Montevideo Monday 14th Dec 2009 - 12th January 2010!!

This blog entry recaps on the above period and gives a general update as to what we've been up to based in Montevideo.

We started college on Monday 14th Dec at “Academia Uruguay” and were really impressed with the college. We were assigned Gaston as our teacher and for the first week we were the only ones in the class. They have a fairly set curriculum and we started to work through their syllabus book 1. Gaston is a fairly animated character and very difficult to understand, apparently some of the Uruguayans who visit the college struggle to understand him!! The first week flew by and we appeared to progress well, although we found ourselves exhausted and moaning about the homework soon enough. College this week was between 09:30 – 13:30 meaning we were out and free by the hottest part of the day – and hot it was!! A typical day that week involved us heading home for lunch and then heading down to either Punta Carretas or Pocitos (favoured) beaches to siesta in the sun before returning to the flat for dinner and wine and the odd trip to the bars.

By the first weekend, we were looking forward to two days off and celebrated by enjoying a few drinks out on the town in Ciudad Vieja and a few longer runs down by the Rambla; we have been fairly discliplined with the running, alternating between a gentle jog and a David's training run which has us doing all the kind of exercises expected in a football training session warm-up – much to the pleasure of the 'mate' swilling locals who tend to shout and encourage us (we think!) as not many people here tend to take advantage of this fantastic rambla to run.

By the end of the weekend we had become fully accustomed to having our own flat again with the fridge filled and enjoying a routine of cooking with no smelly dread-locked travellers in the kitchen! The flat is great although a few mornings it's hard to sleep when the market on the road outside being set up from 4am!! Also, the local bar (Bar Sarandi) tends to be frequented by various local characters and seems to go on until the last of them runs out money or falls asleep!!
The second week was a four day week, with 5 hours a day (!) due to Friday (Christmas Day) being a holiday and that we were joined by another student – Bjorn, from Germany. It was a good laugh with Bjorn, who we quickly realised was just as keen on having a laugh with us as he was about learning the lingo! The week passed by quickly but was tiring with the additional hour each day and Gaston not easing up on the homework! (Lynne and David don't need to point out that we are quite geeky and wouldn't dream of turning up to lesson without having completed it!). By the end of the week it was evident that much to his disgust David was clearly bottom of he class and crying out for some numbers and no more Spanish! Lynne on the other hand was clearly top of the class and Gaston's favourite! The afternoons this week remained hot and so we frequented the beaches once more.

Christmas Eve however was rainy, we decided to head down to the Mercado del Puerto after enjoying it for Lynne's Birthday....it was quite different this time!! By the time we had left college at 14:30, the streets were filled with locals wandering the streets drunk on Roldo's and swilling it freely in the streets; by the time we got to the Mercado the area was crammed with the drunken mass singing along to live music and throwing cider in the air over any unfortunate bystanders who happened to get too close. The meal was as good as last time and afterwards we headed back to the flat as the streets emptied – we later found out that after drinking the afternoon away everyone goes back to their families where they dine and relax before setting off fireworks at midnight. This was quite spectacular, we enjoyed some wine on our roof terrace watching the 360 degree firework display. It seemed every plaza, house were setting fireworks off, even those in the streets were setting off rockets.

Christmas day was relaxed, with the morning spent cooking Christmas Dinner. Limited by the produce on offer here we opted for roast chicken, roast potatoes, homemade onion and herb stuffing, sweet potato mash, broccolli, carrots & sweetcorn topped off with proper gravy (no oxo!!) and a few bottles of local red wine. It turned out great and we enjoyed raising a glass of wine with the family over the webcam!

Shannon (from Canada) joined us in the class for the third week, which again consisted of 5 hours a day with Friday being New Years day. The weather didn't quite live up to the first two weeks, so afternoons & evenings were spent between the beach, parks and socialising with the other students at college.

