Uruguay

Visited: September 2019

Duration of visit: 7 days

Capital city: Montevideo

Population: 3.5 million (2019)

Estimated reading time: 10 minutes

• High expectations about a Latin-American success story, rich, educated and open-minded population, turned out into a disappointment.
• Due to the off season and harsh conditions, no backpackers or serious foreign tourists were spotted.
• Ex-president José Alberto Pepe Mujica, better known as the World’s poorest president.
• Back to the nature in Cabo Polonio.
• Punta del Este – Monte Carlo of the South – ghost town in off season.
• In December 2013 Uruguay became the first country in the World to fully legalize cannabis and opened the door for Cannabis tourism.

Uruguay was my last country to visit in South America. It was always too far, too expensive or simply not attractive enough to honor it the visit during years of living and travelling around Latin America. During an overland trip from Colombia to Buenos Aires, I finally decided to tick off the last unexplored destination in the area, tucked away between Brazil and Argentina.

One of the most progressive, super liberal nations in the world that won two World Cups, is the smallest Spanish speaking country in South America, second smallest (after Suriname) and Latin America’s safest country.

The biggest consumer of beef per capita in the world, where people seem to be obsessed with mate (tea, made from the leaves of the yerba mate plant), which is drunk at any occasion.

… on the continent. After crossing the border at Chuy, I managed to change dollars to pesos and explored this border town for an hour before boarding a bus to Punta del Diablo. It was late and I don’t like arriving to a new country or a new place at night, but Uruguay is safe, organized and the system works on time, no improvisation.

It is that strange feeling of almost being back to Europe, where you can’t just flag down a bus in the middle of the road or where taxis don’t horn after passengers on every corner.

Punta del Diablo was dark, really dark and cold, when I got off the bus. Nobody to ask for location of the hostel, dogs barking in the distance. I started to walk using Google navigation and somehow found the only lighted house in the area. Three young guys attended me in a simple wooden made house.

Fifteen minutes later, I was offered a joint for the first time.

“Gracias, but I don’t smoke!”

Shocked faces looked at me and I could read in their eyes that strange expression that accompanied me many times in the following days:

“Why did you come to Uruguay then, if you don’t smoke marihuana?”

I was there in the off season and not interested in number 1 attraction of Uruguay – marihuana. Crazy!

The next day, I realized how beautiful Punta del Diablo really is. Long sandy beach, unique well-designed houses, built from different materials and designed in any style you can imagine. Dirt streets made the area even more remote, connected with nature and pure.

A few lazy dogs stared at me, as well as a few locals who live there the whole year. Tourists come in the summer and the rest of the year the area is like a ghost town. Anti-Punta del Este and center for backpackers’ beach scene.

There are many myths about every country in the world. I was advised on various occasions that in Uruguay, you just stand on the side of the road, and within minutes, somebody will give you a lift to your direction. This myth came to an end when I was trying to get a lift, while waiting for buses that were probably even more scarce in the off season. Not a single car stopped or gave me a sign that was going somewhere in my direction. Cold weather and rain finally pushed me off the road.

Cabo Polonio sits at the end of a peninsula in the middle of nowhere. No electricity, no roads, a kind of hippy destination where a sea lion colony, sandy beach with beautiful dunes and a fantastic sunset view from the lighthouse deceived me for two days.

Another ghost town with the most persistent inhabitants that dare to stay over the winter.

A polish manager of the guesthouse offered me good quality cannabis during the tour and explained me about how the place works. They are full of tourists in the summer and full moon parties must be heaven for joint lovers. Specially Brazilians and Argentines, who are known as cannabis tourists, flock to Cabo at the end of the year.

He used to live all around South America, but finally decided to settle down in Cabo, where everyone knows everybody, where he can walk around barefoot, smoke a joint without being bothered and take his daughter to a nearby school with 10 other kids.

Quiet, simple and back-to-nature life without threats of 21^st century globalization, should help him to raise an open minded, educated and liberal girl. He is an interesting pal, who traveled long enough to dislike his home country lifestyle and adopt hippy style values at this relaxed location.

Punta del Este: beach, sun, celebrities and famous night life.

Not in early September!

It was cold and windy, most of the hotels closed, another ghost town. A bored receptionist accompanied me to a dormitory room with a smell of mole and saturated air. Taking a shower was as much experience as cooking pasta for dinner.

My new Argentinian friend, Jose, explained me the tricks of turning on the hot water and starting the gas stove. He moved to Uruguay to avoid Argentinian never ending financial crisis and economic instability, but living in this hole doesn’t convince me that he found prosperity in Punta del Este.

It’s hard for Argentinians to find a job these days and also expensive to spent their devaluated pesos in Uruguay, which has turned out to be the most expensive country in Latin America, while I was visiting it. A successful story from any perspective: democracy, economic stability, safety and winning football team in recent competition is just one side of the story.

