Since the
6th of September of last year, I've been spending almost 24 hours of nearly
every day together with Monica the Benitez, save for a stay with relatives here
and an overstayed visa there. Other than with my parents, I've never lived so
closely to anyone for such a long period of time. The fact that we share almost
the same tastes and interests in movies, music, people, clothes, art, politics
and society, made our existence together even more intense. Luckily, at least
speaking for myself, the experience has only been rewarding. Especially here in
Montevideo, where I think we've both felt that we've reached some kind of
consolidation of personality (mostly in terms of perspectives on the world,
especially politically), it's been really helpful to have someone to discuss
new ideas with, someone who is going through the same thing as yourself. It's
all extremely cliché; we go off to South America for a year, discover ourselves
and emerge as shiny, enlightened versions of our old selves. However, I don’t think
the experiences of the past months have pushed me into any new direction in
life, nor that I’ve suddenly come to a new understanding of the world, or any
related such thing. I merely feel more certain than ever of where I stand on a
lot of things. And I’m not sure how much of it has to do with new experiences
and how much of it has to do with boring old maturity. Well, look at me; here I
was, trying to talk about how much I’ve appreciated getting to know Monica and
having her by my side during the trip, and instead I just ended up talking
about myself. However, from our discussions, I’ve gathered that she feels more
or less the same about these things, and just to really drive the subject
firmly into the ground, it’s been fantastic to be able to talk about it with
someone you can identify with. I can’t wait to see her in Sweden again, and I’m
even more excited about seeing how our paths will continue to cross during the
remainder of our adult lives.
So that was
all very formal and high-brow; time for a descent. The reason why I devoted so
much time on the subject of Moni is of course because she was the hottest thing
in Montevideo last weekend. As it was her last one to be spent here before
returning to Sweden, the whole city decided to party in her honour.
On Friday
night, Maryse and her roomie Caroline had a very much delayed house-warming
party that was partly a celebration for Monica as well, as she wasn’t supposed
to know anything about the surprise party we were planning for her at our house
on Sunday. It was a lot of fun, partly because it brought a whole bunch of our
friends together (Maryse, the RYCEs, Sofía and Ana), partly because it was
attended by people from quite a few different countries and partly because it
had that slight edge of craziness that good parties should have, at least
according to movies (a non-functioning toilet containing vomit, neighbours
calling the cops, etc.). The cop thing ended up with the whole party ambling
the streets in search of a good club or pub but never actually finding one, and
our group of friends finished the night at a fast food stand.
Saturday
was a little more low-key. The first part of it was spent in a mall called
Montevideo Shopping, where we looked for a present for Moni’s brother, and the
remainder in a parallel dimension, namely at Leo’s place. We hung out with his
family and some other of his and Moni’s colleagues, talking, drinking yummy alcohol
made from some palm tree – the name of which I of course can’t remember now –
and playing tambores.
On Sunday
it was, as mentioned, time for Monica’s big surprise goodbye party. Except that
I had been so concerned about her returning on time after going to her aunt’s
place in the morning, and the RYCE’s faces so filled with anticipation, that
the surprise was probably minimal at best. No matter; we had a good and yummy
time filled with pizza (made in our fireplace!), chocolate (on pizza!), dulce
de leche (on more pizza!) and good friends (eventually stuffed with pizza)*.
The night was spent back in Leo’s neighbourhood again, to watch the comparsa of
tambore players together with the RYCEs and Rahel, a Swiss couchsurfer I met
the other week. Unfortunately the weather has gotten really cold and that night
it was rainy and windy too, so they ended everything early. However, some
grappa miel and nice company at Leo’s place made for good comfort and a
pleasant ending to what I hope was a fun last weekend for Moni.
*New photos to be found in their usual place.
