Date of Entry: May 1st-2nd 2016
Date of Writing: July 5th 2016, Che Lagarto Hostel, Natal, Brazil.
The next morning we wake up after learning that getting a bus ticket to Montevideo is going to be very difficult. It’s may 1st and therefore very few buses are running and just about everything Is closed. We’ve been told by the supermarket ladies though that here are buses going, we just didn’t consider that they’d be sold out. Our friends from the night before are also heading to Montevideo so when they tel us they could only get a standing room ticket I abandon breakfast and run to the bus station securing the last two passages on the morning bus for about 15 CAD, though we’re both without a seat. Oh well it’s only a few hours and I’m sure we’ll survive. As it works out Lydia and I end up sitting in an empty back row for most of the ride. Hooray for good luck.
Getting to Montevideo we decide to pay for a taxi to a small hostel whose name currently escapes me as even in the capital almost everything is shut for may day and buses don’t seem to be running. At the bus station we say goodbye to our new friends and head to our hostel where we find a warm Canadian welcome from Remy, a pleasant laid back stoner who is volunteering at the hostel and seems to be running it with the help of three amazing cats. The hostel is tiny but very comfortable and Lydia and I feel quite at home, beginning a tradition which will last the duration of our travels, watching Grey’s Anatomy (thanks for getting me addicted jerk!!!) and the O.C. a show we both love, in whatever downtime we have.
After settling into the hostel for a bit we decide to head out for a walk through Montevideo to find some dinner and see whatever we can see on mayday. Colonia being abandoned did not feel so strange as it is a tiny little town mostly there for tourism, but Montevideo is a capital city, albeit a small one, so to see the streets almost entirely empty and every shop window shuttered feels strange, like walking through a ghost town. Still the calmness is welcome after 3 week in Buenos Aires.
We pass some small fountains and plazas before coming to the main square of town, still without finding much of anything that looks good for dinner. Still the plaza is pretty with it’s palm trees, which seem so out of place given the brisk temperature, and it’s huge statue of a man on a horse. I should have read who it was, but I didn’t… sorry.
From the plaza we head down towards the coast just barely visible through the narrow streets lined by colonial buildings in varying states of disrepair. The sun is out and while it doesn’t provide all that much warmth it does light the city well and make this a very pleasant afternoon walk.
Making it down to the coast we find a very pleasant and yet still utterly abandoned boardwalk. It’s very pretty and provides great views looking back at the cities, but I find I’m yearning more for the wild landscapes of Patagonia. For me ocean isn’t really ocean in a city. It feels so tame and controlled. I much prefer the rocky headlands of my home in Nova Scotia, or some wild wind swept beaches in Portugal. A boardwalk is always pleasant but never incredible. Still as we walk Lydia gets her first introduction to my paint me jack photos and also gets me signed up for instagram as my social media manager (she has a related university degree) who has sadly abandoned her post since returning to Germany. How could she do that to me? Shame on you Lydia.
Our tummies rumbling we decide to head back the way we’ve come and stop at a pizzeria/restaurant that doesn’t look that great but is open and we’re about right in our estimations of it. The pizza is edible though nothing special, but I will confess to enjoying my milkshake which comes with an absurd amount of whipped cream.
From there we head back to the hostel and spend the evening watching the best bad tv in existence and playing with the three amazing cats in our hostel. We’ve again decided there’s nothing holding us in Montevideo, so tomorrow we’ll be moving on to punta del Diablo, a place I’m very excited to visit as Danica and Nathalie who I met back in Iguazu at Christmas loved it a lot. Still, before we leave Montevideo I’ve got one more place I have to go, and Lydia is kind enough to oblige my Anthony Bourdain inspired whim.
The next morning we wake up, have a slow morning and then head to the famous Montevideo Meat market where countless stalls serve up countless cuts of sizzling meat. The walk takes us through other plazas and parts of the capital which feels like a city today as shops are open and people are out and enjoying the city. We also pass several marijuana stores, though they hold no interest for us. Drugs, abortion and many other things are legal in Uruguay and if you don’t know about there ex president I strongly suggest doing some reading as he is a very interesting man, and an anomaly among modern politicians in my opinion.
Eventually we head back to the hostel, grab our bags and head to the bus station in a taxi. We get there only for Lydia to realize her passport is sitting back in the hostel locker. I feign horror and offence but we it’s no big deal, I’m never really on a schedule, so we head back to the hostel eating some fruit on our way and then it’s back to the bus station to catch one of a handful of daily buses which take just under 5 hours to reach punta del Diablo, a tiny coastal town on the northern coast of Uruguay. In the summer I’m told it’s quite a crazy party and very busy, in the offseason though, it’s something close to my idea of paradise and reminds me immensely of my home province of Nova Scotia, which despite my love of travelling, I often miss dearly. The next entry will tell of our adventures there at what is definitely my highlight of an all too brief stay in Uruguay.
