Yum Yum
Did I see a ghost??
Hola Amigos! Que Pasa!
I’m writing you from sunny Uruguay! As its January we have come for the South American Summer and it couldn’t be a better time.
Happy New Years to you all! We had a nice few days in London and now have been in South America for a week and loving it!
Let me first tell you about the food - my favorite topic! If you’re not a culinary adventurer - you will especially love Argentina and Uruguay’s food. Many great meat dishes (steaks are unbelievable) and they have pretty decent pizza and pasta. For us, this was a dream after 6 months of constant Asian food, back to the roots! The Italian immigrants brought this food over and now it’s intertwined with everyday food, just as in America. As far as the steaks go, both countries are/were gaucho (cowboy) country so they know how to do it! However, the rumor of $5 steaks is a myth, you can get a great steak for about $12-15 if you know where to go, but many place are excellent; so not a bad deal. BBQ is a way of life in these two places and you will see people BBQ-ing on the street in front of their homes.
Let me tell you about Uruguay mostly as we have a few weeks in Argentina still and today is the last day here. Uruguay is approximately the size of North Dakota so by South American standards it’s not very big. There are about 3 million people. Montevideo is a nice quaint city, but as you would expect, not too big in size. The city seems very safe (along with Buenos Aires). Whilst I was told by a local in Montevideo that some areas at night are not completely safe, I have found the city to be no trouble at all - everywhere in the day time and the center at night; despite the 7am fights outside the bar area. That being said, the same thing happens in America and Europe and I can only imagine if London pubs were allowed to stay open until dawn :D
Spanish is not necessary here, but sure is handy and as knowing the language in any country, really allows you to get to know the locals far better. So I’ll be racking in my brain for the Spanish I learned in high school and Marina is doing better and taking classes!
So far in South America; Buenos Aires > Montevideo > Colonia de Sacramento
Monday - South America, yeah baby!: We arrived in Buenos Aires in the morning and decided to stay in San Telmo a nice fun area a few kilometers south of the exact center. My favorite thing about Buenos Aires is just walking the streets! Everywhere is lovely and with it being warm and sunny, the tree lined streets and excellent architecture reminds be of being in Spain or Italy.
Tuesday - Embassy runs: Paraguay was a dream; Marina obtained her visa in a day. Chile is work in progress and she should have this to pick up in about two weeks along our path in Argentina. Uruguay however was a pain, as they wanted 3 weeks to approve and we didn’t have the time, she has decided to stay in Buenos Aires and take a week of Spanish classes, while I go to Uruguay for the weekend. Hopefully this will be the only problem we have, but as she was dying to do Spanish, it worked out. For Aruba and Trinidad & Tobago, great news; T&T now allow Russians to enter visa-less and Aruba is fine as Marina has a British residency visa - woo hoo. That was our day :D
Wednesday - Palermo: We went out Wednesday night in Palermo. It has been a bit tough to adjust, Argentineans, love to eat VERY late, I mean 10-12pm! As we are trying to adjust, it was so nice to enjoy eating in the alfresco restaurants, in Palermo (a suburb of Buenos Aires) during summertime even the bars are all outdoor so it has a great vibe! Most bars sell beer by the liter; that’s a quart if you’re in America!!
Thursday - Recoleta & Camille: During the day, we walked Recoleta with its amazing cemetery, probably the nicest I’ve seen besides Cemetare duPere Lachaise, the home of Jim Morrison!! Camille is a brightly painted neighborhood in the south which is perfect for strolling, shopping, or having a beer and watching tango dancers (all outside of course as this is Buenos Aires). Later that night after we had huge juicy steaks, I caught the bus for Uruguay.
Friday - Montevideo life: The sites in Montevideo do not occupy much of your time and again like BA, it just seems to be about being there! Museums are tiny and do not require much time. Luckily I had stayed in a great hostel and met a lot of fun people who like wine and going out.
Saturday - Mercado del Puerto: This market is a carnivore’s dream! They have little restaurants kind of like bars where they cook in the middle and you sit around them, grilling all kinds of meats! The smell alone is worth the price of the ticket to Uruguay! I had a nice slab of meat which was wrapped around veggies and one of my childhood favorites, peppercini peppers! If you like nightlife, weekends are excellent in Montevideo. Most places do not close before dawn and some even stay open later!
Sunday - Sleepy Colonia: Uruguay’s only UNESCO world heritage site is the town of Colonia de Sacramento. I’m not sure why; after seeing world heritage sites in India that were pretty awesome, this is a bit of a let down, but the town is nice and possibly romantic, but not for me without Marina unfortunately... I mostly just walked around, climbed a sort of lighthouse and relaxed after a late night.
So what’s next - well now it gets exciting so don’t miss next week’s blog. We are heading to the far south of Argentina to Puerto Madryn and El Calafate!
Hasta Luego,
Dan and Marina
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