Montevideo, Uruguay

After a rather disappointing time in Buenos Aires, Argentina we took a 3-hour ferry and then 3-hour bus ride to Montevideo, the capital city of Uruguay. We had high expectations for our visit to the city and the small country, mostly on account of reading about Uruguay in our Lonely Planet Guidebook. Boy did they drop the ball on this one. The guidebook painted a very different picture than the one we experienced and needless to say we were quite happy to get out of Montevideo after 3 days of travel.

Our visit started out great aboard the ferry where we were treated to a mid-cruise tango show by two professional dancers. It was a treat to watch them twist and turn all the while they kept a serious and passionate gaze into each other’s eyes. Disembarking in Colonia, Uruguay we then boarded a very comfortable bus to Montevideo and traveled through flat pampa landscapes with periodic views out to the water. Arriving in Montevideo under heavy grey skies we then took a taxi to Live MVD Hostel, which would be our home base for the next two nights and turn out to be the best spot we have stayed in thus far. We have booked a lot of our hostels/hotel rooms online through www.booking.com and have been very happy with the selection of rooms and discounted rates.  What caught our eye for this particular hostel were the perfect 10.0 reviews it had received from all of its visitors. The online reviews didn’t lie as this quaint homey hostel run by two helpful and friendly girls was a perfect 10. We relaxed in the evening on their comfy couch while watching the Olympics and drinking Uruguayan “Pilsner” beer (which is fantastic) and awoke to breakfast served beside a warm fire. It felt as close to a home away from home as one could get.

On our first full day in the city we went and visited an open-air Sunday market. There was a strange assortment of vendors selling everything from food and antiques, to pirated movies and pets. There were also a lot of people strolling through the market which unfortunately led to the first of our negative experiences in the city. Just as we were walking past a stall where a man was trying to scam people to guess which of the three upside down cups had a ball below it, a man brushed up against Carolyn’s right side and tried to pickpocket her. He unzipped her jacket pocket and was grabbing her camera string when she turned to see what was going on and caught him in the act. He pulled out his hand immediately and sped away into the crowd as if nothing had happened. We quickly turned in the opposite direction and got out of the congested market safely but nonetheless feeling quite vulnerable as foreign tourists.

Freed of this area we headed for the waterfront which was safer and had more vantage points to see any would-be thieves. It was a nice walk along the coast as the grey sky finally lifted and the sun made its first appearance in four days. We stopped to try out some outdoor fitness equipment and slowly made our way towards the old part of Montevideo a couple of kilometres away.

The old city was a curious blend of beautiful old eclectic buildings decorated with sculptures and wrought iron balconies and modern box-like skyscrapers covered in air conditioners. There was graffiti over everything at street level but at least looking up was a treat so long as you didn’t step in one of the countless piles of dog droppings on the sidewalk. Ambling along a very deserted pedestrian street we unfortunately witnessed the second incident of the day. We had just passed a group of three girls and commented that they looked like tourists (which we haven’t seen much of since Bolivia) when we heard a scream a block later and looked back to see two men robbing one of the girls of her purse and fleeing. Two locals went running after the men but it was probably too late as everything was closed up as it was a Sunday afternoon and there was no one around including police. Having witnessed this second brazen attack of the day we quickly turned around and headed back to the open waterfront where we high-tailed it back to the hostel safely.

The fact that these two incidents occurred on the same day really left a bad impression of the city. We no longer felt safe walking its streets and while the hostel was great and the hostess extremely nice we couldn’t wait to get out of town. After a quick detour to the city centre the next morning to pick up a Uruguayan souvenir we left via bus to the beach town of Punta del Este, Uruguay about two hours east up the coast.

P.S. Family at home: please don’t worry as we are fine and weren’t hurt or robbed of any of our belongings. These events happened 6 days ago and while we are now in Brazil nothing of this sort has happened since. We intend to avoid congested open-air markets for the remainder of the trip and if streets are deserted on Sundays, we will do as the locals do and take a day of rest at our hostel or make it a long distance travel day. Tom will also keep his beard for the remainder of the trip as it makes him look tougher to would-be thieves even though he desperately wants to shave it off.