The Weekend in Uruguay

I have a love-hate relationship with traveling. I love seeing other parts of the world and experiencing new cultures. I love being out of my comfort zone and finding out more about myself because of it. I love the people and the food. But I hate how tired it makes me. I hate how grumpy I can be. I hate not knowing what I’m going to eat next or when. I hate not being able to find a bathroom when I need one. I hate dirty hostels. And I hate the humidity.

I spent the weekend in Uruguay with Charnell and Kelsey, and while there were some tense moments, we had a great time. We left pretty early Saturday to catch our 9:30 ferry across the Rio de la Plata (the body of water that leads into the Atlantic Ocean). Since it was carnaval weekend, everybody and everybody else, was travelling. So when we got to Boquebus (the ferry company), there were insane lines for check-ins and immigration. I had a brief moment of panic that we would miss our ferry, but then I realized they couldn’t possibly leave so many people and would surely delay departure time. They did, which was only nice until 3 hours on a moving boat before closer to 4. I haven’t really travelled on a boat like that before, and I’m not sure I will again (there goes any hopes of working on a cruise ship when I get back home). I didn’t really get sea sick, but I don’t like the dizzy feeling. It was better when I went to the deck and could equilibrate myself on the horizon.

When we got to Colonia, we needed to find a bus to Montevideo (another 3 hours away), because that’s where our hostel was. We had originally thought that Sunday would be carnaval in Montevideo, although we found out that the internet lied and carnaval was the weekend before. So we booked our bus with enough time to get lunch beforehand. I had really good cheese empanadas (deep fried and delicious. I did notice right away that the Uruguayans were a lot heavier than the Argentines). Buuut, we forgot that Uruguay was an hour ahead of Buenos Aires and missed our bus by about 10 minutes. We weren’t even doing anything exciting. Just waiting around and eating mentos.

Thankfully, the company was understanding and changed our tickets to an hour and half later without charging us anything. We took the extra time to find an ATM and buy some water. Charnell accidentally grabbed the bottle that said, con gas, instead of sin gas, and tried to drink 1.5 liters of nasty soda water. I thought it was really funny until the next day I did the same thing. Only my bottle tried to explode on me while I was tripping on the uneven street tiles. Somehow I managed not to fall, but it was a very comical moment.

The bus ride was nice. I liked seeing the country side and actual animals living in green spaces (compared to the huge city where nothing is green and the only other living things besides humans are dogs and birds, and they both poop a lot). There were a lot of cattle and horses, but most of the horses were tied to fence posts and that was sad to see. There were also goats and sheep and other animals. The most exciting was a chicken, just hanging out on the side of the road. I had wondered where the joke came from, but I think I understand a bit more. It’s a very odd sight to see a chicken just standing there.

When we got to Montevideo, it was getting dark so we wanted to find out hostel soon. We had to take yet another bus for 30 minutes, but thankfully we managed to get on the right bus and get off at the right stop. It took asking more than a few people which direction to go after that, but we finally found it. The hostel was converted from an old house and was gorgeous. We met a cool girl from Austria who was at the beginning of a year-long stay in South America.

That night we walked to a grocery store to get something for dinner. This was the closest thing to a walmart we’ve seen. They were actually selling clothes and food in the same store. Weird. They also had prepared food, which was nice after a long day of travelling. Later, we talked with a girl from Brazil. She was really friendly and it was cool to hear Portuguese and actually be able to understand some from knowing some Spanish. It also reminded me of the time I went to Mexico with the girl scouts like 8 years ago and met a girl from Brazil. I think she was the first international girl I knew and became friends with, and she reminded me a lot of this girl.

She invited us to an “event” the next day, and even gave us written invitations. We had assumed since it was carnival weekend, and she promised that it would be a big event with lots of people from all over the world, that it would be fun. Little did we know that it was a dress up event. And little did we know that it was for “HerbaLife,” some sort of product that promises to change your life. So we go in to the Sheraton Hotel, where the Brazilian told us to go, looking like crap because we’re traveling, it was raining but got hot and humid, and we have our backpacks. So they make us sign in with our inviter, give them our emails, and they give us a wrist band that made it look like we broke out of the hospital. Then they lead us to our seats, in front of a big crowd of people in a small space, to the “invited” section. We’re trying desperately not to knock anyone out with our backpacks, or step on anyone’s toes with our flip flops or chacos. There is a speaker up from, and two screens on either side that project the video (really not necessary, but I guess they wanted to be dramatic.) There were also a row of LED lights for effect. It would have been cool, expect there were trying to sell this HerbaLife product. And somehow we got wrapped into it. Something must have been lost in translation.

