One of the coolest things about Buenos Aires is its proximity to Uruguay. On Friday, Halloween, my roommates Anika, Mette, German and I got on the ferry to Colonia, the nearest city by boat. We had to be there by 9 a.m. which was incredibly hard because to be honest I hadn't been up before noon since I arrived in this country. The terminal and the ferries here are incredible. Very modern, spacious and built to represent what looks like a shopping mall. The weather was nice so we hopped on the top deck and found a table to sit at by the bar, which of course was decorated with tropical plants and blaring techno music. It felt like Club Med or something. We took the slow ferry (3 hour ride as opposed to 50 minutes), which of course is the cheaper one. It's totally worth it though because you are allowed to sit outside. The trip isn't the most scenic one you've ever been on. The Rio de la Plata, the body of water you have to cross, is brown and murky. Aside from the sight of the skyline of BA you don't see anything but water until you get to Colonia. Once we arrived in Colonia we hopped on a bus to Montevideo, the capital city. Uruguay in total has about 3 million citizens, a huge number live outside of the country and about 1.2 million live in Montevideo. It's a small town compared to Argentina. But that's what is great about it. This is my first exposure of life outside of BA since I arrived a month ago so it was awesome to get some natural scenery and beach time in. Also the fact that it's quiet was pretty refreshing.
Once in Montevideo, we got a cab to German's house where he grew up. It is in a neighborhood called Malvin, really nice, near the Rambla (beach promenade) and literally right next door to a huge fruit stand. As soon as we showed up, his mom had like 50 bizillion sandwiches made for us which was awesome because I was STARVING. After socializing with his madre for an hour or so, we went on a driving tour of the city until we found a nice overlook point with a park to relax and look at the river (which is so wide, looks like the ocean). After chilling there for a while we went back and ate more food and started the night. The plan for the night was to get to this huge new nightclub called IN. German's friend (DJ Hippy, hilarious DJ name) was spinning that night so it was looking like we were going to be getting in for free since we were put on the list. Of course, to be able to use this list priority, you have to get there by 1:30 am. That's incredibly early by the standards here. So, we drank at his house with his friends till about 3:15 and headed to the club. Of course, we weren't let in. German, trying to charm his way in ended up calling the bouncers "boludo" in the process of buddying up with them. In Argentina, boludo is a not-so-endearing term (roughly meaning asshole) but is used almost in the same way we say "dude". In Uruguay, it is not so. This didn't help our case so we ended up having to pay, but it was a good time.
The way I spent Saturday in Montevideo was roughly the same as every Saturday I've spent in Buenos Aires: horizontally. Getting back from the club as the sun is coming up after who knows how many Fernet and Colas usually results in a whole lot of nothing the next day (or that day, shall I say). Aside from going to German's sister Laura's jewelry show, we laid around in the sun and on the beach for pretty much the whole day. We had a lot of relaxing to do before Pomo's birthday party. Pomo is the bass player from the band German is in and has spent a lot of time at our house here in BA. Part of the reason we were in Montevideo this weekend was for his birthday down at the beach. It's typical to rent out fisherman clubhouses for parties because of their location and because there is a lot of space. Saturday night was pretty much a repeat of Friday except there were no bouncers to insult and the entrance was free. Once again a great time was had by all.
Left to Right: German, Laura (German's sister), Annika, Maria Jose (Laura's friend)
I'm guessing this is the head fisherman...
Sunday was the day of chivito. I had been waiting to eat one of these things ever since I heard about them 2 weeks before I went to Uruguay. Another meat-lover's food. It's similar to a hamburger but the dressings they put on the sandwich are totally different. My mouth is watering right now as I write about it. Basically it's an amazing sandwich and my trip to Uruguay wouldn't have been complete without it.
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Now I'm back in BA. I hope to make it back to Uruguay in the next couple months, the whole eastern coast (which is on an actual ocean) seems amazing. Plus it's pretty sweet how you get your tourist visa renewed for another 3 months every time you go, for free! Oh and I just woke up from what felt like a dream watching Barack Obama become the next President of the United States of America. Holy shit!
the rest of my Uruguay pics are here: http://www.pbase.com/afirestein/uruguay
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