Exploring Uruguay

Expat & Travel Resource Guide

Brian

Uruguay Food: Exploring the Food of Uruguay

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We heard it put best when someone said that Uruguay food consists of, “Pizza, pasta and parrilla.”

Really, that’s pretty right on. Parrilla (Uruguayan barbeque) and Italian foods are quite common in Uruguay. However, there are a few local dishes that are also popular in Uruguay.

Chivitos are one popular Uruguay food. You can either get the Chivitos plate or the Chivitos al Pan. Typically, the Chivitos plate consists of layers of lomo (beef), ham, pancetta (bacon), mozzarella and fried egg. It’s usually served either on top of or with a plate of French fries, tomatoes, lettuce, potato salad, olives and some pickled red bell peppers.

The Chivitos al Pan is simply the layered lomo, ham, pancetta, mozzarella and fried egg between two pieces of bread. These sandwiches are usually huge and may or may not be served with French fries.

As far as Uruguay food goes, this is one of our favorite meals to order.

Another popular Uruguay food is the Milanesa. Again, this can either be served as a plate or al pan. A Milanesa is basically either a piece of chicken or beef, beaten very thin, breaded and then deep friend.

If you order the plate, it’ll usually come with a huge serving of fries, but you can also order it with mashed potatoes if you want. Sometimes it will also be slathered with ham and cheese, depending on where you order it.

The Milanesa al Pan is basically the same thing, but slapped between two pieces of bread. We typically have to take half of the Milanesa home because they are typically huge. Zoë loves Milanesas. They’re basically like huge chicken nuggets. Throw fries in with that and she’s a happy camper 🙂

Hamburgers are one type of food we expected to be universal. They do serve hamburgers in Uruguay, but they’re different than in the U.S..

How you ask?

I guess it just wouldn’t be a hamburger without ham. Well, if you order a hamburguesa completa (complete hamburger), you not only get the burger, ham and the bun, but you get mozzarella, a fried egg, pickled peppers, onions and more! Luckily you get to choose which toppings they put on.

Let’s loop back around to pasta now. You can get pretty much any type of pasta in Uruguay, but there are some interesting differences.

The first difference we noticed was that the pasta is made fresh at a lot of restaurants. I mean, when you place your order they make the pasta from scratch right then. It’s awesome. Not everywhere does it, but we love it when they do. I guess it helps cut back on food costs.

Another thing we noticed is that if you order lasagna, it will almost always have ham layered in!

We thought it was strange at first but ham seems to included with almost every type of Uruguay food, so I guess we shouldn’t have been surprised.

Another type of pasta that is very popular is gnocchi or, as you often see it spelled in Uruguay, noquis.

Actually, most restaurants (and even some of the grocery stores) serve gnocchi on the 29th of every month. Argentina also holds the same tradition. Apparently the reason it’s served every month on the 29th is because it is traditionally the day before payday, when most people are usually broke. And, gnocchi is a cheap and filling meal. It’s also really good.

Pizza is pretty self explanatory, but there are some differences from the average pizza in the US.

The pizza is typically all made fresh and oven baked. You can’t order thick crust or thin crust… it is what it is.

Not all pizza has cheese… the first pizza Brian tried didn’t have cheese. They don’t use a lot of sauce and some of the topping choices are different. And unfortunately, you won’t find a delicious by the slice joint like you would in New York, but overall it’s not bad.

Parrilla is, like we’ve said, Uruguayan barbeque. Although after thinking about it, I think it deserves a blog post all its own. More to come on that in a future Exploring Uruguay blog.

How Do You Pay for Things in Uruguay?

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UY Pesos, Dollars or Plastic? We use all three.

I don’t know why, but our US banks won’t allow us to pull out more than $2,000 UYU at a time. So it’s easier for us to pull ou U$S300 and saves us two $58 UYU transaction fee at the ATM.

We typically take our US dollars to a Cambio (see pic below) to exchange them for UY pesos so that we get the best rate of exchange.

Unfortunately the Cambios aren’t open on Sundays, so occasionally we’ll be stuck with US dollars and no simple way to exchange them for UY pesos.

