Somewhere in Uruguay: Piriápolis I

Well it’s kinda late now but let me tell you about my Easter weekend! I know, I know… Easter was months ago. But hey… I’m in Uruguay. Aaand that is probably becoming my standard excuse now.

The destination of my Easter weekend and the reason why I left one day earlier from Mendoza was a trip to Piriápolis which is a city on the Altantic coast of Uruguay. Though I think technically it is still on the shore of the Rio de la Plata. But you can’t really tell the difference at that point and it’s very close to Punta del Este, where the Atlantic coast officially starts. But we didn’t spend any time at the beach anyway so I guess it doesn’t matter.

But first things first. I went there with Pablo, his sister Lucía, a friend named Rusty and his cousin Lore. And once we got to Piriápolis we also met up with one of their friends, Maxi, who lives there.

Before we got to Piriápolis though we visited a place named Atlantida, where there is a house in the shape of an eagle. That’s right. El Aguila. It looked pretty cool and the view from above the beacon was pretty sweet.

El Aguila - The Eagle

The view of Atlantida

Once we got to Piriápolis we left our things at the house that we rented and went to get some food.  We decided on hamburgers. Which were really slices of toast with burger meat and condiments. But before having a little lunch break we went to see the castle of Francisco Píria, the founder of Piriápolis. Which to me I guess wasn’t all that impressive, since I’m more used to castles like Neuschwanstein. Though I really liked the trees around the castle. They were perfect for climbing in them like a monkey. Unfortunately that was not allowed so I was really only up in one for a minute or so. Stupid rules.

Spot the monkey! Isn't that the coolest tree for climbing?!

Busted...

Píria's Castle

After that we went on to a park at the foot of Cerro Pan de Azúcar, where we finally had our lunch break. The plan was to go climb the hill/mountain Pan de Azúcar which is one of Uruguays highest points. Though coming from the alpine upland I gotta say it isn’t really all that high.

However, before our hiking adventure we all decided to take a nap. So we got out a blanket and a matress that Rusty had had in his car and slept for a bit. Why rush, when you can have a little siesta instead?

Nap time!

After that we went on our way. Where we passed a zoo kinda area where you could go through little mazes with wild animals in them. Caged of course. There was also a bat cave but unfortunately there were no bats. My favorites were the Pumas though because one of them was all cute and then the other went all “ignore him and focus your attention on meeee!!”

After that we started our way up to the top. And let me tell ya, it wasn’t all pony-rides in May-sunshine.  Firstly, because it wasn’t May and secondly because we lost two of our fellows on the way. Lore wasn’t feeling too well so Rusty took her back and the remaining four of us went on to climb the hill/mountain thingy. I’m still not sure what it is. My intuition tells me hill, but there was no real way leading up to it. The main part was climbing what seemed like the course of a mountain stream. But it wasn’t. It was the official way up to the top. Plus there was a giant stone cross on top which kind of reminded me of the crosses they put up on the tops of mountains. So really it was kind of a geographical hybrid. Neither hill, nor mountain. Maybe a “moull”? …. Or a “hintain”?

Up!

And back down with a great evening view

Either way it was a lot of fun, because monkey-me likes climbing things. Trees, rocks, moulls. Always have, always will.

Once we reached the top we had a little break and took some pictures. And enjoyed some trumpet tunes. Wait, what? Trumpet tunes? That’s right. Apparently a guy had brought his trumpet and stood on the edge of the moull, trumpeting into the wide open space in front of him. I really liked the scenery of that.

I can't get that trumpet out of my head...

So then of course we had to climb up the giant stone cross and from there the view was even incredibler. More incredible. Whatever. I was speechless and not able to compare adjectives. We could see the Atlantic, Piriápolis and all the way to Punta del Este on one side and a lot of countryside on the other. So pretty!

Having a little break after we made it to the top

View towards Punta del Este

Pablo and I

All four of us Climbers

The Cross

The Flatlands of Uruguay 

And then we also had some picture taking fun up there… the location was just so much fun! But at some point it was getting close to sundown so we decided to go back down. Where we came upon a lady of 71 years who had climbed the Pan de Azúcar and on her way down injured her leg. So someone had to call the hintain-police so they could rescue her. No fun business. I hope it’s nothing permanent and she’s okay by now.

