First impressions

the view from my front door!
Originally uploaded by borderlys

It’s Sunday morning; I am listening to some mellow tunes and drinking a freshly brewed coffee. I should be drinking maté, I suppose, but I’ve got a whole six months to pick that habit up anyway.

So I’ve been in Uruguay now for one night and one full day, and while in some respects I found what I was expecting, in other ones, I am picking up on some cultural differences.

I arrived Friday night, exhausted after 30 hours of traveling…(I guess saving a few bucks and taking the Ferry may not have been the most brilliant of ideas, since I waited about 6 hours at the station, and took the ferry for another three). It was 9pm or so by the time I arrived, but Analía, my coworker was there to pick me up, and in good spirits. She brought me to my apartment, where Andrea, my Uruguayan roommate showed me the ropes, and even ordered pizza for us, since she figured I would likely be hungry. Katarina, my other roommate from Germany came in shortly after, with a British friend (Patrick), and Antoine, a French-German guy who has been here for three weeks. So, within a few short hours, our apartment was already an international haven!

The next day, Andea took me for a walk about the Rambla, which is essentially a boardwalk along the river, which extends with miles of beach front alongside of it. We did mandatory stops to the cash machine and so on, but it wasn’t until the afternoon, when I set off by myself that I really started getting an idea of what Montevideo is really like.

This place redefines chill. At first I thought the city was empty because I was expecting this capital city of one million people to be bustling with activity. Instead, I found youth strolling about quietly with their parents and grandparents, groups of young people sitting in parks or along the rambla drinking maté, people walking their dogs, groups of young boys or men playing soccer in fields, but no one sitting in cafés! The people here may be more European in some ways but the café culture I was expecting certainly wasn’t there last night….until I went out for dinner at 11:00 with Andrea and a few of her friends (thank god I had already eaten earlier!). I then met up with Katarina at a friend’s house, who was having a party and spent time getting to know a few locals, and some local foreigners, from Bolivia, Germany, Japan, Brazil, etc. So far, insertion into the “ex-pat” circle has been easy, but what I am most eager to do, is get to know some locals, drink mate with them, and learn more about Uruguayan life-style and Uruguayans themselves. While I am sure poverty exists, it is not as overt as in other developing countries, so I am left with an impression of a country that defies “third world” characteristics…it truly feels like a developing and emerging country, where a new middle class is beginning to emerge.