Montevideo

Do you know the song The Battle of New Orleans? Well, I have my own lyrics to introduce my blog post all about our short adventure.

The last few days I went across the watta
Along with my Alrica on the Rio de la Plata
We took along our passports and I'll gladly tell you why
Cause we left from Argentina and arrived in Uruguay

To cross the bay we hopped upon a ferry.
It landed in Colonia with a lot of way to go.
We caught a bus which drove across the prairie.
A couple hours later we're in Montevideo.

That's José Gervasio Artigas, Uruguay's national hero.

When I was young, I remember in social studies we had to learn capital cities. When I learned Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay, it just sounded like a cool name. But at that age, cities across the globe were like an abstract idea to me. Sure, every country had to have a capital city. But did they really exist? Or were they just ideas on paper? At that age, I hadn't yet even been to the capital of my own country, but I knew the USA existed in a tangible form. So I guess I found the existence of Washington to be easier to visualize than Montevideo or Moscow or Muscat.

In Spanish colonial times, Montevideo was a walled city. This is one of the gates to get in. Or out. (You don't need it as much now that the walls are gone.)

Now, I can confirm, it is not just on paper. Well, Montevideo. I can't yet say with first-hand experience anything about Moscow of Muscat. Though I did just have a realization. All those capital cities I named, they start with M but also end in an English word. MosCOW, MusCAT, MonteVIDEO. It works for MadRID too. Though I know it doesn't work for all capital cities beginning with M. Like Manila, which is a kind of envelope, but doesn't end in a separate English word. Or Minsk.

Architects can be so imaginative.

But I am wandering from my point. I wanted to tell you a bit about our two day adventure to Montevideo, Uruguay. It began on Monday morning. We caught a ferry through a company called Colonia Express. It leaves out of Buenos Aires and arrives in Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay. The distance is maybe 30 to 40 miles, and the ferry takes around an hour. It goes at a good speed when you are on the open water, but slows a lot in the harbors of each city.

Alrica on the ferry going toward Uruguay

If you look at a map, you see this dip, like a bay between Buenos Aires and Colonia del Sacramento. It's isn't technically the Atlantic Ocean. It isn't even exactly a bay. It's called Rio de la Plata, the River of the Silver. But it isn't what you think of as a river either. It would probably be most accurate to describe it as an estuary with a mix of fresh water and salt water and the salinity changes with the tides.

Palacio Salvo in the day

Palacio Salvo at night

The ferry ride was great. Getting there was fine too, but there was one annoying aspect. After purchasing the tickets, the ferry company sent Alrica email after email reminding her that we MUST be there two hours before departure! This is an international trip. Failure to be that early could mean you don't get to go. Well we did arrive, in fact, more than two hours before departure. And when we got to the check-in window they told us you can't check-in until 90 minutes before departure. And even after that, they didn't open the boarding gate with customs and immigration until about 45 minutes before departure. So the threats of losing your place on the ferry, it was all a lie!

Mural Across from the Rambla

On the way to Uruguay, it was a pretty full ferry. But the seats were comfy and you had plenty of leg room. In Buenos Aires, you did both your passport control of leaving Argentina and your passport control of arriving in Uruguay. So when the boat landed, you didn't have to get into a line to have your passport stamped. That was already done.

I wonder if those pinnacles can break off

But we had not booked a passage just to Colonia del Sacramento. We booked passage all the way to Montevideo. So at the port, we climbed on to a bus. We rode through a lot of countryside where I saw horses, cows, sheep, and donkeys. The landscape was quite green, not entirely flat, but not mountainous either.

I would say the bus was less than two hours in total. And then we arrived at the Tres Cruces Bus Station in Montevideo. It was a beautiful day outside. So we walked from the station toward Old Town where our hotel was. And there is something odd about the street signs. At the top of the street signs, above the name of the street, you would see some other name. The most common one I saw was Doña Coca. But Acompaña was pretty common too. I thought maybe it was the names of different neighborhoods. But no, I saw the same names all over the city. And sometimes one block would be Doña Coca, then the next Acompaña and then back to Doña the next block after that. So I looked it up. These are advertisements. The city of Montevideo lets corporations sponsor street signs. That way they get their name prominently displayed. What I found particularly strange was that advertisements had more prominence than the street names. And isn't the street name the most important piece of information on a street sign?

Apparently it is a pork company, like the Uruguayan Hormel.

This one is a cable and internet and cell phone company.

It's a healthcare company. I think it has clinics and residential care.

I bet you can guess what SmartFit is.

After checking in and dropping off our stuff, we headed out again. We decided that with only two days, we would see a lot of city using a hop-on/hop-off bus. In Montevideo, that bus system is run by the city, but the same transportation agency that runs the regular city buses. On Monday we did the central loop.

I like the pink, but then the last letter is red. Interesting choice.

