Keeping Pace with Montivideo

We love the streets full of art in Montivideo.

Who knew that Spanish would be so important in South America? Since our arrival a week ago our $12 phrasebook has been priceless. When combined, the use of a friendly greeting, a few key words, some jerky charades and many humble apologies has proven effective in getting us most of what we need.

As is our tendancy, we arrived in the middle of the night during a downpour. Since no taxi is allowed to take more than four passengers we took a shuttle bus that wound its way around a dark and stormy Montivideo until nearly 1 am before reaching what we hoped was our destination. We made a friend on the shuttle who knew of our accomodation and helped us to find the key that was deposited in a planter near the door. We knew we had arrived in a foreign land just from looking at the large skeleton key used to open the monolithic doors. 

The next couple of days proved moderately stressful. The narrow cobbled, one way streets were challenging for a family since pedestrians come a distant second to cars, buses and darting scooters. Navigating the streetswas second nature for the locals, even gaggles of unaccompanied school children made it look easy. On top of our pathetic Spanish and fearful walks around the old town we also struggled to aquire a visa for Paraguay - something we knew from our guide could take some time. Having to appear in person at an consulate that was only open for a few hours, dealt only in paper and rubber stamps and ended up requiring three visits meant we had to stay in Montivideo an extre two nights. After having a look at the elegant, two page entry visa that includes a number of stamps and our mug shots we thought the extra two days were a small price to pay. 

Once our culture shock jitters had subsided and our plan for the following week had been secured we saw some sights. The famous local theatre that is steeped in history, a pre-colombian museum that seemed only half done and a carniverous meal at the Port Market frequented by none other than Anthony Bourdain ( see min 5:45 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_sCUZ_90IQ) In the end we were more than happy to just walk. With over half of the country´s poplation residing in Montivideo there was no lack of people watching to be done. Dressed in overcoats, down jackets, scarves and caps the people must have equally enjoyed watching 5 Canadians bedecked in shorts and t-shirts walking past. The streets were also alive with art. We took pictures of dozens of murals of all different ilk; from economic infographics to outlandish characters that should make Disney jelous (photo album coming soon).

The underlying stress of our time in the big city was truly realized as we stepped off the bus two nights ago in Punta del Diablo. Despite arriving in a strange, dark and rainy place the kids were all giddy simply because they could immediately sense the change in pace; this ocean side retreat was a place to chill.