This weekend marks the official start of the mundial. It was a rainy weekend but spirits were high. Uruguay played France on Saturday, and a bunch of coworkers got together at Laura's house to watch the game. I was there decently early according to Uruguayan standards and had the privilege to greet everyone as they came in. Here truly is a very kissy culture. When I first came in, I greeted the parents with the cheek kiss, and then I said hi to the kids. The kids just kept looking at me, and I then realized that as the visitor I was expected to kiss them too. Well the game was somewhat disappointing. It being my first mundial, I was discouraged when it was possible for 90 minutes to elapse without anything happening.
In order to make sure I see all there is to see in Uruguay, I planned out weekly trips to places that websites says one must see. So, this weekend I went to Colonia del Sacramento, which was a Spanish colony (then Portuguese, then finally back to Spanish). In order to get there, I had to take a 3 hour bus ride to the west side of the country. I passed through many campos where it was very apparent that there is a good reason why meat here is dirt cheap. It wasn't exactly the best day to go sight seeing though... The Centro Histórico contains many original buildings as well as "refurbished" buildings. There are some restaurants as well. I did some research beforehand and decided that when I was in Colonia, that I would want to eat at a restaurant called La Pulperia de los Faroles. I ordered a chicken stuffed with ham, cheese and olives with mushroom sauce. It was pretty good. The waiters seem to have the typical Latin American waitress attitude - very welcoming, but not as attentive.
The ride back to Montevideo was just as long. It was already night by the time I got back. On the bus I noticed that there are a lot of Brazilian and Argentinian tourists. What I learned was that to people in Uruguay, Argentina and Brazil are where the rich tourists come from. Also, Colonia being one of the major points of departure to Buenos Aires also makes it full of Argentinians. When I finally arrived back in Montevideo, I still decided to take the long trek home. While I walked down an alley, I passed by a large group of homeless who asked me for money. I told them "No Español" and they started laughing. Not knowing why the laughed, I started to laugh with them, which made the laugh harder. They were probably wondering why this crazy guy was laughing with them, and I was laughing at how crazy they all seemed. So we were all laughing for about 10 seconds and then the craziness stopped.
In order to make sure I see all there is to see in Uruguay, I planned out weekly trips to places that websites says one must see. So, this weekend I went to Colonia del Sacramento, which was a Spanish colony (then Portuguese, then finally back to Spanish). In order to get there, I had to take a 3 hour bus ride to the west side of the country. I passed through many campos where it was very apparent that there is a good reason why meat here is dirt cheap. It wasn't exactly the best day to go sight seeing though... The Centro Histórico contains many original buildings as well as "refurbished" buildings. There are some restaurants as well. I did some research beforehand and decided that when I was in Colonia, that I would want to eat at a restaurant called La Pulperia de los Faroles. I ordered a chicken stuffed with ham, cheese and olives with mushroom sauce. It was pretty good. The waiters seem to have the typical Latin American waitress attitude - very welcoming, but not as attentive.
The ride back to Montevideo was just as long. It was already night by the time I got back. On the bus I noticed that there are a lot of Brazilian and Argentinian tourists. What I learned was that to people in Uruguay, Argentina and Brazil are where the rich tourists come from. Also, Colonia being one of the major points of departure to Buenos Aires also makes it full of Argentinians. When I finally arrived back in Montevideo, I still decided to take the long trek home. While I walked down an alley, I passed by a large group of homeless who asked me for money. I told them "No Español" and they started laughing. Not knowing why the laughed, I started to laugh with them, which made the laugh harder. They were probably wondering why this crazy guy was laughing with them, and I was laughing at how crazy they all seemed. So we were all laughing for about 10 seconds and then the craziness stopped.
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