We brought in the New Year by having a group of the students round to our flat for drinks and food before once again taking in an impressive fireworks display at midnight which was followed by a trip to the bars/clubs of Ciudad Vieja which only opened at 1am. They seem to have many strange customs here, the drinking of Mate being numero uno, but another noted is that on New Year's Eve before they all go out and get drunk at midday they rip up their used diaries as well as all office paper that relates to the year and throw it out their windows and onto the streets! The streets were littered with paper on every street in town, it was quite strange! What would be called a security nightmare in the UK!!

On New Years day we relaxed by the coast and on the 2nd we headed to the Bodega Bouza Winery in the countryside of Montevideo. This is an experimental vineyard only recently opened and prides itself on quality over quantity. The scenery was as beautifu as the weather and we thoroughly enjoyed a break from the city. We had a tour of the facilities followed by a wine tasting session. We tasted 4 wines consisting of pure Tannat (a grape favoured in Uruguay)., Merlot and combinations of the two. Needless to say we say we enjoyed the wine tasting and look forward to more of the same in Argentina.

On the Sunday we explored some new areas of the city including a trip to Estadio Centenario – which is the Country's National Football stadium, the same one where they won the first ever World Cup in 1930. It got David thinking of how great it's going to be when England win the 2010 Cup!

The final week in college started with a painful Monday. We were joined by two new girls, a Finnish girl who was pleasant enough and a German lady who was possibly the most annoying person we have ever met. She just wouldn't shut up!! Following a brief complaint and a day of deep breaths and counting to ten we had Gaston to ourselves once more from Tues – Fri. We covered loads of material in this week at a fast pace, so much so that it's going to take some time to revisit it all. The weather once again picked up and with class finishing at 13:30 we were once again unleashed onto the beaches. We enjoyed a few nights out with some of the other students which left us very tired in college trying to survive on only a few hours sleep! For the Friday we prepared a hand made card for Gaston as a thank you which he got quite sentimental about!

We then took a bus to Punta Del Este which is 2 hours down the coast and is the Monte Carlo of South America where all the wealthy and famous go for the summer break. We booked a B&B just out of town and after settling in headed into town (the peninsula) to meet with Ida (Ian's wife's best buddy from San Francisco). We went for dinner with her before making our way home about 1:30am being tired after the week at college – for Ida however and most of Punta Del Este, this is the beginning of the night when they start to go out clubbing. The typical day there appears to be: clubbing from 1am – 9am, sleep until 5pm, beach for a few hours before grabbing a power nap from 7pm – 10pm after which they go out for dinner and then back to the club!! A ritual we may have sampled if we had a few nights there, but we were to head down the coast to Punta Del Diablo the following evening and so opted for a fairly early rise, hiring bikes and exploring the city & coast on wheels! In short, the day took a twist after we realised somewhere on the bike tour that David's wallet was missing! So the day then went as follows: a visit to our first South American police station, a trip back to see Ida – our Guardian Angel who saved us with a cash advance – as with no cash we couldn't pay for our last night's accommodation or any food! We were touched by the generosity of not only Ida but also the local Uruguayans and visiting Argentinians who couldn't do enough to help. The B&B owners were very kind to us and in light of the situation allowed us to camp for free in their back garden (we had the tent as were planning to camp in Punta Del Diablo) and gave us breakfast in the morning. After a negative response from the police that morning and having been able to change our bus tickets (and receive practically a 90% refund for those missed and cancelled – thank you kind women at COT buses!!) we headed back to Montevideo a day early as that is where our remaining bank cards and money are!

With only Monday & Tuesday left in Montevideo, we started getting ready to leave. We had some positive news on Tuesday when the hostel in Punta Del Este informed us that my wallet had been found and handed back in with all the money intact!! Amazing, not sure that would happen in London!! A bit late for the bank cards that have already been cancelled but nice to have back. We picked it up from some Argentinian Girls who were travelling back to Montevideo that evening. That afternoon we also enjoyed our final run down the Rambla, notching up 10km and then heading out to a Tango Club with Bjorn, Shannon and a few others. This was basically someone's house that has been converted into a Milonga which stays open until the last person goes home – Lynne impressed with her first Tango lesson!

So our Montevideo / Uruguay adventure comes to an end as we take the BuqueBus Ferry back across the Rio de la Plata to Buenos Aires.