A week in the Belgium of South America
***** This post is about the time I spent in Uruguay, November 30th - December 7th, and is one of the many posts to come about my travels through South America. For those who are wondering, I am in Cancún, Mexico these days, after having spent the last two weeks in Cuba. Anyway, enjoy this post and don't be afraid to leave a comment if you like. :) *****
A long yet comfortable bus ride preceded my arrival to Montevideo, Uruguay’s beautiful and tranquil capital. A few weeks before, I had contacted Jorge through the Couchsurfing website, and he had agreed to put me up for a few days. Being a working man, he couldn’t meet me until 7PM, so I checked my backpack in the bus terminal’s storage facility and explored the city on my own, expertly guided by my beloved Lonely Planet guidebook.
plaza del Entrevero
Following the Avenida 18 de Julio, a local bus dropped me off in the city center, near the plaza Indepencia. The plaza is the heart of the downtown area and home to the statue and mausoleum of Jose Artigas, Uruguay’s national hero number one.
José Artigas mausoleum
A walk brought me along the plaza Constitución where I paid a quick visit to the beautiful Iglesia Matriz. I treated myself to some ice cream (sweets and pastries are a Uruguayan specialty) and continued on my way to the ciudad vieja, the older and poorer part of town near the harbor.
plaza Constitución
Iglesia Matriz
ciudad vieja
On my way back towards the city center, I navigated my way to the Solis Theater and crossed the plaza Independencia again and on to the Avenida 18 de Julio.
Walking a few blocks down the avenue, I noticed a bright yellow billboard which shone on my retina as if it were made of pure gold. Apparently the Montevideans possess the luxury of having a Nikon Center smack in their downtown… an honor unknown to any Belgian. Because my Nikon D70’s sensor had collected more dust than the average door mat over its 2 years of service, I was excited like a little kid to learn I could finally have it cleaned without having to miss my camera for at least 3 weeks. Since my laptop had given up on me just one week into my trip and thus leaving me without any tools to post-process my pictures (removing the dust spots) the cost of USD25 for having the sensor cleaned seemed like a bargain. I decided to travel light that day so I was only carrying my pocket Canon camera, but I was happy to know that by the end of the next day my beloved D70’s sensor would be cleaner than my grandmother’s floor --and that means something.
I spent the rest of the afternoon bumming around and around 6PM called the phone number Jorge had told me to call. Despite my rusty Spanish and the foreign sound of the Uruguayan accent, I managed to gather the home address from the brief phone conversation with Jorge’s mom and made my way over there after picking up my backpack at the bus terminal.
Jorge couldn’t have been more welcoming and I felt very comfortable in his family from the first minute I walked into their spacious apartment near the Montevideo rambla. As I mentioned before, my Spanish was quite rusty at the time, which was not helped by spending the past 5 weeks in Brazil. All this resulted in us conversing in a faux Portignol, mixed with some French and English where necessary. The language was never too much of a barrier though, and during an hour-long talk overlooking the sun setting over the bay, it became clear that Jorge and I would get along very well.
I can’t help but to think that this is partly because of the some similarities between Uruguay and Belgium: both are smalls nations surrounded by major countries, beautiful but tranquil, inhabited by mostly down-to-earth, modest and friendly people. Maybe it’s just me.
Later that night, Jorge took me to one of his favorite fastfood restaurants for a the Uruguayan version of a mitrailette.
After knowing that I’d get my Nikon’s sensor cleaned, the geek in me was even more excited to see that Jorge was quite an IT fanatic himself and the proud owner of a new desktop computer, a fast internet connection and the works. The next morning I (barely) managed to fight the urge to stay home and work on my LJ the whole day by forcing myself go out there and see some more of the city. On my second trip to the center I got my D70 taken care of and paid a visit to the Museo Romantico, the Museo Histórico Nacional, as well as the Torres Garcia Museum.
museo romantico
museo Torres Garcia
As I returned from my trip downtown, however, the urge became irresistible, so I downloaded and installed Photoshop on Jorge’s computer and got to work. I had about a month’s worth of pictures and experiences to share, but my LJ-perfectionism held me back from rushing things, so I spent about 8 hours working on a Rio de Janeiro update. Later that night, a very nice dinner (one of many to come) ensued, and I was introduced to Jorge’s long time girlfriend Gaby, who was just as open and welcoming as Jorge himself.
The next day, Jorge had arranged for his friend Matias to let me join him on a surfing trip to Punta del Este, Uruguay’s prime holiday city at a 90 minute drive East of Montevideo. Matias picked me up around 7.30AM and little more than two hours later I found myself on a surfboard before the Punta del Este coast.
Matias
The weather and waves were rather disappointing, so around noon we got out of the water and drove over to Matias’ house where we had a filling pasta meal, followed by a nice siesta. Later that afternoon we met up with some of Matias’ friends and hung out by their pool, drinking beer and eating homemade chocolate chip cookies.
Being the hardcore surf fanatic that he is, Matias wanted to stay in Punta the next day as well, but since I preferred to head back to Montevideo, I caught a bus back later that night.
As I got to the bus station in Montevideo, I was awaited by Jorge who invited me to join him and his family in the celebration of his cousin Paublo’s 40th birthday. All were merry and after some dinner and wine, I joined Jorge for a game of soccer with his nephews.
Click to view
The next day was originally supposed to be my last day in Montevideo, so I wanted to take advantage of having access to a nice computer with PS and a good internet connection and spent a fair amount of the day editing pictures and typing up experiences from my travels in Southern Brazil. Jorge seemed sympathetic to my cause and quite impressed by my pictures and posts, so he invited me to stay a little longer. Since I was being treated royally and surrounded by very nice and friendly people. Even when I home alone, Jorge’s mom would arrange for an extensive breakfast and lunch buffet, constantly making sure I had everything I desired. All of this; plus getting to work on my LJ, you can probably see why I didn’t mind kicking around a little longer.
trying some mate
lunch for one
I ended up staying three more days, which I mainly spent behind Jorge’s computer (since he had to work during the day anyway), and managed to complete the posts about my travels in Brazil. By Wednesday though, the time had come to move on to celebrated my last night in town I treated Jorge and Gaby to a dinner in a nearby restaurant, followed by some grappa con miel as we got back home.
Gaby
The next morning, Jorge’s mom gave me a ride to the bus terminal where I caught a bus to Colonia del Sacramento, a picturesque city in Western Uruguay, where smugglers used to ship goods from and to Argentina in times long passed. Throughout the centuries, Colonia’s charm stayed intact and I found the town well worthy of the ‘superstar’ status it was awarded by Lonely Planet.
Artigas... who else?
I made my way to all the points of interests, following the map in my guidebook. For lunch, I treated myself to a nice fish and shrimp in curry sauce meal in a local restaurant. Good stuff.
In the afternoon, I rented a scooter for an hour and cruised around town. Since I never had a scooter when I was younger, and had barely ridden one before, I had a blast cruising around in the afternoon sun and hot air.
Around 7PM, the time had come to catch the ferry to Buenos Aires, Argentina...
the lobby in the ferry
where I would be awaited by old and new friends… and many more adventures.
