Study Abroad in Santiago, Chile and Travels in South America 2013: Uruguay/Montevideo: So Underrated

Hola todos,

The day after I changed my flight to leaving a week later than planned, I went to Uruguay! The people I met at Iguazu and went to the tango show with were going and I joined them. We took a ferry to Colonia which is a small, old town where all the ferries from Buenos Aires arrive. The ferry ride was nice... I think (I slept the entire way). The ride is about two hours and we arrived at around 2:30 and went for a walk around. It was beautiful, but quite cold because the ocean is all around, and there are no big buildings to protect us from the wind. We went out for dinner, in which I obviously got meat. It was steak wrapped around onion, cheese, and other things similar to a sandwich that I forgot the name of. They decided to get a parrilla, which is a mix of a lot of different meats. This one was much more unique than the average parrilla. It included cow intestine, heart, brain, and then the usual other things.
I had already tried the intestine at the buffet, and knew I didn't like it. But, I figured, well hey, not only have I never tried cow heart or brain before and may not have the chance to ever try it again, but also, how many people can say that they have tried cow heart and brain. At least this was the thought my own brain was persuading me with while I tried them. They weren't that great. Aside from the fact that they were brain and heart, they just weren't really that good. I have kind of pushed the taste and texture out of my brain so I can't exactly recall them. It was an interesting experience to say the very least.
Afterwards, we walked down to the water which was gorgeous of course. There were many old churches and houses and we stopped for a coffee at a quaint cafe. It was a nice beginning day in Uruguay.
The next day, we went to Montevideo which was so wonderful. I loved it. We took the bus there at 8:30AM and arrived at 11:30AM. When we arrived, we took a bus down to the main area of attraction including the city's center, the central park and the historic district. We arrived at a the beginning of the city's center on one of the main streets, 18 de Julio. It was filled with old churches and beautiful old buildings. We saw a store and went in to see what was going on with fashion there. Of course there was leopard, but thankfully not as much. As I was looking around (the others had gone to a store nearby) I realized how cheap everything was! Therefore, I ended up buying two shirts, a dress, a pair of pants, and a bunch of underwear (the laundromat I went to in Buenos Aires decided to steal all of mine) for US$75! One of the shirts was US$3.50!
Before walking more, we stopped and got sandwiches called Chivitas which are common there. It had a piece of lomito, which is a cut of meat, lettuce, tomato, mayonnaise and a hard-boiled egg cut into it. Very tasty. We continued on down the main street with the intent to eventually make it to the historic district. We continued to pass beautiful old buildings and then stopped at the Art History Museum, which was spectacular. They had an ancient Egypt section, an ancient Roman and Greek statue area and art of a few other ancient societies. It was small, but packed with beautiful art. Afterwards, we continued our walk and passed more and more beautiful buildings. The main park of course was wonderful and we stopped at an artisanal market.
The main street ended at the beginning of the Historic District. It then became a pedestrian walk way filled with street stands, little restaurants and places to buy Uruguayan things. It was very cute. After some time walking down this street, we saw the ocean past a side street and decided to go see it. Oh my goodness it was beautiful. Of course we timed it perfectly and the sun was setting so the entire sky was pink and orange with an endless body of water spotted with sail boats. It was just one of those sites that you hope to never forget.
We returned to the main walkway and eventually made it to where we planned on eating, the Mercado del Puerto which apparently is full of connected restaurants with super cheap food. Sadly, it had closed. (Places close early there.) Instead, we went to a restaurant where I got chicken covered in mushrooms, and potatoes noisette which are little baked potatoes balls. We relaxed there for a little bit and then caught a bus to get back to the bus station for an 8:30 bus home.
Montevideo was wonderful and I think it is completely underrated. No one says anything bad about it necessarily, it's just not talked about nor considered essential to visit. Well, they are wrong. I considered it to be a smaller, cleaner, quieter Buenos Aires, equally full of old buildings with beautiful Gothic architecture. I would say it's a must-visit.
The next day before we took the ferry back to Buenos Aires, we had a little time in Colonia and walked around a bit more. We were lucky and had beautiful the entire weekend.