Marveling in and at Montevideo—10/24–29,2022

Malecon View of Montevideo 

After a 3-hour bus ride, I arrived at the Tres Cruces Bus Terminal which was on the bottom floor of a modern shopping mall in Montevideo. 

I walked down to my Medio Mundo Hostel which was near the Rodo Park that was adjacent to the Malecon that ran along the confluence of the Rio La Plata and the Atlantic Ocean.

The common areas including the kitchen were clean and comfortable as were my dorm bed and bathrooms. 

One of the guys in my room was a Venezuelan who came here to go to the US Embassy to get a Visa.  I asked Alfredo if he was seeking political or escaping from violence to apply for asylum.  He said, no, he was trying to get a Tourist Visa.  I told him when he gets interviewed by an Embassy staff, they assume you will be planning to overstay your Tourist Visa.  I told him he needs to emphasize how everyone back home needs him back to care for them, or his job in Venezuela is very important.  I added that he should take a camera and US travel guides with him to display his tourist intent including a rough itinerary of what he planned to visit.  Finally, I told him if they ask him if he is visiting friends or relatives only give them names of people who have green cards or are US citizens.  From others who have applied—some failed and some not—it costs about $200 each time they apply—OUCH!

I then began exploring my first walking through Rodo Park down to the Malecon where I walked about 8 miles down to the old town and had lunch.

Shuttered seaside restaurants 

 I was surprised to see that there were not any restaurants right along the Malecon but rather up above a little where there were many tree-covered plazas and walking streets where high-end shops abound.

I walked down to the Mercado Del Puerto and found that many of the shops inside the Mercado were closed and there were few tourists and locals either shopping or dining here. It looks like another Covid shutdown scenario.

Since I walked so much, I figured I’d try to get back by bus rather than walking.  This Google Map on my iPhone was amazing because it showed me not only where to catch the bus to get back, but also which bus to take, and how often the buses were coming.

I’m just so pleased with how well public transportation works in almost all of the countries I have visited compared to what I find back in the US. The buses come more often, they covered more territory in the cities, they are cheaper, and the rides are much more comfortable. 

The same goes for my experience here in Argentina and Uruguay with long-distance buses.  The long-distance bus choices are many and frequent, they are comfortable, most include Wi-Fi, and the long bus rides have bathrooms aboard, and they are clean for most major connections.

I was surprised that the high-end restaurants normally open at seven or 8 PM rather than my normal meal time of 6 PM. The Media Mundo hostel staff recommended I try a nearby restaurant called De Morondanga that served tapas.  I went there two times and was blown away each time by the quality and plating of the food choices ranging from my favorite—asparagus—to mushroom, curry, cauliflower, and beef.

Esparragos 

Curry

Ojo de Bife

BBQ Coliflor

I enjoyed passing by several of the beautiful tree-lined roads found throughout the city. It seems like in the cities of Uruguay most of the smaller roads are one-way which seems pretty efficient and possibly reduces collisions. On highway intersections, they frequently use roundabouts instead of lights to control the traffic.

Another thing that amazed me was how many people were sipping away on their mate's drink kits. The mate is an herbal type of tea from the Yerba Buena plant and they make quite a to-do of it by filling this cup with a metal straw filter.    They carry a thermos jug to pour more hot water into this cup.  Some have a wooden carrying case for the cup and the thermos.  I saw them sipping this everywhere— just everywhere— it was amazing.

I thought it interesting along the very long Malecon that there were very few commercial establishments and instead, it was an open area for the public to enjoy. As in many places I’ve seen in Uruguay they have a dedicated bicycle path all along the Malecon.

In one part of the Malecon they were constructing a music festival to be held at the end of the month and in another part I saw they had a memorial to the Jews lost in the holocaust.  Quite a contrast.

In a small section of the Malecon I came across a beachfront group of would look like restaurants but they were now closed. They must’ve been popular before Covid shut everything down.

Despite the many business closures in for sale signs up my general takeaway about Uruguay is it’s a fairly prosperous country, clean and they seem to have a high concern for sustainability with its many windmills and solar panels I saw in my travels.

Uruguay only has about 3.4 million people, and about 88% are white, 8% mestizo, and 4% black with practically no indigenous people remaining.  The life expectancy is the highest in Latin America at 77 years, and the literacy rate is over 98%

From the Tres Cruces bus station, I took a two-hour ride south to Punta del Estes for two days and then returned for an overnight stay at the  Che Largato Hostel to take an early 7-hour bus ride north to Salto, the second largest city in Uruguay, and my border crossing back to Argentina.

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