Its Switzerland... But Not As We Know It

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Uruguay. What can I say? Its a great place. Uruguay manages to combine the laid back, south American lifestyle I've come to expect over the last couple of months with a more European-style approach to services. Add to that beautiful beaches, the friendliest people, fantastic weather and cheap... well, everything.

Uruguay is a small country by South American standards, but certainly in South America. Its squeezed out to the east of Argentina and squashed down by Brazil. If you blinked, you'd miss it. I didn't know much about the place before I came here. I knew the football team had won the World Cup twice and throughout history has acquired a reputation for cynical defensive tactics. I seem to recall that a Uruguayan holds the record for the fastest sending off in World Cup history (56 seconds - José Batista for a memorably atrocious challenge on Gordon Strachan in 1986. Scotland still lost). That was my sole piece of Uruguayan trivia. To be fair, I don't know much more now as I've been too busy enjoying myself to learn anything.

Uruguay's full name is actually the Eastern Republic of Uruguay. I don't think there is a corresponding Western Republic. Its the second smallest independent state in South America (although its also larger than French Guyana but that is technically part of France and therefore the only part of the EU outside of Europe). Its also the second-least corrupt country in South America (not something to be particularly proud of) after Chile. I don't really know how they judge that but there you go.

Our first foray on Uruguayan (which is actually a tough word to type quickly) soil almost ended in tears. It started well: we arrived at Colonia from Buenos Aires on the mega-speedy Buquebus boat in next to no time. We couldn't work out the customs form but it didn't matter. We were waved through with typical South American nonchalance. 'Welcome to Uruguay' the guy said with a conspiratorial wink.

We then proceeded to the hostel we had booked several days ago. Unfortunately one of those occasional language-barrier problems occurred and there was no room at the inn. Literally. Despite confirming our reservation for a double room, its seems they didn't actually have a double room in the entire place. C'est la vie. It was Sophie's birthday and didn't fancy spending a sweaty night in a mixed dorm. We were struggling to find a suitable hotel when a guy approached us in the street. 'Are you looking for a room?' We were carrying our luggage and looking lost so it wasn't a bad guess. Despite our obvious need, I don't like just following strangers in a strange country. Call me old fashioned but thats a sure-fire way to end up on a Channel 4 documentary.

As it turns out, my anxiety was misplaced. The guy took us to his mum's hotel which fit the bill perfectly. She was a lovely old lady who spoke English very well and, for some reason, loved Winchester. I'm sure its a lovely place. I just wasn't expecting to meet a Uruguayan who liked Winchester.

Colonia itself was great. I know I've said that about a lot of places but this has to be one of the top 3 towns we've stayed in. The town dates back to the 17th Century and is a World Heritage Site. It started life as a Portuguese fort on the River Plate in 1677. Later that year, the Portuguese lost it to the Spanish. How careless. It actually changed hands 7 times between the two nations (perhaps raising questions over its uselfulness as an actual fort) before they decided to stop squabbling and signed a treaty. Because of the various owners, the place has a curious mix of Spanish and Portuguese buildings. To an untrained eye (like mine) however, it simply looks like pretty colonial architecture. Set amongst cobbled streets, tree lined streets and quaint plazas Colonia is, all in all, a lovely place to spend a few days.

We certainly ate well while we were there. The night we arrived we went out to this great pasta restaurant. Great setting (a lovely old building overlooking a plaza), monumentally good service and incredible home-made pasta. By contrast, I'm struggling to think of an 'authentic' Italian restaurant in Bristol that actually serves fresh pasta. They had a great array of sauces and we were given the option (no, positively encouraged) to go 50:50 on different sauces. I know it sounds a bit weird to get this excited about pasta but it really was that good a meal. They also went 50:50 on dessert which worked out pretty well all round as cakes are one thing South America does really well. The next night we tried out the Uruguayan delicacy Chivito which basically involves a big slab of steak topped with cheese, bacon and fried egg. Nice!

After a couple of days in Colonia we headed on to Montevideo. As a fitting contrast with other South American countries, our bus left on time for the first time since we've been away. I'm being a bit harsh - the countries have become generally more westernised as our trip has progressed - but Uruguay does seem to be a cut above on the service front. Uruguay is widely touted as 'South Ámerica's Switzerland'. Sounds like a back handed compliment to me but I suppose the point is that its safe, clean and professional. I can't argue with that. Its still South America though - I mean that in both a good and bad way. Its laid back and friendly. However, I just passed a counterfeit CD stand in the street with two policemen lurking next to it. I thought the guy might be in a bit of trouble but they were actually purchasing two CDs.

I watched the Argentine Chamionship play off involving Boca and Estudiantes. Boca rounded off an impressive end of season collapse, snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, having only needed a point from their last two games to sew up the league title. As though to emphasise their calamity, Boca took the lead in the first five minutes before missing a string of chances that the proverbial grandmother could have dispatched. I got the impression that the neutrals were quite pleased about the result - Boca being the local big boys and thus worthy of Chelsea-like loathing in these parts.

Montevideo itself doesn't have that much to rave about. Its nice enough but thats about it. It took about two hours to explore the main sites.

I don't think I've mentioned the Argentine and Uruguayan fascination with a drink called Maté. It is a kind of tea I suppose. It comes in a goblet-type vestibule (called a maté) which is filled to the top with fleks of leaves and then filled with hot water. They use a type of metal straw called a bombilla to drink it (otherwise they'd have flecks of green leaves all over their teeth). These guys cannot get enough of it. They LOVE it. People regularly carry around flasks of hot water along with their little maté kit and will fill up whilst wandering down the street, waiting for buses or sitting at the beach. Strange.

After Montevideo, we headed to a beach town called Piriapolis. Its named after egotistical hotelier called Senor Piria who built a large hotel here. Its now a thriving resort and in bringing prosperity to the area, got his name to the place. Its a lovely place and we ended up staying longer than intended. Its just a great place to chill and work on the tan. Like the rest of Uruguay, its cheap as chips and you could probably have a two week holiday here (flights inclusive) for cheaper than you could do in, say, Greece.

We spent a day at the nearby resort Punta del Este which is the swankiest place in the country. It looks pretty much like Miami or Surfers Paradise, ie beautiful beaches, beautiful people but probably a little too built up for my liking. I prefer Piriapolis. It was a bit grey today so I took the chance to catch some rare English football. There is plenty of it on over here but I just haven't had much chance to see it. Blessedly, I've also missed the Ashes collapse. We also went for a bike ride along the coast. It was just beach after beach, unspoilt and lovely. You could probably buy a beach house here for the same price as a new bathroom back home. Oh well, one day maybe....

We are heading back to Buenos Aires tomorrow before going up to Iguazu falls. I'll probably send a salivating blog about that later this week. After that, its the last stop in Rio for Christmas before returning home to reality. See you all soon.

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