Then I buy a coke at the market across the street with a U$S 100 bill and get the change in UY Pesos (but don’t expect many of the stores to do that for you until you’ve established yourself as a regular customer).

Most places will accept US dollars, but if you hand them a hundred dollar bill, they’ll usually look at you like you are crazy… Very few places could break it (U$S 100 is about $2312 UY pesos).

However, if you walk into some stores, like electronics stores, you’ll see everything is priced in US dollars rather than UY pesos. I guess paying U$S 1500 sounds better than $34,680 UY pesos…

Also, because the sales tax here is 22%, we try to pay for everything we can on our debit card. Why? Because we get 8% back on most purchases when you pay with debit/ credit cards (with a few exceptions like grocery stores) and we don’t get stuck with a currency transfer fee.

Unfortunately, even though Visa and MasterCard are accepted at a lot of places, we’re finding more places don’t accept plastic than do (especially restaurants). I guess the fees are pretty high for businesses.

Of course there are places, like the ferias, that only accept UY Pesos. So, there really isn’t a simple answer to, “How do you pay for things in Uruguay.” It’s really a mix is UY pesos, US dollars and plastic.

We learned through trial and error how to balance the mix and hope this blog provides a little clarification for you.

Doing Your Laundry in Uruguay

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One thing I wasn’t quite prepared for is the process of doing laundry in Uruguay. You can’t just decide one afternoon that you need to wash a pair of jeans and have them clean in an hour or two.

Why you ask? Well, you won’t find many clothes dryers in Uruguay apartments. They just aren’t that common. All of the clothes drying is done on clotheslines, either on balconies or even out of the window! We have several clotheslines on the balcony off the master bedroom.

That’s because we, like many people, do have a lavarropa (washing machine) in our apartment. It’s in our kitchen… strange place, I know. But that’s a common location for it in Uruguay apartments. The only problem is that our lavarropa takes about 1.5 hours just to wash a small load.

So, I try to do one load of laundry at night and then hang it to dry in the morning. If I’m diligent about it, I’m able to keep up with our laundry. However, I often fall behind (it’s easy when it’s raining and you can’t hang the clothes out to dry) and that’s where the lavaderos come into play.

A lavadero is basically a full service Laundromat, which is your second option for doing laundry is Uruguay. All you have to do is drop your laundry off and they wash, dry, press and fold everything for you. It’s really quite convenient, and they typically have everything ready in two days.

And, like most services in Uruguay, it’s reasonably priced. We had about seven loads of laundry (small loads) done for $500 Uruguayan pesos (which is U$S 21.58). Not bad.  Here are the prices from the Lavadero across the street (just click on the image and you’ll be able to see a larger view). Remember, the prices are in UY pesos.

Dry cleaning is readily available in Uruguay as well. In fact we have a tintorería (dry cleaner) right next door to our apartment building that even does one-hour dry cleaning. I used them once to dry clean three shirts and it was just under U$S 3.00 per shirt.

So, while doing your laundry in Uruguay can be a process, it’s just another part of the culture that we’ve adjusted to.

To Bidet or Not to Bidet… The Answer is Quite Obvious…

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Another Uruguay blog we follow is, “Wally in Uruguay.”

This Uruguay blog follows Wally and Denise, who are retiring to Uruguay from the States.

We’ve never met Wally or Denise, but through Wally’s Uruguay blog we feel like we know them.

When you visit his Uruguay blog, start from his first post and read through to the present. It follows them purchasing a home (a fixer)… and going through all of the trials and tribulations of renovating a house here in Uruguay.

In a post from a little over a year ago on his Uruguay blog, Wally touched on a topic that I never thought I’d want to write about until now. But he did such a great job on the topic that I’m going to recommend you read it instead of me writing another blog on the topic, Ode to Bidet.

Wally kind of reminds me of my Uncle Dave… He’s full of energy, ready to take on anything head on, quite funny… and sometimes a little clueless (as you can read on his latest post, Denise’s Special Day).

