Montevideo... Home of the Gourmet Hot Dog

It IS an avocado!!! JooYeon and I had debated the issue for four days as we nursed it and protected it from all backpacking harm in our bags. I should have made a wager on it... maybe something like, ¨we have to stay in a room with cockroaches at least three times a month¨or something, but alas, I did not. From romantic little Colonia in Western Uruguay, we drove east to the capital of Montevideo. The bus was a very typical Uruguayan experience... the driver occasionally stopped just to talk to one of his friends near the roadside and, judging by his intimacy of conversation with the woman at the tollgate, she must have been his sister! As I said before, just as discussion oriented as the Argentinians, minus a bit of the boldness with strangers. Must be all the mate. It was very present in Argentina, but it is EVERYWHERE here... if possible, I´ll dedicate a blog entry just to mate later on.

Our bags continue to swell as if they were gestating (congratulations Angie and Ryan by the way!) and we´re beginning to waddle like penguins as we walk down the road...

Luckily, there´s no shortage of protein recharge for our muscles now that we are meateaters again and in a carnivorous land. Uruguayan´s two big specialties are muzzarellas and chorizos. Muzzarellas are basically pizzas minus the toppings, with half of the sauce, and four times the cheese (hence the appropriate name). Chorizos are cheap sausages roasted to a crispy outside and placed on some bread. But the best part is that you then get to choose from among 15 sauces or so in a Subway-style manner...

A bit heavy, but a lot more manageable when washed down with some cafe con leche, especially for Joo who is now fully addicted to the stuff...

I, on the other hand, have fallen prey to the tempting snares of mate, but more on that later. Montevideo was quite cold and wintery for our four days here, but there was still a peaceful spirit, expansive architecture, and a proud national spirit (I tried to shy away from referring to Argentina too much so as not to offend). My favorite part, aside from the mate, has been waking up each morning to the clip, clop, clip, clop of the horse carriages traipsing down the street with their owners collecting trash or selling vegetables (two different types of carriages thankfully)

We had considered renting in Uruguay for awhile, and we even landed some good personal contacts, but eventually decided against it simply because it would have been quite complicated to rent only for a month. So... one more day here and then we head back to Buenos Aires on an overnight bus where we already have a couple appointments set up to look at flats. Will we soon have a home larger than the babies on our backs?