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UruguayNow.com First guide to Uruguay in English.

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Teatro Solís Tristán Narvaja Market Punta del Este Uruguay’s Food Renaissance Candombe drumming Football Find out the winners of the Uruguayan Literature UruguayNow awards for: Nostalgia Night Starting a home in Uruguay Best Hotel Joaquín Torres García Best Value-Hotel Uruguay’s Interior Best Restaurant and... the UruguayNow interview Best Dining Experience

First Edition: February 2010 www.uruguaynow.com Contents

Fast Facts 3

Getting to Uruguay 5

Getting Around 7

Money, Costs & Shopping 9

Montevideo: What to see 11

Montevideo: Restaurants 13 Montevideo: Bars and Cafés 14 Welcome to UruguayNow!

In this first edition our intention is to give you a low-down of the sights and attractions Montevideo: Hotels 15 of Montevideo, Uruguay’s capital city. Need some ideas for accommodation or a night out? Take a look at our reviews of hotels, restaurants, bars and cafés in the city. Want to know what’s unmissable in the Old Town? Read through our section on what to see – not just in the fascinating Ciudad Vieja, but also in Montevideo’s seaside suburbs, UruguayNow Awards 16 and in its nearby wine country. Sometimes described as a capital with a ranch attached, we nonetheless haven’t forgotten Uruguay’s provinces (called departamentos in this country), nor have we left Features aside its feel-good beach resorts. But with autumn approaching and Punta del Este winding down for the season, our main focus is on urban life and seeking out what Words on the street 3 makes Uruguay tick: Its passion for football, music and art. Its vibrant street markets. The historical relevance of the gaucho. And, last but not least, we do our best to ex- Football, football, football 4 plain the national obsession with Cyndi Lauper, REO Speedwagon and the rest of the kitsch pantheon of 1980s rock and pop performers. Nostalgia, you see, is a serious Theatre of dreams 5 business in these parts… Portrait of the artist 6 UruguayNow is also dedicated to searching out excellence – and reporting back to our Blast from the past 7 readers. That’s why, starting with Montevideo, our researchers have visited scores of accommodation and dining options in the city to bring you our choices of Best Hotel, What a difference a blueberry makes 9 Best-Value Hotel, Best Restaurant and Most Innovative Dining Experience for 2010. Please turn to page 17 for the full results. And when hotels and restaurants get things A resort for all seasons 10 wrong, we’ll also tell you. Uruguay’s Interior: Six of the best 11 Although the guide is subject to copyright, we are always delighted for brief passages Uruguay gets a female beat 12 to be quoted in other publications with a clear indication of the source. A happy country 13 Happy reading! Market forces 14 The UruguayNow Interview: Karen Ann 15 Inner beauty 16 “It’s a word of mouth thing” 17 Nick Foster, Publisher

Credits Contact

Publisher and writer: Nick Foster If you would like to contact the editorial or advertising sales team at UruguayNow Web design, research and additional content: Russ Slater please send a mail to [email protected]. If you would like to subscribe Photo credits: All photos UruguayNow except image from Joaquín Torres García to our newsletter, please mail the same address with the word “Newsletter” in the feature, reproduced by kind permission of the Museo Torres García and image from subject field. UruguayNow Interview: Karen Ann by Silvia Andrada. 2 Fast Facts

Entry Requirements Words on the street Citizens of EU member states, the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand (among others) travelling as tourists do not need a visa to enter Uruguay. Visitors receive a Evidence of literacy – and tourist card that allows for a stay of up to 90 days. You get an automatic extension by leaving the country and re-entering. You can also obtain an extension from the literature – is everywhere in National Immigration Office at Misiones 1513, at the corner of 25 de Mayo (in Montevi- Montevideo deo’s Old Town). The cost is under US$20. Be prepared to wait in line. In recent years, Uruguay’s literacy rate has Immigration at Montevideo’s Carrasco international airport is a breeze compared hovered around 97% of the total population to entering Argentina at Buenos Aires and the chaos that is passport control at Sao – the highest figure in South America. Paulo and Rio de Janeiro airports when two or three aircraft land in quick succession. Customs agents rarely trouble foreign visitors. “Just about everyone in Montevideo can read,” says Andrés Linardi of the Librería

Linardi y Risso, a mainly second-hand bookshop in the Old Town set up by Mr Lin- Remember that immigration officials have every right to ask you for evidence of funds ardi’s father and a business partner, “but what is striking is that so many butchers, to cover your stay in the country, and may also ask to see the return portion of your farmers and taxi drivers, for instance, buy and read books in Uruguay. One of my ticket. A of US$31 is levied on departure if you leave by air (US$17 if departure tax regular customers is a policeman with a beat around the Plaza Matriz who chooses you are flying to Buenos Aires). You can pay the tax in pesos. a different book every so often.”

The origins of Linardi y Risso go back to 1944. Previously a pulp fiction writer had

Climate set up shop in the same location. Some 45,000 books are on sale at any one time Reports of Montevideo’s classic Mediterranean climate have been much exaggerated. in the beautiful, cavernous premises, illuminated by a small winter garden at the Locals complain that weather is becoming less and less predictable, with occasional rear of the shop. hot periods in early spring and late autumn and – less pleasantly – destructive winter storms. In any case, the closest European climatic equivalent is Lisbon; if you are in Linardi y Risso is one of two bookstores just north of the Plaza Matriz which should North America think the shore of South Carolina. be on every booklover’s Montevideo itinerary. The other is the Librería Oriente Oc- cidente, a marvellously atmospheric single-room reading den with creaking, antique Average highs in the summer (December – February) are 27ºC - 29ºC with lows in floorboards, owned by longstanding bookseller Julio Moses. the 17ºC - 19ºC bracket. On the rare summer nights when there is no breeze, the city can be as breathless as Buenos Aires. Dramatic thunderstorms build up from time to “When Uruguayans want to find out about a subject, their first reflex is to turn to a time in the summer. book,” says Mr Linardi. “Traditionally Uruguayan education was based on reading and analysis. On top of that, Uruguayans are curious about the outside world. They You should take precautions against the sun in Uruguay. The rays, both in spring want to know where they are from and where we, as a nation, are from.” and in summer, are very strong. Many Uruguayans don’t go to the beach before 4 pm in the summer after news broke about a hole in the ozone layer directly above the The voracious appetite of Uruguayans for reading material peaked, according to Mr country. Others have stopped sun-bathing altogether. One Uruguayan dies of skin Linardi, in the 1960s. “We are a very politicised people, it was inevitable that with cancer every four days. so many changes in the world Uruguayans should look to books for explanations,”

he says. The coldest month is July with an average low of 8ºC. But watch out for the pam- pero, a weather system than originates in the northern part of Patagonia and brings Mr Linardi concedes that the rise of the internet is making itself felt and the temperatures to the Uruguayan capital that can, on occasions, drop to nearly zero. Uruguayan love of reading is slowly being eroded: “Sometimes I buy a collection Most rain falls in the spring and summer (October to March). Montevideo is a windy from a widow who will tell me, these were my husband’s books, our children aren’t city and winter days – which are invariably sunny – often feel colder than they really so interested in reading.” are. Similarly, winter nights feel colder than they really are – not just because of the biting wind but because of the inadequacy of heating systems in many private homes Or perhaps their interests have narrowed: a current bestseller in Uruguay is La and in cheaper hotels. It has never snowed in Montevideo. socieded de la nieve, a non-fiction work by Pablo Vierci for which all the survivors Conclusion: expect the unexpected. On 13 February 1914 a drop of 18ºC was of the 1972 Andes air crash (who had to resort to eating the bodies of those who recorded in the river port of Mercedes in the space of an hour and a quarter. News- died on impact) agreed to be interviewed for the first time. paper reports from that month tell of masses of bob-haired young things scrambling desperately for their cardigans. While in the first half of the twentieth century it was French literature – plus works of Shakespeare and the Spanish Golden Age – that dominated local tastes, from the end of the 1940s onwards Uruguayan publishing houses began to publish native Information, Maps & Communications writers finding their own voice. The form many chose was the cuento, or short story.

The official tourist information office in Montevideo is close to the port and a block Mario Benedetti, who died in 2009, was probably the country’s best-known from the Port Market (Rambla 25 de Agosto corner Yacaré). It can provide brochures exponent of the form. Born to a well-to-do family of Italian immigrants, Benedetti and advice on accommodation and activities throughout Uruguay. was the chronicler of the increasingly prosperous Uruguayan middle class at the time of the vacas gordas – the period of national wealth (the time of the “fat cows”) are available at newspaper kiosks throughout the Old Town, Maps of Montevideo in the years that followed the Second World War. He came to prominence in 1959 Centre and beach districts. Free maps of the downtown and Punta Carretas/Pocitos with the publication of Montevideanos (Montevideans), a collection of cuentos that are often handed out at the larger hotels. Hotels in Punta del Este routinely do the contained more than a nod to James Joyce’s Dubliners. These stories revealed the same. are common in the Centre, particularly around the Plaza del Internet cafés frustrations, hopes – and on occasion – joys of the city’s individuals and families, Entrevero and in the streets around the main University building in the Cordón district. confronted with situations which could be stifling, but were also sometimes full of Wifi is increasingly common in cafés in the Old Town and (to a lesser extent) the the sense that Benedetti’s creations had the world at their feet. beach suburbs. The tourist information office can supply a simple of the road map country. Meanwhile, in his short 1966 tale La noche de los feos (“The Night of the Ugly”) Telephone: Country code is 598. Montevideo city code is 2 (leave out when dialing in two disfigured, lonely people come together in the dark of a cinema and find a the city). You can rent mobile/cell phones in Montevideo and Punta del Este. closeness that is, in part, an act of defiance. The story is also a pithy portrait of the heyday of Avenida 18 de Julio and the city’s downtown, and is worth seeking out. Uruguay’s official language is Spanish. English is spoken in large hotels in Montevi- deo and Punta del Este, and in some restaurants and shops. Benedetti – who spend a decade in exile during Uruguay’s period of military dictatorship – was one of many writers and eminent guests to make a contribution Appliances that function between 220 – 240 volts will usually work without a problem to Linardi y Risso’s visitors’ book. He wrote a poem that pokes gentle fun at Mr in Uruguay. Linardi’s father, Adolfo, a lover of books who never forgot that selling them was also a business.

Health When Mr Linardi, son, turns the page to Benedetti’s entry, he does so with evident pride. There are no particular health risks in Uruguay. We recommend that your tetanus protection is up to date. There is no yellow fever, malaria or dengue fever risk; the authorities constantly monitor the dengue situation in neighbouring Brazil, where there Factfile: are outbreaks. Be aware of the strong sun and take precautions. Librería Linardi y Risso, calle Gómez corner Rincón, tel. 915 7129, If you fall ill or have an accident in Montevideo you can go to the emergency room www.linardiyrisso.com of either the public Hospital de Clínicas (on Avenida Italia across from the Centenario Librería Oriente Occidente, calle Rincón corner Gómez, tel. 915 4065, stadium) or the private Hospital Británico (on Avenida Italia corner Morales). At www.mosesbks.com the latter you will need to provide proof of funds or a valid insurance policy before treatment. No sales tax is imposed on books and other reading material in Uruguay.

For emergencies in Uruguay call 911. UruguayNow (First Edition: February 2010) 3 Fast Facts

Football, football, football! What to Bring Twice winners of the soccer World Cup, in 1930 (as hosts of the competition) and in 1950 (when the national team overcame Brazil in the final), football has for genera- Uruguay’s supermarkets are well stocked and presented; many international-brand tions been at the heart of how Uruguayans see themselves. It is a matter of intense toiletries, for instance, are available in Montevideo and the larger centres. Shopping national pride that they are by a long way the smallest nation in the world to have malls in Montevideo have chain stores such as Zara (from Spain) and Hering (from won football’s biggest prize. Brazil). Meanwhile, Uruguayan brands which prospered a generation ago when high import tariffs made non-Uruguayan colognes, soaps and perfumes exorbitantly expen- “At the end of the nineteenth and start of the twentieth centuries, the population sive, still prosper and appear to have a firm following. The most common example is of Uruguay grew exponentially,” says Juan Carlos Luzuriaga, historian and author the Dr. Selby range of cosmetics, which you’ll see everywhere. of a book (see below) on the origins of football in Uruguay. “Football gave many new immigrants their own identity, bringing them together and serving as a kind of You should bring all the electronic goods you need from abroad, including memory common denominator. In the 1920s and 1930s football, together with tango and the cards and pen drives, which are typically at least 50% more expensive in Uruguay traditions of Carnival, was the glue that held society together.” than in the US or in the cheaper outlets in Europe. And what if you forget to bring your camera? Fear not. Travellers arriving at Montevideo airport are greeted by sales girls British railway workers, importers and ranch owners integrated into a society of from the duty-free shop, which is available for passengers entering the country. Join criollos (native Uruguayans) and Italian and Spanish immigrants in good measure the queues of Uruguayans stocking up on whisky and Swiss chocolate. The duty-free thanks to soccer. When Uruguay played Argentina in a match in 1909, both teams shop is also a good place to buy sun lotion in factors high enough for babies and fielded players of British origin. A Uruguayan newspaper report of the game (pub- children. At the time of writing, it is open to receive customers arriving on all scheduled lished in Spanish) was nonetheless full of English football terminology: “half-time”, international flights, no matter the hour. “shot” and “goal”.

If you are visiting in the winter you will need a warm jacket, plus sweaters. These are During this period the rivalry between Peñarol, the team of the British, their friends also available locally, of course, particularly in women’s styles. Bear in mind that even and local workers (who tended to feel at odds with wealthy criollos), and Nacional, good-standard restaurants are often under-heated in the winter. the club of Italians and monied native Uruguayans, set in.

The Uruguayan league was set up in 1932 following the successes of the national If you are using budget accommodation in the warmer months, bring a mosquito net. team. From its formation until 1986 Peñarol and Nacional won all but two of the The most concentrated mosquito repellents (“jungle formula” and so on) are not easy league titles. When the Copa Libertadores (South America’s Champions League) to find in Uruguay, so consider bringing them from home. started in 1960, Peñarol won the first two trophies. They and Nacional were regu- lars in the early years of the tournament, with one or the other featuring in all but Horse-riders should make sure they have their own appropriate footwear. Campers two of the first 12 finals. But the last time they featured was in 1988 when Nacional may find that equipment available locally (e.g. rucksacks) is not as modern or light as lifted the trophy. Since then, globalisation has had a massive impact in such a small at home. If you intend to practice any sport other than football and running, you’ll be country and has made it nearly impossible for Uruguay to keep their best players. well advised to bring clothing and equipment from home.

“The rivalry in the early days was intense but it was purely sporting. It was only from Books, newspapers and magazines in English are not commonly for sale in the 1980s onwards that things seemed to change decisively. Supporters certainly Uruguay. If you enjoy reading Spanish, however, you will be spoilt for choice in Monte- became more ostentatious,” says Mr. Luzuriaga. video’s second-hand bookshops.

