Exploring Uruguay

Expat & Travel Resource Guide

Culture

7 Things to Know About Uruguay Driving

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Well actually, these apply whether you plan to drive, be a passenger in a Uruguay auto (including taxis) or simply plan to walk down the street where cars are present.

Driving in Uruguay is a whole different ballgame than driving in the US. I think the funniest joke we’ve heard about the Uruguay taxi drivers is that “They drive like they do because they’re training for jihad…” Okay, that joke is in poor taste, but it’s still funny.

Maybe the drivers are so aggressive because they’re all angry they have to drive a manual transmission through city traffic? I don’t know what the case is, but I have never seen anything like Uruguay driving.

That said, here are the top 7 things to know about Uruguay driving:

  1. Lines in the road are more of a guideline than a rule. Just because there are only two lanes lined out on the road, don’t be surprised to see 5 cars across the road at the stoplight with a moped sneaking up on the far right side to pass the traffic.
  2. Bumpers are for bumping. Seriously. If you need a little bit of extra space to park your car or get out of your parking spot, it’s no problem! Just use your bumper to move the car in front of you or behind you out of the way. I was shocked the first time I saw it, but now it’s an everyday occurrence.
  3. Pedestrians do not have the right of way. Even if the signal says cross, be careful. Just because someone doesn’t have their turn signal on doesn’t mean they aren’t going to make a turn.It seems most Uruguay autos do not observe traffic “laws” they way they do in the US. If they can go, they will, even if that means coming within ½ of an inch of hitting you. This goes for buses too. Keeping the bus schedule is more important than preserving your life.
  4. Look both ways when crossing the street, even a one-way street. Actually, you better watch the sidewalk you’re walking on carefully too because you just might get hit by a motorcycle if you’re not looking. Again, I’m not joking. Nearly every store and restaurant in Montevideo delivers, and the deliveries are made via motorcycle. Rather than going around the block, the motorcycle delivery drivers will just go the wrong way down a one-way street, or even down the sidewalk to reach their destination in the fastest manner possible.Whether you’re driving or walking down the street, be aware.
  5. Horns are made to honk! In Jamaica, you hear a lot of horn honking, but it’s a friendly way of saying “Hi” with a quick “beep beep.” In Uruguay, you will find this to be quite the opposite. A lot of people tend to lay on the horn non-stop for minutes at a time.Note to “The Honkers” – Just because you got stuck waiting for someone to park for an extra 60 seconds doesn’t mean you need to give the rest of us a headache. Really, your time is not that important. There is not enough traffic in Montevideo to warrant 1/100th of the horn honking that takes place.
  6. What’s the speed limit again? Wait, there isn’t one posted. Don’t be surprised to see Uruguay autos reaching speeds of 60 mph (95 kph) on a busy city street.There are 2 types of drivers in Montevideo, the fast ones and the ones who get honked at.A lot of people drive as fast as they possibly can, and then get upset when they have to stop or slow down due to traffic. You’ll often see cars swerve out around traffic, drive down the wrong side of the street and then swerve back over just to get a little bit ahead of the pack. For being so relaxed, Uruguayans sure are in a hurry to reach their destination.
  7. Who’s that guy in the orange vest? You’ll see what we refer to as parking attendants on pretty much every street in Montevideo. They’re there to watch your car while you go into the restaurant to eat.They’re also there to help you park correctly, so you don’t take up two spaces on the street. Or to help you get out of that parking spot when you just couldn’t do it on your own. Yes, you’re expected to tip these guys. $5 -10 UY Pesos will suffice.A running joke we hear is, “That’s not bad to have a little security for your car… That is, if they aren’t the ones breaking into the car.”

We would like to hear your observations about Uruguay Driving… Comment Below…

Daylight Savings Time Change in Uruguay: October 4, 2009

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We were so happy that Spring finally came to Montevideo this week. Of course, we’re still in store for some more rain before we have regular sunny days.

But that’s okay, because the daylight savings time change officially starts in Uruguay on Sunday, October 4, 2009 at 2 am. That means we get an extra hour of daylight! More time to go for evening walks to take Zoë to the park or beach.

So, instead of 4 hours ahead of California time (1 hour ahead of New York time), we’ll be 5 hours ahead of California time (2 hours ahead of New York time) until Daylight savings time ends in the United States on November 1 at 2 am. At that point, we’ll be 6 hours ahead of California time and (3 hours ahead of New York time).

