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I'm not gonna paint a delightful picture of Uruguay for you because the truth is that I am most certainly not its biggest fan, and have been telling all who will listen about how disenchanted I was with it! The main problem was just that it was so SO expensive. We visited four places in Uruguay, the capital, Montevideo, Punta del Este, Maldonada, and Colonia. We stayed in the CHEAPEST hostels in each of these places, and the cheapest hostel ranged from £16 a night in Colonia to £25 a night in Punta del Este! and that was for 10 bed dorms! Add to that the expensive food and drinks and you may as well be in Europe for the price your paying!
Montevideo, for a capital city, was pretty s***. Its the summer holidays in South America at the moment so everyone in Montevideo had left and headed to the beach, the result? No people, no bars open, no restaurants open, s***! We went to visit the old town, which was very unimpressive, and had a ride on the 'most dangerous rollercoaster in the world' which wasnt actually that dangerous, just quite rusty! Apart from that nothing interesting to report from there!
Punta del Este is where all the Montevideons and Argentinians had gone for their holidays. It was really busy and a lot like a holiday resort. We spent a couple of days on the beaches, and the beaches were nice to be fair, but theres just as nice beaches in lots of much less expensive places! After two nights we moved to Maldonada, the neighbouring town which is slightly cheaper, but much further from the beach! We went to watch the sunset over the sea with some Brazilian guys we met, which was pretty cool, and at the new hostel we moved to we bumped into the group of Aussies that we met in Buenos Aires, and went out with them for two of their birthdays. The only occasion of note during those few days being when me and Ben left the hostel to go and get money, which was only a few blocks away, and then got lost and couldn't find our way back (it was dark and we were drunk) and spent around 45 minutes wandering aimlessly around, with me becoming more and more hysterical 'we;re gonna be lost FOREVER', 'we're gonna DIE' and it didnt help that when we asked for directions the guy in the restaurant told us we needed to get a bus there and it was about 45 minutes away 'but we just walked and it was only 3 blocks...' but we found our way back eventually, and noone had actually noticed we'd been gone so long!
Colonia would have been the saving grace for Uruguay if it wasn't so horribly hot and humid! It was very pretty, with old houses and cobbled streets and a lighthouse, but after walking around for an hour you felt like you were going to die because it was so hot, and both days we pretty swiftly ended up at the beach, sitting in the river cz that was the only way to keep cool (everyone else was doing the same!) We did the tour of the museums in Colonia which was a complete waste of time! The ticket was only around a pound for four museums, but nothing was written in English, and one only had rocks (they must have been important for something but we didnt know what) one had only blue tiles, one had stuff that had been found under someones house, and one had only replicas of random things!
So we got the ferry back to Buenos Aires from Colonia, and we can now say we have been to Uruguay, but I can't say I recommend it! Sorry Uruguay!
- comments
Benjamin Drury Aw you didn't mention the creepy giant fingers coming out of the beach which is meant to represent drowned sailors in Point del Este or the place which tried to charge us over £10 to wash our clothes x
Benjamin Drury Or your music video debut in the graveyard, or our odessey to find Alejandro's house
Flunk Master Sleet Mega jealous guys, Uruguay sounds boring, but still enjoy it! bueno suerte!
Amalia if u say europe is cheaper and better, go there! Stop throwing s*** over Uruguay, I know that it is not well organized, but i can tell u that the prices u are sayng are for the expensive things, u can find much cheaper stuff. Also, what do u want? to change the weather? it is hot and humid cause is our f***ing weather! if u do not like it , i recommend u should go to another place, and stop making bad comments about such a pretty place. If u go to a unknown place, u should get info about the best places and the most affordable, also try the typical food that is very cheap if u are short of money. I am sorry if i sound rude, is just that i can not stand tourist criticizing when they do not know the reality of our place. And yes, if u go to the grocery, u may find higher prices than most of other places, but if here we can afford them with our s***ty salaries, i am pretty sure that for someone who can afford a trip here, the prices won't be that unaffordable. And 4 benjamin dury, f*** him! the fingers are a sculpture that exist in many places of the world, also in your beloved europe. Kisses