Indeed: when Nacional and Peñarol play each other in the local derby (called the clásico) one side of the stadium is a sea of yellow and black replica shirts, the Etiquette other side is a sea of blue, white and red. In British terms, it is an acute, even bitter rivalry that is more like that which exists between Rangers and Celtic (in Glasgow, Uruguay is a Latin American country and shares a number of characteristics with its Scotland) than the relatively good-humoured stand-off between Liverpool and neighbours. The tendency to judge visitors on their appearance is hard-wired into Everton (in England). Violence outside soccer grounds has also become a serious the Latin psyche. Overseas travellers who are poorly dressed or groomed have long problem in Montevideo. Experts from England have visited Uruguay to advise on been the object of curiosity since it is (still) a common assumption that people visiting how to combat football hooliganism. from overseas are comfortably off – a view that is slowly being challenged by the influx of foreign retirees of all income types. The Uruguayan national side qualified for the forthcoming World Cup finals in South Africa thanks to a narrow victory against Costa Rica in the play-offs. “When we Polite forms of address (señor, señora) in shops and restaurants are always finally made it, everyone was happy,” says Mr Luzuriaga. welcome, even though locals are hardly as decorous or deferential in their speech as

Colombians or Chileans, for example. But make the effort and you will make a good No-one in Uruguay is under any illusions that their team can seriously challenge for impression. the trophy, but there is renewed hope of making an impact. In the 1980s and 1990s

Uruguayan football struggled to produce skillful players and became extremely Business travellers may find a casual and even willful a defensive (perhaps in some way they were trying to protect their legacy?). This lateness for appointments source of frustration. It’s noticeable that when Uruguayans want someone to arrive has now changed and there has been a switch back to a more attacking style of on time they will often add the expression “hora inglesa” for punctuality. Even though football. bumper-to-bumper traffic can rarely be used as an excuse in Montevideo, delays of Watch out for rising star Nicolás Lodeiro in the tournament; he has been labelled 15 minutes or so are to be expected at more or less all business meetings. Make sure the “new Messi” in the Uruguayan press for his attacking skills. He joined the ranks you have a ready stock of business cards as their exchange and mutual admiration of Uruguay’s expatriate footballers when he signed for Ajax of Amsterdam in Janu- are the prelude to even the shortest encounter. ary for a reported US$5.6 million fee from Nacional. Uruguayans dress conservatively. Men should wear dark suits for formal business Hoping to get on the end of his attacks will be Diego Forlán, who some may meetings – and for weddings and Christenings too for that matter. Shorts are uncom- remember for a not-so-successful spell at Manchester United (he has scored a mon outside seaside resorts, even at weekends. Speedo-type swimwear for men mountain of goals at every other club he has played for) and Sebastián Abreu. will elicit stares on most beaches – go for baggy surfer shorts instead. Meanwhile, Dubbed the “Crazy Man”, Abreu is a hero in Uruguay, in part for scoring the vital women’s fashions tend to be a little dowdy and ladies of a certain age who prefer goal in the play-off against Costa Rica. He is perhaps their most potent threat and a younger look will be the object of a certain amount of eyeballing, even (perhaps is only three goals away from being their biggest goalscorer of all-time. especially) in Montevideo’s chic residential neighbourhoods. Punta del Este in Janu- ary is undiluted bling. Uruguay’s biggest challenge will be to get through the group stages, where they face France and the hosts South Africa. With only two teams going through and no If you are lucky enough to be invited to a Uruguayan home, be prepared to meet the hosts ever falling to make it to the next round, this could prove a stern test. whole family. Meals are often barbecue-based and thus quite informal, with the man of the house fiddling with the charcoal and slabs of meat to the accompaniment of coos So local supporters can hardly be blamed for dwelling on past glories: On 16 of appreciation from everyone present. Children tend to stay up late in Montevideo July 1950 some 175,000 spectators, the great majority Brazilian, filed into Rio de and are both seen and heard; if you have children who are not present, you will Janeiro’s Maracana stadium. Brazil took the lead but, in possibly the biggest upset invariably be asked to produce a photo. A gift from your home country will go down in the history of the World Cup, Uruguay equalised and then scored the winner. well, otherwise flowers are sold at kiosks on main roads and are a sure-fire token of The French newspaper Le Monde reported a near complete appreciation for your silence in the stadium at the final whistle. Hundreds of Brazil- hostess. If a man ian supporters had to be treated for shock. Factfile: celebrates his birthday In Uruguay, meanwhile, the government declared a day’s El football del novecientos by Juan Carlos Luzuriaga is published by Ediciones at home and invites public holiday and the party began. But here, too, there was Santillana. The book is available at all major bookshops in Uruguay. Price: $450. five guests, he may disbelief. Three people died of heart attacks listening to the The best place to see a match is the graceful Estadio Centenario, the national well end up with five radio broadcast; five more lost their lives accidentally during stadium, which is used regularly for domestic games. Nacional’s Parque Central bottles of whisky (and the festivities that followed the game. Uruguay’s World Cup stadium in Montevideo’s Cordón neighbourhood is also a good option. Expect to no-one will consider winners were feted as national heroes. The rivalry between pay between US$5 and US$18 for a ticket. There is a small football museum at this unusual). Peñarol and Nacional was temporarily put on hold. Montevideo’s Estadio Centenario. Opening hours: Wednesday to Friday, 10 am to 6 pm; Saturdays and Sundays, 10 am to 2.30 pm. 4 Getting to Uruguay

By air Theatre of dreams Only two airlines based outside Latin America serve Montevideo’s brand-new, state-of-the-art Carrasco international airport (www.aic.com.uy). American Airlines Montevideo’s Teatro Solís is a great place to hear live music, flies direct from Miami and Iberia provides a non-stop connection between Madrid and Montevideo in codeshare with PLUNA, the national airline. Another useful connection opera, or watch modern dance for North Americans is from Panama to Montevideo on Copa Airlines. Demand is particularly heavy on all routes at Christmas/New Year, Easter and July.

Several European airlines offer ticketing through to Montevideo with a change of planes in Sao Paulo, continuing to Uruguay with either TAM or GOL, both of which are Brazilian airlines. Others – Air France, for example – route travellers through Ezeiza international airport in Buenos Aires. If you travel via Buenos Aires, ensure that you fly into and out of the international airport at Ezeiza. Most flights to Montevideo from Bue- nos Aires depart from the notionally domestic downtown airport commonly referred to as the “Aeroparque”; crossing the city from one to the other can be a stressful hassle, so avoid it if possible.

Montevideo’s new US$134 million airport was designed by celebrated Uruguayan ar- chitect Rafael Viñoly and opened for business at the end of December 2009. Although Legend has it that when the celebrated Italian tenor Enrico Caruso was performing the main terminal looks rather like a flattened egg, it has the distinct advantage of a at Montevideo’s Teatro Solís towards the end of his career he had trouble with a sizeable car park – which its predecessor lacked. high note and the audience started to boo him

Uruguay has two other international airports: a dinky facility at Colonia del Sacra- The story – if true – suggests that Uruguay’s opera-goers a century ago were a mento across the River Plate from Buenos Aires, and the growing, beautifully sited demanding, difficult crowd. But given that, again as legend has it, Uruguay’s ubiq- airport at Punta del Este which serves summer holidaymakers from Argentina, Chile uitous Caruso pasta sauce was a creation of the maestro, there is every reason and Uruguay, and casino high rollers from Brazil year-round, plus countless private to believe that there was a good deal of affection for him in Montevideo. (Caruso jets. is said once to have ordered a local chef to make up a meal with the ingredients which he had at hand, which were mushrooms, ham and fresh cream – and so a By land new sauce came into being.)

You can get to Montevideo by bus from destinations as far away as Santiago in Chile. Pristine after a massive six-year makeover that finished in 2004, the ghosts of The overnight connection from Porto Alegre (the closest big urban centre in Brazil) is Caruso, the tango singer Carlos Gardel and others still seem to inhabit this famous practical and usually comfortable. TTL (www.ttl.com.br) serves this route. Getting from space. And since it is now the turn of the Teatro Colón across the River Plate in Buenos Aires to Montevideo or Punta del Este is faster by direct catamaran or ferry/ Buenos Aires to be closed for extensive refurbishment, there has never been a catamaran to Colonia del Sacramento, with an onward bus connection in Colonia, better time to catch a performance at the Solís. rather than by bus all the way (see below). You can also catch a bus direct from Rosario in central Argentina. Leaving Montevideo, the adventurous can reach Iguazú That the neo-classical opera house was built at all was a triumph for its backers, Falls by way of a bus to Salto in the north of the country, then crossing the Uruguay since the country was at war with itself between 1839 and 1852 and conflict River to the Argentine city of Concordia, and taking another bus from there. More info between the Blanco and Colorado parties would continue beyond 1870: “When on schedules at: www.trescruces.com.uy. it was completed in 1856, Uruguay was going through a period of crisis, and the country was mired in poverty,” explains communications director Elena Firpi. By sea When construction of the opera house began in earnest in 1852 Montevideo had only 34,000 inhabitants, and the city was at permanent risk of cholera outbreaks, Unless you are arriving on a cruise ship or are lucky enough to have your own yacht, among other threats. you will either cross the River Plate from the port of Buenos Aires or catch a slower boat from the pretty riverside town of Tigre, some 30 km north-west of the Argentine “On top of all that, there were political squabbles over its design,” says Ms Firpi. capital. From city centre to city centre, travelling by direct hydrofoil from Buenos Aires “But over time the identity of the city of Montevideo, the aspirations of its people, to Montevideo takes only a little longer than the plane – and you can take all the and the development of the theatre, have become closely linked.” drinks and toothpaste you like. Note that fares and promotions change rapidly; please consult the websites of individual operators for precise details. Fares from Argentina The opera house stands at the edge of Plaza Independencia, on the fringe of the are sold in Argentine pesos and the US$ equivalents given here are approximate. Old Town, a little set back from the square and in the next block to the shiny, new Uruguayan Presidency building – architecturally, a huge contrast. It was named for From Buenos Aires: Juan Díaz de Solís, the Spanish navigator who sailed up the River Plate in 1516 Buquebus: Offers a direct hydrofoil link between the port of Buenos Aires and Monte- and in so doing was the first European to set foot in what is now Uruguay (he was video (the terminal is to the north of Puerto Madero). Journey time: 3hrs15mins. The probably killed by the local Charrúa people). cheapest one-way fare of approximately US$75 sells out quickly. Buquebus also offers a hydrofoil to Colonia (1hr) with a connecting coach/bus service to Montevideo and Lamps and candles illuminated the theatre’s inaugural performance – Guiseppe Punta del Este. Their car ferries also ply this route and are cheaper, but considerably Verdi’s Ernani, which had been premiered in European capitals a few years previ- slower. Fares from Buenos Aires to Montevideo via Colonia on the fast service start at ously. The first opera season contained ten works in all, almost all by Verdi, who about US$35. The last departure from Buenos Aires to Colonia with onward connec- had overtaken Rossini as the composer of the moment. The European tradition tions leaves at 11.15 pm. Tickets available on-line: www.buquebus.com of the Teatro Solís was underscored in its choice of English chandeliers and the prominent inscriptions of names of European composers in its interior, as in the Colonia Express: Fast ferry to Colonia with onward bus connections to Montevideo. legendary opera house in Manaus, Brazil. Offers a limited number of cheap web fares from Buenos Aires to Montevideo for just under US$25 single. Day returns to Colonia with guided tour available (US$46). www. Milton Schinca notes in Boulevard Sarandí, his anecdotal history of Montevideo, coloniaexpress.com that a few days after the Teatro Solís opened, and in the middle of a performance, members of the public seated in the stalls began to pelt those in the galleries with SeaCat Colonia: Offers a service to Montevideo and Punta del Este via Colonia. Fares oranges. We can suppose from Mr Schinca’s account that bad feeling between generally comparable to those of Colonia Express. Day returns to Colonia with city supporters of the Blanco and Colorado political parties was the cause. tour: US$42. No on-line ticket purchase available at present. Their office in Montevi- deo is on Calle Río Negro corner Colonia (Centre). Buy tickets in Buenos Aires at the Teatro Solís ceased to function as a private concern in 1947 and was bought by port. www.seacatcolonia.com Montevideo city council. After its US$20 million facelift, the theatre has 1256 seats and capacity for 60 musicians. And if you are in Montevideo in season and you are From Tigre: lucky enough to get a ticket, you can still see opera there.

Cacciola Viajes: If you have the time, Cacciola offers a boat connection from Tigre (just outside Buenos Aires) to the Uruguayan port of Carmelo, with onward connec- tions to Montevideo by bus. The first part of the trip takes you through the picturesque Factfile: channels of the Tigre Delta. Journey time: approx. 6hrs from Tigre. Recommended. Cost: US$30 one-way to Montevideo. A minibus service from downtown Buenos Aires Depending on the performance – plays are generally less expensive than opera or to connect with the boat at Tigre is available. Consult their website for more details: dance – you can get tickets for between 150 and 1500 Uruguayan pesos (US$7.50 www.cacciolaviajes.com. to US$75). Tickets are not available online. Guided tours of the building are generally held at 11 am, 12 noon and 5 pm every day except Monday. Tours cost Líneas Delta: Offers a service in the summer from Tigre to the small Uruguayan port 20 pesos in Spanish and 40 pesos in English, but they are free on Wednesdays. of Nueva Palmira, which lies beyond Carmelo (US$20 one-way to Nueva Palmira). We recommend you consult the theatre’s website for the latest information: www. The journey gives you another good chance to see something of the 14,000 square teatrosolis.org.uy; tel. 1950 3323 km of water, forests and islands that makes up the Tigre Delta. The company also offers connections to Carmelo and Colonia. Consult their website for more information as this service terminates for the season on 31 March 2010: www.lineasdelta.com.ar UruguayNow (First Edition: February 2010) 5 Getting Around

Getting around Uruguay Portrait of the artist There are presently no scheduled domestic air services. The train network only carries cargo, except for a limited number of services connecting Montevideo with some dor- Joaquín Torres García changed Uruguayan art forever mitory towns in the nearby department of Canelones – one of these is worthwhile and we list it below. Leaving aside walking and riding a bike, you have two main options:

Buses: Long-distance bus (coach) services connect Montevideo with all of the departmental capitals. There are departures to the northern cities of Paysandú, Salto, Rivera and Tacuarembó at around midnight and also early in the morning. Expect to pay about 1 Uruguayan peso per kilometre travelled. There are departures for Punta del Este at about 15 minute intervals in season ($142, 2 hours). There are also regular connections to Colonia ($176, 2 ½ hours). All long distance buses depart from the huge Tres Cruces terminal at the edge of the Centre. From there, the CA1 bus takes you downtown for $9 or take a taxi from the rank at the terminal (count on US$4-5 to Pocitos or Punta Carretas). You can find out which bus company goes where, and more information on schedules at: www.trescruces.com.uy. Tickets are available at the Upside-down maps, strange symbols in primary colours, fish out of water? If you terminal. Book a few days ahead if you are travelling out of Montevideo on a Friday, or have seen paintings containing any of the above recently, chances are that you have been in Montevideo. back from the provinces on a Sunday. The man responsible was Joaquín Torres García, and he set in motion an artistic Car hire: All the international brands are represented, both at the airport and at loca- revolution. Torres García was born in the Uruguayan capital in 1874 and – still in tions downtown. Expect to pay more than in the US or in many places in Europe at his teens – emigrated to Barcelona with his family with the plan to learn to paint. peak times (Christmas, New Year and Easter Week) when prices are hiked principally His trademark style came to be constructivism, founded in part on the inclusion of due to massive local demand. At such times you may have to pay US$750/week for indigenous elements in artworks. Despite the profusion of his work on posters, in an intermediate model (Fiat Siena or similar); the same car will cost US$450 outside coffee table books and even on mugs (if not on canvas: many of his paintings were peak times, including tax and unlimited mileage. You can find details of local car destroyed in a fire in a Brazilian museum in 1979) it’s a difficult style to pin down. hire companies in the yellow pages. These usually rent larger vehicles; in provincial centres they are often the only option. According to Alejandro Díaz, director of Montevideo’s Torres García Museum, it’s easier to give examples of what it is – and isn’t:

Train to Santa Lucía: You can reach the time-warp town of Santa Lucía in about “First of all, it is the opposite of the kind of art that aims to reproduce a given reality 90 minutes from Montevideo’s Central Station, located 8 blocks north of Plaza del in a painting. What constructivism does is create its own truth, which only exists in Entrevero (next to the port). The line goes as far as the provincial town of Florida, with that particular work of art. References to the world as we know and see it appear a branch line to San José. Note that, as this is essentially a commuter service, there as signs and symbols, which don’t intend to imitate anything at all. Add to this the is only one train to Santa Lucía in the morning, and one train returning to Montevideo intensity of the colours the artist uses and you get a harmony which is rather like the end of the afternoon (more services operate in the opposite direction). A separate, that you experience when you hear a good piece of music.” shorter line that terminates north-east of the capital in Sudriers is unlikely to be of any interest to visitors. Fare to Santa Lucía $30; to Florida and San José $40. Timetables Although he mixed with such artists as Joan Miró and Pablo Picasso, Torres García at www.afe.com.uy. knew spells of hardship in Europe. He took on teaching jobs and for a while, and quite successfully, made toys. From Spain he moved to New York and later Paris. Driving in Uruguay Piet Mondrian and Paul Klee were key influences. The Uruguayan art world was fundamentally unprepared for what was coming. Speed limits: 110 km/hr on highways; 90 km/hr on other roads outside urban areas. Main roads are good and (inexpensive) toll roads are excellent. Local roads in rural Torres García returned to his homeland in 1934 to find artists mired in excessively areas are often dirt tracks, but may be reasonably well maintained nonetheless. Many conservative habits: much painting tended to ape traditional European styles; the streets in urban parts of Canelones (Solymar, Pinamar, etc.) are unpaved and deeply stapes were portraits and pastoral scenes. His outlook was bound to be contro- rutted. At unmarked crossings the priority to the right rule applies. You need to keep versial, and constructivism did not take root in the country until the 1940s when encouraged a diverse group of young artists (including José Gurvich, Manuel Pailós your lights on (dipped) at all times, day or night, and may be fined by the police if you and Julio Alpuy) by holding classes at his studio, later dubbed the Southern School. forget. Avoid the Rambla in Montevideo on weekend nights; it is used by local youths as a race track. One curiosity: if not marked otherwise, the car approaching a narrow Constructivist works by Pailós in particular are a mainstay of the auctions of bridge that is driving away from Montevideo has priority. N.B. Make sure you use a Southern School artists that are now a regular feature of the Montevideo art scene, credit or debit card to pay for your petrol/gasoline. If the card was issued outside particularly in the run-up to Christmas. A medium-sized canvas by Pailós currently Uruguay, you’ll be refunded the tax on your statement. fetches around US$1500. Minor works and sketches by other School members can go for as little as a couple of hundred dollars.

