Montevideo for Beginners

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Geo: -34.8939, -56.1568

They tell us this is a sad country and maybe that's why nobody seems to care enough to keep up these beautiful old homes or clean the dog crap off the sidewalks. Of course you can find places that are well kept, but you have to go to the very rich areas for them. The middle and lower class barrios are pretty sad.

It's a very literate country with 60% of adults going to college, most wanting to be doctors or lawyers and most leaving the country to find work. An old person's country, since the young all leave, but when you think about its history, it's very young. Does that make sense? If not, it's very Uruguayan.

They didn't declare their independence until 1825, thanks to the British who brokered said peace for simple access to the heart of the continent--the Uruguay river. Smart.

They tell us that nobody is really Uruguayan. You only need go back two generations or so to find that every single person is from somewhere else—most of them from Italy or Spain. So here you have an entire country of immigrants longing for home and feeling displaced and apart—maybe that's part of why Uruguay has the #1 suicide rate in South America.

Or maybe it has something to do with having no religion. When the Spanish were finally kicked out, their religion was done away with too. Even Christmas has a different name—family day, or something like that. All religious holidays have been given secular names and every tour guide will make the point that this is not a catholic country. But it's not just, "not Catholic." It's not anything. I wouldn't want to be on a mission here.

We went back to the old city, the part that was walled in during the Spanish and Portuguese years, but saw more this time. I'll tell you about it in the captions of the pictures.

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Photos

Statue of General Artigas, Hero of Uruguay
He led the revolt against the Spanish and became the revered father of the country, as is George Washington for us. He wanted a federation of states that line the Rio de la Plata, which would have included several from what is now Argentina, including Buenos Aires. But Buenos Aires would have none of it and loosing in his bid for his beloved federation, Artigas fled to Paraguay and never returned.

Ready for Inaction
These poor guys have to stand at attention for hours guarding the ashes of Artigas at his mausoleum.

Heavy, Dark, Oppresive
Tourists come here--don't know if Uruguayans do or not. They definitely don't like it. But it's so oppresive--like you have the whole weight of the Third Reich looming down on you--it feels like that. Artigas' mausoleum was built during the military dictatorship and carries a very bad feeling for the people. They say the president wants to remove Artiguas' ashes to another place and use this as a museum.

Preventing Suicide
A net is hung over the stairs going down to the mausoleum to prevent people from jumping off to commit suicide. But then they do have the highest suicide rate on the continent.

Candombe!
It's a dance with drums and a great African rhythm--I LOVE it. It makes me want to jump up and join them. From the slave days of Uruguay, it speaks of the African-Uruguayan heritage.

Early Map from Spanish Days
See how the city's surrounded by walls?

Artigas, Hero Without a Country
He wanted so badly to unify the states surrounding the Rio de la Plata so he could have a federation like in the United States, but Argentina, being Argentina, said nada, no way, not here, not now.

The Country Still Has a Few Antiques
Most of the antiques in the country have been hauled off in large container ships for America. It's sad. They have only sparse specimens left.

Trash Recycling, Uruguayan Style
Horse drawn carts comb the city, picking through garbage bins and loading any recyclable material on their carts. What's really sad is when you see children driving the carts alone or helping their parents because you know they aren't allowed to go to school. Parents make them work, instead.

Cops Patrol Heavily in Tourist Areas
This was in Cuidad Vieja, the old city, where there are lots of tourists. Police were everywhere--except around when our friend had her camera pouch stolen as we sat on the seawall.

Street Walkers
We walked the streets of Cuidad Vieja and were fascinated by the beautiful old buildings, but saddened by their lack of care.

Mujica--the President Elect
Mujica is the man who was thrown into a well for 13 years and tortured by the military dictatorship.

Comments

[Richard]

2 things to say. We declare independency here in Uruguay in 1825, but just to declare, in the same document, that we become one of the PROVINCIAS UNIDAS DEL RIO DE LA PLATA, this means that we are no longer under the dominion of Brazil and
now we are argentinians. In the mean time we were still at war with Brazil, with the brazilians occupying about the 70% of the territory. In 1828 Lord Ponsomby who was the embassador of England in Brazil made an arrangement in wich is declared that la Banda Oriental (the Eastern Band) is not part of Argentina or Brazil, and so on 18th july 1828 we had our first constitution.The second thing is that religion, catolcism, to be precise, was part of the state untill the second presidency of Jos? Batlle y Ordo?ez, when religion and state were separated. Nevertheless about 75% of the population is catholic, and we celebrate christmas as christmas, in spanish navidad which means the day that Jesus born. You talk about a "Family day", and indeed here in Uruguay the 25th december is a day to spend with the family, but christmas is christmas.Sorry for my english that is a litlle rusty. long time whitout writing in english, or talking.You had very nice posts.Hope you enjoy your stay in this country.My best regards.PS: There's allways sometonereading your posts, at least i was.

[Karen Lemcke]

Richard, thank you so much for updating us on the situation here in Uruguay and a bit more of the history. We are very fastinated by your history and are glad to have had you add your comments.Thank you for your kind words. Please feel free
to add notes anytime you wish. We are through with class now and head to Frey Bentos tomorrow morning. More adventures to come!!