If you are considering retiring to Uruguay, Wally’s Uruguay blog is full of invaluable information… from hiring contractors and dealing with them, to a lot of “do it yourself” work around the house.

If we buy property in Uruguay after the new baby is here, we’ll be referencing Wally’s Uruguay blog on a regular basis. Or, if you just want a neat story to follow, his Uruguay blog provides that as well.

Montevideo, Uruguay Makes the News in San Diego

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Before we moved to Montevideo, Uruguay, the San Diego Reader was a staple of our week when we lived in San Diego, California. The Reader is a weekly publication filled with neat feature articles, listings for all of the local live music shows and much more.

When we announced to family and friends that we were moving to Uruguay, not many of them knew exactly where it was on the map. So, we were surprised this week to pull up the San Diego Reader’s website this week and see a story on Montevideo, Uruguay!

It’s a brief article and I think the writer’s prices are a little high compared to what we’ve seen. Brian just got a round trip ticket from Montevideo to Los Angeles for $680. And, two people can go to dinner at a very nice Parrilla and both have the finest cut of steak, lomo, and a good bottle of wine for what he’s estimating for one person (maybe he was getting the “gringo discount”).

But, we thought it was neat to see that more people are starting to recognize that Montevideo, Uruguay is a great place to visit and live. Check out the article by clicking here.

Uruguay Restaurant Review: Taco Munoz

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From the name of this Uruguay restaurant, Taco Munoz, we thought we had stumbled across yet another Mexican restaurant in Montevideo. Not so. The restaurant is named after the owner, host, server and chef, Taco Munoz.

The atmosphere at this Uruguay restaurant is inviting… jazz music was playing in the background and a wood burning stove heated the small dining area. We really felt like we were being welcomed into Taco’s home (actually the restaurant is located in an old home).

You could see into the kitchen from the dining area, which was quite neat. Taco Munoz has a small parrilla going in the kitchen, but offers a full menu not predicated on the parrilla.

It’s amazing to me that one man runs this entire restaurant. It’s the first time I’ve seen that at an Uruguay restaurant (or any restaurant for that matter). He literally greets you, seats you, takes your order and does all of the cooking (from scratch) and you never feel like he’s stretched too thin. Outstanding service.

The meal started out with fresh baked warm bread, as well as some delicious cheese bread. And, of course Brian had to try the house wine, labeled with the restaurant’s name, Taco Munoz, which he said was quite delicious (no more wine for me with a baby on the way!)

Zoë had a huge plate of penne pasta with butter and fresh herbs. It must have been good, because she at over half of the very large plate.

Brian had a seafood stew, filled with fish, shrimp, mussels, tomatoes, zucchini and lots of yummy herbs. He said it was one of the best seafood stews he’s ever had.

I had the orange glazed chicken, which was cooked on the parrilla and layered with carrots and a rich orange sauce that was absolutely delicious. It was served with a side of potatoes covered in a thick, flavorful cream sauce. This was one of my best meals yet at any Uruguay restaurant.

And, we must be gluttons for punishment, because we ordered the Taco Munoz house dessert to share (we tried to order two and Taco let us know it was gigantic and enough for two people). It was an enormous plate consisting of a pancake (similar to a crepe), ice cream, dulce du leche, pineapple slices and some frozen melon.

Zoë had her favorite dessert, the apple pancake, which was loaded with baked apples and raisins.

I would have to say that Taco Munoz is one of my favorite Uruguay restaurant experiences so far. We will definitely be going back to see what other delicious specialties Taco can whip up for us.

Taco Munoz is located at Francisco Ros 2781, between Cnel. Mora and Luis de la Torre.

Renting an Apartment in Uruguay

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Renting an apartment in Uruguay is a very different process than our experiences in the States. Oftentimes in the US, you deal directly with the owner. However, in Uruguay, typically both the owner and the renter have a real estate agent (inmobiliaria) representing them.

As a renter in Uruguay, it’s best to have more than one real estate agent representing you… we had four. Why? There is no MLS (multiple listing service) in Uruguay, so oftentimes only the owner’s inmobiliaria and a few of their friends know about each available apartment.

