Guay #2: Uru

On to Montevideo, Uruguay. I translate the name of the city as "high place where they show movies", yet we didn't actually see any movies there and it wasn't really high. It was very cold while we were there dipping down to almost freezing and raining in the mornings, and one of us (you can guess which) suggested renaming the entire country Brrruguay...

Now some pictures. This building was the tallest in South America when it was built at the end of the 1800s. In the fog, it really does look tall. With no fog, it doesn't seem so high.
Here is Tara in the gate to the old city. Montevideo is a very pleasant city, though it doesn't have much that makes it notable.

A view from the balcony of our room. Room prices have apparently shot up dramatically in recent years, but we found this very nice hotel for $27 per night after much searching.

Tara, our official Spanish translator for the trip, informs me that this sign translates as "please excuse us while we molest you". Or something like that. We saw a lot of them, but only in Uruguay. Not sure what that says about Uruguay.

While in Uruguay, we were lucky enough to catch a performance of their philharmonic which was performing all music by Uruguayans. They had a guy who wrote works for accordion and symphony, and he was very good. Doubt he'll be performing in New York anytime soon, though.

Another shot of the theater, which has been restored to what it looked like when built a couple hundred years ago. Feels very European, which seems to be the general vibe Uruguay is going for.

We left most of our luggage in Buenos Aires while in Uruguay, and we hadn't been rained on for the entire two months of our trip, so I left my raincoat. That meant I was forced to use my stylish backup poncho. Incidentally, the word pancho here means a hot dog, so if you ask a store keeper for a poncho, you are likely to receive a hot dog.

On our way back to Argentina, we stopped in a small town called Colonia. Despite it being about 40 degrees outside, they had small parrots living in the town square. Hard to tell, but these are little green parrots (or parakeets).

Tara did her best to stay warm on the ferry back to Argentina. It was heated, but she was still cold. If she doubted that we needed sleeping bags before, she changed her mind here.

The seas weren't that rough, but it wasn't exactly crystal clear water. Not the place you would want to swim.

That's it for Uruguay. These pictures are sort of boring, but Uruguay is sort of a boring place. Seems like it would be a very nice place to live, but it doesn't have much for tourism. Worth the easy trip from Buenos Aires, though.