Final thoughts

Well its been great,  Gaby, Jose' and Mattie and their family made me feel very welcome and we didn't let my lack of Spanish cause any problems.  Uruguay is a great city full of friendly people, interesting history, great shopping and pretty darn tastee food even thought there isn't much fruit and veggies. 

The journey home

The coffee may not have been the best idea,  even thought I have 2 seats to spread out on the coffee is preventing a good sleep, so several small naps is it.  Arrival in Miami means security and picking up our checked luggage,  I get in line which is like a cattle gate,  2 plane loads of people are working their way thru so it takes some time while standing in line the strap of one bag I'm carrying breaks, great makes it so much easier to carry.  I finally get up to the guy who asks where is my claim form....what claim form no one said anything about claim form so back I go to find the form, which is way past the entry to the line, so I find the form fill it out, find a new bag, transfer everything then back in line which doesn't' seem to have gotten any shorter.  I finally get to the front again this time its a much nicer man asking the questions than the previous one. He also tells me that if I would have used the electronic thing and stuck my passport in it I could have avoided the line...sheesh, you'd think the guy at the start of the line might have mentioned that.  So off to the luggage carousel, I of course walk the wrong way get to one end and find out my luggage is at the other, finally get my suitcase and off thru another gate, they ask if I have luggage to check I say yes they say go this way, then thru another gate still no one offering to take my luggage, no one ever did, while it was a pain in Miami, it was great when landing in Toronto,  no need to find the luggage carousel.  WestJet was waiting right there so getting rid of my suitcase this time was easy.  Several hrs later I'm once again in the air and almost home yiphee.  By the time I reach home its been almost 27 hrs....My house never looked so good even if the grass is almost to my knees, apparently they got a lot of rain while I was away.

Departure day, Farewell Uruguay

Well its my last day and as with all good things you wonder how they could possibly pass by so quickly.  We had a leisurely start to the day, breakfast, Gaby finished my hat, Mattie had a nap then we headed off to the mall to pick up the last minute things I wanted...alfiehor (cakes), deluce de leche, and what ever other sugar filled delights I thought I could get in my suitcase.  We hit the big supermarket and as with most bigger stores in Uruguay you have to put your bags/coats etc in a locker, as theft is a big thing.  Turns out the deluce de leche isn't in the light weight packages we are looking for but we pass the local grocery store on the way home so will pick it up later.  They do have a wide variety of sugar filled items so the trip is successful as far as I'm concerned.  We decided to stop at the food court for lunch,  Gaby and Jose' go for Mexican I pick a place called something something PEPE which is a nic name for Jose'  I have Chorizo and cheese on a bun.....only seems right to have this one last time. and its delish..yes its all about the food. We then make our way home, we stop at a small park with all sorts of art, then a quick stop to pick up my caramel, and they pick up supplies to feed Gaby's mom and grandfather the next day as its grandparents day in Uruguay....does anyone know when that is in Canada?  We spend the rest of the day relaxing and waiting for out car to take me and Gaby to the airport.  I get a little misty as we pull away....Gaby laughs at me and says not again....I cried when she left Canada.  Once at the airport we get the tickets and Gaby and I have a coffee and share one last dessert at Cafe' Macdonalds...Uruguay has a regular MacDonalds, a Café MacDonalds which serves various coffees and desserts and an other one that serves just their ice cream treats.   Its one last picture and I convince Gaby its time to leave,  she is taking the bus home and I don't want her out late after dark.....she of course is not concerned as she is use to it.  I then head off  for a short wait and then its farewell Uruguay.

Chorizo, bacon and cheese.....

can't you just feel the arteries hardening

interesting fact if you want ketchup you have to ask for it,

its not a given in Uruguay

Jose' opted for nachos with cheese and a buritto

quesadilla for Gaby

mmmmmm more cheese

Pepe = Jose'

 

I've always wondered what a

hamster feeling like in their wheels

this person is stuck in the ground

 

Frankie makes an appearance

Gaby finishing up my hat

Meet Charlie, he was my fill in

so I wouldn't miss Gracie

One last shot in the airport

Day 5, More eating and shopping, and a little tourist stuff....end off with the ballet

