Culture

This past Saturday May 15th was “Marcha Mundial Marihuana Montevideo – Movimiento por Liberacion del Cannabis”

“Global Marijuana March Montevideo – Cannabis Liberation Movement”

There was a line up of reggae bands that were going to play… But weather just didn’t go along with those plans.

My buddy and I got out to Punta Gorda (a beautiful little beach community about 7K outside of the heart of Montevideo). The dark clouds had been hanging around, but it was just a little cool 11-12C…

We met some cool locals. They shared some Grappamiel… It’s Grappa mixed with honey… It taste pretty good until you stop drinking, then you feel the burn in the back of your throat. It’s worth trying though.

They also had home grown green bud… It’s the best thing I’ve smoked since I’ve been here. The quality was as such that it would sell for U$S 150 per oz in Southern California.

Just as we finished smoking a bowl it started to rain… The people setting it up started putting musical equipment away and were frantically covering up gear with tarps. So my buddy and I thought it was a good idea to catch a cab back to Pocitos.

Catching a cab in Punta Gorda in the rain was not as easy as we thought it was going to be. So we started walking in the direction of Pocitos.

I’m originally from Missouri and we found Missouri street in Punta Gorda… You can’t tell in the pic, but it was raining pretty decent at this time… I’m glad I had my cheap poncho.

We finally found a small bar and we were able to get a beer and some pizza.

The bar was packed full and you could hear a pin drop when we walked in… Everyone was totally engrossed in the futbol (soccer) game on the t.v.

The game ended about 10 minutes after we walked in and obviously the entire bar’s team lost, because very few people said anything and almost everyone left. It was an interesting experience.

We ended up walking for a little and finally got a cab.

So if you ever had the question of, “Can I get Marijuana in Uruguay?”

The answer is “Yes you can!”

Is marijuana illegal in Uruguay?

No and yes.

Possession up to 5 grams is legal… Anything over 5 grams is illegal… But, up to 25 grams is considered for personal use and is overlooked.

Most of the herb here comes from Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina… It comes packed in 1 kilo bricks.

The weed is full of stems and seeds… It’s all sativa; the climate in this part of the world isn’t good for indicas.

The average weed here smells and taste like ass… actually horse piss. That’s because “apparently” that’s what the growers pour over the herb in their packing device to help make sure it compresses into a tight 1 kilo brick.

If you’ve ever got part of a Mexican brick, you know what “brick weed” is… Here, the bricks are tighter and more compact than Mexican bricks.

As far as price goes… You’ll pay anywhere from 400 pesos to 800 pesos for 25 grams of brick weed.

There is the elusive “cogollo” here too…

What is “cogollo?”

Sin similla ganja weed… In other words, the female flower of a marijuana plant with no seeds that was grown with some TLC.

I’ve been given numerous prices ranging from U$S 10 per gram (ouch) to 1,000 pesos for 25 grams…

The most consistent thing about “cogollo” is the lack of availability. When cogollo comes around it is typically gone as fast as one hears about it.

As far as the marijuana in Uruguay goes… I call it “work weed.” Because it works and more often than not doesn’t leave you with a headache.

Marijuana is all around Montevideo… all you have to do is look for it.

There are a lot of different views on the customer service a person receives in Uruguay.

We’ve received bad customer service here in Uruguay just like the in the United States, but for the most part it’s pretty decent.

From a business point of view, I feel there is a lot of over-employment… too many people working at one establishment at the same time. In a deli in Uruguay you could see 7 people working at one time. In the same type of deli in a high traffic area of San Diego you’d see no more than 2 people working at one time.

Because there are more people, doesn’t make service faster. It can be drug out… but for the most part, the actual services we have received have been good. One positive note of over-employment is that the unemployment rate is lower than it would be otherwise.

Restaurants

Waiters here are typically very friendly… I found that here, as in the U.S., if I strike up a little conversation, it goes a long way.

Since Kaylee was born back on Valentine’s Day we have been getting our food para llevar (“to go” pronounced “para shevar”).

While I’m waiting for my food the staff typically likes to talk to me, look at my tattoos and ask questions about California 🙂 Of course, they like to practice their English too.

When we do go out to eat with the girls, we’ve noticed that the waiters are very attentive to kids. They like to talk to them and play with them.

One difference I see between waiters in the U.S. and waiters in Uruguay is waiters here don’t tend to stop by their tables as much as in the U.S.

I worked in the hospitality industry for years… bartending, bouncing, waiting tables, cooking… you name it, I did it. I’ve waited on more tables than I can count. I was always taught to check on your tables every 5-10 minutes and that’s what I was accustomed to in the U.S.

In Uruguay, your waiters are paying attention to your table… but they do it from a distance. When you want something, you look at them and motion them over. It’s not a bad thing, just a little difference.

