Montevideo, Uruguay

I gotta say, I was not very impressed with Montevideo. There was little to see and less to do. Granted, we were there first on christmas day so it was dead as can be. But we returned to Montevideo around 1 PM on the following Saturday to find it almost as desolate as it had been on christmas day. About 80% of the shops were closed on the "busy" streets. We assumed that the city empties in the summer and all life is found on the beaches further north. But regardless, the city itself appeared bland, with little interesting architecture (we walked pretty much the entire city), everything is expensive and we were told many of the streets are unsafe at night (especially if you are speaking English).

I don't mean to hate on Montevideo, but compared to the rest of the trip, it was pretty dull and I feel like I could have gone without it. Luckily we did meet some great people at our hostel. We had a jam session on the back patio with 3 guys from France, and went to lunch with a group of 5 brazilian guys. Maybe Montevideo is a whole different story in the Spring.

Bellyflop or dive?

These guys started a fire in this corner and started cooking up some random meat. One of the strangest public cooking performances I've witnessed.

random "controlled" fire in the gutter

I love my neighborhood

Public tango! Older couples gather to show off their skills on the streets of Montevideo

Whatever dude, I got a sling

Alex painting at our hostel

One thing that I did like, however, was how common it was to drink yerba mate.  The majority of people on the street were carrying a mate (tea cup fashioned out of a gourd) and a thermos of hot water. Literally, almost everyone was drinking it on the go, from bus drivers, to businessmen, to nicely dressed women. They all drank this strong, bitter, herbal tea from their bombilla (straw) and had the thermos tucked under their arm.

It was cool to see this practice for the first time and on such a massive scale. I was told that yerba mate is just as popular in Argentina but we barely saw anyone in the streets carrying it around. It's apparently more of an in-home custom in Argentina.

Accidental Christmas in Montevideo

After a great two nights in Lima it was time for phase two of our trip. Our plane landed in Montevideo around 9 PM on Christmas eve. The plan was to get to the bus station for an 11 o'clock bus to Punta Del Diablo to meet Alex's cousin, Sarah, who was already there waiting for our 3 AM arrival. We went straight to the information desk to find out how to get to the bus from the airport. The woman at the desk was quick to inform us that the last bus was at 7 PM and the next bus wouldn't be until 11 PM the following night! We're stuck... panic.

We were fortunate enough to have free wifi access in the airport so we hopped on Skype to tell Sarah of our situation. We contacted every rent-a-car place in town, inquired about a taxi, and I attempted to ask 3 strangers in spanish if they wanted to share the cost of a ride with us 3-4 hours north to the beach. The two Chileans and one Peruvian from Lima politely declined. It was then, that I first learned how difficult it is to understand Chileans. These guys turned out to be incredibly friendly and cool, and we would meet again.

After 3 hours in the airport, it hit midnight and it was Christmas. Alex and I gave up on making it to the beach and her cousin that night. We called a hotel near the airport that wasn't expensive and had a taxi take us there. When we got there, we were hungry, thirsty and stressed. We asked the man at the desk if they had any food or booze. We grabbed a 40 of heineken for me and a bottle of wine for Alex and one of every snack they had. We spent the night watching fireworks from the 2nd floor deck of the hotel and trying to relax.

Our dinner at the hotel. Notice the Christmas ham in the middle. Yum.

The next morning Alex and I headed to the bus station in hopes of finding an earlier bus, as we had learned not to trust information we were given (the website for the buses never mentioned any change in schedule for Christmas). Upon arrival at the terminal we quickly spotted our 3 new friends from the night before in the airport. They were headed to a different beach that turned out to be on the same bus as us. Unfortunately the bus didn't leave until 7 PM so we had some time to kill. We teamed up with the three amigos to wander the seemingly empty city on christmas day.

Jean Pierre, Alex, Max and Ruben on the empty streets of Montevideo

Alex and our Chilean friends sharing a laugh and a Christmas Toast on the Beach

Us with Jean Pierre and Max

These churros were not only the only food place open within a kilometer, they were also incredible.