Argentina and Uruguay, Part 2

Old City of Monetvideo

Portal dividing the new city from the old.

Our group of mixed backgrounds.

After grabbing a quick nap, due to our extreme lack of sleep, we headed down to the bar that was in our hostel. There what was supposed to be a quick drink in order to get ready, turned out to be a several hour party downstairs with people from all over the world.

However, there is no doubt that the largest percentage of travelers at our hostel were Argentines on holiday. In general, I find the Argentines to be a very friendly people with whom I´ve never had a problem. However, in this case, I found the Argentines to be unfriendly, immature, and drugged out. As I may have indicated in the past, Chile does not always share the greatest relations with its neighbors. In fact, at most times in its history, Chile has had downright hostile relations with Peru, Bolivia, and Argentina. Recently, though, both Chile and Argentina have warmed up to each other considerably, as many Chileans vacation in Buenos Aires and Mendoza, while many Argentines head to Chile to spend their summers at the beach here. 

In any case, going back to my story, I was speaking with a group of the Argentines in Spanish when they noticed that although I was a gringo, I was also speaking in a Chilean accent. When I noted that I was half Chilean and that my friend and I lived in Santiago, they responded by saying that it wasn´t good to walk around saying you´re Chilean in Argentina or Uruguay, and that we were better off saying we were Americans. When I asked why they told me that they didn´t like Chileans very much and that they, in fact, looked down on them to a certain degree. This was shocking because not only had I just met these guys, but also I have rarely experienced xenophobia or a general dislike, least of all from being Chilean.

In any case, after a while my friend and I decided to head out and see what the night life was like in Montevideo. Though I knew the city was relatively small, I was surprised by how small and dense the bar area was. Walking not a block from the Plaza de Independencia, and extending in a half-block radius in two directions, the downtown bar area was a densely-packed district of pubs and discos. There we sat outside, joined by the most international group of people that I have ever drank with: three Swedes, two Colombians, two Chileans, and two Argentines, on top of my Canadian friend and I. We had a blast drinking Pilsen, the major Uruguayan beer, and talking about home, our travel experiences, and life in general.

After leaving the bar around 5 AM and heading back to the hostile, Chris and I woke up around 10 AM in order to make our 12 PM boat back to Buenos Aires. Being the Saturday before Easter and that Montevideo was so small, we easily traversed the city and made it to the port on time. After a relaxing and comfortable 3 hour ride across the Mar de Plata, we landed back in Buenos Aires. The rest of the day we spent shopping, considering that Buenos Aires has the best shopping and the best prices out of anywhere else in Latin America. Later on we took it easy and then went out for dinner to the best steak restaurant in Buenos Aires, located in Puerto Madero. There I dined on one of the best steaks I´ve ever eaten, what we call the "tomahawk" cut, which was the size of my upper torso.

After dinner, we returned to the hostel in Palermo where Chris and I met two Brits backpacking through South America. We became fast friends, drinking at the hostel. Later in the evening, around 2 AM, we headed out to the night life in Plaza Cerrano, also known as Palermo Hollywood (notice the constant fascination with all things American? There's also a part of Palermo, the fashion district, called Palermo SoHo!) Hanging out drinking beer with the Brits, I was able to ask all the questions I've ever wanted to of the Brits, ranging from the subject of Ginnies to learning to speak Cockney. 

After another boisterous evening out, we dragged our feet back to bed. We woke up lazily the next day, and headed back to the airport, hopping onto our plane back to Santiago. It was a busy trip full of travel, but I learned a lot. Best of all, I met tons of different and interesting people from all over the world. It's extremely cliche, but it made me realize how similar all humans are and how we all share common ground, no matter what.

Argentina and Uruguay, Part 1

The Mercado del Puerto in Montevideo

Old port canon next to an old Bug.

One of the streets leading to the port. Some 

awesome urban art to light our way.

La Plaza de Independencia, the center of 

Montevideo.

