Birthday Party
On Sunday, my machine gun Spanish teacher Andrés was celebrating his 27th Birthday. He invited me over on Saturday night for drinks and pizza and to go out to a club afterwards. I met a bunch of his friends, all really great guys, and had another intensive Spanish lesson. I realize it’s much harder to […] Read More
Mercado de las Pulgas
Matías made me a list of the seven things I have to do while in Buenos Aires, including his favorite Brunch places and special sights you would not necessarily find in a guide book. So we’re working on that list, and we went for a Saturday morning brunch in fabuleux Café Le Blé. It reminded me a […] Read More
Montevideo Budget
I’m sick in bed with a sore throat, despite the heat outside. So I might as well work on a few things on my PC, as calculating my budget…. I liked the colorful Uruguayan money. Though it was difficult to grasp the value… dividing by 28 to arrive at a Euro value isn’t my strong point. […] Read More
Milonga
Friday morning I left sunny Montevideo on the Buquebus, with Francisco’s slower sister ship this time, that brought me over the Rio de la Plata in three hours. Once arrived in BsAs, I took possession of my SERENA apartment again, changed some Dolares for más Pesos with a friend, got my little suitcase from Javo […] Read More
Montevideo in the sun
This is the result from the afternoon walk through sunny Montevideo, pretty much the same places as yesterday, just with blue skies. The buildings in the centre are impressive, even in their run-down state. It wouldn’t need much to polish it up just a bit, without turning it into a fake Disneyland. However, it all […] Read More
Beautiful Pocitos
Finally, the rain stopped. I spent a beautiful day walking around Pocitos, on the beach and in town, and got seriously burned. I cancelled my plans to go on a day trip to Punta del Este, the beach resort that every Uruguayan goes to in the summer. It would have meant a 2 hour bus […] Read More
The heart of Montevideo
Today I met up with the two Canadians we had met in Temple bar the other night. They were here in Uruguay to get some US Dollars, to exchange them for Argentinean Pesos at the ‘blue’ (e.g. unofficial) rate of 1:10 instead of 1:6. This way you can shave off 40% of your costs… It’s […] Read More
Colorful Uru-grey
The forecast was right – it’s rainy in Uruguay. Right now it’s even pouring down. The city presents itself in a grey cover, and especially the beach view is depressing, low grey clouds over a brown muddy Río de la Plata. Montevideo however, tries to be colorful. I walked through the Pocitos neighborhood, down to […] Read More
Hoy me quiero
I might be a vagabond, but I like stability in my vagabond-ery. When I find a place I like, I keep coming back. That’s why I’ve been twice at this little gem of a restaurant, just down the next street: Hoy te quiero has breakfast, lots of sweet stuff, and also serves a changing menu […] Read More
Arriving in Montevideo
The trip crossing the Rio de la Plata was fast. That ‘Francisco’ speed boat (with the Pope hanging in the main hall…) just took over two hours to cross the nearly 200 km to Montevideo. Impressive. Miraculous even. We had to wear these ridiculous things over our shoes. The boat is new, the carpet thick, […] Read More