MONTEVIDEO

We were very excited to be heading to Montevideo because our friends Nacho and Stefi live there. We met them in Airlie Beach whilst travelling in our van in Australia and had kept in touch. Nacho was a rad surfer and Stefi was a rad human and it had been over a year since we parted ways in Byron Bay. Since returning to their home town 6 months ago, they have set up a business; a travelling coffee shop called 'Café Nomade' on the back of a tuktuk.

That weekend they had a huge gig at the very first Dgusto food fair. Unfortunately when we arrived to meet them, some bad shit had gone down. The organisers had provided power sockets at 400W and everything in Uruguay runs on 220W so when they plugged in their (super expensive) coffee machine, it basically fried the electrics. Which meant not only was their machine shot, they couldn't make any coffee for the many many people at the fair who wanted coffee. It was heartbreaking as they had been working towards this for weeks.

We wandered round the fair whilst they tried to call in favours from friends and borrow a machine while the organisers were sorting out the power issue. We came across Asado, a BBQ cooked over wood rather than coals. Off course we had to try it, as Nacho and Stefi had even told us about it in Australia... we had waited a year for this! It didn't disappoint, huge chunks of beef and lamb with different spicy rubs served with sweet potato also done on the BBQ. YUMMMM! There was also live music and, rather strangely, it was all English covers. 

On the walk back we witnessed alfresco tango-ing in the square, a beautiful sight of 70 and 80 somethings shuffling/dancing around without a care in the world whilst much younger 20 somethings skulked past, headphones in, caring little for the old pastimes of their country.

We met up with a couple named Erin and Aaron who we'd spent a while talking with in the hostel that morning. They were CYCLING around South America!! We sat in amazement hearing about their past 9 months and all the adventures they'd had. Their blog is here and is well worth a look to see their bike pics and read about their insane adventures. Back at the hostel we shared dinner with them and learned more about how the hell you can cycle a continent.

Sundays in Montevideo are all about the markets and chilling by the water front. So we did both. The market on Tristan Narvaja street wasn't too far from Ciudad Vieja the area we were staying so we trundled over via Independence Square. 

As we turned into Tristan Narvaja street the air was filled with Asado bbq and music was being made somewhere in the warren of stalls. There was the usual fruit and veg area and food stalls found in all markets, but then came the car boot section. People were selling such random stuff, from mismatched tiles, creepy cuddly toy collections, old car registration plates, various glass bottles, tango records, and general crap that people had no hope in hell of ever selling.

Along the market streets, there were also many gorgeous bookshops which we enjoyed exploring.

Once we were marketed out we went in search of a beverage. Will came back to our table pleased with himself at first for speaking Spanish, then after looking up a word in our phrase book, realised he had told the waitress he was sitting at a bed outside.

Down at the water front, people were making good use of the 'skate rink' and sitting around drinking mate. Pronounced mat-ay. This needs some explaining as the first time we saw this was in Argentina after crossing from Brazil. But here it really is everywhere. Literally 4 out of 5 groups of people you pass, one person will be holding a thermos flask and sucking on a metal 'straw' called a bombilla, stuck in a leather cup filled with tea leaves and hot water. It is an obsession! Some people even have special leather carry cases for all the tea drinking paraphernalia and you can buy the kit everywhere. There are certain rituals that must be followed when drinking in a group, where the person in charge (the cebador) prepares the first cup and drinks it themself, then refills and passes to the next person and so on. It's funny because you couldn't imagine literally every group of two people you passed in the UK has got a whole tea making set with them. At all times of the day, on every street, in every park, on the bus, at work. It's unbelievable!

We walked along the waterfront in the direction of the Old City. We took a detour through some quiet sleepy side streets then suddenly were met with a loud banging and thumping as a smiley mob marched towards us. An old lady and man lead the way dancing through the street in traditional attire, followed by a mass of drummers of all ages. Later Nacho and Stefi said that area has a lot of residents of African descent and that style of drumming is very important to them so they keep it alive on Sundays. We rounded a corner and were confronted by another similar procession competing to wake up the neighbors from their afternoon siesta. 

We rejoined the waterfront again and sat with the locals to watch the setting sun.

We met up with Nacho and Stefi for lunch on Monday after their crazy weekend of work. They took us to Escaramuza a bookshop and restaurant with an amazing chef. It was in a beautiful setting, passing through the bookshop and out through the lovely restaurant to the courtyard out the back. Ivy was growing up the walls and Nacho ordered a round of Camparis, and the rest, as they say, is history. It was 2nd November, the day of the dead in Mexico so the restaurant was decorated with skulls and skeletons. We were also introduced to dulce de leite volcano pudding and it was to die for!

It begun to tip it down later in the day so we made a mad dash back to their flat, where we hid out, watching films and drinking coffee until it was safe to venture outside again for a late night snack of muzzarella - a deep base square pizza cut into soldiers and eaten with fainá, a sort of flat bread made with chickpea flour. A couple of beers later and we were ready for bed.

In the morning we headed up the coast for a few days to see what the rest of Uruguay had to offer.

Thanks for having us guys!