Wednesday 25-2-09 15:06
Mi cama (My bed)
(A/N: Sadly, I wrote a journal entry in Spanish in my notebook about our last day in Uruguay, but I seem to have lost my notebook. The following is the best I can remember that I wrote)
Well, thanks to all the rain the whole weekend, most of the Carnival celebrations were apparently cancelled. At any rate, we rerouted our Monday plans but still had a great day – after all, I was in Uruguay with a group of amazing people.
In the early afternoon, Amanda and I had a picnic lunch consisting of grocery store finds and a large chivito-like sandwich (see previous post) with “everything on it” – I was surprised that my experiment with all the random condiments such as salsa and peppers and other unidentifiable items piled on my sandwich was quite delectable. We sat out on the Plaza Independencia with an amazing view of the statue of José Artigas (Uruguay’s national independence hero) whose remains reside below (we visited the spacious underground tomb the previous day). I was also mildly obsessed with the architecture and romantic lure of the Palacio Salvo, the tallest building in South American when built in the 1920’s. The weather was finally bright and sunny and I spent a bit lying in the grass and enjoying the scenery. We then met up with some others from our group and hopped on the bus that took us on a 40 minute ride to the beach. Along the way, I was glued to the window, taking in all the sights of the beautiful city and its architecture.
After getting dropped off, we all had to use the restroom, which resulted in one of the funnier moments of the trip. We came across a lone pay toilet stall in the middle of the park by the beach, but, being the cheap selves that we are, with the American value of free bathrooms firmly ingrained in our minds, we all tried to use the port-a-potty back-to-back to avoid each paying something like $7 Uruguayan pesos (or 25 cents). Unfortunately, we somehow broke it, or the toilet was smart enough to know that we were trying to jip it, so it refused to close the door. In the end, we all decided to take turns standing to block the opening while one person used the toilet. The image of us doing this in the middle of a crowded park was highly comical, to say the least. I have to say though, it was the cleanest port-a-potty with which I had come into contact; it even disinfected itself after every (proper) use. We were also really excited by the method used to wash hands – after sticking your hand into this little bubble thing behind the toilet and it would shoot out soap and water simultaneously, then the water flow would eventually stop and a fan would start and dry your hands! Very innovative.
After our baño adventure, we finally made it to the beach, which was nice. Nothing like beaches back in Florida, but the sand was fine and relatively clean and the water wasn’t as brown as in Buenos Aires. After sticking our legs in the water for a little bit, we struck up an impromptu game of fútbol americano (what we refer to as football in the states, since soccer is called fútbol here) with two guys from Montevideo. It was lots of fun and great to meet some locals.
Once we had our fill of the beach, a few of us decided to search for the nearby feria (fair), which we discovered was closed to the feria (holiday). Instead, we popped into a grocery store to store up on picnic items and walked back down to an extremely grassy spot in the park overlooking the water. It was so perfect and one of the best picnics I’ve ever had, complete with a loveable stray day who we named Monolo and the pouch of drinkable yogurt that we passed around in communal mate fashion (read blog about mate).
As the sun began to set, we made our way back to the heart of Montevideo so that the others in our group had the chance to pack for their 1 am departure. A group of us enjoyed a small dinner at an outdoor café in the old part of town before heading off. Though Amanda and I had planned on going to a foam party before catching our bus to Colonia at 6 am, we decided in the end to head to the station early ourselves since we already had our bags were at the bus stop.
Our 5 hour stay in the bus station was far from ideal – we were freezing, exhausted, but could not find a comfortable place to sleep. After they kicked us out of one section of highly rigid plastic chairs that prevented anything but sitting, Amanda and I found a small landing at the bottom of a staircase, and curled up on the slightly dirty floor. It was a really pathetic sight actually, but we were past the point of caring. When security came and kicked us out, we found a table to sit at and plopped our weary and shivering bodies down onto the chairs. At some point we used every peso we had left (again with the empty wallet!) to split a little media luna. The bus ride and ferry were a cold blur, and we finally got back to BA around 11:30. I have never been as thankful for the heat of Buenos Aires as I was at that moment.
I headed straight to the University of Belgrano to catch the end of class on Tuesday, and then conked out as soon as my head hit the pillow at home. Though I slept straight from 3 until midnight, I decided when I woke up that there was nothing to do but to fall back asleep, which I did until 7 in the morning or so. The 16 hours of sleep I got were more than the past 4 days combined, so it was more than welcome.
Other random memories of Uruguay:
In Montevideo, the garbage trucks were actually horse-drawn carts; it was a very interesting sight to see. I’m not sure if they were actually hired by the city, or just did their own personal “dumpster diving.”
Uruguay is a very traditional country in comparison to Argentina. Everything was closed on Sunday and there was hardly a soul outside. It was the oddest feeling to walk through such a huge yet seemly deserted city – it made us feel as though it was our own private playground.
Diversity: the citizens of Argentina actually have 97% European ancestry (more than any European country!), so it was different to see people of more diverse backgrounds in Uruguay (disclaimer: meant in a non-racist way, of course).
Everyone was so friendly and helpful, and went out of their way to give us detailed explanations when we asked for help. Even in Montevideo, on the main road with multiple lanes, cars would stop for us regardless of the light signals. They were quite laid back as well…well, except when it came to bringing backpacks into grocery stores.
In summary: I love Uruguay!
Coli
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