Getting around Montevideo Auction rooms are invariably crowded: it’s not about a cosmopolitan few fighting over works worth millions, but rather about how a coherent national style is col- The Old Town and the Centre (downtown) of Montevideo are compact enough to lected en masse by ordinary people who – if they didn’t live in Uruguay – might not explore on foot. To get from either to the beach suburbs of Punta Carretas and collect anything at all. In this country, constructivist works don’t just hang in the plus Pocitos you will probably need transport: taxi or bus. Montevideo has no underground lobbies of city centre banks, they brighten up the offices of suburban estate agents (subway). and even the walls of at least one beauty salon.

Mr Díaz takes the view that it was Torres García who essentially introduced modern Taxi: Good news! Montevideo’s taxi drivers are, in our opinion, honest and invariably art to Uruguay. But there are questions left unanswered. helpful. Taxis are hailed in the street or picked up at a taxi rank. They use a meter that clocks up a number of units (fichas) which have to be converted into the fare “There’s no way of knowing if it was Torres García’s intention, but his use of primary you pay by consulting a fare chart, which is displayed in the back of each cab. Flag colours and repeated symbols – fish, anchors, the sun and so on – have become a drop is $22 during the day (not Sundays) and $26 at night and all day Sundays and key part of Uruguay’s visual identity,” says Mr Díaz. on Bank Holidays. The chart is shaded light pink on one side to show the Sunday and What we do know is what Torres García himself said and wrote. Famously, in his night-time fares. Taxi drivers are duty bound to take the shortest route, but depending pamphlet on Constructive Universalism, Torres García explained that “I have said on your destination may prefer to take the Rambla as it is often faster: they will ask School of the South, because in reality our North is the South. Therefore we now you about this first. The average fare from the Centre to Pocitos is US$4 or US$5. turn the map upside down, and then we have a true idea of our position…” Would Note that it is sometimes difficult to find a taxi in the Centre from about 4 pm to 7 pm he have been pleased that populists like Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez latch weekdays. It can also be difficult to find one at Montevideo port (where the catamaran on to his upside-down map to push an argument about the rich north oppressing a from Buenos Aires arrives). Note, too, that you’ll test the good humour of your driver if poor south? We cannot know. you had over a $1000 note and expect him to give you change. But Torres García certainly believed that there was something special about his Bus: Montevideo’s bus system is safe and cheap, if not particularly clean. Problem home town. Soon after returning to Montevideo after his years of self-imposed exile is, there are no maps of the system or timetables posted at stops. Taking a bus will he wrote: “We are here, buffeted by winds that shake up minds and bodies in this often mean checking your route with a local; os do this all the time. You pay the driver special place on the River Plate shore, almost a peninsula, as if it wanted to lead a or conductor as you enter, always at the front of the bus. You do not need exact march into the continent. It is our geographical position that gives us our destiny.” change (as in Buenos Aires) nor is there a turnstile to pass through (as in several Brazilian cities). Fares: short hop in the downtown district plus bus CA1 to Las Cruces long-distance coach terminal, $9; standard fare city-wide, $17; express bus, e.g. bus Factfile: D1 to Carrasco, $21. The 121 bus route is useful and very frequent. It runs from the The Torres García Museum is on pedestrianised calle Sarandí between Plaza In- Old Town through the Centre to Pocitos (along Avenida Brasil) and then makes a right dependencia and the Plaza Matriz. Opening hours: Mon-Fri, 9.30am to 7.30pm; Sat- to Punta Carretas. There are no day passes or similar time-saving products on offer urday, 10am to 6pm; closed on Sundays. Consult the museum’s website for details to visitors. of guided tours and temporary exhibitions: www.torresgarcia.org.uy. Art auctions: The friendly and knowledgeable father and son team at A & A Subastas in Pocitos (www.subastasarteya.com) hold regular auctions of Southern School works, as does Castells (www.castells.com.uy) at its atmospheric auction room in the Centre. 6 Money, Costs & Shopping

Books

Banks and money There are two unmissable antiquarian booksellers in the Old Town : The most convenient place to change money in Montevideo is an exchange house Librería Linardi y Risso, calle Gómez corner Rincón (casa de cambio). You will find them at regular intervals on Avenida 18 de Julio in Librería Oriente Occidente, calle Rincón corner Gómez the Centre, and also in the Old Town. There are several in Pocitos and a couple in Carrasco. They are open standard business hours. The rate you see posted is what On calle Bacacay (also Old Town) there is a nice selection of travel and children’s books, plus the odd title in English at . They also have a small exhibition you get; there is no additional commission. Note that banks are not open in the morn- La Lupa space upstairs. For art, design, photography and advertising titles – plus some books ing. ATMs dispense Uruguayan pesos and US dollars. In the guide the “$” symbol indicates pesos (US$ for American dollars) as is the custom in Uruguay. There are in French – try Graffiti on calle Río Negro, corner San José (Centre). On calle Tristán money changing facilities at the international airport in Montevideo. Narvaja, corner Paraguay (in the Cordón neighbourhood) Montevideanos and Babilonia are two good options. Most Uruguayans save in US dollars. Nonetheless, euros and (to a lesser extent) pounds sterling and Swiss francs are easy to exchange. Grooming In the market for a haircut? Montevideo’s hairdressers and barbers offer walk-in You should keep hold of the purple Uruguayan $100 note as it is useful for taxis. The service. Prices are reasonable. We can recommend the multi-lingual service at Garbo $1000 note is difficult to change outside large supermarkets. in Pocitos (calle Scosería a few yards from the Rambla). Caters to men and women;

Need to change money in the middle of the night? Try a casino. There is one usefully also offers manicures. Open Monday to Friday from 9 am to 9 pm. Tel. 712 2581. located next to Parque Rodó; you’ll find another less than a block north of Plaza Independencia (Centre). Blast from the past

Cost of living Uruguay’s Nostalgia Night is a national excuse for a huge party Never a bargain-basement destination, Uruguay has nonetheless given tourists and expat residents good value for their euros or dollars over the past seven or eight years. But with the Uruguayan peso hardening against the dollar in particular, the country is getting more expensive.

A dollar buys just under 20 pesos at the time of writing, meaning that for food and eating out the country is more expensive than Argentina but not as pricey as Brazil. At the beginning of 2010 local newspaper El País asked a panel of economists how many pesos they thought a dollar would buy at the end of the year. Almost all estimated a value between 19 and 21. Where we give a price in dollars in the guide, we assume an exchange rate of US$1 = 20 pesos.

A couple staying at a 4-star hotel in Montevideo and eating out in good restaurants will spend between US$200 and US$300 a day in Montevideo, and perhaps half as much again in Punta del Este in season. Budget travellers staying in hostel accommodation Keen on Kim Wilde? Ready for some REO Speedwagon? Or would you rather (or the cheaper hotels downtown) and using public transport might budget for US$50 stretch your limbs to a high-volume rendition of YMCA? per person per day. Where hotels and restaurants in the capital offer particularly good If your answer is “all of the above” then think about grabbing a piece of Uruguay’s deals. Imported foods and other goods can be very expensive in Uruguay, e.g. a standard tin of Illy coffee sells for US$28 in supermarkets. unique Nostalgia Night celebrations.

Uruguay offers a tax refund for goods made in the country which are exported un- The roots of Nostalgia Night go back to the late 1970s. A disco in town looking for used. Look out for the Tax Free for Tourists sign in the windows of participating shops. an original wheeze to attract custom on the night before Uruguay’s Independence Day holiday decided to play nothing but oldies (in this context, music from the fifties Important! You should always try to use a credit card to pay for restaurant bills as you and sixties). At the time, Uruguay was living through the dark days of dictatorship. will receive a rebate of 9% of the value of the meal in your credit (or debit) card state- Legend has it that the disco was packed out. ment. Buying petrol (gasoline) with a credit or debit card also triggers a refund. Hotel accommodation is zero-rated for foreigners who are not resident in Uruguay. Since then Nostalgia Night has become a massive popular and commercial suc- cess. Every 24 August local radio stations – whose output year-round is dominated Shopping in Montevideo by hits from the 1980s as it is – ensure that every tune they play is at least twenty years old. Function rooms throughout the country prepare elaborate parties. Fancy Shopping Centres/Malls dress is de rigueur: think John Travolta’s white dancing suit, think big hair, think These are hugely popular. The easiest to get to are Montevideo Shopping Centre leg warmers. in Pocitos (the first and still the largest, at the intersection of Rivera and L. A. de Her- rera). is also very good. Both have restaurants, cinemas, Punta Carretas Shopping This is the biggest night out in the year by some distance and a godsend for supermarkets and exchange facilities. Open 7 days a week. stressed parents and older folks. “Middle-aged Uruguayans don’t have so many Clothes and shoes possibilities to hit the dance floor and let their hair down,” says Montevideo Manos del Uruguay (“Manos” for short, “hands” in Spanish) is a national institution, translator Jorge Meyerheim. “It’s basically just weddings and fiestas de quince (the selling wool, alpaca, cotton and silk clothing made using tradition techniques such Latin tradition of offering a party to girls when they turn fifteen). So it’s not difficult as knitting, manual looms, crocheting. Uruguayan wool sweaters, cardigans, shawls, to understand why they grab the chance to have fun on the night before a public scarves and ponchos are mainstays. Apart from scarves, Manos caters almost holiday when everyone is off work.” exclusively for women. Manos also sells some upmarket handicrafts and jams, and yarns too. The company has shops in Montevideo Shopping Centre (Pocitos), Punta Local websites list the entertainment on offer this year. Neighbourhood parties in Carretas Shopping and Portones Shopping Centre (Carrasco). There is a small shop working-class boliches (dance halls) charge as little as US$5 a head for a ticket. on calle Sarandí corner Bacacay (Old Town) and another, larger one, recommended, One or two make “good security” a prominent feature of their offer – a sign of on calle San José corner Río Negro which also has discontinued lines and special the times perhaps. But others are more elaborate affairs (full barbecue! imported offers. Also has shops in Punta del Este and Colonia; www.manos.com.uy. whisky!) with unlimited food and drink and, of course, live music – often a Beatles tribute band. For these, expect to pay US$180 and more per couple. For a more cutting-edge look, there are several trendy boutiques in the pedestrian- ised stretch of calle Sarandí. La Pasionaria has some beautiful clothes and shoes. At the beginning of this new decade, the Cantegril Country Club in Punta del Este Women will also be able to indulge a passion for shoes, belts and bags at a clutch of is daring to promise “the best tracks from the 1990s”. But they are in a minority – for outlets on Plaza Matriz and calle Gómez in the Old Town. The designs of Victoria M. now. Ortiz are popular: branches in shopping centres and at Avenida Brasil, corner Libertad (Pocitos). Are Uruguayans more prone to nostalgia than other Latin Americans? After all,

Brazil has no equivalent celebration, nor has Argentina. Perhaps the experience of For leather jackets (men’s and women’s styles), wallets and impressive cow and young people growing up in the 1970s and 1980s has something to do with it. Un- sheepskin rugs, you should not miss Las Magnolias on Plaza Zabala, a few steps from the Palacio Taranco (Old Town). Everything on display is of the highest quality. usually, this was a generation with less optimism than that of their parents. For the latter the relative prosperity and wellbeing of the 1950s (the tail-end of the mythical Gifts “Switzerland of South America” period) amounted to a golden age. Meanwhile, Most supermarkets have a small selection of bottles of Uruguayan wine in wooden shanty towns were mushrooming on the fringes of Montevideo. The middle classes presentation cases that should survive the trip home in your luggage (starting at about had to ditch their trips abroad. Were those youngsters encouraged by their parents $US15). For locally made chocolates and sweets, including candied orange peel, try – nurtured, even – to look back? Economically, of course, today’s Uruguay is on a Esencia Uruguay (calle Sarandí corner Zabala, Old Town). Uruguayans often encour- roll. But is nostalgia an old habit that’s hard to kick? age visitors to take home a jar of their ubiquitous caramel spread, dulce de leche. It’s something to ponder as you walk home from your party in the chilly dawn of 25 Crafts August with Smoke On The Water ringing in your ears. Crafts: Best option for its sheer variety is the Mercado de los Artesanos on Plaza Libertad, a cooperative with many stalls. We also recommend La Pasionaria on calle Factfile:You can find a list (in Spanish) of Nostalgia Night events at Reconquista corner Gómez in the Old Town, which has a hand-picked selection of www.clubdeturistas.com.uy/fiestas_24deagosto.html. excellent handicrafts, particularly ceramics. UruguayNow (First Edition: February 2010) 7 Money, Costs & Shopping

Outside Montevideo: For good deals on hotel accommodation at the beach out of Montevideo on a budget season (particularly November and early December, and April) check out the Sunday

edition of the El País newspaper, which carries regular advertisements of special Food offers. Inexpensive coach trips to inland attractions, notably the thermal springs

around Salto and Paysandú, are advertised at travel agents (there are a cluster on Expect a fundamentally European cuisine, with a few local flourishes. You can get Calle Colonia around the Plaza del Entrevero, Centre) and even on flyers pinned to , the local variant of the steak sandwich, plus (like a wiener chivitos milanesas trees downtown. schnitzel) and pasta dishes in most restaurants for around US$5.

Arts and culture Other options are and hamburgers, hot dogs found in restaurants and – cheaper still – There are plenty of cultural activities taking place in Montevideo, many of which from street vendors. There are a couple of won’t cost you a penny. The Subte exhibition space (Plaza del Entrevero) offers a vans selling hot dogs for $8 (40 US cents) constantly-changing programme of visual arts treats. Meanwhile, public museums a shot around Plaza Libertad in the Centre. are generally free or have a very low admission price. National Museum of Visual You’ll also notice empanada shops which Arts at Parque Rodó offers a mix of photography and video as well as fine art, and sell pasties typically filled with meat and the offer generally changes every month. The dynamic Centro Cultural de España olives or ham and cheese for about US$1 (www.cce.org.uy; Rincón corner Bartolomé Mitre, Old Town) has exhibitions, talks each. There are plenty of options in the Old and workshops. You may see exhibitions at various embassies advertised in the local Town and in Pocitos. Iruña on calle Sarandí, press. Admission to these will almost always be free. corner Misiones, offers delicious take-out quiches. Take away pizzas usually cost no There are also possibilities for free or cheap cinema. The marvellous Efecto Cine more than $30 (US$1.50) for a slice with a group (www.efectocine.com) has been travelling around Uruguay for the past couple simple tomato topping or $60 (US$3) for a years showing a variety of films projected on a huge inflatable screen. For cinema muzarella – a substantial cheese pizza with buffs the Cinemateca Uruguaya (www.cinemateca.org.uy) offers seasons of films by the only faintest smear of tomato. European and Latin and North American directors, plus different genres – anyone up

for a week of vampire flicks? They have screens all over the city with some showings Our favourite is Rincón budget restaurant for US$2, around a third of the price of a ticket to watch the new blockbuster at a de Zabala in the Old Town. On Plaza Libertad you should check out the friendly multiplex. La Biennale, which offers a dish of the day and a drink for $112, or US$5.50 (they sometimes have music in the evenings). There is a cheap chivitería (chivito joint), plus Montevideo has a huge tradition of theatre with shows taking place in large a large pizzeria with regular special offers and an ice cream shop handily located next auditoriums but also in social clubs and on bandstands on the streets. Street theatre door, on Calle Ejido, between San José and Avenida 18 de Julio (Centre). is most common in the month before, and during, Carnival. The excellent culture

page (cultura.montevideo.gub.uy) of the city government’s website has details of If you have a sweet tooth try any of Montevideo’s massive number of bakeries. Crois- many events. Look out for murgas (a mixture of comedy and music), parodistas and sants and the like are usually sold by weight. Street food is generally unexciting, but humoristas. Some of these events are free but most will cost US$2-5. It’s all authentic you can find churros (a Spanish variant on the doughnut) in a number of locations in- Uruguayan entertainment. cluding Parque Rodó, and tortas fritas (like a fried biscuit, made of flour) by the beach.