But on we went because when there’s barely any road to travel by, you really don’t need a lot of bystanders to stand in the way of an accident. It had held us up for a while though so our way down was a lot of guessing and walking/climbing in the dark. Probably not the safest way to go down a moull but it was the only option. And don’t worry, we got down safe and sound.

And because such an adventure makes you very hungry we went back home took showers and got some food.  Real burgers this time. And pretty darn good ones, too. After that we went out for some ice cream as a reward for being awesome. Well actually it wasn’t a reward but a treat. Because it’s the best ice cream in Piriápolis and, as a foreigner and ice-cream aficionada, I of course had to try.

Though apparently it is no secret that it is the best ice-cream in town. Because believe it or not, there were a whopping 70 people in front of us and when we went to draw a number the lady at the counter warned us that we would probably have to wait about an hour for our ice-cream. We bought some anyway and went off to pass an hour at the house. At this point I should probably tell you the name of this incredibly popular place, but guess what. I’m not. Because the place is already very crowded and I guess it’s not fair to the employees. Especially when they meet annoying customers like me who don’t know half of the flavors and therefore have to try some of them in advance. Though I bet anyone who would want to have the best ice-cream in Piriápolis only needs to walk along the Rambla to spot that place. Such an amount of people in an ice-cream place really isn’t that hard to miss.

So anyhow, after an hour we went back and as mentioned above I had to try a few flavors before making an informed decision about which ice-cream to eat. You could probably already guess that this decision involved Dulce de Leche flavor. And Flan. Because what is better than dessert in ice-cream form?

So I actually thought I would split that ice-cream with Pablo but he only had a spoon or two and then left all of the drippy goodness to me. I did have some troubles with keeping it from dripping all over the place but of course I didn’t mind eating a lot of ice-cream. Not that I wouldn’t share. But apparently Pablo didn’t appreciate it as much as I did, so fatty-me ate it all. And I enjoyed it. Every single bit of it.

That was pretty much our first day in Piriápolis and with that I am taking a break. Following up, our second day in Piriápolis. 

FC Bayern, Stern des Südens!

So where were you last Saturday?

As you may or may not know, the Champions League Final took place last Saturday night. Well, in the afternoon for me. Yay for time difference! And it was never even a question that I had to see that match as it was between my favorite team in the world FC Bayern München (closely followed by Nacional of course!) and their German rivals BVB Dortmund.

Since it was an all-German final, the German Embassy in Montevideo decided to organize a public viewing event. Obviously that would be the place to be for such an important event so I made plans to meet up there with some Germans, some Uruguayans (with German girlfriends) and one lonely American. Sorry, Grace, but you just don’t seem to fit into either category ;)

As preparation for the game Pablo asked me for my favorite FC Bayern fan song. Without a doubt, that’s “Stern des Südens”! So I had him listen to it and of course he liked it. Now you might think he just said so in order to not upset me. But those of you who know that song also know that it is pretty awesome. I think even Sebastian who doesn’t even like FC Bayern thinks the song is great.  As for Pablo he couldn’t stop listening to it and showed it to all his family. I thought that was quite sweet. I have included the song here so those of you who are not familiar with it can learn about some Bavarian culture.

Stern des Südens!

In lack of my (brother's) Bayern-jersey I decided to wear a red shirt. Not quite the same thing but back when I came to Uruguay I decided to only bring things that I wouldn't mind if they went missing. So no jersey for me :(

Now, against our nature, Pablo and I arrived early (that’s right Anne!) at the embassy to secure some good seats. After all Germans are very well-known for being extremely punctual. And also for being early and then hoarding seats with towels… uh… I mean jackets and other things of course! We even arrived too early (that was a so we decided to go chill at the Rambla for a bit, since the Embassy is right across the street from the River Plate with a great view towards Playa Ramírez.

"Und heute ist wieder ein guter Tag...!"

= And today is a good day (to win) once again...

After a bit it got chilly and we went on to enter the embassy. And we walked tight inside. At first it felt a bit strange to me as I have only ever been to a US embassy where you pretty much have the same security procedures as you do at an airport. Metal detectors, bag scanners, several security guards and the like. But we were at the German embassy and Germans aren’t as paranoid. Or maybe that’s because we are in Uruguay and everything is more relaxed in Uruguay.