La Mano de la Arena is the most famous landmark, constructed by Chilean Artist Mario Irarrazabal. I can’t imagine how busy this place is in the summer.

Witnessing the beautiful sunset without the presence of large crowds was the highlight of my stay in Punta del Este.

Casapueblo – Uruguayan artist Carlos Paez Villaro’s villa and art gallery – built on a top of the cliff with spectacular views to the ocean, was well worth the visit as well. Getting inside was a little bit of a tourist trap, since only a small part is open to the public and the admission is not cheap at all. Walking through the corridors of perfectly white painted rooms, balconies and galleries, while exploring the life of local artist warmed me up.

Villaro had an incredible life, travelling around the world and getting in touch with so many internationally recognized artists.

Montevideo is the capital city of one of South American most progressive countries. I ended in a rundown guesthouse again and decided to upgrade to a newer one for the rest of the stay. Downtown is quite small and easy walkable. Due to cold, rainy and windy conditions I didn’t enjoy walking around too much.

Located on La Plaza Independencia, under the equestrian statue of the Uruguayan national hero, the Mausoleum of José Gervasio Artigas consists of a room with allegorical motifs about his life. The remains of the father of the Uruguayan country are guarded by a permanent honor guard of the Artigas Blandengues Regiment.

After the return to democracy, the use of the name, image, figure and remains of the hero, who glorified a dictatorship that implied denying democratic ideology, was greatly questioned. There were various opportunities to transfer the remains to other locations, but none of the government decided to do it. I believe, it is a great example of Uruguayan democracy, showing that the party in power doesn’t want to change the principal historical facts.

I don’t go much to museums these days. However, I decided to visit Museo de Cannabis, since most of the foreigners I talked to were visiting Uruguay mainly to smoke joints in peace. A tourist trap, which was a complete waste of time and money. According to the promotional leaflet, the museum is celebrating the rich history of liberties that Uruguay has enjoyed in the past and continues to develop in the present.

In December 2013 Uruguay became the first country in the World to fully legalize cannabis.

Uruguayans are allowed to grow up to six marijuana plants for personal use each year. Smoking in public places is permitted also to foreigners. I believe there is no coincidence that this act happened during the presidency of José Alberto Pepe Mujica, better known as the World’s poorest president.

During his mandate, he officially declared he owned just two vehicles, a small amount of property and his farmhouse. He donated 90% of his salary to charity. He kept driving around in his Beetle without bodyguards.

There are many more facts why Uruguay is so special in Latin American environment.  Many would say, it’s easy to change and develop a smaller country, but I believe much more is needed to implement the following benefits, rights and liberty for its citizens:

• Uruguay is the most secular country in South America: state and religion are separate. The country does not have any official religion.
• Uruguay was the first country in the world to provide a laptop to every primary school student – Plan Ceibal – 2009.
• Almost 95% of electricity in Uruguay is from renewable energy resources.
• Uruguay is rated 15^th on The Economist’s 2018 Democracy Index; the highest ranked Latin American country on the list, and ranks just after the UK and over the US, which is in 25^th
• Uruguay is the largest per capita exporter of software in Latin America.

Furthermore, an important element that has a substantial impact on the country’s development, the happiness of its population, and the standard of living:

Uruguay is the least corrupt country In Latin America, ranked as the 23^rd least corrupt country in the world in 2019.

My last stop in Uruguay was a city in southwestern Uruguay, across the Río de La Plata from Buenos Aires. Colonia del Sacramento is known for its cobblestoned street in the old town, lined with buildings from its time as a Portuguese settlement. El Barrio Histórico (the old town combines Portuguese and Spanish influence, offering some historical sight to many local and Argentinian visitors.

The Old Town Gate, the main square – Plaza de Armas, colonial houses, Iconic street Calle de Los Suspiros – the first place, that after a long time on the sea, sailors visited. The street was crowded with women waiting for them. As in many other coastal towns, the lighthouse is strategically located, offering sweeping views over Río de la Plata.

The place was packed with tourists, that came in organized groups from Montevideo or on a weekend trip from Buenos Aires. Considering what Buenos Aires can offer, I wondered why they would visit Colonia del Sacramento. I was travelling to the other direction, taking a speedboat to the capital of Argentina, 63 kilometers away, looking for an entirely different type of adventure.

I am probably not very objective describing my feelings of Montevideo (and in general in Uruguay), since the weather has got a huge impact on my opinion. Even though I always prefer travelling in summer conditions, places can be doable in colder weather as well. But it’s of extreme importance that hotels or hostels are warm inside.

Obviously, bottom end places in Uruguay don’t have adequate heating facilities and probably try to save on expenses due to low occupancy in the off season. For that reason, the best option is definitely visiting Uruguay during the summer, even though high prices and tourist crowds might be a reason to give priority to other destinations in the region first.