Candombe is a hugely popular style of drumming in Montevideo. There are hundreds Put off by the crowds at the Mercado del Puerto? Want to save a little money? Try the of different groups that, often accompanied by dancers, pound out an incessant on Calle San José at the corner of Lanza. There are sev- Mercado de la Abundancia rhythm as they move through their neighbourhood. It’s something special and unlike eral meat restaurants in this wonderful old market hall, which contrives to feel off the any drumming style you will have heard elsewhere. The most famous group is Isla beaten track in spite of its location around the corner from the Intendencia (town hall). de Flores in Palermo, which performs every Sunday at 7 pm (Isla de Flores corner Perhaps the nicest option is El Esquinazo, which offers a steak and a glass of wine for Gaboto). Tambor Brujo is a new group meeting every Friday in Pocitos (Charrúa $165 (US$8) at lunchtime on weekdays. As soon as they get the barbecue going in corner Ponce, beginning at 8 pm) Pure Uruguay, and there’s no need to dig into your the morning you can snack on choripán (spicy grilled sausage in a bread roll). pockets.

Markets Football

market is rightly the most Tristán Navaja Football is the national sport of Uruguay. For a country of its size, the national team famous market in Montevideo, due to the has been hugely successful, and there is a massive rivalry between its two biggest sheer breadth of goods on offer, but there clubs, Nacional and Peñarol. Additionally, it can be incredibly cheap to watch. The are plenty of other places to pick up a bar- Estadio Centenario is the home of the national team and the venue for the Peñarol- gain. (Vázquez Ledesma Feria Villa Biarritz Nacional derby. Tickets for international games are the most expensive and start at and Leyenda Patria, Tuesday and Saturday) $200 (US$10). Prices for local matches, including many of Peñarol’s home games, in Punta Carretas has a seemingly endless start at $100 (US$5). Tickets can normally be bought directly from the stadium or from array of clothes, from cheap replicas to quality local-made goods and designer accessories, including costume jewellery. Meanwhile Feria Parque Rodó, next to the park of the same name, has handicrafts, clothing and food.

Accommodation/Hostels

Hostels in Montevideo are bunched in three main areas, Ciudad Vieja, Palermo/ Barrio Sur and Pocitos. In Ciudad Vieja, the deceptively-titled Posada al Sur (dorms from $15, Pérez Castellanos corner Washington, www.posadaalsur.com.uy, tel. 916 5287) is – despite its name – a cheerful hostel with dorm prices from US$15 per night, which includes a good breakfast, access to the rooftop terrace and super-clean the many Abitab shops that can be found around Montevideo. Bear in mind that the rooms. The brand-new Green Hostel (US$15 for a dorm bed, 25 de Mayo corner cheapest tickets are also the ones for the most popular areas. This shouldn’t be a Colón, www.thegreenhostel.com, tel. 916 9789) and Boulevard Sarandí Hostel (beds problem unless you are attending the clásico (Peñarol-Nacional derby) when for the from US$14, Sarandí corner Zabala, www.boulevardsarandihostel.com, tel. 915 37 sake of your ears it may be best to pay a little bit more. But we advise caution outside 65) are also decent hostels in this area. the stadium: the clásico has a history of violence between rival supporters.

The Art Hostel in Palermo (from US$14, Gaboto corner San Salvador, www.palermo- Other options are the Estadio Luis Franzini, home of Defensor Sporting, and Nacio- arthostel.com, tel. 410 6519/411 8366) is a huge building with large dorms and plenty nal’s Parque Central. These are cheaper still with tickets starting from $30 and $80 of common spaces. Their newly-decked-out rooftop terrace is especially nice and has respectively. Tickets do not need to be bought in advance for Luis Franzini, just arrive its own bar, open from Thursday to Saturday. El Viajero (US$17, Soriano corner Rio a little before the game starts and pay on the gate. Negro, www.elviajerodowntown.com, tel. 908 2913) and Planet Montevideo (US$14,

Canelones corner Paraguay, www.planetmontevideohostel.com tel. 900 0733) are There are very few accurate fixture lists for the Uruguayan league in English. The recommended. El Viajero also runs hostels in Colonia, Punta del Este and La Pedrera. best one by far is at ESPN’s Soccernet site (http://soccernet.espn.go.com/fixtures?lea

gue=uru.1&cc=3888). When buying tickets make sure you state which team you want Unplugged Hostel and Pocitos Hostel are both cheery places in the upmarket resi- to support. Some ticket sellers are can be a little “careless” when selling tickets to dential neighbourhood of Pocitos. Unplugged (US$14, Luis de la Torre corner Bulevar foreigners. If you want to sit with the main bulk of supporters ask for populares. These España, unpluggedhostel.com, tel. 712 1381) opened recently but has been getting will also be the cheapest. Tickets are referred to as either boletos or entradas. good feedback, especially for its location; only 5 minutes walk to the beach. Pocitos Hostel (US$14, Sarmiento corner Aguilar, www.pocitos-hostel.com, tel. 711 8780) has energetic staff and regular barbecues.

8 Montevideo: What to See

The renovated neo classical Cathedral faces the Cabildo and is the venue for many Introduction of the city’s society weddings. On the same side of the square you’ll find the Gurvich Museum, which contains a small collection of paintings, ceramics and wood carvings Some 1.3 million of Uruguay’s 3.4 million inhabitants live in the capital, which domi- by José Gurvich, one of Uruguay’s leading constructivist artists. Gurvich, who could nates the country economically, politically and culturally. The city was founded by the turn his hand to most anything, would no doubt have become better known interna- Spanish in the early eighteenth century; its first European settlers were a boatload of tionally had he not died at the age of 47 (opening hours: Monday to Friday, 10 am to 6 young families from the Canary Islands. Freed slaves from Brazil and Argentina came pm; Saturday, 11 am to 3 pm; closed on Sundays). Another building to look out for is in the city in the nineteenth century, attracted by rumours of fair treatment. In time, the Club Uruguay, on the south side of the square, with its gorgeous, partly baroque, more immigrants would arrive from Italy, Spain (particularly Galicia), Portugal, Ger- façade. Meanwhile, Plaza Matriz has two fine antiquarian bookshops in its environs. many, France Great Britain (the British built the country’s first railways) and Poland.

Most emigrated in the hope of escaping poverty at home; others to escape repression. The Old Town’s eclectic architecture is evident as you walk west from the square. Montevideo also has a substantial Jewish community. The modernist Stock Exchange (built in 1936, at the corner of calles Misiones and

Rincón) contrasts with the handsome, neo-classical former headquarters of the The city expanded from the original colonial settlement (now the Old Town) inland, Montevideo Water Company (corner of Rincón and Zabala). through vegetable gardens and pastureland that is now the city’s Centre, and along a series of beaches, now the modern residential suburbs of Pocitos and Carrasco. Less If you take Sarandí as far as Alzaibar and turn right, you’ll find the attractive Plaza Za- brash and frenetic than its neighbour accross the River Plate, Argentine writer Jorge bala, with a pretty garden in the middle full of screaming pigeons. This area of the Old Luis Borges described the city as “the Buenos Aires we once had, that slipped away Town is currently the focus of good deal of gentrification. We don’t recommend that quietly over the years…” you go any further west of this square, as the area is unsafe, despite the presence

of special tourist police. But make sure you visit the Palacio Taranco, a remarkable In the chapters that follow, references to streets (calles) and squares (plazas) are left mansion that occupies the whole of an (uneven) city block on Plaza Zabala. in Spanish.

The Palacio Taranco is the former home of a wealthy merchant who imported all his fixtures and fittings from Europe. Built in 1908, but furnished to evoke an earlier Old Town era (there is very little evidence of art deco in the building, for instance) the building intrigues from the first sight of a life-sized marble flamenco dancer in the hallway. The The only significant remaining piece of the 6-metre thick wall that in colonial times most impressive room is probably the dining room, with its exuberant panelling and surrounded the , and protected the city against its many invaders, is the Old Town moldings, and tapestries depicting idealised rural scenes. The mansion is sometimes at the entrance of the Old Town (Ciudad Vieja in Spanish). The ornamental gate referred to as the Museum for Decorative Arts and is open from 2.30 pm to 6 pm every district – a finger of land jutting out into the River Plate – is a curious and fascinating day except Monday. mixture of financial centre, working port, restaurant hub and low-rent housing laid out on a precise grid plan. A few steps away from Plaza Zabala on calle 25 de Mayo, you’ll find the Romantic

Museum, which contains a beautiful, quiet patio and as well as furniture and The pedestrianised calle Sarandí leads from the ornamental gate to the , Plaza Matriz household objects dating from the Uruguay’s independence (1830) until approximately the heart of the Old Town. Don’t miss the wonderful art deco Ferrando building, the turn of the twentieth century (opening hours: Tuesday to Friday, 12.30 pm to 6 constructed in 1917, as you walk down the first block of Sarandí. The ground floor is pm; Sunday, 2 pm to 6 pm; closed Saturday, Monday). Close by on calle Zabala, the given over to a bookshop; take a look at the beautiful stained glass above the stairway Andalusian-syle home of General Juan Antonio Lavalleja, who led the liberating at the back of the store (there is a café upstairs). In the same block is the Torres crusade of the Thirty-Three Uruguayans, is one of the oldest buildings in the city. The ; to the left is pretty calle Bacacay with its cafés and restaurants. García art museum house contains documents and artifacts relating to the country’s rather convoluted There are plans afoot to put a glass roof over this street, which has the width of a struggle for independence, plus some nice moldings and furniture. It is currently passageway. Nearby calle Bartolomé Mitre contains several well established antiques closed for renovations. shops. The , the city’s beautiful opera house, can be reached by walking Teatro Solis down calle Bacacay and crossing calle Buenos Aires. . Meat lovers will want to make a pilgrimage to Montevideo’s famous Port Market

(Mercado del Puerto), across a busy dual carriageway from the waterfront and about (also known as Plaza Constitución), a block distant, is the true heart Plaza Matriz ten minutes walk from Plaza Zabala. The cast-iron Victorian structure was forged in of the Old Town. There are often tables of old books, postcards and bric-à-brac to Liverpool and was, so the story goes, originally destined for a buyer in Chile. The browse in the shade of the trees in the garden at the middle of the square. On one restaurants inside the Port Market are open at lunchtime; only a small number with ac- side is the old Spanish , or government building (1804), which now contains Cabildo cess from the street outside open in the evening. The Mercado del Puerto is thronged a small museum of furniture, clocks, maps and documents from the earliest period of at Sunday lunchtime and on any day a large cruise ship is in port. There many the colony. The large rooms on the ground floor are given over to rotating exhibitions. souvenir shops in the vicinity, but avoid changing money here, as the rates are poor. The first formal reading of the constitution of the new republic took place here on 18 While a visit is a must, it has to be said that the service in some of the restaurants has July 1830. become a little charmless as the number of overseas visitors has risen. You should

take caution in this area at night.

as now, the calorie-rich pizza slice. What a difference a blueberry makes Now Montevideo has its own upscale restaurant Newsflash: Uruguay’s cuisine has been catapulted into the district in Punta Carretas where you can eat twenty-first century everything from seafood to game, driven by the construction of four-star (and one five-star) hotels At the beginning of the 1800s an English visitor wrote that Uruguayans “prefer meat in the vicinity. Still, of the estimated 12 or 15 to any other food, and eat it almost raw and in quantities that Europeans would think restaurants that open in the capital annually, fewer impossible”. than half survive their first year.

For much of the next two hundred years there was little change. But then came Mr Latorowski also puts down improvements to Canal Gourmet, sushi and lamb. Not to mention the humble blueberry. the wider availability of key ingredients such as good olive oil. Following the example of Chile’s excellent home-grown organic olive oils, a delicious and fruity oil marketed “Of course we still eat a lot of meat,” says Alberto Latarowski, director of the Francis under the Colinas de Garzón label is now sold in the country, although production restaurant in Punta Carretas – and the winner of UruguayNow’s Best Restauarant is in its infancy. in Montevideo 2010 award. “But the cuts of meat have changed somewhat. We now eat a lot more of what we export – the better cuts such as ribeye and rumpsteak. We Which in a roundabout way brings us to the story of the Uruguayan blueberry. A few also eat more lamb than in the past.” years ago, not only were there no commercial blueberry farms, most Uruguayans hardly knew that the fruit existed. With one eye no doubt on the profits that were According to Mr Latarowski, cable TV stations like Canal Gourmet, which features starting to be made in neighbouring Argentina, an initial four hectares were planted Spanish-speaking chefs cooking what are usually fairly inventive dishes, have played in 2001. By 2008 the figure was 800 hectares, driven by a constant demand for their part. fresh and frozen blueberries from the United States in particular. Producers got a lucky break, too, during President Bush’s state visit to the country in 2007. In a press “One very standard dish at home would be milanesa con papas fritas (schnitzel with conference he professed admiration for the quality of a local berry that, at the begin- chips). But now people like to experiment with Asian and various fusion recipes, for ning of the decade, was practically an unknown quantity in the country. But unknown instance. They like to eat sushi when they go out. And at Francis we serve an excel- no longer: Uruguayans have taken blueberries to their hearts. They feature on the lent ceviche (a marinated seafood dish).” menus of several top restaurants. You can buy them easily at farmer’s markets and the local Conaprole dairy makes a blueberry ice cream which is a huge seller. Certainly the expectations of diners in Monte- video’s restaurants have risen over the past Feeling thirsty as well as hungry? Order a twenty years or so. Apart from Chinese food Factfile: bottle of the oddly grey-toned Paso de los and overcooked pasta dishes, it was unusual Toros fizzy grapefruit drink, available every- to eat out in the 1980s and order anything You can check out the menu at Francis at www.francis.com.uy. Colinas where (often listed as pomelito on menus). It’s other than (usually very good) meat. The de Garzón olive oil is available in the duty free shop at Carrasco interna- one item that thankfully doesn’t change. ubiquitous Uruguayan take-away was then, tional airport (US$7 for a small bottle) among other locations.

UruguayNow (First Edition: February 2010) 9 Montevideo: What to See

Centre A resort for all seasons? The Centre of Montevideo is the district to the east of Punta del Este is thriving, but what can it do to extend its the Plaza Independencia, straddling the Avenida 18 short summer season? de Julio, the main downtown drag. Plaza Independen- cia is not the official “point zero” of the city (this honour Punta del Este is the country’s – and arguably, the continent’s – most prestigious goes to Plaza Libertad) but it feels as though it should resort, attracting a core clientele of fashionable and wealthy holidaymakers from be. On one side is the Palacio Salvo, which was South business, political and show-business circles in Buenos Aires. America’s tallest building when it was unveiled in 1928. It is still a symbol of the Uruguayan capital, as many a The town’s permanent population of a little over 15,000 swells to as many as postcard will prove, but the washing hanging to dry out 250,000 in January and February, with Argentine visitors in the majority, followed by of some of the upper units and the occasional broken Brazilians. Domestic Uruguayan tourism tends to be concentrated in March at the shutters look a little incongruous. tail-end of the summer. Europeans and North Americans are also starting to discov- er Punta del Este, but in absolute terms their numbers – though rising – are still low. In the middle of the square is the equestrian statue and tomb (down the steps) of Uruguay’s great patriot, General José Artigas. For the rest of the year Punta del Este (or “Punta” to its regular visitors) is very quiet and most hotels and restaurants close their doors until the resort stirs again The Avenida 18 de Julio (“Dieciocho” to everyone in the city) was, until twenty years in December. ago, Montevideo’s undisputed shopping and entertainment district, with hundreds of stores packed into numerous galerías (arcades) running off it. While many shops According to Edgar Feredjian, director of the Conrad Resort & Casino, his property and cinemas have decamped to the shopping centres of Pocitos, Punta Carretas and has made successful efforts to draw business to Punta de Este in the shoulder and Carrasco, the theatre district has remained. Evangelical churches and slot machines low seasons. have moved in as rents drop. But the Centre is, and has always been, a popular (if noisy) place to live, with sumptuous apartment blocks lining Plaza del Entrevero and “When we opened in 1997 our first priority was getting the hotel running to the Plaza Libertad, two downtown squares along the spine of 18 de Julio. standards our guests expert. But we also wanted to devise ways of shortening the low season. Part of our strategy was to attract more conventions and business You’ll find airline and ferry (to Buenos Aires) offices near the Plaza del Entrevero meetings. We also hold concerts at the property five or six times a year, which give (sometimes called Plaza Fabini) which has a park with a fountain that is a pleasant visitors a specific reason to make the trip,” says Mr Feredjian. place to rest. It’s a curious combination, but a gaucho and coin museum is located on the square (opening hours: Tuesday to Sunday, 4 pm to 6 pm). A block to the east, Bob Dylan and Latin crooner Julio Iglesias have performed at the Conrad recently. the eye-catching London-Paris building was an early department store and is crowned Catwalk and celebrity shows broadcast from the hotel are a staple of the program- with a strange cupula. But many visitors also look down: on Plaza del Entrevero you’ll ming of Buenos Aires television stations during the summer months. Year in, year find the entrance to Montevideo’s most original exhibition space, the “Subte” (from out, the dominant January image is that of ageing Argentine model agency mogul “Subterraneo”, meaning Underground).Check out www.subte.org.uy for details of their Pancho Dotto dressed head to toe in white with a young protégée on either arm. At programming.

such times, fashionable Punta becomes something of an irony-free zone. The Plaza Libertad (another square with more than one name, it’s also known as Meanwhile, Uruguay’s tourism authority has built whale-watching platforms on the Plaza Cagancha) is just two blocks distant and the venue for the city’s main – and coast between Punta del Este and the Brazilian border, and promoted the hinter- very friendly – crafts market. The Supreme Court is housed in a substantial, suitably land as a location for ornithologists, to draw in more visitors out of season. A Jewish sober building on the square’s southern side, backing on to the pretty, sycamore-line calle San José, which has a cluster of restaurants. film festival is now in its seventh year. Although the main downtown sights are grouped between Plaza Independencia and The “punta” of Punta del Este is a narrow peninsula jutting out into the South Plaza Libertad, it is worth seeking out the mysteriously overlooked Mercado de la Atlantic, with a much-photographed lighthouse close to its tip and a marina on Abundancia on calle San José at the corner of Lanza. It’s a marvelously atmospheric its sheltered, western flank. A landmark “wavy” bridge (characteristically likened market hall containing a selection of parrillas (restaurants specializing in barbecued in verse by the Chilean poet Pablo Neruda to the curves of a woman’s breasts) meat dishes) and so a less expensive and quieter version of the Port Market. But the connects the town with neighbouring La Barra, where much of the resort’s nightlife Mercado de la Abundancia is not entirely given over to restaurants: there is also a is located. Behind the high-rise coastal strip either side of the peninsula summer fishmonger and even a shop selling tango gear. If you are hungry, pull up a stool at houses nestle among woods of pine and eucalyptus. El Esquinazo.