If you’re wondering why there is a 2-hour jump with daylight savings time change, there’s a simple explanation. Since we’re South of the equator, when winter ends in Uruguay, summer ends in the US. Thus, we get daylight savings time (and move ahead an hour) around the same time that daylight savings time ends in the US (and their time falls back an hour).

So, if you’re in the US trying to contact anyone in Uruguay, you should be aware of the impending daylight savings time change.

4 Months Later: Reflections on Living in Uruguay

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Brian’s Perspective:

So we’ve been living in Uruguay for just over 4 months now. We’ve had several people ask us about our views of Uruguay now that we’ve been here and it’s a little more than a first impression.

From my perspective, Uruguay has surpassed my expectations from anything that I could have imagined. There is very little on the web about Uruguay. We came here blind. Meaning, we never visited, we just took the information we had in hand and moved here.

The city of Montevideo is beautiful. From the parts of the US I’ve lived in, you never see architecture like you do here. There are some amazingly beautiful old buildings. There are some run down areas too.  The sidewalks may not be even, but they carry a lot of character… being that every tile was hand laid.

The city is very modern from what I was expecting. There are buses and taxis everywhere. You can buy a lot of US goods down here… It’s very cosmopolitan. It’s funny that you see a lot of TV stars from the US on advertisements down here… Jack from Lost advertising cologne… The hot Desperate Housewives chick advertising hair products, it’s kind of random.

The malls here are just like the malls in the US, except the food courts here tend to have better restaurants… but they do have McDonald’s and Burger King here, they are a plague on the world.

The movie theaters play the same movies that are being played in the US, except it’s a fraction of the price to attend a movie in Uruguay (U$S 5 or less for a matinee).

The bars here are similar to the bars in the US, except they are college town prices… A beer may be U$S 4, but it’s a liter of beer… I have yet to see Captain Morgan in Uruguay, but hey… no worries.

One huge difference is that bars don’t close in Montevideo until the last person leaves… It’s amazing how you can lose track of time.  It’s kind of funny to be drinking and having a good time, then look out the window and see that it’s sunny outside.

The great thing is, smoking isn’t allowed in most bars here… Well, it’s not allowed in any bars, but there are still bars that people smoke in… The game of pool is played differently here, I’ve played several times, but can’t keep track of the rules… even though slop trumps about everything, I can’t seem to win.

Montevideo is only about 1.5 million people, but it feels a lot smaller.  Not because it is, but because all of the people here are very warm and welcoming. We have met a ton of absolutely wonderful people since we have arrived in Uruguay. Actually, there is a lot of city crammed into a small area here… It’s no more than a U$S 5-6 cab ride from one side of Montevideo to the other.

What I’ve found out about the Uruguayans I’ve met since I’ve been here is… they are some of the most genuine people I’ve met.  Living all up and down the west coast of the US, if I learned anything it was… If someone is nice to you, it’s because they want something. If you trust someone, they will take advantage of you.

Uruguayans (for the most part) remind me of people from my hometown of Richmond, Missouri, USA (population just under 6K). Just like in my hometown, there have been a couple of bad apples we’ve run across, but it’s not the norm. Also like in my hometown, people here in our neighborhood get to know the regulars and everybody knows everybody.

There are expats here… We hang out with some of them… I really like all of the Canadian expats I’ve met… Canadians are just rad people in general, ey… We don’t focus our lives around hanging out with people from the north… It’s good to have some interaction, but we like hanging out with Uruguayans… It also helps with our language.

Spanish here is different…  Any Uruguayan will tell you it’s the best and most proper Spanish in the whole world. But it’s difficult.  Understanding it is becoming easier, they speak it at 100mph… I find my favorite phrase to be “por favor hable mas lento” (please speak slower).

When the language is slowed down, I get the majority of what people are saying. But when it comes to me speaking Spanish… I think I say it right, and then they look at me like I’m an idiot.

Our friends Ali and Gerardo have been great in helping us learn how to say things properly… But it’s difficult with the rise and fall of the language and not stressing every syllable… I can have basic conversations, but nothing substantial yet… Give me 6 more months; I’ll have this language down.