 So today is my last full day and it is jam packed.  We are up early and on the bus to downtown.  We start off at the Gaucho museum.  This is dedicated to the early cowboys of the area,  the buckles knives, stir ups etc. that are made of silver are beautiful, so much detail.  The museum also has a part dedicated to 1950 which is when Uruguay won FIFA playing the final game against the favorite Brazil...they are very proud and who can blame them.  There is also a room set up as a bank office from 1950 which has all sorts of things that the public is allowed to play with. In one room its set up as a dining room and there are hats from the 50's...Gaby and I have a thing about hats so we are very excited to try on every one, several are to small for my fat head but a couple look ok.  From there we meet up with Ale and Gaby's mom (Adriana), we head off to old Montevideo.  This is the original part of the city with streets of cobblestone that have no cars.  You pass thru the original gate way(Puera De La Ciudadela) to enter this area.  There are street vendors, small shops and all sorts of things to see.  You definitely notice a difference in the style of the buildings.   Gaby and her family are keeping a sharp eye on me to make sure I'm not robbed as we wander down the streets.  Adriana stops at one of the street vendors and buys me a beautiful ornament which is a tree made of amethyst.  It is a tree of life and is meant to bring happiness and long life.  I am very touched by this.  We stop at a statue which has a mausoleum under it, this is Mausoleo De Artigas,  from this statue you can see the presidents old office area as well as the new one.  Ale and their mom notice a Canadian flag we find out later it where the Canadian Conciliate is.  Other things we see are Palacio Salvo, Place Independentcia, Plaza Matriz and have a great view of down the main street of Montevideo (called 18 the july).  We also check out one of the older Catholic Churches in the area,  while there we are trying to figure out what something is an a nice stranger tells us what we want to know,  and she tells us in English, so I could understand. We then wander thru a park which is full of exercise equipment, like a gym outdoors,  of course we try everything.  My favorite was a arm exercise which Gaby's mom and I tried,  she was unable to move the equipment very much, but was later insistent on carrying my shopping bag because it was to heavy to carry.....she definitely has her priorities straight when it comes to using your strength.   We stopped at an area for lunch which consist of several food areas with table service in the middle called Mercado Del Puerto.  We start with chorizo and a plate of melted provolone with bacon on top,  we then move on to Brasero...bbq meat,  with grilled peppers and a bake potato.  The meat is all beef, some steak, some ribs.  Ale has ordered fries and I've gotten a sweet potato.  All is delish but there is enough left for at least 2 more meals.  As usual I am stuffed.  We stop to look around a couple more shops and next thing I know Ale has a gift for me,  a beautiful bookmark with a replica of a picture that was done by one of their famous artists. Again unexpected and touched.  Ale and Adriana head off and Gaby and I hop a bus home.  We have to get ready for the ballet.  Another bus ride and we are at the theatre.  I'm excited as this is my first ballet.  We are seeing The Maisia. Its interesting although I'm disappointed the men are wearing loose pants not tights.  Gaby is disappointed as it is a modern ballet so there are no fancy costumes or elaborate sets, basically there is neither,  everyone is in white, which due to lighting look yellow or green at times.  I think I may have to go to another one at some point just to see what she was talking about, also there are no tutu's,  Gaby informs me they are only at Swan Lake...who knew?
It was worth the 4 or 5 flights of stairs that they made me climb to get to the seats.  There was also little packages of Kleenex on each floor,  I ended up with about 6 packages, Gaby only got 4 lol.  After the ballet it was back home another meal and off to bed

Me and the Gaucho's

Some of the hats I mentioned

 

Gaby should try and find one like this,

 suits her doncha think

Ale Adriana and me,

 I think the building is Palacio Salvo

Canadian Consulate

 

the gateway to Old Montevideo..

