 |
| Montevideo, Uruguay - Day 4 |
Showing posts with label Uruguay. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Uruguay. Show all posts
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Montevideo, Uruguay - Day 4
Today was a travel day from Montevideo to Buenos Aires, hence the light load of pics.
Friday, November 21, 2008
Punta del Este, Uruguay - Day 1
Punta del Este is an international beach resort in Uruguay about 1.5 hours from Montevideo. I was planning on spending 3 days there but a couple people mentioned that it's the slow season and that it would be dead there so I decided to take a tour and check out the town.
Some general observations from Punta del Este and Uruguay in general.
There is a flat fee for eating in a restaurant to cover the silverware, service, etc and it goes to house in addition to the tip
There is a typical Uruguayan dish which is a layered meat dish with steak, ham, sunny side up egg on top of French fries. Interesting but I do that at home with leftover food. The French fries in Uruguay are often not crispy…and slightly soggy and barely warm…like they put the fries in the fryer and took them out 3 minutes too soon as soon as they started to defrost.
The houses in Punta del Este are amazing. Like the coolest modern compilation of unique houses that I’ve ever seen. I wish I could have captured more of them but it was hard on the moving bus. I didn’t even get the best ones on top of the mountain.
Some general observations from Punta del Este and Uruguay in general.
There is a flat fee for eating in a restaurant to cover the silverware, service, etc and it goes to house in addition to the tip
There is a typical Uruguayan dish which is a layered meat dish with steak, ham, sunny side up egg on top of French fries. Interesting but I do that at home with leftover food. The French fries in Uruguay are often not crispy…and slightly soggy and barely warm…like they put the fries in the fryer and took them out 3 minutes too soon as soon as they started to defrost.
The houses in Punta del Este are amazing. Like the coolest modern compilation of unique houses that I’ve ever seen. I wish I could have captured more of them but it was hard on the moving bus. I didn’t even get the best ones on top of the mountain.
 |
| Punta del Esta, Uruguay - Day 1 |
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Montevideo, Uruguay - Day 2
I rented a bike and rode around the city and along the bike path next to the ocean. I was so sore from riding the bike that I was waddling by the end of the day.
 |
| Montevideo, Uruguay - Day 2 |
Montevideo, Uruguay - Day 1
The weather can be rather fickle here. Up to this point in the trip it has been around 85 degrees and extremely hot, sunny. So the next morning I have an 8 am boat to catch to Montevideo and I step outside and it feels like about 60 and extremely windy. By the time I get to Montevideo which is a 3 hour boat ride away – I’m in long pants, short and long sleeve shirts, and winter jacket. The weather remains cool and windy for the rest of the week in the 70’s but the sun is soo hot that people are still laying on the beach. I got two shades darker in about 15 minutes after laying out.
So I got to the ferry station an hour ahead of time and had some breakfast while waiting. The boat was supposed to leave at 8 am and get to Montevideo at 11am but for some reason the departure time got pushed back 2 hours. Shouldn’t boats leaving at 8 am already be there? It’s not like our boat was coming in from another port at 7 am. Well perhaps the delay was weather related. The boat was a large one; and it had space for cars and about 300-400 passengers, but as we started our journey the wind and waves were rocking the boat rather viscously. I decided to pick an aisle seat on a corner so that there were no seats in front of me or on the side for some extra leg room. Boy was that a mistake. Old people were falling all over the place, and one lady thought it would be a good idea to use my laptop screen as a rail.
I managed to fall asleep and when I woke up people were getting off the boat. Sweet we’re here! So I’m waiting for my bag at the carousel and noticed that there is an English tour guide. I know that the ferry is close to Plaza Independencia which is close to where I’m staying.
ME: “So how far away are we from the Plaza Independencia”?
HER: “Ummmm the Plaza Independencia is in Montevideo we’re in Colonia”.
ME: “WHAT?!? Did I get on the wrong boat in the chaos back in Buenos Aires? How am I going to get my bag in Montevideo? How do I get to Montevideo from here”?
HER: “Just get your bag and then you can catch the bus outside…just show them your ticket and they’ll put you on the right bus”.
So another 2.5 hour bus ride later, I finally make it to Montevideo and didn’t get settled down until about 4pm. That’s a long 3 hour boat ride.
So I got to the ferry station an hour ahead of time and had some breakfast while waiting. The boat was supposed to leave at 8 am and get to Montevideo at 11am but for some reason the departure time got pushed back 2 hours. Shouldn’t boats leaving at 8 am already be there? It’s not like our boat was coming in from another port at 7 am. Well perhaps the delay was weather related. The boat was a large one; and it had space for cars and about 300-400 passengers, but as we started our journey the wind and waves were rocking the boat rather viscously. I decided to pick an aisle seat on a corner so that there were no seats in front of me or on the side for some extra leg room. Boy was that a mistake. Old people were falling all over the place, and one lady thought it would be a good idea to use my laptop screen as a rail.
I managed to fall asleep and when I woke up people were getting off the boat. Sweet we’re here! So I’m waiting for my bag at the carousel and noticed that there is an English tour guide. I know that the ferry is close to Plaza Independencia which is close to where I’m staying.
ME: “So how far away are we from the Plaza Independencia”?
HER: “Ummmm the Plaza Independencia is in Montevideo we’re in Colonia”.
ME: “WHAT?!? Did I get on the wrong boat in the chaos back in Buenos Aires? How am I going to get my bag in Montevideo? How do I get to Montevideo from here”?
HER: “Just get your bag and then you can catch the bus outside…just show them your ticket and they’ll put you on the right bus”.
So another 2.5 hour bus ride later, I finally make it to Montevideo and didn’t get settled down until about 4pm. That’s a long 3 hour boat ride.
 |
| Montevideo, Uraguay - Day 1 |
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Colonia de Santiago, Uruguay - Day 1
I went on a tour of Colonia de Santiago today. This UNESCO site is an old town which has been well preserved to show the old Portuguese and Spanish architecture. This town traded hands multiple times as this city was passed back and forth to settle disputes between the two countries.
One thing that I learned on this tour is that the cobble stones roads were designed in the Portuguese style of a slight “U” concave shape to allow the water to drain off in the middle. While it was efficient at draining the water, it can be somewhat difficult to traverse. Conversely, the Romans built their cobble stone streets in an upside down “U” shape to allow the water to drain off to the sides which is equally efficient and allows for easier transport.
One thing that I learned on this tour is that the cobble stones roads were designed in the Portuguese style of a slight “U” concave shape to allow the water to drain off in the middle. While it was efficient at draining the water, it can be somewhat difficult to traverse. Conversely, the Romans built their cobble stone streets in an upside down “U” shape to allow the water to drain off to the sides which is equally efficient and allows for easier transport.
 |
| Colonia de Santiago, Uruguay - Day 1 |
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