Note to my porters: When you shut the doors to the elevator and I start to go up; I do hear and understand what you are saying… It’s not nice…

There is petty crime here. It’s strange to see bars on the windows of every place… everywhere… When we first arrived in Uruguay, it took a little getting used to. But it’s not even something I notice anymore…  We rarely see or hear cops with their lights and sirens on.  We hear the occasional ambulance… But, it’s nothing compared to the sirens we would hear in San Diego.

One thing I do notice is the poverty. It’s not like the poverty in the US.  There are people who ride around on their horse and buggies and dumpster dive in every dumpster… They collect all of the recyclables and whatever else can fetch some cash. If there’s food that’s edible, they eat that too. A lot of them have their kids with them. We live in a very nice neighborhood… but I see kids eating out of dumpsters… It’s sad, but it is what it is.

We moved down at the beginning of winter.  One thing I learned… When you move from the Northern Hemisphere to the Southern Hemisphere at the end of winter… you get a year of winter… From what we’ve been told, this has been an unusually cold winter (so much for global warming), but it really hasn’t been that bad… No ice, snow, sleet, hail or freezing rain… It’s actually only snowed in Uruguay 7 times in the past 100 years. Tornados, hurricanes and earthquakes are unheard of here. There’s only been 1 hurricane in recorded history.  The winter in Uruguay is just like the winter in San Diego, but it’s about 10-15 degrees colder. But, it’s still winter.

I definitely like the countryside a lot better than the city. We are definitely looking forward to our new baby getting here so we can bounce out of the city. We are either going to move East along the coast towards Piriapolis or East of Punta del Este… or to the interior…  We’ll figure it out when the time comes.

This is the first time I’ve lived in an apartment that was taller than 2 stories (we live on the 9th floor). And it’s been years since I’ve lived in an apartment, but I do like having a porter. Luckily the majority of buildings here are made of concrete and brick, so we don’t have very much neighbor noise… but there is street noise.

Where we live, everything we could possibly need is within a 5-block radius. The park, feria, grocery store, mall, dry cleaners, laundry, butcher, ice cream shop, pharmacy, hardware stores, photo shop, sporting goods stores, banks, restaurants, “clubs” gyms, tennis courts, beach and pretty much everything else you can think of…

Chrystal absolutely hates it when I jump up and down in the elevator, but Zoë absolutely loves it… Yes, my daughter has me wrapped… I jump up and down like it’s the cool thing to do.

My view and perspective of Uruguay since I arrived has gotten better.  If you’ve been reading our blogs, you know I was back in the US for a quick bout about a month ago. Through all of the haze (smog), the rules and just overall feel of the US… I’m glad to call Uruguay my new home.

Chrystal’s Perspective:

Well, we’ve officially been living in Uruguay for four months now. The time has flown by so fast! But, I guess that’s a good thing because it means I’m acclimating to life here.

Living in Uruguay is quite different from living in San Diego. Before now, I had never lived outside of Southern California. I had traveled around the US and outside the country, but never for longer than 6 weeks. So it has been very interesting to observe and reflect on the cultural and lifestyle differences and how it affects me.

I think my opinion to this point has really been shaped by the fact that I have been pregnant pretty much the whole time we’ve been here. Being pregnant seems to limit (or at least alter) your experiences to some extent. But, I have plenty of time to experience all that Uruguay has to offer.

Overall, I really like Uruguay and I am very pleased with what I have experienced so far. I have tried my best to embrace the culture, and I think that has made my acclimation to life here a little easier. I think if you resist too much, or you try really hard to compare everything to how your former life was, you’re cheating yourself out of the real experience of living abroad.

Not speaking the language fluently has been my biggest barrier to fully embracing life here. I know enough to get around – to go to the market or feria, to order my meals or to take a taxi. But, I’m not fluent enough to have a conversation with a non-English speaking native. Fortunately (and unfortunately), a lot of people do speak English here, so there is plenty of opportunity for social interaction.

The people here are extremely friendly and helpful, and more genuine than I could have imagined. We always talk about how if someone is nice to you in the States, you better wonder what they want from you. It’s not like that here. People are genuinely friendly and helpful because that’s who they are. They don’t want anything in return. It’s refreshing.

For a capital city, Montevideo is very nice. I’ve never lived in a big city before now. Although San Diego has an impressive population, it’s pretty spread out and you don’t feel too much like you’re living on top of one another, for the most part. It’s a big city with a small town feel. Since over half of the country’s population lives in Montevideo, you definitely get the big city feel here (of course not compared to cities like New York or Buenos Aires).