The dining experience is different too. It’s much more relaxed and drawn out. In the U.S. everything is go-go-go… In and out of a restaurant within an hour. When we first got here I thought food service was slow… It’s not uncommon to take 2+ hours for lunch or dinner here. At the end of a meal, it’s almost expected that you order coffee or tea and have a postre (dessert).

It took a minute to get accustomed to, but now I think it’s a much more enjoyable way to eat. And I’m glad the waiter doesn’t stop by every 5-10 minutes.

Another thing I find different is when they bring your check and you want to pay with a card… If you intend on tipping the waiter on the card you need to let them know immediately, because there is typically no place on the check to add a tip after they run it.

The way to say that is “con propina por favor.” The waiter will typically ask “10%?” The average tip is 10%. Sometimes more or less, but 10% is a good rule of thumb.

Government Offices

We’ve had a couple of problems… But it hasn’t been with the people or service they were giving us, but the processes and procedures that are set up to get things done in this country. There is a lot of red tape.

The customer service through Antel is good, the people there are nice… they just had some internal issues that made it take a little over 3 weeks for us to get our Internet turned on.

Dealing with immigration has always been easy for us. We just make sure our ducks are in a row when we go and they are nice and efficient.

Stores,  Local Shops & Ferias

Once you’re established as a regular customer, people will bend over backwards to help with whatever you need.

I have 3 guys I see at the feria… The fat guy, the skinny guy and the egg guy.

The fat guy has jalapeno, serrano, chilli and tabasco peppers for me and I get my cilantro through him too… Every once in a while he’ll have something exotic and I’ll pick it up from him too.

I get the majority of my produce from the skinny guy. He makes sure I get the best produce he has. If he doesn’t have something, he’ll go to another vendor and get it for me. He also always makes sure that all of my stuff gets delivered.

The egg guy is who I get my eggs and cheese from… We eat a lot of eggs and I always buy from him… His prices have went up over the past year with everything else… but my price isn’t quite as high as the price everyone else receives.

At grocery stores and shops… the people serving you are just people working… If I give a smile, I usually get one back…

I think the service one gets in Uruguay is as good as the relationship they establish with the person they are getting service from… Which is pretty much the way it is everywhere else.

On May 1st Uruguay celebrates Dia De Los Trabajadores along with most other countries in world; otherwise known as Dia Del Trabajo,  International Workers Day, May Day or Labor Day.

Every May 1st a lot of countries around the world come to a standstill to celebrate the fight for the 8 hour work day. There’s a lot of history behind Labor Day, if you’re interested in learning more Click Here

This year Dia De Los Trabajadores falls on a Saturday.

Starting tomorrow evening (Friday April 30th) most services around the country will close early and stay closed until Sunday. To our understanding this includes taxi companies, bus lines, ferias, grocery stores, shops, restaurants and pretty much everything else.

We heard there will be some clubs open on Saturday night in Ciudad Vieja and there will be parties around the country… We’re looking forward to see.

It sounds like it will be pretty cool…

To all of our followers who get the day off…

Have a great one!

An Uruguayan friend of ours said there are 3 prices in Uruguay.

1. Regular Price
2. Gringo Price
3. Dumb Gringo Price

She also said; "It's perfectly natural to start out with the dumb Gringo price… Because there are a lot of dumb Gringos here who will pay."

It was said in jest, but at the same time there's a lot of truth to that statement.

A lot of people here try to take advantage of unsuspecting Gringos… Yes, I say a lot because of the amount of people compared to the population.

• Real Estate Agents – There are some good real estate agents here… But there are some that aren't. Get referrals.
• "Relocation Specialists" – There are some scum bags down here who will charge you outlandish fees, then take your money and documents and run… Friends of ours just had their birth certificates and all of their important documents taken, along with a chunk of cash they paid for a "relocation specialist" to help them.
• Restaurants – Try to use the Spanish menus where you eat. We've run across a couple of places that gave us English menus where the prices were higher than in the Spanish ones.
• Waiters – When you point out that you didn't order that extra UYU $250 peso dish, they will take it right off… This has happened to us a couple of times.
• Taxi Drivers – Taxi drivers here seem to love to take us for rides or attempt to anyway. This kind of sucks because you are at their mercy if you don't know where you are going. The best way I've found to avoid this is to sit in the front seat next to the driver and hand him written detailed directions of where to go.
• Store Clerks – Either a lot of people here have a hard time counting change or they know exactly what they are doing. What I mean by that is, I've had numerous cashiers short me 5-10 pesos… I typically catch it and I get my money back. It's not that 5-10 pesos is a lot of money, it's the principal behind it.
• Feria Vendors – If a vendor at the open air market can hustle you, they will. Always ask the price when it's not marked. You can usually talk the vendor down in price too.

You can go on the boards at Sociedad Southron and read about people getting taken advantage of.

While, some of these instances are avoidable… There are some things that just aren't.

What kind of Gringo Discounts have you received?