Hi everyone,
Just a quick Hola from Uruguay before we get on yet another overnight bus - to Cordoba this time.
Firstly we must tell you about the first bad meal experience we´ve had for ages, which we had on our last night in B.A., after writing the last journal entry. Feeling slightly remorseful after admitting to you all about our steak and wine excesses (and because we´d already eaten two Empanadas - ham pies - each whilst doing the journal), we thought we´d try and behave like proper budget travellers again and headed for the first place we saw with a cheap tourist menu outside, despite the only people in there being the surly-looking waitress... that was our first mistake.
Next was ordering chicken - not the speciality round here, and this one was still virtually flapping when it reached our plates. As ´luck´ would have it, we´d managed to order by mistake not just two portions of mashed potato, but also two portions of chips. Since that little episode we´ve been practising our Spanish numbers - which might serve us better when it is Bus Bingo time tonight as well... fingers crossed!
Spuds... with spuds on the side. Nutricious and delicious!
On Monday we got the ferry across to Colonia del Sacramento in Uruguay, and then a bus on to Montevideo, where we´ve spent the past couple of days.
Montevideo is, as the Lonely Planet says, a nice compact sort of a city compared to B.A. and easily explored on foot. In theory. In reality, when we arrived, it was absolutely chucking it down, and within ten minutes we´d had quite enough of exploring and plonked our soggy bottoms straight down in a bar showing the Holland versus Italy match - where we stayed for most of the afternoon.
Montevideo on a rainy day
The bar was actually quite typical of many round here - with smart/shabby dressed waiters looking like they are auditioning for a 70s sitcom, chatting to a constant stream of men at the bar who have popped in for a quick snifter of something to warm them up on the way home from work.
You get a lot of ´little somethings´ for your money around here too. Our journey through South America so far has been mostly fuelled by Cortados - espresso with frothy milk on top. In Uruguay though, you order a Cortado, and you get not just the drink as described, but also a little dish of whipped cream, a shot of freshly squeezed orange juice, a glass of sparkling mineral water, a basket of popcorn, a miniature meringue, and a toffee sweet. What´s not to love?!
Cortado-tastic
The weather improved yesterday, so we got to have a better look about the city. You can tell it was quite a grand place in it´s heyday - with elaborate gothic buildings, palaces and some enormous municipal buildigs. However it definitely has seen better days and it is a bit sad to see many beautiful old buildings seriously crumbling.
Palcio Salvo - once the tallest building in South America
Central Montevideo
There is a mausoleum as well - so of course we had to pop in to tick off yet another famous dead person, and see Jose Artigas - a national independence hero from early 19th century battles with the Spanish who is now housed underneath the main square.
Artigas´ mausoleum
There are also some more lively characters around - business men wearing very smart suits, hats and moustaches and looking very mafiosa, rag and bone collectors in horse-driven carts, and everyone drinking ´mate´ - a kind of herbal tea that is sucked through a silver ´straw´ from a mug, and constantly topped up from a thermos flask tucked under one arm. And we thought the English were obsessed with tea!
So all in all we´ve had a pleasant couple of days seeing what Uruguay is about, and we´re definitely intrigued enough that we´re thinking it could be another place to come back to when the weather is a bit better...
All for now then. Love to all, and stay in touch,
Sarah and Phil x x