One thing I do like about the city’s layout is that everywhere there is space for a park, a park is built even if it’s a tiny little park with a small patch of grass and one bench. There’s a big park with a playground only two blocks away from our apartment. It’s great because we can  walk over any time. Zoë loves it – she is such social butterfly. She just loves being around the other kids. It took me a bit to adjust to the fact that safety standards on the playground equipment aren’t as high here. But, she has fun and it’s plenty safe enough, so we love going over there often (when it’s not raining).

Our apartment is on one of the main streets in Pocitos, so I can hear traffic (and blaring car horns) all day from our living room. And, if it’s a warm day out, the gym across the street (gyms are aptly called “clubs” in Uruguay) opens it’s windows and we get serenaded with a strange assortment of music ranging from techno to Britney Spears to Michael Jackson blaring out of the “club’s” windows. So, if we had it to do again, I think we may have selected an apartment on a quieter street.

In general, there are a lot of people everywhere and people drive like maniacs. For such a laid back, relaxed people, you wouldn’t know it from the driving style here. I have never experienced anything like it. I would just assume walk 2 miles before getting in a taxi. But that’s okay. I love the fact that I can walk to pretty much anywhere I need to go. The only place I regularly take a taxi is to my prenatal doctor’s appointments.

Speaking of which, I have found the medical care to be just as good as it was in San Diego so far. They don’t keep you sitting around waiting all day for your appointment and it seems like the doctor isn’t in a rush to get you out the door once you’re in either. If you need a test (like an ultrasound), they see you in a reasonable time. I never feel like I’m going to need to spend an entire day at the hospital for something minor like I did in San Diego. I hope that this impression continues when Kaylee is born.

Even though I have enjoyed the experience of living in a capital city, I’m really looking forward to moving out of Montevideo once Kaylee is born. Whether it’s down the coast toward Piriapolis or to the interior of the country, it will be nice to live somewhere a little quieter and slower, since that was the intent of leaving the States in the first place.

I love being able to get our fruits and vegetables at the feria. In San Diego, it would’ve been necessary to get in the car and drive to the farmer’s market. It’s nice to be able to walk a block and half and have everything we need right there. However, I think I’m going to love when we can have our own garden, and grow our own fruits and vegetables, even better.

Living in Uruguay, I’ve really come to enjoy the art of cooking from scratch even more than I already did. It came as a necessity since you can’t buy a lot of prepared or processed foods here like you can in the States. I consider that a good thing. We don’t need to be putting that processed junk into our bodies. I’ve actually never felt better.

Even though I love it here, I am definitely homesick at times. This is the longest I have ever been away from my family (my entire family lives in San Diego – parents, siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, niece, nephew… you get the picture). That has definitely been hard on me. Especially since most of my family isn’t very supportive of our move.

But, I have to do what’s best for me. And right now, that’s living in Uruguay. Hopefully my family will come around. Several family members are talking about coming to visit once Kaylee is born. So, hopefully once they see that Montevideo is an urban, modern city (with an old time charm), they’ll realize that I’m really not living in a mud hut in some obscure African country drinking Kool Aid. ☺

But seriously, I do miss my family at times and that has been the hardest transition for me. However, I know that I couldn’t live the same lifestyle in the US that we are living in Uruguay. And this is the lifestyle I want to live.

Break Out Your Favorite “Old Time” Pop Hits: La Noche De La Nostalgia

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La Noche De La Nostalgia is easily the biggest night out of the year in Uruguay… Even bigger than Christmas or New Year’s Eve!

What is La Noche De La Nostalgia you ask? Celebrated the 24th of every August, it might as well be a national holiday. In 1978, owners of a local radio station came up with the idea to celebrate the night before Uruguay’s Independence Day, August 25.

They organized a dance party featuring old-time pop hits from the 50s, 60s and 70s (hits from the 80s and 90s are incorporated today). Why “oldies?” To help everyone remember all time musical classics… hence the name La Noche De La Nostalgia. Local radio stations feature these classic pop songs starting at the beginning of the month all the way up until the night of the big celebration.

Today, everyone around the country takes part in the celebration… young, old, city people and country folk alike all turn out for La Noche De La Nostalgia. It’s not unusual to see whole families out together to celebrate. Whether it’s at one of the huge open-bar tent parties around Montevideo, or at a house party hosted by friends or family, just about everyone gets in on the celebration.

