Lesley's brother, Brian, has been visiting us for the past 2 weeks in BA and while here, told us he had a friend who lived in Montevideo, Uruguay. As connections are always a plus and the opportunity to travel to a neighboring country presented itself, we decided to take a little mission. GOOD DECISION. Wow...his friends, who are now our close friends, were the nicest and most welcoming people I have ever met. For 5 days, they showed us the country, took us to their "chacaro" ( a 21 acre ranch which I will explain in further detail, later), fed us ridiculously delicious food and basically became our BFF's! Following, is a semi-brief (words do little justice to this trip) description of our trip:
So we arrived in Colonia, Uruguay via a high speed boat which took just over an hour. Quite a nice ride and packed with cars and people who were all leaving BA and jetting over to the beautiful beaches in Punta del Este. As seems to be the case everywhere we go, Laura (Lesley's friend and another AMERICAN...we always get scammed) met us at the landing and was told all the seats were filled except for the VIP section so she had to pay extra and sit in a different cabin. Then, as predicted, Lesley, Brian and I had several open seats all around us in the common area. We have figured out the key is to buy bus/boat/etc tix online as they cannot call us out on being "gringos" and therefore we lessen our chances of being nickled and dimed :) From Colonia, we hopped on bus and took the 2.5 hour ride to Montevideo to find our hostel.
Anyhoo, Brian's friend, Macarena met us at the terminal and took us from there. We stayed in a hostel the first night in the older part of the city and all I can say is DAMN! hahahaha! The place was run-down Richards and smelled like the sewer. Never easy to book a hostel online without having been to the place, so always a surprise....In this case, a smelly one :D It was pouring rain too, and although we we slightly bummed the locals were ecstatic. Apparently the country has been suffering from a horrible draught that has cost them tons of money and livestock and the day we arrived, was the first time they had seen a drop of rain in over 3 months. People were packed in bars, music was blasting and everyone was drenched and dancing. It was a joyous day for the people of Uruguay.
The next day we met up with Maca (Macarena's nickname) and her family and friends. They have a ranch in Punta del Este and had invited us to go with them for the weekend. We were thrilled and happily accepted the invite. Seeing as their was a big group of us, we all carpooled and took the 2 hour drive South until we arrived. Having no idea what to expect of their Chacara, we were shocked to see the place. It was more like a private compound of little villas connected together with a swimming pool, tennis courts with night-lights, a huge field with all their horses to go riding on, and a place to have an asado. INCREDIBLE. They have live-in gardeners, cooks, cleaners etc and we were all taken to our own little rooms where we had flowers on our pillows, fresh cotton towels and food waiting for us. Yes...it was S. American heaven, as I knew it :)
For the next few days we ate like royalty (crepes with dulce de leche for breakfast, authentic Uruguayan lunches and huge asados by night), went to the beaches by day (which were absolutely breath-taking) and were taken out dancing in the clubs at night. Maca, Seba, Diego, Nanu, Beto and Pillar were sooooo fun and all we did was laugh. They all speak English as they attended private British schools and universidades and so we had a fun-filled time of communicating in "Spanglish" as we switched between the two. Basically, they were some of the most hospitable and generous people I have and probably will ever meet. It was an incredible experience and one that I will always cherish. They are making plans to come visit us in BA, as well as a promised trip to the USA (they have family in San Fran and Beto was actually born in NYC). I only hope we can show them as fun of a time as they did for us.
One more note...the SUPERBOWL in Montevideo was RIDICULOUS! Omg...Seba invited us to his friends house where we were required to wear black and yellow clothing. Never in my wildest dreams would I have expected to see what I did. A HUGE projector in the living room, tables upon tables of burgers, hot dogs, asado, beer, etc and tons of HARDCORE Steeler fans packed into the house. Most had affiliations with Pittsburgh from either family members living there or a few who had received their Phd's and studied in the state and all were OBSESSED. Everyone was wearing/sporting Steeler hats, shirts, jerseys, pins, posters, banners and yelling in Spanish. Of course it was broad casted in Spanish as well and with all the chaos, I was in awe. Sooooo much fun and probably the best game I have ever watched. Never mind the nail-biting ending and the celebrating upon the final score. In my book, it was epic :)
Ok, so now a little about Uruguay. The country is absolutely beautiful. A fraction of the size of Argentina, it boasts a beautiful coastline with a rambla that runs all along the water of Montevideo. With a constant ocean breeze, the heat is more bearable and the beaches are nicer. It was also interesting to hear about what the people of Uruguay had to say about Argentinians, in particular, los Portenos. Not on the best terms as they say that people in BA are full of themselves and think they are the high above everyone else and snobby. As Uruguay is much smaller and the tourist industry (minus the rich and mighty who go to the beaches in Punta del Este) is less, the country seems to be in the shadow of the built-up and well established reputation that Buenos Aires holds so strongly. This was true. I told them that how when I decided to pack up and move to S. America, Uruguay had never even crossed my mind and Buenos Aires had such an incredible reputation, it was an easy choice. They said that was the case for most people.However, Lesley and I were both in awe at what a beautiful country it was. The people were so warm and friendly, the coastline was a gorgeous to walk along and the city of Montevideo was beautiful and with fewer high-rises than in BA.
All in all, Uruguay was incredible. I advise you all to check out the country online (thank you google) and see for yourselves what a beautiful place it is. With blue skies, awesome beaches, delish food and extremely kind and generous friends, it is a trip I will always have very fond memories of and recommend to all.
Much love and be safe
Taxi ride to el microcentro...
