Montevideo, Uruguay

Our first stop on our (uhh…summer) vacation was Montevideo, Uruguay. Montevideo is a city of 1.3 million people (the same size as Quito) located on the northern end of the River Plate where it enters the Atlantic Ocean. What immediately struck us about Montevideo was the exorbitant amount of trees. Those of you coming from the Northwest and the Carolinas probably wouldn’t even notice these trees, however, as it is not uncommon for cities to have streets lined with shade trees. Nevertheless, Quito absolutely does not have shade trees; there are a few small shrub type trees here and there, but nothing like what we saw in Montevideo.

Once we got over the excitement of being able to breathe the oxygen filled sea air we made our way to out to explore the city. Montevideo is a beautiful city filled with parks and plazas (and not an overwhelming amount of traffic) in which people relax with their mate (a dense and strong herbal tea drunk with a special sifting straw). Although generally associated with Argentina, Uruguay has the highest per capita consumption of mate of any country in the world. One such park is Parque Rodó, a huge urban park right on the water filled with trees, lawns, statues and monuments, artisan vendors, and ponds. We spent several hours here, just reading and relaxing (oh by the way, Seth and I both read books 1, 2, and 3 of the Harry Potter series on this vacation).

Another such plaza is the Plaza Independencia (where the government palace is located) where we saw strong evidence of the progressive nature of the Uruguayan populous. One night in Montevideo we stumbled upon a large rally of young and old mate drinking Uruguayans. Always looking for excitement we decided to stick around and see what all the commotion was about. We were soon surprised to realize that this actually wasn’t a political demonstration in favor of (or against) any local politicians (as are so common in Ecuador), but rather a demonstration in favor of Hugo Chávez, the liberal president/almost dictator of Venezuela and fierce critic of the United States government. Not only were these Uruguayans showing their strong support for Chávez, but they continuously evoked the image of Che Guevara (Fidel Castro’s right hand man in the Cuban Revolution and protagonist/narrator of the amazing book and film Motorcycle Diaries).

After some time at the rally, which seemed to be more like a relaxed gathering of hippies than an organized movement for change, we decided to head out to dinner (Uruguayan and Argentine restaurants do not open until after 10:00 and regularly stay open until past 1:00 in the morning). On the way out of the plaza, however, we stumbled upon a plaque on the ground with the following quote (translated from Spanish) by Gustav Radbruch:

“The idea of Justice supposes an equal treatment for those who are equal and an unequal treatment for those who are unequal, in accordance with the same guidelines, but without being able to tell us who should be treated equally and who should be treated unequally nor how should be treated those who are equal and those who are unequal.”

Finally, one cannot talk about Uruguay without talking about the beaches. In Montevideo alone there are six amazing beaches each with their own character: one famous for windsurfing, one for its sunsets, one for its immensity, one for being the hotspot of Montevideo’s rich suburbanites, etc. Our favorite, however, was Punta del Este: a small point jutting out into the Atlantic filled with expensive high-rise condos and luxurious resorts. This point alone has four beaches, two on the calm River Plate side and two on the rough Atlantic side, perfect for both board and body surfing. We spent the day surfing and relaxing on the beach which was capped off by an amazing meal of fresh fish and pasta at La Fonda del Pesca, the only reasonably priced restaurant on the whole point, but is exceedingly popular for its superb food and gregarious owner and staff. The only thing that could have made this meal better would have been dessert, oh wait, they gave us a free piece of cake to share. And then, oh yeah, we got ice cream next door. Uruguay and Argentina have some of the best ice cream in the world due in large part to the extensive waves of immigration from Italy to these countries. I think I actually ended up eating ice cream everyday that I was in both Uruguay and Argentina.