It’s the perfect night for such a celebration… with the 25th of August being a National Holiday; everyone has the day off work and can sleep in to recover from their long night of celebrating.

We’ll be having a few friends over for a celebration of our own… home cooked Mexican food. Yum. I guess that’s our way of conjuring of a bit of nostalgia for San Diego.

I’m sure the guys will go out for a few drinks afterward… not sure where yet since we’ve read that everywhere sells out. I’m sure they’ll find somewhere to join in on the celebration. Next year I’ll get to celebrate La Noche De La Nostalgia in true Uruguayan style as well (unfortunately it’s a just a little bit too much excitement for this pregnant woman this year).

But, for those of you do want to go out and celebrate, here are a few of the biggest parties to check out (if they aren’t already sold out!):

La auténtica Noche de la Nostalgia de Oceano y Zum-Zum
Address: Hipódromo Nacional de Maroñas (Montevideo Comm)
Cost: entry + drinks UY$ 1100 (inc vat.) per couple (single tickets will be sold at the door if remaining)

Reíte de la nostalgia (Laugh at Nostalgia)
This is an “anti-nostalgia” party running for its fifth year
Location: Centro, Rondeau and Colonia / ex-Plaza
Additional information: www.fotolog.com/reidelanostalgia

Rock to the Future
Location: SONIC, Buenos Aires 584
Cost: UY$ 150

Noche de los recuerdos (Night of Memories)
Location: Carrasco Polo Club (Servando Gomez and Camino Carrasco)
Cost: UY$ 400

More events can be found by clicking here.

There are also a couple of other Uruguay blogs that have written about La Noche De La Nostalgia that you may want to check out:

Total Uruguay

URMovingWhere.com

Global Post

Punta Del Este Expats

Adapting to the Metric System in Uruguay

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We constantly find ourselves trying to convert inches to centimeters, pounds to kilograms, Fahrenheit to Celsius… and vice versa.

While I’m sure the change to the metric system will come naturally to us soon enough, we constantly find ourselves using technology to help us out. Whether it’s using the metric converter on our iPods or computers, or simply trying to get a rough estimate in our heads, it’s something we deal with daily in Uruguay.

One thing about the metric system we really like is… It just makes sense. Everything is based on variables of 10… 100 Centimeters in a Meter… 100 Meters X 100 Meters is a Hectare.

The U.S. Customary units… 12 inches in a foot, 3 feet in a yard, 1,760 yards in a mile. How many feet are in an acre?

That’s my point… The metric system just makes more sense that the U.S. Customary units…

Flying Out of Uruguay

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I’m heading back to the States for the weekend to pick up some of our stuff we have in storage…  Why not have it shipped?  Because, it’s cheaper to get on a plane and bring it back (by a couple of thousand dollars).

When you are getting ready to fly out of Uruguay there is something you should know. You have to pay an airport exit fee. Why? I don’t know… But, they won’t let your through security until you’ve got your bar-coded receipt.

It’s U$S 31 or $744 pesos (as of today’s exchange rate Friday Aug. 14, 09). I tried to whip out my good ole MasterCard, but the lady wouldn’t accept it… Maybe she didn’t like me, but whatever the case may be… all she wanted from me was my boarding pass and my cash… I’m sure glad I had pesos on me.

As I sit here at the airport, I am enjoying one of my favorite pastimes. People watching. One thing about Uruguay is, the mullet has definitely not fallen out of style, both for men and women (it’s kind of scary)… 

Either have tie-dye outfits, from head to toe tie-dye outfits that is. In addition, it’s around 20-22C degrees today (68-72F)… By looking at everyone in the airport here, you would think it’s 20 below.  People here tend to overdress for cold weather… or even warm weather.  Tons of clothing, hats gloves and scarves… and when they take those off… they have 4 layers of sweaters on below.  None of that bothers me, it’s just observations.

If you are one of the people I’m getting ready to describe, and you take offense to this… good…  I really think there should be a law passed here (and everywhere) about men not being allowed to wear skin-tight low cut V-neck T-shirts…  AND…  There’s just something wrong with men carrying a purse… I don’t care if it’s called a “man-purse”…  There’s just something not right about that…  So if I’m describing you, you’re doing wrong.