“The town is safe and beautiful, and has excellent beaches. Visitors love it here,” Not far away, at calle Yi corner Colonia, you’ll find the newly reopened tile museum says Mr Feredjian. (Museo del Azulejo), containing 4500 decorated antique tiles from eight different

countries. You can visit the museum every day except Mondays from noon to 6 pm. Everyone seemingly wants a piece of the Punta action. Such is the demand for space, hoteliers such as Brazil’s Fasano are setting up in Punta del Este in second- Back on Dieciocho it’s difficult to miss the towering, red-brick town hall, always ary locations away from the shore that would raise eyebrows in a less confident referred to as the Intendencia. The justly famous Tristán Narvaja street market, by resort. And nowhere else in Uruguay could a wine merchant – Vinos del Mundo, in the way, is in the district of Cordón, fifteen minutes brisk walk from the Intendencia, this case – hope to sell a bottle of admittedly sublime French wine for in excess of away from the Centre. Although the market only operates on Sundays, the antique US$1000 (a Château Lafite Rothschild 1999 for US$1155, since you ask). shops lining the street are usually open during the working week.

Meanwhile, the Colombian singer Shakira has a ranch close to the resort and her Parque Rodó, Pocitos & Punta Carretas arrival by private jet has marked the unofficial opening of Punta’s season over the last couple of years – at least for the Uruguayan press. One of the city’s nicest parks is the Parque Rodó, in the genteel but shabby residen- tial district of the same name. This is the area just above Ramírez beach, where the British novelist Martin Amis has a home in the über-chic enclave and one-time people of Montevideo started to enjoy days out at the seaside. It’s the closest stretch fishing village of José Ignacio, just east of Punta del Este (his wife is of Uruguayan of sand to downtown. The graceful former hotel building standing on the Rambla descent). Ralph Lauren, Mick Jagger and Naomi Campbell have all vacationed (promenade) at the edge of the park now houses the administrative headquarters of here. Uma Thurman, Bruce Willis and Kevin Bacon holidayed (separately) in and the Mercosur trade bloc. around Punta del Este in January. Full of palms, eucalyptus and the native ombú tree, Parque Rodó was conceived Many of the estimated 300 Americans who settle in Uruguay each year invest in as a traditional French-style city park. It’s at its most lively on Sundays, but don’t Punta and its environs. The town has a solid expat community which enjoys the forget mosquito repellant if you visit in the summer months. Find time, too, to visit the peace and quiet, and rather bracing weather, when the tourists have packed their National Museum of Visual Arts nearby, for the city’s best overview of Uruguayan bags. painting. There are some Southern School artists (Joaquin Torres García, Jose Gurvich) represented here, but it really excels in its permanent collection of works by But visitors cruising the empty seaside promenade in the winter can hardly fail to painters such as Pedro Figari, whose sympathetic portraits of carnival dancers and notice the rows of virtually empty apartment blocks. Could they one day be filled by country life are a highlight. The quiet streets (look out for some wonderfully ornate students? Currently there are few further education courses available in the town wooden doors) of Parque Rodó run seamlessly into the Palermo neighbourhood. This apart from physical education. is the venue for Sunday night drumming sessions, a little bit of Carnival year-round.

“The town is likely to continue to grow, although plans to site a fully-fledged university campus Getting to Punta del Este here appear premature” says Martin Egozcue, Bus: You can get to Punta del Este by bus from Montevideo’s Tres Cruces bus terminal. There are departures every an economist who lives in Punta del Este. “More 15 minutes during the day in season. The bus terminal in Punta is next to the ocean and across the road from the visitors are choosing to come in the spring, and Monument to the Drowned, a sculpture of five fingers partly submerged in the sand by Chilean artist Mario Irarrázabal. the new local airport has provided a boost. But Plane: There are direct flights from the Aeroparque airport in Buenos Aires. There are no regular flights from Monte- setting up a tax-free zone near the town would be video. a real spur to the year-round development of the Car: Allow 90 minutes from Montevideo by car outside peak times. There are two stretches of toll motorway; cars are community.” charge $90 in all for the journey. For a scenic alternative to the motorway you can take Route 12 through the hills to Minas and from there connect to Route 8 to Montevideo. Access to Route 12 is well signposted at a large roundabout just beyond Punta Ballena as you exit Punta del Este. 10 Montevideo: What to See

A city with a central golf course? Yes, you’d better believe it. The 18-hole course, designed by a Scotsman, is on the left hand-side of Bulevar Artigas as you walk up Establecimento Juanicó: Across the departmental line in Canelones, the attractive the artery, with Punta Carretas on your right. If you’re not a member, or invited by one, estate house is the venue for polished and professional tasting sessions that comprise you’ll only get past the security guards on Sundays between 2pm and 6 pm if you ask eight or more different wines. A roaring fire makes the building cozy in the winter. The to be admitted for a stroll. estate has a viewing platform which gives a great view of the vines plus, if you’re lucky, various species of birds which make their home here. www.juanico.com; tel. Punta Carretas used to be the location for the city’s main prison, which gained noto- 094 847 482 riety due to the massive incarceration of dissidents during the twelve years of military For more information on visiting Uruguay’s vineyards: www.caminosdelvino.com. dictatorship which started in 1973. During this period, one in every 50 Uruguayans was arrested at some point for supposed subversive activities and one in 500 was Santa Lucía: Something of a time-warp, this town of 16,000 inhabitants in rural jailed for terms of six years or more: one of these was Uruguay’s new president, José Canelones makes a nice day out for train buffs. It can claim to be the place where “Pepe” Mujica. tourism started in Uruguay. In 1872 the first hotel in the country aimed at leisure The prison is no more: it has become a huge shopping centre (McDonald’s occupies travellers opened here. As the Hotel Oriental, it was the summer office of choice for one of the original administration buildings). Just behind it, the sleek new Sheraton Uruguayan President Máximo Santos in the 1880s; its name was later changed to the hotel dominates the horizon. What used to be a middle-class neighbourhood of pretty Biltmore. An attractive Italianate structure, the Biltmore is surrounded by graceful palm yet modest two-storey houses, where everyone knew everyone else, has changed as trees and now functions as a technical school. Have a drink at the pleasant Plaza money poured into the district. Now Punta Carretas is the city’s most exciting dining Tomás Berreta and take a look at the gardens of the Quinta de Capurro (Calle Fed- quarter: our choice of best restaurant in Montevideo, Francis, is located here. erico Capurro corner Roosevelt) which has many plants brought from Asia & Europe.

The beach suburbs stretching east of the lighthouse at Punta Carretas are mainly modern, with 10-storey apartment blocks fronting the water the norm. A surprise, then, Uruguay’s Interior: Six of the best to stumble on the Juan Zorrilla de San Martín museum, the summer house (built between 1910 and 1922) of the Uruguayan poet of the same name. The museum contains some of the poet’s personal belongings, but the most pleasant aspect is the beautiful formal garden with its wealth of original tiles. Note that there is no café in the museum or anywhere to buy drinks or water.

Adjacent to Punta Carretas, the wealthy neighbourhood of Pocitos has a popular crescent-shaped beach with water theoretically clean enough for swimming. Many more people, however, use the Rambla to jog, stroll, people-watch or eat ice cream. Crowd pleaser: Colonia del Sacramento is an easy day trip from Montevideo or Early in the morning teams of dog walkers can be seen with their charges. It can be Buenos Aires; as a result it can be packed during the day at weekends. It comes difficult for visitors to get a handle on Pocitos. We suggest that you take a walk up into its own, though, on a summer night when its antique street lamps illuminate Cavia street to see something of the “old” Pocitos: graceful old mansions alternate cobbled alleyways and quiet squares. Not a lot has happened here since the Portu- with apartment blocks amid exuberant greenery. The ivory-white Italian embassy, guese founded the town in 1680 as a rival to Buenos Aires. Streets like the quaint perhaps the most sumptuous residence in the district, is a short walk left on Ellauri Calle de los Suspiros, with its row of colonial cottages, are a total contrast with street. When you reach the junction of Cavia and Libertad streets, turn right and walk the Argentine capital just an hour away. Find time to visit the Portuguese Museum as far as Avenida Brasil. Walking down Avenida Brasil towards the shore, you’ll which has an excellent collection of colonial furniture. But the biggest pleasure is see another beautiful mansion opposite the Bar Valerio, complete with stained glass just to stroll through the narrow streets; shopping for crafts is also good here. The windows and ornate flourishes on its outside columns. The building is now used as a town has generally high levels of accommodation and dining options. One of the women’s arts and dance centre. longest established hotels is the pleasant El Mirador, some six blocks from the port; www.hotelelmirador.com. The best hotel in western Uruguay is undoubtedly

Outlying districts the Four Seasons resort at Carmelo, some 45 minutes drive from Colonia (www. Carrasco, at the eastern end of the city, fourseasons.com/carmelo). has little to see as such but is perfect for a Off the beaten track: Near to the point where the Río Negro meets the Río stroll along the beach, which is usually quite Uruguay, is the country’s oldest European settlement, dating back to empty. The dilapidated hulk of the Casino Villa Soriano 1624. Little more than a village, some 1200 people call Villa Soriano home; many of de Carrasco is slated to become a Sofitel. these earn a living from fishing. There is little to do here other than to stroll around There are some good dining options but if the quiet streets, visit the old colonial church, one of the first built in Uruguay, and you are based in Punta Carretas or Pocitos walk along the pleasant wooden jetty. In summer, the loudest sound may be the there is no reason to make the trek out this chirping of crickets. Villa Soriano is connected by local bus to the regional centre of far for dinner. The Rambla hugs the coast Mercedes, 45 km away. from the Centre all the way to Carrasco, passing the marina at Buceo and the Something wild: Quebrada de los Cuervos. Near the town of Treinta y Tres, this crowded beaches at Malvin (take care of is a canyon surrounded by dense forest, 12 km long and over 100 metres deep your belongings if you visit on a busy day). in places. Subtropical plants prosper in microclimate at the bottom of the gorge. Between Buceo and Malvin, the building next to the water with what appears to be a Check out Expedición Uruguay’s 2-day camping trip (www.expedicionuruguay.com). minaret on its roof is a small naval museum. Meanwhile, the grassy bank below the west-facing row of houses at the Playa de los Ingleses in the Punta Gorda district, For art’s sake: San Gregorio de Polanco in the department of Tacuarembó is close to Carrasco, is a wonderful place to watch the fiery Uruguayan sunset. a resort with a difference. On the northern bank of the Rincón del Bonete (man-

made) lake and surrounded by copses of pine trees, you have the choice between The Rambla continues past the departmental line in Canelones, although most traffic swimming from its pleasant beaches or admiring the murals painted in 1993 on takes the faster Ruta Interbalnearia. Solymar and El Pinar have pleasant beaches many of the town’s buildings by artists from the country’s Fine Arts Academy, and are good for walking, kite flying and swimming. among others. Some have deteriorated but the effect is still bold and unusual. The Prado neighbourhood north of the downtown is a curious mix of grand old homes Perhaps fortunately, tourism in the town has subsided somewhat from its rather and poorer sections, plus the occasional shantytown. Take Avenida Millán north to the frenetic peak in the mid 1990s. Juan Manuel Blanes museum, a gorgeous residence partly given over to the work of (and named for) a nineteenth-century artist whose paintings show a marked dramatic Back at the ranch: short breaks on Uruguay’s estancias (cattle ranches) give realism. The museum is pleasant, but the surrounding Japanese garden is simply a glimpse of the traditions of rural life. It is usually possible to borrow a horse to delightful. The Prado, attractive oasis of greenery that it is, is only unmissable during explore the property with one of the ranch hands. Expect to eat a lot of barbecued the gaucho fair at Easter, when a thoroughly enjoyable rodeo competition in the local meat. Generally, these are good options for families. Note that many estancias showground attracts riders from all over the country. A pleasant agricultural show is (such as the partly colonial San Pedro de Timote in the department of Florida, 160 held in the same location every September. km from Montevideo, www.sanpedrodetimote.com) are run essentially as country house hotels. You can obtain a leaflet with a full list of options from the tourist The Cerro faces the Old Town across Montevideo harbour. The hill (“cerro”) is information office in Montevideo or check out www.uruguaynatural.com. the highest point in the city and there is a fine view from the fort on the summit. Completed in 1811 and ringed by old cannons, it was the last military structure built by Water world: Uruguay lies on massive reserves of water. The same water table colonial Spain in the country. It is also the only one that has survived intact. There is that produces Salus, Nativa and other local brands of mineral water is also respon- a small military museum inside the fort but most people come for the view. Note that sible for the thermal springs (termas) in the departments of Paysandú and Salto. you will need a taxi to take you to the summit of the Cerro as there is no convenient Water temperatures typically range from 34°C to 46°C. There are six main commer- public transport. cial thermal springs and the offer is similar at each one: hotel and often camping facilities, outdoor and indoor pools, all set in green parkland. At the Termas de Salto Wine country: On the border of Montevideo and Canelones departments there Grande, the Hotel Horacio Quiroga has 80 pleasant guest rooms and 3 thermal is a flourishing wine industry. Many of the boutique vineyards offer tours and wine swimming pools for the exclusive use of residents (www.hotelhoracioquiroga.com). tastings to visitors. Food (cheese, ham, empanadas, sometimes barbecued meat and sausages) is often part of the package. Particularly recommended are: A note about this feature: Background for the story of José Suárez and the Marquis

de Malherbe is drawn from El Norte profundo, an account of a drive across northern Bodegas Carrau: Very friendly and informative; they have a small vineyard at their Uruguay by Argentine writer Carlos María Domínguez, published by Ediciones de la winery just within the city limits. They also grow grapes in Canelones and in the Banda Oriental (2004). It’s highly recommended if you read Spanish. sandy soils of Rivera, in the far north of the country. A traditional winery with a long and distinguished history of producing Tannat, Uruguay’s signature varietal. www. bodegascarrau.com; tel. 320 0238 UruguayNow (First Edition: February 2010) 11 Montevideo: Restaurants