looking out

Me Gaby and Adriana

I this fountain was supplied by the Masons

Exercising in the park

Adriana having a few problems with this one

this one was better

Ale and Adriana with our appetizers

I think Ale was a little hungry

look at all that meat

a happy full bunch

one of the bbq's

After the ballet

Day 4 Shopping and supper

So after our busy day yesterday and the fact that it was suppose to rain in the morning we had a late start this morning.  Since Mattie was still fighting  a cold her and Jose' stayed home.  Gaby and I caught a bus downtown and went to city hall, unfortunately we were to late to take a tour but in the lobby there was artisans from one of the states selling their products,  everything from wooden furniture, to jewelry to  knit/woven items.  I bought myself a silver ring from one of the vendors,  silver is a big thing here.  After we went to the tourist information area and got some information on what to see.  The tourist guy was very good, and spoke English.  Gave us maps and pointed out where to go and what to see and where to avoid.  Some of the things we'd already seen and some were on our to do list for tomorrow, and there was a few things to see today. our biggest stop was a Artisan Market.  They had some great stuff but since I have limited space and money most of my time was spent looking.  In the market you pick out what you want give it to the person in that area, they write out a receipt with the price then your off to the next one and do the same, when your done you go to the cash office and pay, then its back to all the sellers to collect your stuff, that way if there is anything you forgot to pick up you can get it on the next round, mind you you could spend the whole day going back and forth and never get out of there lol.   We then went and looked at other shops, some of the big buildings have many little shops on the ground floor and you walk thru a hallway with all of the shops lined up and end up a block away.  Gaby offered to make me a hat so we had to go to a wool store,  it was a tiny little store, long and narrow, you would go to the door where the sales lady was and then tell her what you wanted she'd go get it and bring it to the door and you would then pay for it, my only complaint is I like to touch the different types of wool.  After an afternoon of shopping we headed back and got ready for supper at Bar Los Yuyos which I think they said was one of the oldest places in the city.  They are apparently well known for their flavored drinks.  Gaby and Jose' had a sweeter one than me, can't remember what they are called, mine was Grappa, with a lemon flavor.  I suppose you could compare it to a flavored vodka.  Mine was good but strong, definitely a sipping drink we started our meal with Chorizo after we moved on to Chivito Canadiense and Grama Jo, and Sangria.  This restaurant had a huge bbq to cook the meat and veggies on, which I think is fairly common.  Of course we had dessert, I went for Masini, which was a thin pound cake with lots of whip cream.  Them it was off to home and bed.  full and sleepy.

City Hall, I am on the step in the middle(I think)

You know how in SK they saying is Green is the color,

in Uruguay the sign says baby blue is the color,

referring to their flag color and their soccer team colors

This is the fountain of locks,

 apparently newly wed couples put a lock with their initials

 on the fence around the fountain

 and then I think they come back in a year and

 it brings them luck and a happy marriage, very cool

 

 F

The wool shop

Our supper,

 on the left is Chivito Canadian: salad, fries, a slab of beef,

 ham (could be Canadian Bacon) and a fried egg,

on the right is Gramajo fries with bacon, ham cheese

 and scrambled with an egg.

Me and Gaby enjoying our sangria

Mattie dancing on the stool, with her dad

The bbq, on the left is piles of meat, peppers and potatoes

 

Day 3 streetmarkets, drives by the river, fresh fish lunch and a trip to the top of the world....ok the top of the hill

so today Ceci has volunteered to drive  us around, and she starts the day by bringing us breakfast, bizcochos, which are croissants , some sprinkled with sugar and filled with deluce de leche (they put this stuff on /in everything) also there are some filled with either cheese, ham or salami....all are delish.  We then head off to the Sunday street market called Feria De Tristan Naryaja.  Now for those of you who have been to street markets in Mexico, Arizona etc you know what I'm talking about.  For me this was a first,  these things go on for literally miles.  There is stuff that you would find in a garage sale, some is crap, some things that were obviously grandmas dishes/utensils, crafts, clothing (new and used) souvenirs, fresh fruit/veggies, washers dryers, hand made wooden furniture, street food, puppies, bunnies, chickens, budgies, snakes, fish and the list goes on.  It was amazing.  I found some nice boots, a Uruguay hoodie, some gifts,  There was a few puppies I could have happily brought home but Grace has forbid me from bringing any dogs home so it wasn't an option.  We must have spent close to 3 hrs wandering and sorry no pictures of this, I was so busy looking I forgot to take pictures.  Gaby's other sister Ale joined us after she finished work. We then hopped in the car and were off for lunch, today's menu was seafood which meant a fairly long drive to another part of the city. On the way we passed several beaches, a giant Montevideo sign, which they said we could stop at on the way back.  The restaurant was and indoor outdoor type so we were able to sit outside and enjoy the weather.  I had sole and fries,  the biggest pieces of fish I think I've ever ate, they were delish. The others had various fish and chip items, all were good. Ale and Ceci had some kinda pancake thing for dessert (where they put it all I don't know, and how they stay so slim is another mystery to me),  Ale's had burnt sugar and ice cream and Ceci had deluce de leche, Surprisingly I didn't like these, who'd have thought you could find something with sugar I wouldn't like.  We then got back in the car and went to the Montevideo sign at Playa Pocitos where Gaby, Ale and I ran across a busy highway to take pictures on the sign.  Then back on the road again, this time to Fortalez Del Cerro De Montevideo which is a big hill from which you can see the whole city and the sea,  simply amazing.  There was a military museum or something there which we didn't' bother to go in, but we did climb around outside and check things out.  After Ceci dropped us off and we just chilled for the rest of the night which wasn't long for me after all the walking and fresh air I was pooped