Embajada de Alemania - the German Embassy in Montevideo

Upon entering we signed into a list and wrote down our tips for the game. I decided to go with my brother’s guess 3:0 for Munich. I also snatched one of the little paper flags they had lying around. And since coincidentally the flag is made up of the colors of both Bayern and Dortmund, I of course had to remove the ugly yellow part in order to turn it into my very own little Bayern flag.

After that we found some seats together with a bunch of our friends. One of which made me very happy because she had brought “Prinzenrolle” to share it with us.  Thanks, Angela!

Obviously Sebastian H. was there as well, since we have the tradition of always watching important games together. And what game is more important than the Champions League final between Munich and Dortmund. Though he was rooting for the wrong team. But that just continued our tradition of me rooting for the winning team and him rooting for the others. Though I have to admit that Dortmund played well and altogether it was a great game to watch.

Go Germany! ... and Uruguay and the US!

During the break we also got to enjoy Bavarian drinks and South American food: Beer and Empanadas. What a great combination!

And then the game continued. At times I sat on the edge of my seat but then of course we scored the deciding goal and took the trophy. With a result of 2:1 for Munich. Not quite my brother’s guess, but who cares? We won!! 

Mia san mia.

Montevideo & Friends

As mentioned in my previous blogpost Stephan and Laura visited us in Montevideo and we invited our new friends, Misha and Quinnen, that we have met in Colonia to join us on a little city tour.

Left to right: Misha, Laura, Sebastian, Pablo, me, Quinnen and Stephan

The plan was to meet up at 10.30 on Sunday morning to visit one of the most famous markets of Montevideo called “Feria de Tristan Narvaja”. But since being late is a very Uruguayan thing to do, Pablo and I decided to give our friends the whole Uruaguayan experience – and arrived well after 11am.

As it turns out, Sebastian and our German friends Stephan and Laura were even later so Pablo, Misha, Quinnen and I decided to go on and walk through the streets of Tristan Narvaja. At this point I should probably try and give you an idea of what a market in South America looks like but that is practically impossible. Imagine one main street with many side streets full of market stands that sell virtually everything. Amongst other things there were fruits, vegetables, bread, herbs, hygiene products, electronics, toys, clothing, underwear, jerseys, flags, mate-equipment, antiques, flea-market finds, flowers, souvenirs, jewelry, bags, shoes, … Anything from practical to decorative and from normal to extraordinary.

Perfectly stacked everything

After we had crossed the market we decided to wait on Sebastian, Stephan and Laura and Pablo bought us all a bag of roasted peanuts from a man with a “nut cart” that was pretty much an oven on wheels. That alone I didn’t find very uncommon since during winter in Germany they use those to roast chestnuts. What I did however find odd was the fact that the chimney pipe was a cardboard roll. Seriously, hombre?! You use cardboard as a chimney? I mean it’s not like it’s easily flammable or anything… 

Fire hazard on wheels

So after a while the others joined us and we headed towards Ciudad Vieja which is where most of the sights are located. On our way we stopped at the Intendencia (=town hall) of Montevideo where we visited the Museum of Art History. Most of it was about Egyptian, Greek and Roman art, which really isn’t all that new to me. But the basement accommodated an exhibition of Pre-Colombian and Colonial Art which I found pretty cool. There were lots of indigenous pieces of art and sculptures and my favorite, a giant stone that looks like the coin from Pirates of the Caribbean. Better known as “Piedra del Sol” (=stone of the sun). We also had a lot of fun reenacting the battle scene that was painted on one of the walls.

Piedra del Sol

Pablo's new pet-dog-thingy

Walk like an Egyptian

Nose picking

Quinnen and I: "This is Sparta!!" 

All the others: "Let's just smile at the camera"

Törööö!!

