Day life and night life in Montevideo

Few weeks ago I went to spend some more days in Montevideo and I had tremendous time.

It was Thursday morning and I felt that it was a perfect day to find out if hitchhiking works here. It works :) Actually, you can always see some people on the road going from one place to another one 'a dedo'. Moreover, sometimes you see teachers from rural school who travel  ‘a dedo’ . So I tried and arrived. I shared some mate, learned something more about Uruguay and enjoyed those sharing moments which one can experience on the road. In 3,5 hours I was in Montevideo, by bus it takes about 3 hours. And what makes hitchhiking here easier is that there are no highways.

Life in Montevideo has a different rhythm than life in Colonia. There lives a half of all Uruguayan population. It is a city of students and young people, who come there to study, work or try a life in a big city. So I stepped in and let the life flow.


Greengrocer's

I visited the faculty of Psychology which was recommended to me even before arriving in Uruguay. It has a tremendous ‘patio’ with trees and flowers where one can just sit, relax, study … This faculty is said to be a place of alternative relaxed people and one can smell it passing around. By the way there is a perfect coffee place close to the faculty − of course :) - called 'verde'. I can recommend it. I was lucky because just on Friday evening there was a seminar of Biodanza which I hadn’t known before, but I wanted to try. Biodanza is a technique based on the philosophy of the body mind connection and dancing/working within a group. I enjoyed so much to let everything flow and communicate nonverbally and to be able to express everything.  

And after the dancing encounter the Friday night continued with Slovakian girls who do their EVS in Montevideo. Our daughterhood was strengthened by sharing mate and bottle of wine sitting in the park and waiting for the night to become. We went to a concert which was supposed to start at 2am, but as it was Uruguayan time, it started at 3am. It is something very typical here that people go out late… it means about 2 in the morning. Clubs are open till 6 or later. It is a bit ridiculous for me, because if I want to go out, I don’t want to wait all night. However, it is also funny to be in the middle of a concert at 4am. The band we went to listen to is a Uruguayan ‘Abuela Coca’ . Tremendous, I felt in love and since then I listened to it every day.



Czechoslovakian girls in Montevideo :)

Sunday market Tristan Narvaja



On Sunday morning I could not miss the traditional market Tristan Narvaja which is a place where one can enjoy different colors, smells, hand-made jewels, second hand books, live music... You can see people who you see the day before collecting things from the garbage bin to sell them in this market. 

Making the living

 And the Sunday night we went to ‘candombe’.  Candombe has its roots in Africa, because as there was lot of slaves from Africa brought in the era of colonization, they used to gather on Sunday and play their music (drumming on tambores), sing and dance. This tradition survived and nowadays candombe is an essential part of the carnival which takes place in February. There are different groups / comparsas of candombe which play every Sunday in different neighborhoods, and prepare for the main event in February. So on Sunday evening people gather, drink grappa miel to warm up and accompany the drum players by dancing, laughing and being happy… after 2 hours when candombe is finished, the party continues... 

Candombe - warming up tambores

Typical Sunday in Uruguay includes lunch with family. The main dish is usually 'asado' (barbecued beef) made outside accompanied with red wine 'tanat' and as a dessert ice-cream 'dulce de leche'. After that people go out to enjoy the sun and 'tomar mate' with bizcochos in Rambla. As Uruguayans have teir roots in Spain and Portugal, to go out means to ride a car. If you are not sure what the day of the week is, Sunday you can recognize by many low-speeding cars passing close to Rambla.


Sunday afternoon

Winter afternoon in Montevideo :)

Manu - Peanuts are very popular in Uruguay. The most common nuts you can find here. In Montevideo there are lot of older men who have their carriages and sell them fried with sugar. Delicious.

I know that I repeat myself, however I adore this river. It fascinates me.