Panini’s, calle Bacacay, Ciudad Vieja Introduction Probably the best option on the short, pedestrianised calle Bacacay, Panini’s serves traditional Italian food to a predominantly business crowd during weekday lunch- Although not as varied as the offer in Buenos Aires, Montevideo’s dining scene has times, attracted in the main by a US$11 two-course menu including wine or water diversified and improved greatly in recent years. Best deals are at (usu- lunchtime and delicious freshly-baked bread rolls. Good range of risottos and pastas. Some ally 1 pm onwards). Almost all restaurants offer a set lunch, often including a glass of main courses are large and filling but ultimately a little expensive (rack of lamb and wine and cover charge. , almost never before 9 pm and often Uruguayans dine late entrecote both cost over US$25), even though the presentation is excellent. Good not before 10 pm, and still later in the summer months. seafood. Huge windows make the dining room light in the winter. Tel. 916 8760. For

coffee after your lunch, consider the lovely Café Bacacay at the end of the same is generally not included. It is usual to leave 10%, although some Uruguay- Service street. There is another branch of Panini’s in Pocitos just below the World Trade ans leave as little as 5% in simpler eating places. Note that if you pay for food and Centre at calle 26 de Marzo corner Bonavita. drink in a restaurant using a issued outside Uruguay, you will be credit or debit card refunded 9% of the bill. This will be visible on your statement as a credit. Los Leños, calle San José corner Convención, Centre

It’s not difficult to figure out why Los Leños is so popular: this is a great place for Uruguay has excellent sparkling . Salus is a recommended brand. It is mineral water barbecued meat, particularly the national staple asado de tira (beef ribs). You might unheard of to order tap water in a restaurant. even summon up the courage to order mollejas (sweetbreads) if you are curious to discover the taste of the pancreas of a calf. Service is brisk and professional. All in Restaurant Reviews all, this wood-panelled dining room with whirring fans overhead is a classic down- town dining experience. But be careful in this area in the evening as it is unsafe; Rara Avis, in the Teatro Solís building, Old Town have the restaurant phone for a taxi to take you home. Not perhaps an obvious Feel like being serenaded by an opera singer moving from table to table while you choice for families with young children, but Los Leños is a Uruguayan rarity: it has a eat your main course? (Nessum dorma since you ask.) Or eating desert to the baby-changing station. The weekday lunchtime menu is good value at US$12 (main accompaniment of cool jazz numbers played by a pianist on an elevated stage? course, dessert, coffee). www.parrilla.com.uy; tel. 900 2285 Then Rara Avis is for you. The restaurant opened in March 2009 and has already hosted Mercosur presidents – for 2010 it is the winner of our Most Innovative Dining Ricci, calle Joaquín Núñez corner Miñones, Punta Carretas Experience award. The wine list is excellent and varied and the menu caters both to With its ochre walls and starched white tablecloths, no other restaurant in the traditional tastes (king prawns, Patagonian lamb) and also the vaguely outlandish burgeoning dining district of Punta Carretas pulls off a more accurate homage to (sweetbread and marrow bone risotto). Expect to pay around US$70 – 80 per head a southern French neighbourhood restaurant than the excellent Ricci. Meat and when eating à la carte in the main dining area – a cavernous space that is cleverly seafood dishes are very well prepared. The menu also contains some oddities illuminated to make it appear intimate – more if you choose a stand-out wine. Midday (lamb ravioli) and items that reinforce the continental European feel (stuffed rabbit at fixed-price menus in the downstairs bar area are a steal at US$15 – 20, including a US$16, pheasant at US$23). Serves lunch and dinner every day. Service is welcom- drink. Closed Sundays and Saturday lunchtime. Reservations recommended. www. ing and professional, but also discreet. At US$15 the weekday 2-course set lunch, raraavis.com.uy; tel. 915 0330 including wine and water, is one of the best bargains in town (but bring some cash – they don’t accept credit cards for the set lunch). Highly recommended. Tel. 712 0030. La Cavia, calle 26 de Marzo corner Cavia, Pocitos One of a slew of neighbourhood parrilladas (steakhouses) in well-heeled Pocitos – a Rincón de Zabala, calle Rincón on the Plaza Zabala, Old Town district of apartment dwellers who have limited possibilities of firing up a barbecue at Red brick walls and comfy seating are the first things you notice in the excellent- home. Well executed and a notch above some of the others in the district (such as value Rincón de Zabala. The next think you see is handsome Plaza Zabala through the nearby La Otra). Excellent tournedos with pumpkin mash; great fries; many bar- the large windows. Merits a mention for its hugely friendly welcome and low prices. becued meat and chicken options at US$10 – 12 for a main course. A pretty curved If you are looking for a good-value lunch spot in the Old Town, this is it. Open from bar and art deco lighting are easy on the eye. La Cavia offers a set-price lunch week- weekdays until 5 pm only. This part of the Ciudad Vieja offers little scope for strolling days. A million miles away from the tourist frenzy of the Port Market, this is a place after dark, so in the evening the Rincón de Zabala offers delivery service. And the hardly frequented by foreigners, except the staff of a couple of nearby embassies. menu? Pure Uruguayan comfort food: milanesas (schnitzels), meatloaf, fish stew, Family-friendly and ideal for a long Sunday lunch. A couple of blocks from Cake’s spinach ravioli in Bolognese sauce, pancakes. They have a very filling set lunch for café on calle Ellauri if you have room for a sugary dessert. Tel. 706 8253 US$8. The Palacio Taranco is in the next block. www.rdz.com.uy; tel. 915 1617

They are all keen scholars of candombe Uruguay gets a female beat and stress its historical importance.“The difficult thing is to generate interest that is The drummers of La Melaza have broken into a man’s world not just about having fun. Candombe has

such a strong significance that you have When La Melaza, a group of female drummers, formed in 2005 it was out of a sense to care for it a little too,” says Fernanda of wanting to do something together. Choosing candombe, a style of drumming usu- Bértola. ally performed by men, meant they were bound to raise a few eyebrows.

This sense of building on the Afro- The idea for the group came as a way of celebrating International Women’s Day. Uruguayan roots of candombe finds its Candombe was an obvious choice. It is the nation’s most distinctive beat, created by expression in the home-made chains they African slaves in Montevideo as a way of expressing themselves. They would use wear round their ankles – but most espe- scraps of wood to create barrel-shaped drums, similar to ones made from tree trunks cially in the music itself. In a piece called in their homelands. Candombe was the name of the rhythm they played and its El afro, the dancers rise up from the ground as if to free themselves, before the popularity soared when European immigrants began to take an interest. drums explode in a frenetic rhythm that constantly changes before finally subsiding. With candombe chosen, word was sent out for any women who might be interested. Here, the women opt for a traditional African beat rather than the normal candombe La Melaza (“treacle” in English) now has 78 drummers, including psychologists, rhythm. In the world of Uruguayan drumming, this is an unconventional departure.

teachers, carpenters and publicists, many of whom were completely new to drum- Are the ladies of La Melaza a little self-conscious in a man’s world? “Not at all,” says ming, never mind candombe. After a few practice sessions they took to the streets Fernanda Bértola, “we care about what we are doing and anyway there are so many on International Women’s Day, attracting a huge crowd of onlookers on Avenida 18 of us. It’s a natural thing now. These are women who play candombe really well and de Julio, the main artery in downtown Montevideo. no longer need to worry whether it sounds good. That’s a feeling that we didn’t have “What people found interesting was that we were women. At the time, it was only at the beginning.”

men who played candombe. For everyone to see all these women drummers who The group is now a fixture in Montevideo’s Parque Rodó every week (see below), as sounded tremendous – it was incredible!” says Laeticia Lonchar, one of the group’s well as in the Carnival parades and the Llamada de Los Reyes, historically the most founders. important date in the candombe calendar. Their participation in the 2008 Carnival After such a positive response – and with so many drummers taking part – giving up was the first time an all-female group had been admitted. They finished eighth in the was out of the question. competition, a sign of their growing prowess. Since their debut at the International Women’s Day celebration in Montevideo in 2005 more groups of female drummers “As we started to learn from nothing, or close to nothing, we developed a very clean have formed, spurred on by La Melaza’s success. But women drummers are still in style with a total respect for the traditions of candombe. With time we found the right a minority. style for our physiques and levels of energy,” says Ana “Chacha” de León. Surprisingly, at the end of the nineteenth century there are records of female Candombe drums are struck with either both hands or one hand and a stick, and Uruguayan drummers. According to historian Oscar Padrón Favre, 14 out of 34 com- performances can last up to two or parsas (groups of drummers and dancers) three hours. The women knew that in 1870 were women-only. At the time, they it was never going to be possible to Factfile: generally appeared at family gatherings and match the unrelenting power of some You can find out more about La Melaza and their plans for International Women’s masked balls. Newspaper reports from the of the men’s groups. Instead, La Day on 8 March – plus details of appearances around the country – via the inland city of Durazno in 1889 tell of a female Melaza alternate explosive sections group’s website: www.lamelaza.com. You can see the group in the Parque Rodó group, the Negras Orientales, which would with calmer periods allowing them to neighbourhood every Sunday starting on calle Blanes street at around 7 pm (the perform in white and sky-blue dress. So why rest a little. route takes them to calle San Salvador). Just follow the sound of drums. On the did women in Uruguay stop drumming? The last Sunday of each month La Melaza encourages male drummers to join them. history books give us no convincing answers. 12 Montevideo: Restaurants

Fellini Ristobaretto, calle Martí corner Benito Blanco, Pocitos Tannat/Locos de Asar, calle San José corner Río Negro, Centre While the best traditional Italian pizza in Montevideo is probably at Don Ciccio (calle Tannat offers a tango show with dinner featuring two singers, two dancers (of course) Bonpland corner Williman, Punta Carretas. Tel. 710 5151), Fellini serves good pizzas and live tango music. The restaurant has even hired a mime artist to enliven proceed- and pasta and has the advantage of being a block from the Rambla in Pocitos. Busy ings. This all takes place on Tannat’s upper floor in a plush dining room that is much and very popular meeting spot for groups of friends of all ages, including English- more intimate than the “pack ‘em in” feel of many outwardly similar places in Buenos speaking expats. When it’s full, Fellini can feel rather cramped. Easy to eat well for Aires. Mainly meat options; reservations essential (tel. 900 8127; info@tannatytango. US$20. Short dessert menu but there is a pleasant ice cream shop diagonally op- com). Downstairs is a clean and bright steakhouse with a large soup and salad bar posite. One of a number of places in Montevideo that keeps up the tradition of serving which has the same menu and prices as the Locos de Asar restaurant next door, and gnocchi on the 29th of each month. Often has live music at Sunday lunchtime, plus is under the same management. regular cooking demonstrations and literary evenings. Closed on Sunday evening, otherwise open for lunch and dinner every day. Tel. 706 9252. Francis, calle Luis de la Torre corner Montero, Puntas Carretas And our award for Montevideo’s Best Restaurant for 2010 goes to… Francis! Located La Corte, Plaza Matriz, Old Town on a quiet street in Punta Carretas, Francis is a class act. It started out as a fish and Excellent option in the heart of the Ciudad Vieja and the perfect antidote to the pushy seafood place and the seafood dishes (an exceptional squid with caramelised onions, service found at several of the Mercado del Puerto eateries. This side of the Plaza two very fine paella options) are still what draw the regulars. This winter, though, Matriz is slowly giving itself over to fast food outlets and tourist tat, so we can be Francis is due to light up a new barbecue, so expect more meat options. Meanwhile, thankful that under the stewardship of Marcelo Angres, La Corte is offering quality at the lamb and mushroom risotto is moist and fragrant – and the portions are huge – a fair price at lunchtime (try the filling steak with fried onions and mozzarella cheese and the crème brûlée is a must if you have a sweet tooth. Perfect for a business lunch topping) and a more refined menu at night. President Bush dined here during his 2007 or a romantic dinner, Francis is fundamentally the choice of people who care about, state visit. Well-prepared sauces accompany many fish and meat dishes. Excellent and enjoy, their food. The US$15 set lunch with a drink is the best deal in town. Open and sometimes extravagantly presented desserts. Unusually for Uruguay, La Corte’s every day for lunch and every day bar Sunday for dinner. www.francis.com.uy; tel. menu flags a number of low-calorie dishes. Recommended. www.lacorte.com.uy; tel. 711 8603. 916 0435

in an 8-hour working day and other labour rights, women were now able to initiate A Happy Country divorce proceedings, the influence of the Roman Catholic Church was reduced, and

the death penalty was abolished. We think Uruguay is getting plenty of things right UruguayNow is optimistic about today’s Uruguay because – at the risk of gross generalization – the country displays an inherent sense of reasonableness and a respect for the rule of law. The new tax code is far from perfect and the state payroll is still bloated, but this is a good country to do business in – so good that the economy grew by 2.5% in 2009 while the world was mired in recession. The previous year Uruguay managed to export more meat than mighty Argentina (thanks, it must be said, to its neighbour’s idiosyncratic economic policy). The country would do even better if more Uruguayans could be encouraged to set up their own businesses.

Meanwhile violent crime, though less rare than in the past, is still relatively uncom- mon. No metal detectors stand at the entrance of secondary schools. Private cars are not kitted out with bullet-proof windows.

According to a recent Latinobarómetro survey, Uruguayans are much more likely “On bad mornings,” Nobel-laureate and newspaper columnist Paul Krugman re- than any other Latin Americans to be satisfied, or very satisfied, with the way that marked recently, “I wake up and think we are turning into a Latin American country”. democracy works in their country. They are more likely than any other Latin Ameri- cans to support parliamentary democracy and political parties. And when asked the Dr Kruger was talking about inequality and social mobility, but it’s our guess that question: “Do you consider your country is governed for the benefit of a few powerful Uruguay wasn’t at the top of his mind when he appeared on an American talkshow cliques, or the benefit of everyone?” Uruguayans were those most likely to reply and made that – now much reported – comment. “for the benefit of everyone” (58% of the total versus 7% of Argentines polled when asked the same question). A return to the military dictatorship of 1973–1985 seems Uruguay certainly shares a history of unequal income distribution with other Latin out of the question. American countries. According to the World Bank, the richest one-tenth of the popu- lation in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) earn 48 percent of total income, Graft is not a significant problem: According to the pressure group Transparency while the poorest one-tenth earn only 1.6 percent. Inequality in the least unequal International, Uruguay and Chile currently vie for the title of the least corrupt state LAC country – Uruguay – is higher than that of the most unequal country in Eastern in Latin America, and are rated on a par with France. Traffic police won’t demand Europe and the industrialized countries, the Bank found. money from you for imagined infringements. And although there is some evidence that the bronca (sharp temper) said to be characteristic of nearby Buenos Aires is But can the case be made that structural problems are being met with practical gaining ground on these shores, British novelist Martin Amis told local paper El Pais solutions? According to research from the University of Montevideo, the Uruguayan that the Uruguayans are “the most charming and civilized” people he’d ever met. government increased the minimum wage by 56% in real terms over the period 1998 – 2007. Since the presidential elections that brought the left-leaning Frente Amplio We’ll give the last word to a group of academics from the University of Texas at party to power in 2004 (for the first time in Uruguay’s history) the tax code has been Austin. They looked into the likelihood that a policeman would be convicted for killing reformed, a comprehensive system of cash payments to poor families has been a fellow citizen. The result was not just that Uruguay consistently outperformed its rolled out, and every child in state education has the right to a laptop. neighbours (there was a 50% chance of conviction in Uruguay, compared to 20% in Buenos Aires and just 5% in Brazil) but that the Uruguayan criminal justice system Uruguay was the first country in the world to implement a “one laptop per child” “responds equally well, if not better, to the claims of the underprivileged as it does to scheme, which according to the BBC cost US$260 per pupil. Thanks to the initiative, the claims of those with more resources”. many children – particularly those in rural areas – gained access to computers and the internet for the first time.

None of this has prevented the appearance of high fences and electric gates in middle-class districts of Montevideo. Rubbish collectors riding horses and carts still rummage through the city’s dustbins while BMWs and SUVs speed by. Montevideo’s northern suburbs contain shanty towns with inadequate facilities. Uruguay has received a hugely favourable international press in recent years (your correspondent was responsible for some of it) but anyone flying south with the intention of putting down roots should be aware that though the country may offer heavenly beaches, life remains a struggle for many folk.