One thing I loved about the streets of Montevideo is the trees. There are these tall trees that rise up from the sidewalks and make a canopy over the streets. Lots of places you walk are in shade, under box elders and avocado trees. The bus was one of the double-decker buses where on the top floor you are in the open air. There were periodic reminders that they keep the trees trimmed, but it was possible that some low branches might exist. Don't stand up while the bus is moving. Good news, we never got hit by any branches. It wasn't even close.

Yes, a lovely fountain, but also check out those trees!

There is a downside to the trees though, I mean, aside from the potential to bonk your head. That's pollen. There is plenty of it. And it can get in your eye. Or make you sneeze. Or give you a runny nose. I guess we have to accept that it is spring here.

The Presidential Offices

Much like Buenos Aires, Montevideo has a very intricate, beautiful, and European architectural style. Some of the buildings really are breathtaking. We saw the library, the Legislative Palace where Parliament meets, the Presidential Building where the President works, the Judicial Palace where the Supreme Court is, and we saw amazing buildings that were not part of the governmental structure. There is a mall in Montevideo that was built on the site of a former prison, and they kept the front buildings of the prison as the outer facade of the mall.

The Legislative Palace

A notable building that probably didn't impress us as much as it might have impressed others is Estadio Centenario, or Centennial Stadium. It is named that because it was completed in 1930, exactly one-hundred years after Uruguay became an independent nation. But what would be exciting for the right crowd is what it was built for. This is where the championship games of the very first World Cup occurred, again, in 1930. It is a stadium that is designed specifically for soccer and no other sport is played there. The legend says that one of the best players on the Uruguayan national team got a tour of the stadium when it was completed. He went back to the team and told them that their country had built a stadium so perfect that they had to honor it by winning the World Cup. And they did. Uruguay did win the 1930 World Cup.

The Judicial Palace

On Tuesday, we took the bus that did the Rambla tour. The Rambla is a road that runs along the shore. On one side of the road are beaches or parks and a lighthouse and a few other buildings. There is a long walkway that goes 13.7 miles. On the other side of the street are high rise apartments, shopping, and more parks. Also, both the United States embassy and the Germany embassy are right there beside the Rambla.

The statue is called the Greeting Man. It is a gift from South Korea which is antipodal from Montevideo.

The tour took us out as far as Currasco, a very high-end neighborhood at the east end of the city. It was designed to be a high-end neighborhood before Montevideo stretched out this far. Its founder was inspired by his visit to Oslo and wanted to create a village with luxury and beauty in mind. His palace is today the Currasco Hotel and Casino.

That's the Currasco Hotel and Casino

On the central tour we heard about the legend of the Uruguayan national team. But the Rambla tour has its own legend. Along the Rambla we passed Palacio Pittamiglio. This huge mansion house is, we were told, full of secret passages and hidden rooms. It was built by a man named Pittamiglio who was many things, but primarily an alchemist. The house is designed in all kinds of alchemical symbols. But that's not the legend. It's just the setting.

I could find no label or title for this sculpture. But you're with me, that's gotta be Prometheus, right?

According to the legend, Pittamiglio was a friend to Bishop Eugenio Pacelli when the good bishop served in Uruguay. You probably don't recognize that name, but later he was called Pope Pius XII. In 1944, Pope Pius XII visited Montevideo. Here's the legend part. Supposedly, Pope Pius XII brought the Holy Grail with him. He was afraid that the Nazis, who were always looking for objects of the occult as we know from Indiana Jones movies, would attack the Vatican and steal it. So he brought it to Uruguay and asked Pittamiglio to hide it away in his crazy palace.

If you unzip this building, what do you think you find under?

In 1988, Pope John Paul II came to Uruguay. One of his aides was taken to the second Palacio Pittamiglio and the condition was that he was supposed to be left alone for a few hours. Many believe what that aide was doing was retrieving the hidden Holy Grail so it could be brought back to Rome. So, if you believe the tales, for 44 years, the Holy Grail was in Uruguay. You might argue this isn't a lot of evidence. But think about it. This aide to the Pope was left alone for hours in the palace. Is there any other more plausable explanation?

In case you were worried, no, I didn't forget a hydrant pic. Look at how slender it is!

Montevideo is a bit more expensive than Buenos Aires. (Probably not an issue if you are the Pope.) And already we are finding Buenos Aires a bit pricey. For just two days, it was fine. But it would be harder to live in budget there. Maybe if one were further out from the city center it would be easier. I don't know. But for a quick trip, it was a great time!

The way back was similar to the way there, but in reverse. We did the bus first and then the ferry. Again, we did all of our passport stamping before we got on the ferry, both leaving Uruguay and entering Argentina. In fact, the Argentinian agent asked where we were staying in Argentina. I gave him the address and he said "Ah, Cabazheeto." It took me a minute to understand. The part of Buenos Aires that we are in is Caballito. But I assumed the double l would be more like a y. Cabayeeto. The thing is every country in South America seems to have variations on the pronunciations of certain letters. The double l, the g, and the j are particularly fluid. So I did eventually figure out what he was saying, but I am so not an Argentinian. I'm also not a Uruguayan. But for a couple days I got to imagine I was.