Montevideo

Río de la Plata in Montevideo



Yachting



Colours of Buenos Aires

One Thursday morning I took a ferry and in one hour I was in another country and in another world. I came back to Buenos Aires to visit some organizations working
Honestly, I was not particularly excited by going there and thought that it would be my last time, because from my previous experience I felt that this huge city is too crazy for me. However, Buenos Aires without jet-lag, knowledge of rioplatense vocabulary and accent, with knowledge of local habits, culture and with smiling local people, makes the experience very different. I had a tremendous time and want to come back :)

I went to visit some organizations working with youth in San Isidro (it is one of the quarter of BA). San Isidro is a `barrio` where two extremes meet - poverty and richness. There are people who have houses with swimming pools in the garden, brand new models of cars, and in the next street you can see houses made of the mixture of wood, plastic, bricks, carton, metal plates…well, everything one can find in the street. Instead of asphalt routes and pathways, you walk on the tamped soil, services there are rather modest (like water supply, canalization), however, TV and internet signal can be reached there. Even it seems that one world excludes the other one, they meet there, separated, by a wall (literally).

Shoes on the power lines mark places where drug dealers are... how many are here? 

Well, Argentina is full of those extremes – luxurious things on one side which I haven’t seen on my proper eyes in Europe, because it is just high class for me, and on the other side lot of people living from day to day – having their `home` in the park in the downtown of Buenos Aires, children passing through the train distributing small papers where is written that they ask for some cents to buy bread and milk for their families,…

These `villas` many times appeared when people came to Buenos Aires because there were some promises of employment, better life in BA, …but the economy did not work so well, and they ended up there. Moreover, there people who are drug addicted, drug sellers, thieves, people who have never worked, children who hardly know to read, but know how to obtain bread for today. In Buenos Aires there are `villas` (shantytowns) which are not recommended to enter. And as I understood, when they are recommended not to enter, it is better to obey, because there are some where even police do not enter.  

One wall in the community centre `Puertas al arte` near the `villa` in San Isidro

In San Isidro I had a chance to see how some organizations together with the local government works on community development - social inclusion of people from this `villa`, improving living conditions, providing opportunities for changes. It is hard for me to give opinions, because I saw just one part of the problematic. Nevertheless, I met some people with huge heart who do their jobs because they believe in their ideals and they manage to support some people who want to change their life-cycle. Longer and longer I am living here, more difficult is to give a sort of opinion of what is good/right and what is bad/wrong. However, one thing I am starting to be sure that what is always worth and important is the possibility to choose. In this case, the possibility to choose one’s direction and conditions of life. And I believe that the work of all those organizations serve as a source of possibilities.

Murals are something very common iin Buenos Aires and you can see some pieces of art walking in the streets.

After my two working days I had holiday and I enjoyed the city... I learned to use underground, I tried different places with coffees and I can tell you that the culture of cosy places where to take a glass of wine, go for a concert, enjoy morning breakfast, have an afternoon coffee... is much more extended than in Uruguay. BA is the city of everything. As it is so big, you can find alternatives and alternatives of alternatives ... I could feel the spirit of culture and art in the air. Let's see what warmer weather will bring.

I like all these murals. They make the city much more colourful and vivid.

Old houses in `La Boca`. This distict is known for its colours. Many years ago there was an important port. Sailors used to paint boats with different colours and as they did not use all of them, locals came and used different rests to paint their facades. And that's how the disctrict became so colourful.

Tango has its strong roots in Buenos Aires.

The man in the middle is one of the most famous tango singer - Carlos Gardel. There are neverending discussions if he was Uruguayan or Argentinian. Well, a lot depends where you are :)

 

This district is called `La Boca` - very turistical place.

Adrián Berra - Argentinian band

On Sunday morning and during the day there is a traditional market in San Telmo. You can find many many things there - handicrafts, old books, LPs, second-hand market,... and when you walk, you will begin listening something... This time it was Balkan music. This band does not have a name yet, but I guess they will become famous :)


Balkan music in Argentinian streets



How long?
Colours of BA - I quite fit, don't you think so?

Me? No, you :) A five-minute's break.

Well, more I know, more I want to learn. Argentina is a huge country with many differences. I hope that one day I will be able to understand it better. However, now it is time to come back to Uruguay.

This is from one of the cultural centre I visited near the `villa`. And this mural is from one guy coming there. It wants to say something like `let the good spirit be a dessert of our lives`.