Montevideo is the capital of Uruguay. In a country of about one and a half million people, over a million people live in this city. Driving here in the bus from Colonia, it was like driving down Hwy 101...lots of rolling hills, green grass, trees, and farms/ranches with lots of cows. Very bucolic. And very empty.
I´m in an otherwise forgettable downtown hotel. In the evening I hear the usual street noise of cars and people, but added to it is the delightful sound of the clip-clopping horses that pull one axled carts filled with cardboard or other recyclables and driven by the scavenger man.
Mont. has plazas every few blocks. They don´t have parks as such, but they certainly do have plazas. These plazas usually have lots of shade trees and park benches. Thank goodness, unlike Paris, no one comes scurrying around to collect ten cents from you for sitting on the bench.
One of the main plazas of Mont. is Plaza de Independencia. In the middle of the plaza is a huge monument. It´s a statue of Jose Artigas mounted on a horse. Artigas is considered the "father of Uruguayan independence." This means he was running around Uruguay in the 1820´s when all the countries of Latin America were struggling for independence from Spain and trying to ward off being taken by Portugal at the same time. The funny thing about the statue is that Artigas looks the spitting image of George Washington. I couldn´t help but wonder if the artist was commissioned to do something in the U.S. at the same time and made one for the price of two.
Surrounding the square are some very unattractive 1950´s "modern" concrete office buildings, looking like something from the former Soviet Union (Well, not that bad, but bad).
There is a street, Saroni, that has been turned into a pedestrian walkway, just like Calle Florida in Buenos Aires. However, the similarity ends there. Whereas the B.A. street is jammed with people, the Montevideo one has lots of room, benches for people to sit on, nowhere near as many stores and much more relaxed atmosphere.
The pedestrian street leads down to the foot of the pensinsula which makes up Montevideo. There is a concrete "sea wall" af the edge of the river. Looking out as far as the eye can see, there is nothing but water. On the horizon are a couple of container ships. It seems hard to believe this is still considered a "river" even though Argentina on the other side must be more than 50 miles away.
Going northeast the seawall continues for a couple of mailes. The walkway along the sea wall is appropriately called the "Rambla" and does look perfect for rambling. On the other side of the peninsula is the port. This is where the cruise ships dock. Directly across the street from the cruise ships is what used to be the fish market. Very wisely, the fish peddlers have converted their stalls into restaurants. For the first time in weeks, I see signs in English. This is definitely NOT where the locals come to eat. There are enough restaurant seats for hundreds of people in an area of town that is relatively empty.
The official title of Uruguay is the Rep. of Oriental Uruguay. Oriental in this case means eastern. And originally they wanted to distinguish themselves as the Spanish speaking people who lived on the eastern side of the Uruguay River, as opposed to the Argentines to the west and the Portuguese speaking Brazilians. To this day, Uruguayans will sometimes refer to themselves as Orientales.
Bye for now!