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

World Famous Tattoo Artist Visiting Uruguay:
Set Your Appointment Now

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Johnny Luck, world famous tattoo artist, is in Montevideo, Uruguay from now through August 15, 2009.  He is setting appointments to work out of Good Luck Tattoo on 21 de Setiembre @ Hellauri.

If you want or need a tattoo, please contact us to set up an appointment. In the meantime, Johnny has an extensive portfolio with him that you can touch and feel, and a couple of examples of his work posted online. Click here to check out his web page.

Click here to contact us.

Mexican Food in Uruguay

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Coming from San Diego, we didn’t expect to find great Mexican Food in Uruguay (San Diego has the best Mexican food around… I know you probably disagree if you’re from Texas, but that’s okay). Hopeful that we’d be wrong, we decided to look around Montevideo to see what Mexican restaurants Uruguay has to offer.

Our first couple weeks here, we were referred to Roma Tijuana Mexican Restaurant, located at Cnel Mora 533, as being a great Mexican food restaurant. So, we decided to check it out.

We ordered a chips and salsa sampler as our appetizer. Let’s just say we were very happy we brought our own hot sauce with us. The salsa was actually a slightly spicy ketchup, but we fixed that right up with some Tapatio and we were good to go.

I ordered enchiladas, and while they weren’t bad, they definitely weren’t what I was expecting. I thought enchiladas were supposed to be covered with sauce? Not at Roma Tijuana.

Brian got the fajitas. He said they weren’t too bad, but definitely nowhere near to what we’d get in San Diego.

Roma Tijuana is sort of like Mexican food meets Italian food. Interesting, but not what we were looking for. So, strike one in our search for good Mexican food in Uruguay.

We love roaming the streets of Montevideo in search of our next favorite restaurant. Last Friday night we came across La Lupita Mexican Restaurant. It’s located at Luis de la Torre 565, at the corner of Gregorio Suárez in the Punta Carretas barrio of Montevideo.

From the street, it doesn’t look like anything special. But, once you walk inside you know there has to be something special about this place. From the pictures on the wall to the red, white and green streamers across the ceiling, the décor screams Mexico.

The restaurant is small, so if you don’t get there early, expect a wait. The place was packed, and halfway through dinner, we noticed there was a line out the door. But, so far, I would say this is the closest thing to authentic Mexican food in Uruguay that we’ve found.

They served chips and salsa when we sat down. The sauce they served was very mild, but when we asked if they had salsa mas picante, our waitress happily brought out a bowl of spicy salsa (yah!) and a bottle of habanero hot sauce. We never even had to break out our own hot sauce at La Lupita.

I ordered the enchiladas rojas and they actually had sauce on them. They were good, definitely not as good as my homemade ones, but much better than the ones from Roma Tijuana.

Brian got the enchiladas verdes, which were also good, and a cerdo (pork) taco.

Zoë has had an enormous appetite lately, so we ordered her a plate of mini taquitos and tostadas. She just loved dipping the taquitos in the bowl of guacamole. Believe it or not, she finished off this whole platter!

La Lupita also serves Corona (which Brian happily ordered since we haven’t found Corona in too many places in Uruguay) and a full bar of tequilas (which we didn’t sample).

Overall, I would recommend La Lupita Mexican Restaurant if you’re looking for Mexican food in Uruguay. I’m sure we’ll stumble across a couple more Mexican restaurants before long, but for now, La Lupita will be our choice for Mexican food in Uruguay.

Food in Uruguay: What’s For Dinner?

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You know what is really interesting to me about Uruguay? It’s the price and quality of food in Uruguay. I bought 0.8 kilos (1.75lbs) of grass-fed Black Angus Rib Eye steak for 177 pesos (U$S 7.64); 1 nice sized zucchini and a medium sized onion for 12 pesos (U$S .52); and a huge bunch of fresh spinach for 26 pesos (U$S 1.12). Add a little sea salt, pepper, garlic and cayenne pepper. We just got done eating it for dinner… “mmmmmm” as Zoë would say.

What about pesticides? Well I’m glad you asked. I just learned today that a lot of small farmers do not use pesticides. Not because they don’t want to, but because it’s too expensive. I’m cool with that. On the other side of the fence though… The majority of larger farmers do use pesticides. There are some farmers in Uruguay who use pesticides that have been banned in the US for years…

So, we try to get all of our fruits and veggies from the smaller farmers at the local feria (kind of like a farmer’s market and swap meet all in one) rather than at the grocery stores and giant stands at the feria…