Perhaps a little surprisingly, Uruguay introduced a very early version of a progres- sive, modern state at the start of the twentieth century. Surprisingly, because this fol- lowed hard on the heels of a period of bloody civil war between the supporters (and their foreign allies) of Uruguay’s two “traditional” political parties: the Colorados and the Blancos. Known as the Guerra Grande, this was essentially a long and hugely destructive squabble between the country’s leading families (think the English Wars of the Roses rather that the American Civil War). It left the country looking for a new direction. This was provided by Colorado president José Batlle y Ordóñez, who took advantage of the country’s growing prosperity to institute major reforms: he ushered

UruguayNow (First Edition: February 2010) 13 Montevideo: Bars & Cafes

Introduction Bar and Café Reviews

In Uruguay, almost all bars serve food, so the distinction between restaurant and bar Bar Roldós, Mercado del Puerto, Old Town is less clear than in some other countries. Founded in 1886 as a grocery that served booze on the side, the Roldós is the most enjoyable watering-place in the Mercado del Puerto and (along with a score of other Many locals in Montevideo eat their breakfast in a café, often a croissant (medialuna) historically notable cafes in the city) gets tax breaks to prove it. Long before the Port which is generally served filled with ham and cheese. A coffee with frothed milk on Market became a tourist attraction, the Roldós was serving its trademark medio y me- top is a cortado. dio – a mix of white wine and spumante – to thirsty workers propping up its polished wooden bar. The drink ($130 a bottle; $30 a glass) makes a great aperitif before at- When pizzas are served in cafes, they are usually thick-crust pizza slices freshly tacking a plate of barbecued meat and chorizo at Rol2, its sister establishment across baked in a charcoal oven. Pizza has a tomato topping but no cheese; muzarella is a the passageway. Bar Roldós also serves decent coffee. Open every day from 9 am to cheese pizza with the only fainest smear of tomato. Fainá, meanwhile, is a cornmeal/ 7 pm. www.roldos.com.uy; tel. 915 1520. chickpea crust baked in the pizza oven and served with pepper. It’s something of an acquired taste. Oddly enough, round pizzas are called pizzetas in Uruguay. Cervecería La Pasiva, Av. 18 de Julio corner Ejido, Centre With its bland formica tables and mainly middle-aged clientele, La Pasiva’s main Cafes usually serve a large selection of desserts generally displayed in brightly-lit drinking and dining area appears at first sight no different from the countless other cabinets. These are usually not prepared on the premises. cervecerías (taverns) in the city centre. But take a moment to admire the swirling art deco lamps, the self-conscious columns that ring the bar and the decorative beer Try a chivito, the Uruguayan take on the humble steak sandwich and a café classic. barrel that stands in splendid isolation in a corner and it may occur to you that this is Order it canadiense (“Canadian”) and it will arrive piled high with a topping of bacon, somewhere a bit special. Best known in town for its hot dogs ($18 each) eaten with fried egg, grilled peppers, lettuce and tomato. mustard prepared to a recipe that’s a closely guarded secret. Befitting their almost mythical status, the dogs at La Pasiva are kept in huge pans of simmering water in full While we don’t particularly recommend any of the pubs just below the World Trade and admiring view of the punters. Attracts a younger crowd at night. Open every day Centre in Pocitos, we do include one here for the sake of comparison (Barba Roja). to 1 am weekdays and 3 am at weekends. What we left out: The beautiful Café Brasilero in the Old Town which is closed at the time of writing; the Baar Fun Fun in a quiet section at the edge of the Old Town (and Bar Tabaré, calle Zorrilla de San Martín corner Tabaré, Punta Carretas a great late­night option if you want to hear tango music, but the area is sadly unsafe Ninety years ago the space now occupied by the über-trendy Bar Tabaré was a at night); and the famous and venerable El Hacha a few blocks from the Mercado del general store catering to local fishermen. Just a little of those less fashion-conscious Puerto (we prefer Roldós). times remains: A cozy bistro-like space (the original shop, to the left as you enter) with a wealth of exposed wood harks back to an era before BMWs and gold Amex cards. Additional seating on a mezzanine level at the rear of the bar affords a good Market forces view of the customers downstairs in the bar, or the perfect spot for an intimate drink, depending on the table you choose. Long drinks list; good, brisk service. A pity, then, that the food (amateurish chicken curry, uninspiring fish dishes) is so underwhelming. Don’t miss Montevideo’s wonderful Tristán Narvaja street Main courses, should you be tempted, average US$15. Close to the Sheraton. Has market live music from time to time. Open every evening except on Sundays. www.bartabare. com; tel. 712 3242.

Café Philomène, calle Solano García corner Miñones, Punta Carretas A little jewel. It’s difficult to imagine a better refuge from Montevideo’s biting winter winds than the Café Pilomène. This is a coffee and cake shop which serves home- made quiches at lunchtime (just US$5 with a side salad) as well as alfajores (large cookies with a caramel filling) and brownies. Not the first establishment in the city to plump for a Beatles-meets-bossa nova soundtrack set on a seemingly permanent loop, but somehow it works in the cozy, stress-free interior, with its period wooden floors and colourful choice of wallpaper. Has seating outside in the summer months. Open Monday to Friday from 9 am to 8 pm, Saturday from 11 am to 8 pm. Tel. 711 1770.

Looking for a panama hat? Or a new pair of laces? Or a gerbil? Only partly regulated, the market sprawls for five or six blocks along calle Paysandú and neighbouring streets, away from the booksellers. Here there are no stalls, just Come to the Tristán Narvaja flea market on a Sunday morning and you can buy any sheets laid out on the pavement, their corners pinned down with stones. One man is of these things – and much more besides. For many Montevideo residents Sunday selling a 1970s cream-coloured dial-up phone and a box of old keys of different sizes. would not be Sunday without a stroll through “Tristán”, often with their mate gourd Nothing else. Another is rather despondently hawking a box of porn and some aprons and thermos flask in hand, to thumb nostalgically through stacks of old LPs, squint and tea towels. at pages of stamps, or just buy the week’s fruit and vegetables. At the fringes, sounds drift in and out. Teams of traditional candombe drummers beat Few market traders have been associated with the market longer than Wilson de out a ferocious rhythm, collecting coins in a plastic cup as they drift down calle Tristrán Sosa, who has worked a stall at Tristán Narvaja for “almost 51 years”. Narvaja, the spine of the market (this is traditional carnival music but they are here in all seasons). A knot of street singers pumps out ballads, holed up in a busy spot Mr de Sosa sells mainly sheet music spread across a couple of tables in the blocks next to a van selling hot dogs and hamburgers. “The market has always attracted given over to booksellers on calle Paysandú, to the right as you walk down calle musicians,” says Mr de Sosa. “Youngsters come here to try out. It helps them beat Tristrán Narvaja. And what kind of sheet music, exactly? “All kinds. Whatever I their stage fright.” can buy cheap and sell with a big mark-up,” says Mr de Sosa with a smile, as he glances at piles of Schubert and Rachmaninoff, tied up neatly with string. Opposite The section of the market given over to antiques is the part most visited by tourists: him, one stallholder asks another for some change, offering him a pat on the back silverware from a time when Uruguayans had the resources to import massively; and a cigarette as he does so. faux-Oriental vases; coins from all over the globe. And what is the human version of a traffic jam? Well, there is one of those when a family with a stroller tries to navigate Many of the stalls hereabouts sell second-hand books written by figures of the through the roots of a sycamore tree that have broken free of the paving. The wheels Uruguayan left: Titles by Eduardo Galeano appear regularly, the face of Mario get stuck next to a stall selling T-shirts with MVD across the front. Others say: “La feria Benedetti smiles up from a number of dust jackets, and there are compilations of de Tristán Narvaja”. It is late spring and the T-shirt seller is doing a brisk trade. speeches and articles by one-time guerilla fighter and new Uruguayan President José (Pepe) Mujica. Sandwiched in between are coffee-table books with pictures Not a huge change, maybe, but a sign of the times nonetheless. of millionaire residences in Punta del Este; others sport pretty whitewashed ranch houses and gauchos on horseback on their covers. One lady has a pile of old Hola magazines. The dominant aroma in the market is woodsmoke.

Celebrating its centenary, the market appears to grow and grow. But apart from Factfile: expanding, what other changes have there been over the years?

“The thing is,” says Mr de Sosa, “Tristán has changed very little. Most of all it’s to Tristán Narvaja street market operates every Sunday from early in the morning to do with technology. Cassettes started appearing, then CDs and DVDs. And then about 2 pm. Calle Tristán Narvaja is perpendicular to Avenida 18 de Julio and very there’s the recession. People bring what they find and show up at the market close to the main University building. hoping to make a little money. Before they know it, the market has become a habit and they stay.”

14 Montevideo: Bars & Cafes

Café Misterio, calle Costa Rica corner Rivera, Carrasco The UruguayNow Interview: Karen Ann Attracts more blonde ladies than any other bar in the city. On weekend nights this otherwise calm corner of the wealthy residential district of Carrasco is a veritable chaos of Mercedes and SUVs looking for a suitable berth. Very select, if more than a In a journey from a small mining community in South Wales tad superficial, the Café Misterio is a rarity in Montevideo: a bar that has a proper bar to Montevideo, by way of Buenos Aires and Washington DC, area for socialising. So it’s good to know that subdued orange lighting makes every- Karen Ann has become a fixture of the local music scene, one look just that little bit younger and more alluring. Ostentatious displays of fizz and scotch purposelessly adorn the bar – which is a shame as the interior is actually quite first as a singer with Celtic group Grianan, then teaming up nice. Expensive drinks; acceptable food. Open at lunch but really a night-time place. with one of Uruguay’s most famous guitarists to start her Tel. 601 8765. own project, Trelew. Bar 62, calle Barreiro corner Chucarro, Pocitos Longstanding watering hole in the city’s southern suburbs. Named for the number 62 tram line that, starting in 1951, connected Pocitos with the Plaza Independencia. This is the place to go if you’re in the mood for a mojito or a caipirinha. Trendy but essentially unpretentious and popular with students, the gilded youth of Pocitos, media types and resident foreigners. Serves full meals and has a rather idiosyncratic menu ranging from sushi to grilled meats. Works best as a place for a drink and a nibble given that the downstairs space especially (there is upstairs seating, too) can get noisy. Watch out for the $50 cover charge if you eat here. www.62bar.com; tel. 707 3022

El Viejo y el Mar, Rambla Gandhi corner Solano García, Punta Carretas A short walk from the Sheraton, El viejo y el mar serves fish and seafood dishes in a dining area with a strong – verging on overbearing – nautical theme. Come in a First of all, why Montevideo? We [Karen, her partner and son] had previously been living in Washington and what gale and you will hear the wind roar around the simple wooden structure as you eat interested us about Montevideo was that there were a lot of similarities that we seafood spaghetti (US$12) or scampi (US$18). But what makes the place so attrac- really liked, such as the size of the city and the population. We liked small cities that tive – and why it’s listed here as a bar rather than a restaurant – is the large outdoor are capitals as well because there is a certain amount of culture. The other thing seating area with uninterrupted River Plate views. A good place to nurse a cool drink that I really appreciated was that you can easily get out of the city. You don’t have and watch the ships sailing by on a hot night. Feeling especially romantic? Esperanto, to go through a lot of traffic to get to the beach and to the countryside. I came here further along the Rambla to the east (at the corner of calle Comercio, in the Buceo dis- for a week to check it out and fell in love with the place. trict) has indifferent food but unbeatable views of Montevideo’s sunset. Tel. 710 5704.

Had you been involved with music before arriving here? Expreso Pocitos, calle Benito Blanco corner Av. Brasil, Pocitos Prior to coming here I had never done anything that was related to Celtic music Now 100 years old and a classic. Popular with the city’s well-heeled political class apart from when I was at school, and when you’re Welsh that is a huge part of your (and particularly the leading lights of the Blanco party) the Expreso is a joint with a upbringing. In the Eisteddfod, a musical competition, you’d be encouraged to sing, split personality – but in the nicest possible way: there is hardly a customer below or do some poetry or art. It was something that I did as a kid, together with all my the age of fifty during the day, while on weekend nights the place is a favourite pit friends. Even people who felt that they couldn’t sing would get up in the choir and stop for local youth out on the town. The owner stated recently that his establishment do something, and you’d be doing it in front of more than a thousand people, so had never been burgled. Its long operating hours might be the reason – the Expreso that was brilliant training. is almost always open for business. Serves nice hot sandwiches and Irish coffee. Courteous and brisk service. On exiting glance upwards: the bar is on the ground floor How did you get involved in the music scene here? of the El Mástil building, an art deco masterpiece. Tel. 708 1828. When I came to Uruguay I really started to feel like I was losing my voice, so I decided to take voice classes gain. I went to a teacher, a great guy called Fernando Bar Tranquilo, calle 21 de Septiembre corner Roque Graseras, Punta Carretas. Ulivi, who is well known here in theatre circles. I really enjoyed it and wanted to do It may seem unimaginative to call this bar tranquilo but it sums the place up nicely. more. I remembered that a few months earlier I had seen an Irish-music band play- When the sun sets on Pocitos beach and the crowds begin to disperse, Bar Tranquilo ing. They were Uruguayan but they sounded completely authentic and I thought: starts to fill up – despite its location a little distant from other watering holes. The this is amazing! So I found their number and they said they already had a singer. outside tables catch the sea breeze on balmy nights, making it a great place to relax I said that’s fine, I’ll come anyway, there can be two of us! It makes me laugh now and chat into the early hours. A favourite of couples and groups of girls discussing the because I was quite brazen and was muscling in, but I really wanted to sing. And details of their days. The food ticks all the boxes: tapas, milanesas, salads, pastas, so I went and auditioned and they said okay, you can start. That’s how I became a good homemade chips and meat and fish specials that change frequently. They aural member of Grianan. menu is no less varied: British/US indie, reggae grooves and offbeat dance tracks. Open every day from lunchtime until 2 am on weekends and 1 am on weekdays. www. At what point did Trelew begin to form? tranquilobar.com; tel. 711 2127 Grianan was great but I wanted to do something more creative and their project was basically cultural. It was about showing people what Irish music is. I told them I Barba Roja, Av. L. A. de Herrera corner Iturriaga, Pocitos wanted to put my energy elsewhere and set about looking for a guitarist. I imagined Until a couple of years ago the city’s youthful drinking scene was concentrated in the a young musician from the faculty might be interested. I started to ask friends, and Ciudad Vieja. It has since migrated to the stretch of Luis Alberto de Herrera just below I was about to stick some ads up in the University when Fernando Ulivi, my old the gleaming towers of the World Trade Centre. Here you’ll find Barba Roja. It’s the voice coach, called and said that Jorge Galemire might be interested in the project. kind of place you’ll either love or hate: its patrons ooze money (or pretend they do); He has played with Eduardo Mateo and Jaime Roos – some of the greats. When a bouncer stands at the door, arms folded; and its brew-pub beers are served in tiny I also found out that he counted Celtic music as one of his biggest influences, I measures. On the other hand the booths are comfortable and the Tex-Mex food is couldn’t believe it! We met and seemed to like each other, and it went from there. broadly acceptable. Enough, therefore, to serve as a decent venue for a previa – a Initially he [Jorge Galemire] was cautious about getting involved because of his “warm up” – before hitting the nearby Lotus nightclub at 2 or 3 am. One nice touch: lack of Celtic heritage. He said that he wouldn’t pretend to be an Irish musician; he the menus are made from old LP sleeves. Less nice: sullen service. Open every day would give it his own stamp while trying to respect the forms. So it was a fusion of from 9 pm until late. Tel. 622 1256. this woman from Wales and this Uruguayan musician who is known for music from another genre. work and so they depended on the charity of the church. My Nan [grandmother]

was a really good singer and the choirmaster had told her parents that she was And where did the name come from? so good, if she took singing lessons she might become an opera singer. But there I decided I wanted to associate the band with something that was Celtic or Welsh was no money and my Nan ended up being a barmaid. That was a kind of debt and, at the same time, something that was from this part of South America, so I within the family. She always used to say that she could have been a famous opera thought about the names of those towns [in Argentine Patagonia] that were started singer. So to have the opportunity to write a song for and about her was great. by Welsh people, and Trelew I liked the most.

What’s the plan for the rest of the year? Where do the ideas for the songs come from? We are going to do just a few shows. Our focus is to do more distribution interna- When we started composing it was the first time since I was a teenager that I had tionally. We’ve already had people buying from Japan. The market here is very written lyrics. The first song that we did was called For Patagonia and it’s about the small and what we do is quite unusual. We could easily saturate it, so the plan is journey of the Welsh to Patagonia and it starts with some words from a diary that just to do a couple of well-produced shows. was written in 1893 by a Welsh colonist. In Wales at the time they were trying to encourage people to emigrate to Patagonia, but also to protect their own culture, Factfile: Trelew will be playing at Teatro Solís on 5 May with their 5-piece live band, which was not happening when people emigrated to [North] America. including bandoneón (an accordion-like instrument, famously used in tango music), bass and percussion. Their album, Trelew, is available from Shannon’s in Monte- Was Welsh history something that you’d always been interested in? video, www.cdbaby.com, and Karen will even hand deliver a copy if you ask nicely When I was 7 years old I had a teacher who had been a sailor and one of the enough. Her details are on their website at www.trelewmusic.com. places he told us about was Buenos Aires and the gauchos. I was fascinated. We Karen has also recently opened a guest house, Casa Sarandí (Buenos Aires y have a song called May Day which is based on the story of my grandmother who Ituzaingó, Old Town). The rate is US$50 per night. Rooms have balconies looking on lived in a mining community. Her dad had been in a mining accident and couldn’t to the sea. Reservations can be made on (598) 0997 07068.