Me Gaby Matti and Jose' on our way to the restaurant...

seem like a good place to stop for a picture,

one of the few pictures my hair doesn't even look bad,

check out the new Uruguay hoodie

Seafood Restaurant Puerto Del Bugeo

Ale holding Mattie, Gaby, Ceci and Jose'

Gaby and I

 

resting after climbing up on the sign and trying to get down without falling

Fortaleza Del Cerro De Montevideo

Gaby, Me and Ceci with the city and the sea behind us

me getting rid of Gaby's pesky sister Ceci

Ceci trying to throw me off the rocks....apparently I

shouldn't have tried to shoot her with the cannon

 

One last shot of the view from the top,

 picture doesn't do it justice it was amazing

Day 2, Uruguayian BBQ and Soccer

Good morning
so today we headed off to the supermarket for BBQ supplies,  even going to  a grocery story is fun in a different country.  Their grocery stores are like our super stores in that they have a little of everything,  videos, furniture, bikes and of course food just to name a little.  Seeing all the different packaging and types of food they have is fun too.  Being the weekend and the weekend of a big soccer game the place was packed so we didn't spend to much time there.  Then back home to start the bbq, on the way home Gaby's sister Ceci came buy, she picked up Jose and took him home so they could start the bbq while Gaby and I walked home with  Mattie.   Their bbq is done on a big brick bbq, they don't use brickets or gas,  they start a bunch of wood on fire in the middle and has read hot coals break off they pull it under the cooking area. For our lunch we started off with melted provolone cheese, they have a dish that looks like a giant escargot plate, they put little pieces of cheese in each hole put it on the bbq and when it melts they scoop it out with a little for...very taste,  also for starters we had chorzo sausage, which is also great.  then there is beef ribs (all beef is referred to as just meat,  chicken and pork isn't included in this) there was also roasted peppers with provolone melted on top, and potatoes cut into little hash brown size pieces and corn on the cob.  By the time we finished eating the cheese and sausage it has turned cold so we move inside for the rest of the meal,  its all so good, and filling.  We decide to have dessert at the mall where we are going to watch Uruguay play soccer against Costa Rica.  Gaby has said we will go to a the bar called La Psiva, which is more of what we'd consider a licensed restaurant in the mall, its right by the food court, both are filled with people there to watch the game.   We paint our faces with blue and white stripes to represent their flag, with our noses yellow to represent the sun on the flag.  Most people in restaurant aren't painted but the food court has people painted up.  There are TV's all over and it doesn't seem that people are paying much attention until Uruguay makes there first score then the whole mall gives a big roar of approval,  pretty impressive.  I am fascinated by the food in this place, huge platters of food is being served with looks like French fries, salad and a big slice of beef, some also have bacon and eggs on top. There is also some kind of dessert that may be ice cream that is piled about 6-8 inches high.  We start off with just a drink,  I try my first coffee which is more like an espresso.  Then at half time we order desserts,  I have a choc, brownie with a layer of whip cream (made with milk and eggs) then choc sauce and of course deluce de leche (their carmelized milk..to die for).  After the game we wander around the mall for a while,  because its fall their I find a nice pair of summer shoes on sale. Then we all head back to the house  for a movie and another meal....can't believe I was hungry again.

the bbq and patio area, mmm

 

getting our faces painted for the big game

Jose', Ceci and me

now that's a beer,  needless to say you share a bottle of beer in Uruquay

 

Ceci, Me and Gaby(holding Matti), I tried to bring a little rider spirit to their game