is overshadowed by the enormous Customs Building. The Market itself was no longer actually a market, instead it was full of restaurants selling Asado (Uruguayan BBQ). Beyond here was the actual port, which is still a busy commercial centre, with nothing of real interest to see.

On my third day in Montevideo (a Sunday) I woke up and it was raining. It did not stop raining until midday on Monday. This day also happened to be July 18th - Uruguayan Independence Day, but nothing special seemed to be happening in the city. As it was Sunday, pretty much everything was shut, so I was forced to stay in the hostel for nearly all of the day. On Monday I did venture out in the rain, as it started to let off. Unfortunately most of the museums were still shut (I think it was a public holiday), and there really wasn’t much else to see. I did make my way to the Centenary Stadium, where all of the matches in the first ever World Cup were played. But the rain returned and I got a bit wet trying to get back to the hostel.
Shame about the weather, but I hear it’s even worse across the border in Argentina where I’m heading next. My next stop (and last in Uruguay) is Colonia del Sacramento, which lies on the River Plate opposite Buenos Aires. The next blog will come from there.

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