UruguayNow (First Edition: February 2010) 15 Montevideo: Hotels

Balmoral Plaza, calle San José at Plaza Cagancha, Centre

Introduction A hotel with a faintly regal name that it doesn’t quite live up to. Rooms a little worn; Our selection of Montevideo’s best accommodation options includes a number of popular with business travellers. The hotel’s pleasant lobby is always busy. Nice buffet recommendations in the Centre, and also in the beachside districts of Punta Carretas breakfast. Downside: odour of cigarettes is everywhere. Upside: if you want to stay and Pocitos where properties are often more modern. downtown, the location is unbeatable and there is a good selection of restaurants on the same street. Certainly worth considering if you can get a discount. Doubles go for Note that some budget options in the Centre are noisy and may not be well main- US$100 (rack rate). www.balmoral.com.uy; tel. 902 2393 tained. Heating can be insufficient in budget hotels in the winter in Uruguay as a NH Hotel, Rambla Gran Bretaña corner Treinta y Tres, Old Town whole. If the view’s the thing, the NH may be the choice for you. On the Rambla facing the River Plate, albeit in a dilapidated and inconvenient corner of the Ciudad Vieja, the NH For , in Uruguay as elsewhere, the internet booking systems of each chain hotels offers large guest rooms and a friendly welcome. And of course that view. You should brand are likely to give you competitive rates, particularly if you book well in advance. take a taxi to and from this property at night. We include this hotel mainly because it Foreigners are not charged VAT (sales tax) on hotel stays in Uruguay. offers good value for money: advertised room rates start at US$90. www.nh-hotels. com; tel. 916 0001 Please note that the prices given here are approximate rates for two people staying midweek. They are based on information provided either directly by the hotel or via Inner beauty their websites. Note that internet brokers may also offer discounted rates and that cheaper weekend and other special deals may be available. Uruguay’s interior is full of history, as well as a varied and low-key charm Hotel Reviews Radisson, Plaza Independencia, Old Town European-style hotel that makes a distinction between concierge and front desk. Its restaurant has panoramic views of the port and is doubtless the best hotel restaurant in town. Good meeting facilities that are only bettered by the Sheraton; nice pool. Guest rooms a little dark. The building is an eyesore but this is hardly a worry if you’re inside it. A very professional operation to be sure, but many business travellers will prefer to be based in Punta Carretas – a more salubrious district altogether. Room rates start at US$170. www.radisson.com; tel. 902 0111 Sometimes significant discoveries are made by mistake.

Sheraton, calle Solino (next to Punta Carretas Shopping), Punta Carretas José Suárez was a Brazilian labourer who migrated to Uruguay at the beginning Our award for Best Hotel in Montevideo for 2010 goes to… the Sheraton. Has the of the nineteenth century. In Brazil he had worked in a gold mine; in Uruguay he advantage of location over the Radisson, and while its restaurant isn’t in the same tended cattle near a settlement called Corrales in the northern department of league as that of its main rival, its guest rooms are brighter. The views from the gym Rivera. From time to time he found flecks of gold in streams and collected them in a over the River Plate are amazing. No concierge – you’ll have to wait in line at front bottle which he kept in his shack. It was the year 1830. desk if you want a table booked in a local restaurant (most of the fine dining options in Punta Carretas are but a short walk away). Offers a good brunch on Sundays (US$27 One night thieves broke into his modest home in the hope of finding valuables and per head) A popular place to hold meetings and seminars. Rooms: US$185 – US$285. went through his belongings, assaulting the poor labourer. They found little that www.starwoodhotels.com; tel. 710 2121 interested them and finally left with little more than Suárez’s horse, knocking over and breaking the bottle of gold as they left. Holiday Inn, calle Colonia corner Andes, Centre Our pick of the city centre options if you’re looking for four star lodgings. Nice pool After the attack Suarez summoned help. When his neighbours arrived they could with a view (but creaking gym equipment), friendly, popular with Brazilian tourists, not believe their eyes. The floor was covered in specks of gold. The thieves had left good breakfast, well managed. Nice feel to the place all round. Good deals available without noticing what was in the broken bottle. Soon word got out. Men arrived to pan for gold, armed with shovels, sometimes dynamite. via the HI brand’s main internet booking system. Published room rates start at US$98. What’s not to like? www.holidayinn.com.br; tel. 902 0001 In the decades that followed, mining companies from Spain, France and Britain arrived. If never a veritable El Dorado, foreign mining companies would routinely Regency Golf, calle Solano García corner Ellauri, Punta Carretas exaggerate finds in remote corners of the world like Uruguay in order to raise more Our choice for Best-Value Hotel in Montevideo for 2010. This boutique hotel opened capital in Europe. Still, profits from the Uruguayan gold rush paid for a sumptuous its doors in March of last year and has already secured a loyal following. 65 rooms, all mansion at Cuñapirú for the Marquis de Malherbe, a principal shareholder of the beautifully designed and all with kitchenette, plasma TVs, parquet floors throughout. Franco-Uruguayan Gold Mining Company. An elaborate system of cables, towers Small gym and sauna, but the Rambla is on your doorstep if you feel like getting some and pulleys was put in place to transport rocks from the various mines for process- exercise. Nice, bright breakfast room. Full access for wheelchair users. Free parking. ing. The cables only functioned for five years. Some of the towers are still standing, Rooms US$110 and up. www.regencygolf.com.uy; tel. 710 4444 as is Malherbe’s house, with its once-grand reception rooms, bedrooms, bathrooms and servants’ quarters. It is now home to bats and wild horses. Sol Meliá (former Tryp Hotel), calle Miranda corner Bulevar Artigas, Punta Carretas The under-populated interior of Uruguay (some 92% of its inhabitants live in urban Sometimes referred to as the Sol Meliá, sometimes the Tryp (even in the hotel’s own areas) is full of legends, memories and – if you care to believe in them – ghosts. literature). But not to worry, because the service is spot on, as is the food. Light, airy In Valle Edén, a little south of Tacuarembó, a museum makes the case that Carlos Mediterranean feel to the lobby; guest rooms kitted out in a similar style to Meliá prop- Gardel, the most celebrated tango singer of them all, was born in Uruguay. But this erties the world over. Overlooks the city golf gourse. Free parking. Recommended. is disputed: others believe he was born in France.

Room rates start at US$120. www.solmelia.com; tel. 710 3800 Whatever the truth, Gardel came into the world in 1890 or thereabouts, at a time

when the figure most associated with the Uruguayan campo was exiting from the Regency Suites, calle Otero corner Arocena, Carrasco scene. Uruguay’s gauchos (the term is also associated with Argentina, of course, as In the heart of Carrasco and convenient for the airport. Like an English country house well as the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul) are sometimes referred hotel. This 4-star property has 30 very comfortable suites all with kitchenettes. Com- to as a kind of Latin version of the North American cowboy. mon areas are beautifully maintained and have comfy chesterfield sofas if you feel like taking the weight off your feet. The hotel makes good use of its space in a relatively But there are differences: From the earliest days of Spanish settlement adventurous small plot; nice deck with a pool in an urban garden at the rear. Great choice for busi- youths, fleeing criminals, freed slaves and deserting soldiers disappeared into ness people in town with their families; good choice for anyone seeking peace and the largely lawless countryside. They tamed wild horses to ride, and slaughtered quiet. Rates: US$145. www.regencysuites.com.br; tel. 600 1383 cattle that roamed the interior of the country which belong to no-one and everyone, catching their prey with lassoes and distinctive boleadoras, three balls connected Bremen Aparthotel, calle Aquiles Lanza corner Maldonado, Centre by leather straps that would trap an animal by disabling its hind legs. One of a kind. German-owned operation offers small to medium sized self-contained apartments that cost from US$45 (for one person) to US$110 (for five people) per In the early years the men mixed with indigenous native-American women. Gau- night. Wealth of early twentieth-century detailing inside and out. Cable TV; internet ac- chos would congregate at pulperías, a mixture of drinking den and general store. cess. Some units may be a little noisy. A bit distant from the city’s better dining options In reality as as well as in the popular imagination, fights would often break out. A but quite the thing if you are homesick for a beer in a German Kneipe (pub) – there’s gaucho would resolutely defended his honour with his facón (knife) which he kept with him at all times. one on the premises. www.bremenmontevideo.com; tel. 900 9641 The division of Uruguay into rural estates spelled the beginning of the end for the Hotel Ermitage, calle Benito Blanco at Plaza Gomensoro, Pocitos gaucho. Labourers were hired to mark and herd cattle on behalf of the estancieros Montevideo meets Eastbourne at the Ermitage, a cozy hotel near the Rambla that (estate owners). The gaucho was, in effect, corralled by laws and the widespread evokes a time when Pocitos was a popular seaside resort. Rooms at the front catch introduction of private property. Some resigned themselves to working on the the sun and have a view of the water across pretty Plaza Gomensoro. Bedrooms are estates. Others refused to give up their nomadic existence and were pursued, nothing special but bathrooms are very nice and have been updated. Hallways a little often arbitrarily, by the authorities. The last traditional gauchos sought refuge in faded, though. Breakfast a bit patchy. Friendly service. A double with sea view for the hilly country to the south of the Río Negro in the departments of Cerro Largo US$95 (rack rate) is good value. www.ermitagemontevideo.com; tel. 710 4021 and Treinta y Tres. But as the era of civil war in Uruguay drew to an end, their days were numbered. 16 UruguayNow Awards

UruguayNow is dedicated to uncovering the country’s best accommodation and dining options and recognizing excellence. Our awards for 2010 are:

Best Restaurant in Montevideo: Francis, Punta Carretas Montevideo’s Most Innovative Dining Experience: Rara Avis, Ciudad Vieja UruguayNow.com Best Hotel in Montevideo: Sheraton, Punta Carretas Best-Value Hotel in Montevideo: Regency Golf, Punta Carretas

A w a r d s You can find out more about these establishments in the Montevideo restaurants and Montevideo hotels chapters of this guide.

The names of our award winners for 2011 will be made public in February of next year.

“First of all, property is almost always “It’s a word of mouth thing” bought and sold in US dollars, so trans-

actions are perfectly transparent. The The secret’s out: Uruguay is a great place to buy a second country has no history of expropriations home and corruption is virtually inexistent. It also allows the free flow of foreign cur- When it comes to real estate, it really does seem as though Uruguay offers rency. As a result some 80% of deposits something for everyone: seafront apartments in Punta del Este, urban bolt-holes in Uruguayan banks are in US dollars or in Montevideo, and the chance to build your own dream home from scratch in the euros,” says Dr Fischer. unspoilt countryside. “In addition, Uruguay does not tax global A firm favourite of overseas buyers looking to invest in Montevideo is the high-end income, only income which is generated beach district of Pocitos, which offers good transport connections to the Centre and in Uruguay, nor is there any inheritance the Old Town, safety and generally high build quality. tax. Plus the country has one of the world’s strictest banking secrecy laws.”

Prices have risen consistently since Uruguay began to recover from Argentina’s Under three hours drive east from Montevideo over excellent roads – and a short financial crisis in 2002. Montevideo had traditionally been an expensive place to quad bike ride from a pristine ocean beach – lie 100 hectares of grassland and trees buy property but the meltdown next door had a knock-on effect, and house prices that American developer Carl Wescott calls Laguna Tranquila. tumbled. Unemployment rose significantly, real incomes dropped and confidence drained out of the real estate market. The Laguna in question is the Laguna de Rocha, an expanse of fresh water that glimmers nearby in the summer heat, and provides a living for a handful of local fish- In 2003 new-build units in good locations in Pocitos cost between US$850 and erman. Tranquila, because the peace and quiet of Mr Wescott’s property is palpable US$1000 per square metre. Similar properties are now around 75% more expensive. from the moment you step out of the car. And prices are still rising, albeit modestly, in spite of the current global downtown. In the period June – August 2009 properties in Uruguay as a whole were 2.11% more But it’s a peace and quiet that will soon be disturbed by the sound of earth mov- expensive than in the same period a year earlier. ers. Mr Wescott says that his pre-sale of 25 building plots was over-subscribed: “Although we are about to start building within a few months, the plan is to disturb But these figures are for Uruguay as a whole and conceal local variations. According the natural environment as little as possible. For instance, we have devised a devel- to Pascual Larroque, a real estate agent specialising in finding homes for foreign- opment plan that will mean we can keep every existing tree on the property. Equally, ers relocating to Uruguay, high-end property values in the city’s upmarket beach we expect buyers to opt for house designs that are in keeping with this special place, suburbs and in Montevideo’s Old Town – which is in the process of regeneration with lots of stone and natural wood.” – outperformed many other districts. The increase was around 8% in 2008 before levelling off in 2009. Mr Wescott is offering plots of 2500, 5000 or 10,000 square metres. The smallest plots are big enough for pleasant garden and a sense of privacy; the largest can “In retrospect, the reasons for the sustained price hike are easy to understand,” comfortably accommodate stables. Many will have views over the Laguna de Rocha, says Mr Larroque. “Uruguayans began to have confidence in their economy. More a protected habitat. At US$25 per square metre, the entry-level price for a 2500m2 possibilities for getting home loans came on line. In addition, some of the young plot is US$60,000. people who had left after the meltdown of 2002, mainly to Spain and the United States, came home with their savings and their skills. These were all local factors “We think that a critical mass of residents – large enough to call a community – is that produced an upward pressure on real estate prices. On top of this you have the about two years away,” says Mr Wescott. When complete, the development may arrival of unprecedented numbers of overseas home buyers,” says Mr Larroque. contain as may as 144 homes since each home site can accommodate up to two Rental law in Uruguay is generally seen as being pro-landlord. Rental agreements houses. are concluded for fixed periods and owners routinely include a clause that allows for a 5% annual rent increase. Unsurprisingly, a number of overseas investors The design of the development includes a hotel with a swimming pool, spa and are interesting in buying to let, despite a new tax code that came into force in July restaurant – which will ultimately give residents a place to meet and socialise, as well 2007 that ushered in a 12% levy on rental income (rental values in Montevideo’s as to grab something to eat and drink, or get some exercise. large uncontrolled sector increased by a similar amount in the months following the introduction of the new tax). Ten minutes drive away, the seaside resort of La Paloma – with a working lighthouse and massive whale skeleton gracing the middle of its main drag – is busy with An unfurnished one-bedroom unit in Pocitos away from the water will rent for holidaymakers. But it doesn’t feel packed: there is plenty of room to park and no between US$400 and US$600 a month depending on its condition, and on the basis need to wait in line for a table at the town’s restaurants. At the Siete Candelas the of a 12-month contract. Furnished units to rent for shorter periods are sometimes dif- waitress is happy to be back from a stint working in London. Certainly, neither the air ficult to find in the capital’s beach suburbs at all times of year. In Punta del Este out nor the cod could be fresher. of season, meanwhile, the opposite is true: you will have a vast choice. A few miles further along the coast and dramatically sited on a promontory between But in Punta del Este you can expect to pay around US$8000 to rent a well-main- two magnificent beaches, La Pedrera is newer, trendier and popular with surfers. tained house with a pool, and within walking distance of the beach, for the month of Like La Paloma, although it is mainly a seasonal resort, essential services are January – the most costly period. maintained year-round.

Owning property is not required to obtain residency. The essential requirements are What people are attracted to Laguna Tranquila? “Many North Americans and a clean police record and proof of steady income of (at the time of writing) at least Europeans are curious about living overseas,” says Mr Wescott. “But we will also be US$500 per month. On applying for residency, you can import your household goods marketing to Brazilians, Argentines and local buyers. There is a lot of information out free of import duties – this can be done the day after the application for residency there for people who feel like coming to Uruguay for part of the year or permanently. is filed. People write blogs and recount their own experience of living in this country. It’s a word of mouth thing.” According to Juan Federico Fischer, a local real estate attorney who advises companies and individuals investing in Uruguay, buying real estate in the country Factfile: presents few risks. Laguna Tranquila: www.lagunatranquila.com; [email protected] Juan Federico Fischer: Fischer & Schickendantz; www.fs.com.uy; [email protected] Pascual Larroque: Larroque Property Finder; [email protected]

UruguayNow (First Edition: February 2010) 17 UruguayNow.com

First guide to Uruguay in English.

www.uruguaynow.com