Puerto Madero, Buenos Aires. Previously a

commercial port built by an architect of the same

name that is now a hot stop for bars and dining.

Well I certainly apologize for the lack of posts recently. It´s not that I have just been sitting around doing nothing. Rather, I had been up to a great deal but nothing that was worth posting about. Mostly I was working and hanging out in and around Santiago, but I will touch on that in another post.

This past Easter weekend, my friend Chris and I, along with a coworker of his, took off from work and left Santiago, heading out to Buenos Aires and Montevideo. You might recall that I had already visited Buenos Aires in January, but the real purpose of this trip was to visit Montevideo and Uruguay. Our original plan had been to go to Rio de Janeiro, in Brazil. Though I can enter freely when I want as a Chilean citizen, my friend Chris, a Canadian, required a tourist visa and the process for obtaining one was too lengthy.

We left Santiago on Thursday night, but when we arrived at the airport we found out our flight was already delayed more than three hours. After negotiating with the check-in attendant, I managed to obtain three tickets to enter the lounge for free. This was important because the clubs here, unlike American clubs, serve unlimited free alcoholic beverages, as well as food and provide free internet.

We finally arrived in Buenos Aires around 1:30 in the morning. However, we did not reach our hostel in Palermo until about 2:30 because Ezeiza, the airport, is very far away from town. We decided this time around to stay in a hostel less centrally located, but in closer proximity to the night life. Since we had already both seen the sights on previous trips, we decided to leave Buenos Aires for shopping, eating steak, and going out.

In the morning we woke up at 6 AM, after sleeping for about 3 hours, in order to catch our 8 AM boat that would take us to Montevideo. However, about five minutes before reaching the boat station, we realized that our phones had not moved ahead by an hour and so therefore missed our boat by about 15 minutes. We did manage to get on another boat later in the morning that would take us to Colonia, another city in Uruguay, and then take a bus transfer over to Montevideo. After having a long breakfast nearby in Puerto Madero, we hoped passed customs and hopped onto the boat for Colonia. The boat ride was a great experience, as the seats were very comfortable, there was a full service restaurant, and a large duty free shop onboard.

When we arrived at Colonia, I immediately realized why this city had been founded where it was. It was a mere one hour boat ride to Buenos Aires. Colonia had originally been set up as a smuggler´s port by the Portuguese in order to smuggle contraband into Buenos Aires. Both Buenos Aires and the enter southern portion of Uruguay lay on the Rio de la Plata. This is an important estuary that is fed by the Paraná River, making it both large and very important for regional and international trade. In the early 19th century, Uruguay attempted to declare independence from Spain, but was eventually defeated. Later on, the country was annexed by Brazil, prompting the Argentine-Brazilian War. A succession of wars were fought by the two regional powers, and even included intervention by the French, British, and Portuguese. Therefore, the country is distinctly European in many ways, though shares the majority of its culture with Argentina, it´s most important neighbor.

In crossing Uruguay from Colonia to Montevideo, I almost felt at home again in Wisconsin. The countryside is characterized by mostly flat grazing land, dotted with cattle and milk farms all over. When we arrived in Montevideo, I was surprised by how picturesque the city was. It reminded me of a calmer and smaller Buenos Aires (BA has about 15 million inhabitants metro, while Montevideo has about 1.3 million metro; Uruguay is the second smallest country in South America). Our hostel was located in the central plaza, la Plaza de Independencia. If you walked east, you entered the old city, and to the west lay the new city. 

In the afternoon, we took a trip towards the port, and in particular, the central market. Similar to the central market here in Santiago, the difference is that opposed to serving a great variety of seafood, the market in Montevideo is famous for having giant grills filled with a variety of meats. We sat down at one of the numerous restaurants, one that had more Uruguayans eating there than the others, and promptly ordered a steak. Though it was not the best I´ve ever had, it was good and you can´t beat the $5 price.

After walking around the old city more, we returned to hostel to rest up for the evening. But for those details, you´ll just have to wait for my next post.