Montevideo

Wednesday 20th April 2011
Today we travelled the 2.5 hours to Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay. We were sad to leave the relaxing surroundings of Colonia but felt that 2 days was probably enough to see everything. The fact that the weather was miserable also made us feel like travelling was a good option.

We had a bit of trouble booking accommodation in Montevideo. Not particularly wanting to be in a dorm meant a long search for a double. With it being Easter we should have expected it and perhaps should have booked something earlier. In the end, after a few phone calls, we found an executive suite in a hotel. The room is about 3 times bigger than we are used to but it's a nice treat.

Just opposite our hotel is an old market, now containing shops and a couple of cheap eateries so we headed over for a late lunch.

The official Easter holiday here is Thursday to Sunday although most museums seem to have started early. At this point we weren't really sure how we were going to spend our three days!

Our biggest frustration about Montevideo is the lack of tourist offices. We found them either closed down or shut so our hopes of finding out if anything was open were dashed.


The famous stadium.

Luckily (for James at least) there was more football to be seen. We headed up to the Estadio Centenario to see if we could get tickets for the evening's game. The stadium is famous for being the venue for the first World Cup final in 1930, won by Uruguay. Sadly the museum was closed but we managed to get top price tickets (£8).

An institution.

The match kicked off at 9:50pm so we headed to Pizza Subte for prematch dinner, a plate of 'blanco', mozzarella pizza, with oregano. This place is somewhat of an institution, packed with locals, with takeaways flying out the door.

Nacional's newest supporter.



Surely this is dangerous?

Abondon the game, too much smoke.

We were slightly nervous heading to the match, mainly due to it being evening, us looking pretty foreign and the taxi driver telling us to be careful. We needn't have worried as there was no trouble at all.

The game in question was Nacional of Montevideo Vs. America of Mexico in the Copa Libertadores, the SA champions league. It was a fairly exciting 0-0, but sadly the score put Nacional out of the competition.

The real highlight for us was the atmosphere. The Nacional fans sung solidly for the full 90 minutes, only stopping for half time and to change song. Also amazing were the flares and fireworks. Health and Safety in the UK would have a heart attack. We wanted to upload a video, but unfortunately the technology let us down.

Just past midnight we were back near out hotel and nipped into a cafe for a bedtime drink. Despite the time it was nice to see a father and son discussing the result. Hopefully James and Joe won't be disappointed with the result after their next match.

Thursday 21st April 2011
Today was the first day of holiday here and as such pretty much everything was shut. From our base in the centre we headed to the old town to have a look around.

Another fish being caught.

Reaching the port, we saw that the people moving containers on and off boats were still working hard, whilst the stone harbour wall was full of fishermen presumably trying the catch dinner and get some quiet time.

How many dead animals?

Further along we walked past the naval base to the Mercado del Puerto. This is another old market full of parrillas. Given this, it seemed rude not to stop for a spot if lunch. Emma had a lovely piece of swordfish whilst James tucked into the best steak of the trip so far. For dessert we shared a Flan con Dulce de Leche. It was a good job we shared!

Seriously sweet and tasty.

Continuing our personal waking tour, we saw many amazing buildings. Sadly a high proportion are closed and boarded up, a sign of the economic times we imagine.

Sadly going to rack and ruin.

The most stark example of a great building going to waste is the old train station. It's amazing from the outside and inside it has a roof similar to Paddington. Sadly, it now serves as shelter for the homeless, with rubbish and the smell of urine chucked in for good measure. We found this quite depressing, as would George Stephenson, whose statue outside had long since lost its toes.

With a couple of beers and another trip to Pizza Subte later, we headed back to our huge and comfy hotel room, shattered from another day walking the streets.

Graffiti: both here and in Argentina there's much more of it around, with many statues and monuments defaced. It was a nice feature of Colombia and Ecuador that this wasn't the case.

Friday 22nd April 2011
After a couple of grey days, it was nice to wake up to blue sky again today. With it being Good Friday we immediately gave up any hopes of any museums being open and headed for the beach.

Power walking.

Montevideo stretches many kilometres along the coast so from our hotel we took a walk away from the old town about 6-7km along the coast. After not seeing many people yesterday, there were loads around today. The runners and cyclists were back in force, as were people kicking footballs.

Emma and the beach.

After some lunch we settled down on the beach for a few hours of relaxation. James dipped his toe in the water. It was very cold, unsurprisingly for the Atlantic.

Eventually the grey returned and we headed back along the way we came. The theme park was  in full swing, the lights brightening up the dark sky.

As we reached the end of our walk another container ship left port bound for pastures new. They obviously are not afforded the day off with the rest of Uruguay.

Mate: This drink is even more obvious here than in Argentina. On a day off in Montevideo the thing to do is take your mate and your thermos and head to the coast, watching the sea while you share your drink with friends and family. What's amazing is the bitterness of the drink. People here put extra sugar in fruit juice so it seems strange they drink something so opposite to sweet.

Heart attack on a plate (spot the salad though).

Chivito: for dinner we had this local speciality. It was certainly the most unhealthy meal of our trip (if not our lives). The picture says it all. By the way, we didn't manage to eat all the chips.