Uruguay HIghlights
Okay, so we've been back from Uruguay for a little while now. Here's the "short version" (I bore only my family with the long version) of what we got up to:
(the micro version would be, by the way: saw some pretty buildings, nice beaches, encountered some genuinely friendly people, heard some wonderful music and then went home)
Highlight the first: The trip got off to a rough start. The airline we had booked with went bankrupt a couple days before our departure date, and of course no one told us. I thought that sort of thing only happened to
other people. But no worries: the airline with a booth beside our guys offered us a free flight to Buenos Aires. Not exactly the COUNTRY we wanted to get to, but close enough. So we got to BA and crashed at the airport there to spend some hours trying to arrange the return flight, arrange a boat to Uruguay, re-write our itinerary on the spot, call to change hostel reservations, "bargain" with our failed airline... and all that crap. Bully on us for being experienced travelers... and for traveling in a pair, as that might have all been a bit overwhelming had one of us tried to do it alone. But we threw ourselves into it, and managed to solve most of our problems.
Actually, the hostel we found in Buenos Aires was one of the very nicest I've ever stayed at. Welcoming staff, with rooms painted up with murals done by artists with odd senses of design. And the fact that the new Leonard Cohen album (boffo) was playing on a never-ending loop when we arrived, exhausted, near eleven pm was a nice touch too.
The hostels were the thing on this trip. Uruguay is a touch more expensive than the places we're used to traveling in (ASIA!), so we tried to get back to our roots a bit - dorm beds and self-made meals at the hostel kitchens. We got a kick out of that. I do miss traveling in China, however as it is really nice to just rock up to some local hotel and get a nice room with a clean bed and a bathroom for nine or ten bucks.
SECOND: The next day we were off by boat to a place called Colonia del Sacramento, just across the bay (harbor? sea? mouth of the river? drainage basin? I don't know much about geography) from BA. Neat little place, with a UNESCO-cited old city with many little residential structures from the 17th and 18th centuries. Enjoyed a very pleasant walk along the beach to a creepy abandoned resort area from the 20s... complete with crumbling hotel, bull fighting ring (large) and a horse racing track (the only part still in operation).
THIRD: Off next to the capital, Montevideo. The thing we enjoyed most was a tango show (music, but a bit of dancing) at a 110 year-old bar,the staff of which is sometimes referred to as "the guardians of Uruguayan culture." A most wonderful show. Very intimate, as the place seats only 50 or so patrons. Tiny stage. Layers of history plastered all over the walls. Pictures of the greats who played there. Playbills... notes... wonderful stuff. A sort of museum just by existing. Wouldn't have gotten in had we not help reserving a table... the best table in the place! It was a Wednesday show, and so a bit less crowded and familiar than the busier weekend shows, we were told. Powerful, moving stuff... but also so much fun. I love tango! Who knew?
Montevideo also boasts an enormous amount of surviving architecture from the good old days. Resembles, in many ways, European cities as it is that well-preserved. Also a plethora of quirky little museums. Our favorite was the Museo del Carnaval.
We were able to figure out the city bus system (that's something Cholong has a knack for) and we enjoyed a long ride into a rural part of the city. It was informative. Montevideo is shiny and developed, but the slummier outskirts of the city show the unequal distribution of wealth that is all too common on this continent.
FOURTH: Last stop was Punta del Este.. in the east, of course! The thing to see there is a place called Casa Pubelo, It's the home and gallery of Carlos Paez Vilaro, Uruguay's most famous artist. It's a curious place... part home, part gallery, part living sculpture, it's a sprawling estate along a cliffside on the beach. They call it Vilaro's greatest sculpture. The first room was built using old tin cans... the second using driftwood from the beach... now there are more than a hundred, with some built just to house new visitors to the place (including Pablo Picasso). You must do an image search. It's hard to describe.
We caught the sunset there and enjoyed a long (about 20 km) walk along the beach back to town. Round the beginning of the walk an older gentleman asked if we had found the secret cave under the cliff. He showed us the spot, explaining that it had been used for "dancing" when he was young. We took a peek, and he showed us the "perfect natural swimming pool," filled and emptied each day as the tides came in. He spent days at a time there in the 60s, and was visiting his old haunt with a grandchild the day we bumped into him.
A surprising number of what looked like dead pigeons washed up on the beach. We're in that part of the world! Weird. Hope to see some live ones on our trip to Argentina next year.
FIFTH. Then all the way back to Buenos Aires via Montevideo and Colonia and a flight back to Paraguay. Home at last.
Next trip? Two months in December/January/February to Easter Island, Northern Chile and Peru. That's the plan, anyhow.
