Montevideo, Uruguay

12-15 November 2006

From Colonia, we took a 2 hour bus ride south to Montevideo, the capital city. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montevideo

Titita and Abil, friends of Andrew´s mom Kay, picked us up from the bus station and we walked a little of the old city and grabbed some dinner. I have posted some of the pictures from our walks - sorry to Abil for the antennae sticking out of his head, really that was not planned (we will Photoshop when we return to the States)! We then spent the next 2 days exploring the city - many old buildings in varying states of care. Andrew and I are staying with Titita and Abil. They live in a beautiful, old area of the city called the Prado. Titita took us on a great tour of her neighborhood and the gorgeous park (with incredible rose gardens, fountains, old trees) that is a few blocks from their house.

Many people here (and in Argentina) drink yerba mate http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mate_(beverage - a hot tea-like beverage that has a stimulant other than caffeine. According to Wikipedia: "Yerba mate (Ilex paraguariensis) is a species of holly native to subtropical South America in Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, Brazil, and Bolivia.¨ We were told by Titita that the difference between mate drinking in Uruguay versus Argentina is that here in Uruguay, the thermos and the mate are held in the same arm. In Argentina the thermos is held under one arm while the mate is held in the other! I tried it, but I find the taste to be very bitter and think it must be an "acquired taste". Andrew has tried it before and really likes it. In a majority of stores, one can find paraphernalia for drinking yerba mate - which includes mate (the gourd or container), bombilla (a silver straw), and a thermos. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombilla A Providence friend said that when he was in the military, they stopped in Uruguay - he was told then that the gourds were made from bull´s testicles and I have looked for these in vain. We have seen only mates made of gourds, wood, and cow´s hoofs. But be assured, I will continue our search!

There is no organized system for recycling goods in Montevideo. But one can see people with horse-drawn carts digging through garbage, separating cardboard, glass, and metals for recycling. These people are called "cartoneros". In Buenos Aires, you can see the same "system" for recycling, but the people do not have horse-drawn carts.

On the last day of the Needle´rents visit, we ate breakfast at their hotel and went to the Gaucho museum. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaucho Gauchos are like North American cowboys, herding cattle and practicing agriculture. Wikipedia has this to say about them: "Gauchos were generally nomadic and lived on the pampas, the plain that extends north from Patagonia, bounded on the west by the Andes and extending as far north as the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul." They are well known for their use of bolas - "a throwing weapon made of weights on the ends of interconnected cords, designed to capture animals by entangling their legs". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bolas

After saying goodbye to my parents who then boarded the ferry back to Buenos Aires, we walked out onto a pier and watched their ferry go by! We don´t know if they saw us, but we made fools of ourselves (in front of the fishermen) by jumping up and down on the pier frantically waving our arms at the ferry. . . we don´t know if they saw us, but i´m sure someone was witness to our foolishness!