Uruguay

I spent last weekend in two Uruguayan cities, Colonia and Montevideo. Colonia is only an hour from Buenos Aires, just across the Río de la Plata. As it's name would suggest, most people go there to see the 15th century Portuguese colonial architecture. In general, the town is absurdly charming: roughly cobblestoned streets, short colorful houses, and, as promised, beautiful colonial buildings. Despite the extremely touristy environment (and the corresponding price hike), I couldn't help but fall in love. We spent most of the morning in the town center, wandering down narrow streets and resting periodically on the small beaches that bordered it all. In the late afternoon, we rented bikes and rode down the rambla (beach front path) for a mile or two. We eventually got to a larger beach, where we drank beer and watched the sunset. I learned almost nothing about history or culture in my time in Colonia - a plaque told me that the Spanish and Portuguese spent a lot of time fighting over this settlement - but it was a beautiful, charming, and overall absurdly pleasant place to spend a day.




The next day, we took a bus to Montevideo. A lot of people I've talked to, especially proud porteños, don't like Montevideo, and I can see why. We arrived on a chilly, overcast Saturday, and the city center seemed deserted. All the touristy things our guide book had recommended were closed, and I was the only person on most of the streets I walked down. Nonetheless, after a day of wandering by myself, I really began to like the city. Montevideo is not tourist-friendly, but beneath the almost morbidly tranquil surface, there was actually a lot happening. Almost every block had a bookstore or music store, usually advertising itself as a place to find local books and music (after browsing my third bookstore, I succumbed to the inevitable and left the city with three new books). While wandering, I also came across a children's chess tournament, a plaza full of people drinking mate, and a milonga (tango dance club) on the street. The milonga was probably the best part. Almost everyone there appeared to be over the age of 70, and this weekly dance was clearly a big thing for them. They had come with their own chairs to sit on, and cheered on their friends as they took breaks from dancing. A lot of the people there didn't dance that well, but I loved the fact that they wore casual clothes and had fun with it. After taking a tango class for the past three months, and worrying about things like correct form and rhythm, it was refreshing to see people make mistakes, laugh, and keep going. I saw lots of families, with grandmothers dragging their grandsons out to dance, and a few couples that, despite their age, danced incredibly, and had clearly been doing so for decades.

The next day, I went to the local market with my friends. Unlike the markets in Buenos Aires, which are fun but filled with clothes, jewelry, and other touristy knick-knacks, this one catered to actual Montevideo residents. The vendors sold strange things, like pet rats, broken televisions, and discount underwear. I didn't want anything, but the people watching was great, and I felt like I was seeing the real city, something that is usually harder to do with only two days in a place. We also wandered around Palermo, the historically black neighborhood and the home of the Candombe, an awesome Afro-Uruguayan dance. The houses were short and colorful, and it had a really different style than the rest of the city. We ate lunch at a restaurant there, and the waiter was so nice to us. In general, Montevideo seemed like a very pleasant, liveable city. Less in-your-face about its culture than Buenos Aires, but no less interesting for that.

From what I could gather, Uruguay as a country is poorer and more rural than Argentina. In our two and a half hour drive from Colonia to Montevideo, we saw nothing but green, with real live gauchos (South American cowboys) wearing their traditional clothes and riding horses down the side of the road. Unlike in much of Argentina, these men had not dressed like this to woo gullible Americans to their estancia (farm) turned tourist trap. People actually still live this way in Uruguay. Of course, there are still gauchos in Argentina and there are still tourist traps in Uruguay, but the difference in overall atmosphere was striking.

My travel-mates were another great aspect of the weekend. The group consisted of two Italians, two Spaniards, a Japanese girl and two Americans, mostly friends from my Spanish class, plus a couple of their friends. Since Spanish was our only common language, and since I had no computer access, I spoke and thought in Spanish the entire weekend. Regardless of their nationality, the people were generally awesome, and we all got along well. Uruguay was not Argentina, and for that reason, many Argentinians dislike it. But to me, it was an interesting country in its own right, and I feel lucky to have seen a small part of it.