Okay, so we've been back from Uruguay for a little while now. Here's the "short version" (I bore only my family with the long version) of what we got up to:
(the micro version would be, by the way: saw some pretty buildings, nice beaches, encountered some genuinely friendly people, heard some wonderful music and then went home)
Highlight the first: The trip got off to a rough start. The airline we had booked with went bankrupt a couple days before our departure date, and of course no one told us. I thought that sort of thing only happened to
other people. But no worries: the airline with a booth beside our guys offered us a free flight to Buenos Aires. Not exactly the COUNTRY we wanted to get to, but close enough. So we got to BA and crashed at the airport there to spend some hours trying to arrange the return flight, arrange a boat to Uruguay, re-write our itinerary on the spot, call to change hostel reservations, "bargain" with our failed airline... and all that crap. Bully on us for being experienced travelers... and for traveling in a pair, as that might have all been a bit overwhelming had one of us tried to do it alone. But we threw ourselves into it, and managed to solve most of our problems.
Actually, the hostel we found in Buenos Aires was one of the very nicest I've ever stayed at. Welcoming staff, with rooms painted up with murals done by artists with odd senses of design. And the fact that the new Leonard Cohen album (boffo) was playing on a never-ending loop when we arrived, exhausted, near eleven pm was a nice touch too.
The hostels were the thing on this trip. Uruguay is a touch more expensive than the places we're used to traveling in (ASIA!), so we tried to get back to our roots a bit - dorm beds and self-made meals at the hostel kitchens. We got a kick out of that. I do miss traveling in China, however as it is really nice to just rock up to some local hotel and get a nice room with a clean bed and a bathroom for nine or ten bucks.
SECOND: The next day we were off by boat to a place called Colonia del Sacramento, just across the bay (harbor? sea? mouth of the river? drainage basin? I don't know much about geography) from BA. Neat little place, with a UNESCO-cited old city with many little residential structures from the 17th and 18th centuries. Enjoyed a very pleasant walk along the beach to a creepy abandoned resort area from the 20s... complete with crumbling hotel, bull fighting ring (large) and a horse racing track (the only part still in operation).
THIRD: Off next to the capital, Montevideo. The thing we enjoyed most was a tango show (music, but a bit of dancing) at a 110 year-old bar,the staff of which is sometimes referred to as "the guardians of Uruguayan culture." A most wonderful show. Very intimate, as the place seats only 50 or so patrons. Tiny stage. Layers of history plastered all over the walls. Pictures of the greats who played there. Playbills... notes... wonderful stuff. A sort of museum just by existing. Wouldn't have gotten in had we not help reserving a table... the best table in the place! It was a Wednesday show, and so a bit less crowded and familiar than the busier weekend shows, we were told. Powerful, moving stuff... but also so much fun. I love tango! Who knew?
Montevideo also boasts an enormous amount of surviving architecture from the good old days. Resembles, in many ways, European cities as it is that well-preserved. Also a plethora of quirky little museums. Our favorite was the Museo del Carnaval.
We were able to figure out the city bus system (that's something Cholong has a knack for) and we enjoyed a long ride into a rural part of the city. It was informative. Montevideo is shiny and developed, but the slummier outskirts of the city show the unequal distribution of wealth that is all too common on this continent.
FOURTH: Last stop was Punta del Este.. in the east, of course! The thing to see there is a place called Casa Pubelo, It's the home and gallery of Carlos Paez Vilaro, Uruguay's most famous artist. It's a curious place... part home, part gallery, part living sculpture, it's a sprawling estate along a cliffside on the beach. They call it Vilaro's greatest sculpture. The first room was built using old tin cans... the second using driftwood from the beach... now there are more than a hundred, with some built just to house new visitors to the place (including Pablo Picasso). You must do an image search. It's hard to describe.
We caught the sunset there and enjoyed a long (about 20 km) walk along the beach back to town. Round the beginning of the walk an older gentleman asked if we had found the secret cave under the cliff. He showed us the spot, explaining that it had been used for "dancing" when he was young. We took a peek, and he showed us the "perfect natural swimming pool," filled and emptied each day as the tides came in. He spent days at a time there in the 60s, and was visiting his old haunt with a grandchild the day we bumped into him.
A surprising number of what looked like dead pigeons washed up on the beach. We're in that part of the world! Weird. Hope to see some live ones on our trip to Argentina next year.
FIFTH. Then all the way back to Buenos Aires via Montevideo and Colonia and a flight back to Paraguay. Home at last.
Next trip? Two months in December/January/February to Easter Island, Northern Chile and Peru. That's the plan, anyhow.