Today my mentor was out of town again for the Semana de las Ciencias, so I had essentially another day to myself. I had to take care of some errands, and the cash issue has still yet to be resolve (bring lots of cash next time). For now, I can only use my credit card, which is only accepted at larger stores.
My first errand was to feed myself. I finally learned about the Urbanspoon equivalent in Uruguay - SalirAComer.com, and found a restaurant that was perfectly named: Manduka.
It was as if I was destined to come to Uruguay and find a restaurant called "Manduka". I really wanted to go in to try their food, but too bad the Uruguayan eating schedule is weird, and most restaurants aren't open at 12:00pm (in terms of mealtime, everything is pushed back a couple hours, lunch at 1pm and dinner at around 9pm). Still needing food, I went to a grill called The Famous Grouse and had one of the most amazing ribs that I had ever eaten. I got the salt-crusted ribs and a side of fries with mushroom sauce. It was kinda pricy, but very much worth it.
Afterwards, I decided to further enhance my familiarness with the mass transit system in Uruguay - so I took a bus to the Ciudad Vieja, where I had wanted to go over the weekend. Today was perfectly sunny (though chilly) so it was a good time to roam the streets. The Old City was somewhat barren, I expected at least a bunch of tourists. On the plus side, I think I got on TV since I passed by a TV announcement.
In the Ciudad Vieja, there is this place called el Mercado del Puerto, which is a place with a bunch of restaurants and grills. It is no wonder Uruguay has one of the highest meat consumption per capita in the world. As a bit of history, one of the reasons why Uruguay is known for meat consumption is the fact that it was one of the major exporters of roast beef to England during WWI. One of the most famous meat factories is now a museum. I didn't eat there because I was still full from lunch, but it is definitely something I plan on coming back to do.
I didn't go to that museum, but through my walking around, I went through a couple of important plazas, such as the Plaza de la Constitución and ultimately the Plaza Independencia. I had some exchanges with people asking if they could take a picture of me. One middle-aged woman talked with me about what I was doing here. I was surprised I could understand what she was saying. Other times, if you ask the wrong person, you get an annoyed sigh while they say to you "Por supuesto". But, no one's refused me yet.
And to top it all off, I encountered Spiderman walking around the Plaza Independencia. I guess he was sick of NYC. Anyway, it was very apparent that he charged people for taking pictures with him as he had a camera with him and stalked little children, so I had to take it when he wasn't looking or pretend that I was taking a picture of the building in the background. Afterwards, I had a coffee at La Pasiva, relaxed for a bit, and headed back home to good ol Carrasco. Tomorrow, it is time to actually start an electrophys recording!
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