Besides feeling totally out of place, it was kinda interesting to see the cultural equivalent of an infomercial. These people were totally into it, or really good actors. I’m still not sure why a young Brazilian girl would be recruiting college aged Americas to this thing, but there had to be a reason. We sat through about an hour of this before calling it quits. It was so funny though. When the owner of the company got up there, he was signing autographs and people were cheering like he was a celebrity, and they played loud (American) music, and the lights we all dramatic. If I didn’t know better, I would have thought it was something cool. But then they started talking about protein power shakes and proper nutrients, and they made fun of the United States for having an escalator in front of a fitness place. (Which is indeed funny, but by no means how all Americans are). Anyway, we tried to leave quietly, but it was hard to blend in. And of course we ran into our inviter on the way out. Awkward.

Laughing about the experience, we made our way to the next hostel. We stopped along the way to eat pizza and we ran into a girl that went to our school for the month intensive Spanish program. It’s crazy how small the world is.

I’m glad we got to our hostel on time because they had over-booked the reservations and had to turn people away. There were no other beds in all of Montevideo, so that was not good planning on their part. I also didn’t really care for this hostel. It wasn’t very clean and they weren’t friendly. We did meet another group of Brazilians (thankfully, they did not try to scam us into going to a HerbaLife conference). Instead, we went out with them to a traveling play. We got to see a show on a bus. They picked us up downtown and drove us around the city, stopping once for a different scene in some “dance bar.” Even though I didn’t understand it ( it was in really fast Spanish, and they were talking over each other), it was interesting to see Uruguay “theater.” The actors were pretty good, but we could tell they had a small budget for costumes. Because it was a comedic drama, of course, the girl ends up dying in the end. The experience inspired me to start up a travelling show in the US. Just wait, I’m gonna buy a giant tourist bus, outfit it in lights and good acoustics, hire the talent, and write the script. It’s going to happen. Just think about it though: a theater that comes to you, adapts to your convenience, incorporates the city, and is personal. It’s perfect. I’ll call it On Broadway Street (ok ok, maybe I’ll be a bit more clever). If you want to be part of it, let me know, but no stealing my idea! (ok ok, the Uruguayan’s idea)…

After the show, we had dinner at a nice restaurant and had the famous Uruguay chivitos. It’s basically a mix between a hamburger and a sandwich, with whatever they feel like putting on it. Before deciding on a restaurant, I told the Brazilians that I was “mostly vegetarian” and didn’t want to eat red meat. So I had a chicken one, but it was the first time in at least a month that I had eaten meat, or at least that much meat. One of the Brazilian guys asked me why I didn’t eat meat. I told him that I don’t particularly care for the taste, and since my boyfriend is vegetarian, he’s gotten me into eating healthier and thinking more about the consequences. I said that it would be better for the environment if we all ate less meat. Well that didn’t go over very well. The three people at my table started accosting me, saying “You know that lettuce that was on your sandwich? It had to die too.” And they tried to tell me flat out that raising cattle just to be slaughtered was not any worse for the environment than growing some other crop. It just made me realize 1) how ignorant people can be (myself included, because I am not as educated on this subject as I should be) and 2) how many different points of views there are, and how many different theories and philosophies. Because we can’t possibly know everything for ourselves, we have to choose what to believe. I simply was not prepared to be attacked for not eating meat, because I’m not yet sure what I believe. I need to flush out my reasons and take a stand, so in the future I’m prepared to defend myself. But for now, all I know is that meat grosses me out. It’s not so much the taste that’s not appealing—it’s the idea that there’s this dead animal inside of my body. That some life had to be sacrificed to enhance my own.

After dinner I tried not to be bitter, although I could tell I was still in a bad mood. We went to a casino and I watched the others play a few slots and some roulette. It was a fun way to pass the night, but I preferred not to waste my money.

After a good night’s rest, we took the bus back to Colonia to explore the historical district. For lunch I had a really good cheese omelet. I’ve been craving American breakfast for a while, so it was nice to eat something that reminded me of home. We found a nice artisan market and bought a few trinkets for home. Then we walked around the old part of town and saw the “colonial” part of Colonia. It was gorgeous. I loved the slower pace of life and not having to be worried about being robbed. It was also nice that there were more tourists. I blended in a bit more. Walking around on the cobble stone streets with an accordion playing in the background reminded me a lot of going to Italy with my grandma. That sort of life enchants me (although I bet it’s mostly for tourists nowadays).

Since it had been rainy most of the weekend, we didn’t get a chance to lie on the beach. But our last night there, the sky had cleared up, and we bought bread, cheese, and wine and had a picnic on the beach. The sunset was pretty and the temperature was a perfect, cool summer night. We had really good conversation and bonded a lot that night. They made me think a lot about who I am and who I want to be. Kelsey told me that I am a very profound and deep person and that I have my head on straight and I have a genuinely good heart. That’s one of the best personality descriptions I’ve received, so it made me happy. Then Kelsey wanted to hold hands and spin in a circle like little kids do, using your weight and centrifical force to your advantage. So we spun in circles barefoot on the beach and laughed kids would. Even though we weren’t planning on it, we went swimming, and surprisingly the water was quite nice. Overall, it was the perfect end to a good weekend.

And yes, Charnell and Kelsey, I kind of love you guys ;)