Montevideo is the country's capital, and it sits across the wide, brown Rio de la Plata from Buenos Aires. Easily accessible by ferry, which is just how Alie and I arrived on Thursday morning. We spent the day walking around the city (we must have trekked at least eight miles that day), enjoying the sunshine and taking it all in.
Montevideo has a modern part of the city and a Ciudad Vieja (old city). The new part felt a lot like Buenos Aires, only smaller and more manageable, and the old part felt like some odd combination of a Mediterranean fishing village and the run-down areas of Baltimore. It had a mellow vibe, and everyone in the streets seemed just a little happier, and a little nicer, than their friends on the other side of the river. Our favorite part was the city's boardwalk, which wound along the coast for miles, starting by the shipping docks, passing residential and business areas, and skirting past city beaches and parks. It was beautiful, and the breeze off the water was a welcome break from Buenos Aires' narrow, city-bus-clogged streets.
We ate street food for lunch - I had a fantastic chorizo sandwich served in a plastic baggie - and ice cream from a stand in a park for dessert. Then to reward ourselves after our long walk, we stopped in at a gas station by a beach and bought 40s of Corona... the gas station attendant uncapped our bottles, and we helped ourselves to some limes in a bowl in the fridge that were provided specifically for beer drinkers like us. We sat outside as the sun went down, sipping our cold drinks, looking out over the water, and exclaiming how lucky we were. Lucky indeed.
On Friday morning we took off for Punta del Este - a ritzy beachtown on a peninsula in the Atlantic, a two-hour bus ride from Montevideo. I was a little wary of the "ritzy" part of the equation, but since it was off-season, things were quiet and low-key. In other words, perfect. The beaches were beautiful, the town was pretty, and the room in our hostel had a view of the ocean. We spent the next two days lying on the beach, enjoying sunshine and salty air, eating fresh fish and salads and ice cream, reading, and taking long walks along the boardwalk.
We even got lucky our last night in town and found ourselves sitting in the middle of a bar/restaurant that was broadcasting a World Cup Qualifier game (Uruguay versus Ecuador) on a big-screen TV. Not a single person had their chair turned with their back to the game, so we followed suit. We ordered beer, I ordered a Chivito Canadiense (a traditional Uruguayan sandwich consisting of steak, ham, bacon, egg, lettuce, tomato, olives, cheese and mayonnaise on french bread - yes, it's as wonderful/disgusting as it sounds) and french fries, and we spent the next hour and a half riding the emotions of the excited, then distraught, then ecstatic Uruguayan fans. Uruguay ended up winning on a penalty kick in the last play of the game, and that place was electric. It was one of those moments that reminds me why I travel - to be there when little instances of unfiltered culture happen... to know they occur every day all around the world in thousands of forms, and I got to be there for one of them.
Another little moment happened later that night, but was much less pleasant. We decided to save some money by staying in hostels, and in dorm rooms to boot. We signed up for an all-girls' dorm, which we had on night one, but on night two, boys appeared. Yikes. No big deal though, until they came in at 7am, loud and drunk. The girl in the bunk above me was snoring very loudly, and one of the boys decided to try and get her to stop by poking her. I opened my eyes to find a mostly-naked man in skin-tight white undies standing on his tiptoes by my bed, his package nicely on display and less than eighteen inches from my face. Uff-dah. I am definitely getting too old for the whole Hostel Gig.
But despite the Whitie Tightie Incident, it was a great trip. Relaxing, beautiful, and a good way to recharge for the last leg of my time in Buenos Aires. Thanks, Uruguay, for a great weekend. I'm sorry I ever made fun of your name.
Above: Montevideo's Boardwalk; A Kiss; Three Trees; Cold Coronas; Punta del Este; Punta's Harbor; Punta's Coast; A Hand in the Sand; Chivito Canadiense.
For the complete collection from Montevideo, click here. Punta del Este photos yet to come...
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