[bobnkaren]

I mistakenly deleted the following comment from Ileana. Here it is:That is why I do not want Americans to go to my country; always taking photo and not understanding anything. There are beautiful places in Europe; go there, please! Or if yo
u want to pretend to be adventurous, go to some 5 star hotel in the Caribbean. By the way, back in the US, try to fix your decaying country and learn not to be so offensive; you are not fascinated by anything else than your ego.

[bobnkaren]

Ileana, I am very sorry you were offended by my pictures. I photograph what I see.If you knew me, you would know I am not a 5 star kind of tourist who turns her nose up at anything not American. My husband and I lived with a non-ric
h Uruguayan family while there, we stay in hostels, we take city buses or walk where ever we go. We appreciate the difficulties encountered by your country and applaud your fortitude and love of democracy. Uruguay is a kind, friendly country with many wonderful people. I ask you, were any of these photos contrived or are they real? Have you looked at the city with open eyes? I trust you are not part of the problem--those who close their eyes to the dirt and decay because they feel they have no power to change anything. You sound like someone who truly loves their country. Photos show what's there. It's not always pleasant, but it's real. My photos are real.

[Ileana]

I was not offended by your photos, though, it is questionable to use poor people images without their consent. This issue has been debated at the academic level quite enough. Should we really take pics of people we should respect and prot
ect as part of our traveling souvenirs? I was offended by your comments and negative description of my country. You are entitled to an opinion. And opinions are always subjective. I do love my country, yes, and I am from a poor family and neighborhood; where you see rampant poverty and ugly unpainted houses, I see my people living daily lives, enjoying family things that are dear to us. I am sorry you could only see negative things in my country.They do exist; my point is: that is the only thing you chose to see. I wonder if you could not counterbalance your negative views with something positive, I wonder if you could change the ironic "recycling thing" below the cart pic. Extreme poverty is a sad, sad human situation that deserves our compassion.Thank you for your response and, please, delete my comments. After all, it is your blog. And your photos are beautiful. Let me finish just by asking you the same question you made me: do you see your own country? Do you see the contradictions in all these shiny happy people? Do you really think that your well-maintained houses are better than those you saw in my country? Take care, you seem that you are a nice person trying to learn something in this life, I hope you do.

[bobnkaren]

You know, I don't see the unkept part as being caused by poverty. I see it as a consequence of lack of pride. We were in Bolivia and as poor as they were--certainly poorer than anything we saw in Montevideo, their city was clean. They were
always sweeping their sidewalks and cleaning up trash.Poverty is a terrible thing in any country and as much as outsiders may think otherwise, the United States has plenty of poverty and and accumulation of slums--too many people going hungry in both countries. It's the same there--lack of pride makes for messy neighborhoods, not poverty alone.I saw and took photos of many things I liked in your country--I'm sorry you choose to see only the things you didn't like.

[Kari]

I love your photos and your ability to examine the harshness and often simple beauty you're surrounded by--your pictures of India especially are heart-rending--and I know you do it out of a strong & uncommon desire to understand culture
s vastly different from your own. I'm not so good at that. Few of us are. But I think we all have our breaking points where we just can no longer comprehend another person/place/whatever--where we just can't make sense of what we're seeing--and we explain it to ourselves in ways that can be unflattering: to our subject, and, ultimately to ourselves. None of us likes our ugly sides portrayed, and yet how can we begin to really understand one another if we only see the pretty? I think that for myself, I often look for the unpolished as a true indicator of what I'm seeing--varnish and gloss here in this country are easy to obtain and so often misleading--it's like, if I see you without your makeup, I have a better idea of who you really are. And to me, that's what your pictures are striving for--not to unfairly expose a person's--or a country's--weakness, but to try to see into the heart of another place. And sometimes what those pictures show is something even the most compassionate hearts have a hard time accepting. I don't think it's unfair of you to travel the world and examine what you see. But I do think it's important for all of us to remember what a dark and agonizing place things like despair and lack of pride come from.

[Kari]

...all I'm saying is: You're trying. And that's more than most of us do.

[Carolina Ram?rez]

Everyone have the right to give their own opinion, and I am agree with your point of view, (Karen) but it?s impossible you have exactly my look cause you just literaly see a picture, a little moment of Montevideo, and if this is your expres
sion you share is because that?s what you see, some would think is ok some no. But I think is perjuice who don?t let some people be more open and try to lisent to words they don?t want to hear or see images they don?t want to see maybe because they love the country and think because you are north american people you don?t have to say an opinion cause you are bad, selfish and love war and what?s worse, you have power and live in first world and being guilty of all of our troubles!! and of course yankees go home, etc. Sorry but this is the trully think of so much people. They don?t see the person in you, they see your nationality, as if you come here to see how poor people could live in this country, that?s why they get sick like they are waiting the minimal criticism for telling you go home.I love this country cause I grow here and the people I love live here and I love to work here but I am not Montevideo and I could lisent different versions of my city, to progress you have to be open and maybe it hurts. We are 3rd world and that?s hard to lisent belive me it?s hard but is part of the history of the world some nations are up and some are no up, . You have write with respect and express just your feelling I belive in freedom of expression and enjoy your letters from your trip, continue being yourself and giving us your sincerily point of view!

[bobnkaren]

Carolina, you are an amazing woman. Thank you for your thoughts and your insights---I really value your opinion. And to have to do it in English! You did VERY well. I wish my Spanish were that good.