Every real estate agent will have different apartments to show you, so you don’t want to limit yourself to only what one agent has to show you. Luckily we were given that piece of advice our first week here.

We decided to spend our first week exploring Pocitos to get to know the area, and start looking at apartments our second week in Montevideo. We had our room at the Punta Trouville Apart Hotel reserved for three weeks, and we were hoping to have an apartment before the end of that three-week period.

The first apartment in Uruguay we decided to check out was one we saw on the Internet. It was a fully furnished 2-bedroom apartment listed on the Internet for U$S 600.

When we contacted the inmobiliaria, she showed us the apartment and told us the rent was U$S 650… It was also listed as being in Pocitos, but it was actually in Parque Batlle. Next inmobiliaria please.

Our next inmobiliaria showed up to our hotel in a cab and said she didn’t have enough money to pay for a cab to the property. It was a “3-bedroom house” in “the heart of Carrasco,” furnished at U$S 620 per month.

We planned on staying in Pocitos, but that is an AMAZING deal for a furnished 3-bedroom house in Carrasco. She told us it had a “nice patio and a parrilla” and it was “not to far from the beach” and it was “walking distance to everything.”

Well, it was actually in Carrasco Norte. The “3-bedroom house” was a quadra-plex and the unit was a center unit. The 3rd bedroom was off of the kitchen and led to the parrilla, and didn’t have a door… I would consider it a dining room.

It was walking distance to the Portones Shopping Mall; “They have all the stores there, you don’t need any others.” And it was a good 2-3km from the beach… LOL, at least we got to see part of Carrasco we would have not otherwise seen.

After that, we had two other realtors we were working with and they were both phenomenal. We started out looking at furnished one-bedroom Uruguay apartments, thinking that Zoë could sleep in her travel crib in our room since we only planned to sign a six-month lease initially.

While it was a nice idea, we quickly realized we just wouldn’t have enough storage space for our luggage… or much privacy.

So, after seeing several very nice fully furnished one-bedroom Uruguay apartments ranging from U$S 500-900 our first week of looking, we started viewing two-bedroom apartments in our third week in Montevideo.

On Wednesday, we had a full day of apartments to see with our real estate agent. (BTW, because we did a 6-month lease with option to extend; we paid a premium. If you are willing to do a 1-year lease, you can get an even better price…)

The first two-bedroom apartment we saw was beautifully furnished, but overpriced at U$S 1200 per month (gringo discount). Then we saw a couple of Uruguay apartments in a compound type community. The whole community was gated with 24-hour security, and it even had a market and jardin (preschool) in it.

We were told there were a lot of international people and people from the US who lived there. They were reasonable priced U$S 700-850 range, however, the community was very secluded from the heart of Pocitos, where we really wanted to live. In addition to that, if we wanted to live with a bunch of people from the US, we would have stayed in the US. Zoë was tired, so we went home to rest for the day.

The next morning we were out looking at Uruguay apartments again. The first one we saw was down the coast a bit, right on the Rambla.It had amazing views (the yacht club on one side and the beach on the other, but again, it was just a bit too far from the area of Pocitos we wanted to live (at U$S 1000 per month).

The next apartment we saw was a small two-bedroom apartment overlooking the park, and a couple blocks from the water. At, U$S 850, it was perfect. We decided we would take that one…

Until we saw the next and final apartment on our tour. It was only a half of a block from the water and one block from the park. It was nicely furnished and the second bedroom was a little bigger, which was nice for Zoë.

It also had a pool, parrilla (barbeque), gym and 24-hour security. It was slightly more at U$S 900 per month, but gastos communes was less (basically like HOA fees that you as a tenant are responsible for when renting an apartment in Uruguay).

So, we went to lunch to talk about our options and decided to make an offer on the final apartment we saw. We made an offer that day, Thursday. We offered a little less than the asking price, in exchange for paying six months rent up front.

Unfortunately the owner lived in Argentina and was out of town, so we were told we’d have to wait until Monday for an answer. Monday came and we received a counter offer, which we quickly accepted.

