We were traveling with a couple of friends, and when we got off the bus in Montevideo we realized that none of us knew anything about the city or had any idea where we were going. We pulled out our trusty guidebook and chose one of the recommended hotels. As the cab driver drove through the city on Sasturday morning, we noticed that everything appeared to be closed. I became a little concerned and asked the driver if it was a holiday. He replied that the holiday was on Monday, but that people started to take off of work on Thursday or Friday. I could not believe how empty the streets were around the area. I could only assume we were not in a residential part of the city. This may have been a time where a little research would have come in handy. The girl at the front desk of our hotel re-informed us of the problem, and did her best to recommend some things we could do that day (most of which consisted of walking around and looking at architecture).
The city has some great old European architecture, like that of Buenos Aires, but also has other interesting styles, including art deco. Many of the older buildings were in disrepair and, combined with the deserted streets, it felt like a haunted city. If I had the means, I would have wanted to start buying up properties and restoring the old city area. It has so much potential and could definitely be a much larger tourist draw. On our walk through the city, we also stumbled across the Buddy Bears in the main plaza. (*Editors note: See the "Buddy Bears" post if you don't remember who they are.) We could have been Buddy Bear groupies at this point.
After walking around and seeing all the points of interest on the map, we decided to head indoors because it was freezing . We heard about a mall with a theater and thought that a movie would be the best course of action. It was not. "Un Plan Brillante" with Demi Moore and Michael Caine is quite possibly the worst movie I have ever seen. I don't even remember the name in English, but it probably did not last long in the U.S. The movie trip did give us the chance to find where all the people were hiding: the mall.
It looked like a mall at Christmastime, except for the fact that everyone had brought their mate along. Uruguay seemed to take the mate obsession to a whole other level. It is one thing to bring mate to the park or to the beach, but it is not exactly a convenient to-go cup. First, one has to carry an open, non-disposable cup or gourd filled with mate leaves with a silver bombilla (straw) sticking out. Then, one has to also have a thermos under one's arm filled with hot water for frequent refills of your tiny mate cup. The hot water is not an issue because places are accomadating to the obsession, but all the extra paraphanalia seems inconvenient to me. I was trying to think of the equivalent in the U.S. and pictured people walking around with their "World's Best (fill in the blank)" coffee mug, and a pot of hot coffee.
The older area of the city where our hotel was located seemed to pick up at night, particularly, on our street. The music was going long after we had turned in for the night.
I think when you are only in a city for a day, it is probably best to do a little research ahead of time and know where you should be when.
This was one we actually timed right and we were eating Saturday lunch with the crowds. In this old terminal were several restaurants and a great atmosphere.
These are some of the buildings that reminded me of haunted houses.
Some more interesting architecture.
Photo Shoot! They were shooting right next to all these guys fishing for river fish. It was very glamorous.
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