However, on Tuesday the owner decided that since Zoë walks, she wanted to renegotiate (I guess she was afraid Zoë would break something). We decided that we weren’t interested in renting from her at that point, and made an offer to rent the other apartment we liked.

Unfortunately, that owner decided that since we did not have an Uruguayan job, he didn’t want to rent to us (even though we were paying six months rent up front plus a security deposit). At least he let us know immediately.

Our real estate agent assured us this was not common, and that it was the first time they’d ever experienced anything like this when working with families like ours to rent an apartment in Uruguay.

Luckily, there was an apartment that had just become available in the heart of Pocitos that they could show immediately.

So, Brian went down to take a look at it (Zoë was down for a nap) and it was perfect! It was bigger, less expensive than either of the other places we were looking at (U$S 700 per month) and right on 21 de Setiembre (one of the main drags in Pocitos), one block from the park and 5 ½ blocks from the water. It has a lavaropa (washing machine), drying lines on our back balcony, and we have a front balcony as well.

We immediately put in an offer on it. It was accepted; we signed the papers Wednesday and moved in on Thursday. It was a great feeling to know that we’d be out of that hotel. As much as we all love each other, we also need our own space.

So, even though it was a trying process to rent an apartment in Uruguay, we’re happy with the way things turned out. We love our apartment. Our porters are great (yes, we have porters… it’s pretty cool). Our apartment came with a parking spot, which we don’t need since we don’t own a car, and Mario (one of our porters) was able to rent it out to another tenant for $1000 Uruguayan pesos per month. So, that essentially dropped our rent to only about U$S 655 per month. We couldn’t even get an unfurnished studio for that price in San Diego, let alone a furnished apartment with porters!

We would also highly recommend the inmobiliaria who helped us our rent our apartment in Montevideo, Uruguay. They are professional, very friendly and extremely helpful. We also found that they had the most listings to offer us to look at in the Pocitos area (they cooperate with several other agents to find you the perfect apartment to rent or buy in Uruguay). You can visit their website here.

As promised here are pictures of our new apartment in Uruguay:

Front Balcony
Living Room
Kitchen
Guest Bathroom (small shower behind door)
Master Bathroom
Zoë’s Bedroom
Master Bedroom
Back Balcony

Massage in Montevideo Uruguay

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UPDATE: Jan is no longer in MVD. Both her and Ken moved on to the beautiful Andes in Ecuador. Not only will we miss them, but our backs will too 😉

If you’ve been looking to get a massage in Montevideo, Uruguay, you have a few options. There are a number of clubs or “spas” around that offer massage services. If you want an “okay” massage, you can get one… BUT… if you want a GREAT massage you’ll want to go to Jan Wallace.

Even though most of you haven’t heard of Jan, many celebrities have. Jan started practicing massage in 1983. She was trained in Oregon and first licensed there. Oregon has very strict licensing guidelines as opposed to Uruguay, which has none.

After practicing for many years in Oregon she moved to San Diego, California where she worked at La Costa Resort and Spa in Carlsbad. La Costa Resort and Spa is the #2 Spa in the world. She was Barbara Walters preferred massage therapist at this spa. After Jan’s time at La Costa, she created her own massage business in San Diego.

Now Jan lives here in the Pocitos area of Montevideo, Uruguay. We had the pleasure of meeting Jan and we immediately took advantage of her services. Wow…  Jan gives an awesome massage. We are now her regular clients.

She is trained in a variety of massage techniques, including Swedish Massage, Shiatsu/Acupressure, Reflexology, Sports Massage, Lymphatic Drainage Massage, Trigger Point Therapy, Deep Tissue and Pregnancy Massage.

Additionally, Jan one of a select few individuals in the world who practices Bio Energy Therapy. Bio Energy Therapy is a non-invasive treatment that can help with may chronic problems that are often considered incurable. We opted to use this therapy to help heal some back, neck and shoulder pain. We were surprised at the speed with which we experienced positive results. Jan can explain this technique in much greater detail if you’re interested in learning more.