After the museum we went on towards Plaza Independencia, Plaza Matriz and all the usual tourist sights. I didn’t take all that many pictures because I had visited those places before and taken pictures. What I did take a picture of was the “Locks Fountain” which I had passed multiple times but never really stopped to take pictures of it. Said fountain looks a bit like the bridges with lots of locks that lovers put on them. However, there is no river to throw the locks into. The legend says that two lovers that put a lock with their initials on the fountain they will return to it and live happily ever after. I really like the idea of that. And I liked the collection of locks that had built up around the fountain over the years. Old ones, new ones, colorful ones, simple ones, rusty ones, engraved ones, labeled ones.

Fuente de los Candados - Locks Fountain 

 

Seems like Pablo's eternal love didn't last... ;)

Our friend Albert is quite the jokester

Contrast

After that we had some delicious food at a place with the very Uruguayan name of “El Gaucho”. And of course the food had to be Somewhat Uruguayan, so we ordered a “Picada” which is a plate with a variety of more or less typical Uruguayan foods to try, accompanied with some ravioli and fries with mushroom sauce. Need I mention that after that we were extremely stuffed and didn’t think we could ever eat again?

Let the feasting begin!

Yet we made plans to meet up at my place at night in order to have an Asado. Because that’s what you do on a typical Sunday in Uruguay. Anyhow we split up so everyone could mind their own business for a while before the others would meet up to go see Candombe and then come to my house for the Asado.

And because more people means more fun, we also invited Sebastian’s roommates who then brought some friends that were also visiting from Buenos Aires. Then Pablo also brought his sister Lucía and of course my roommates also joined us and we had a nice big group that barely fit into our tiny living room.

Vamos Tricolor!!

Now who can find the mistake here? Of course you don’t have BBQs in your living room. Not even in Uruguay. But since it started raining we decided to cancel our Asado-plans and substituted it with some Chorizos (=Uruguayan sausages) and Pizza bread which was also very delicious.

After that we all hung out at our place, enjoyed some conversations and all the usual. And in the end we decided to convert Sebastian to Nacional-fandom. 

Number One Nacional Fan: Sebastian

Somewhere in Uruguay: Colonia del Sacramento

Or: Muchas gracias por un día hermoso, Jorge y Brenda!

So many events have happened and I only have so little time to write about them… and sort through the piles of photos that have been taken (and believe me there are a loooot of photos!). I am kind of busy looking for and applying to internships right now so that is kind of important. Not that I don't think blogging and keeping you up to date is important. But I kinda really need to get an internship. That said, if you have any helpful tips/ideas on internships in international companies, feel free to email me or leave a comment ;)

Anyway, in this post I'll go on yet another detour from my Semana Santa adventures and tell you about the last weekend when two friends, Stephan and Laura, who are currently spending their semester abroad in Buenos Aires were visiting Sebastian H. and me in Montevideo.Of course we had to come up with a tourist program that would show them the most of this great city in only a weekend’s time!

So I was thinking up things to do and ways to entertain them when Pablo invited me to go on a daytrip to Colonia del Sacramento with his family. After consulting Sebastian whether or not it was ok to leave him alone with all the tourist guide duties on Saturday I decided to go on a trip to Colonia. I wanted to go there for a while now anyway and it was the perfect opportunity.

Early on Saturday morning after a very brief breakfast we started out  towards Colonia. On the way there we stopped for a second breakfast/”elevensies”  and continued on to visit a place called Colonia Suiza Nueva Helvecia. Pablo’S dad explained to me that there used to be different settlements from all kinds of different origins. And the one we visited was the swiss one. Which is comes pretty close to being German. Well… Southern German. Which as we all know is the best part of Germany, so well done Colonia Suiza!

So we were greeted by a big entrance thingy that was built to look like a traditional Swiss/German house. Next we saw a “Maibaum” (=maypole) with the emblems of the different Swiss cantons on them. On top there were the flags of Uruguay, Germany, Austria and of course Switzerland and in the center there was a giant loaf of (artificial) cheese.

Grüezi!

Having me some Swiss cheese

We also went to a place where they sold homemade jam and cheese. Of course I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to get me a filling of raspberry jam.

We also got to see a church with lots of inscriptions in German and a German Bible on display. Though that place was slightly creepy because it was kind of foggy/cloudy and the church was rather bare with very few adornments (unusual for such a church), some of the windows were barred or had shutters and there was one of those tiny kids’ merry-go-rounds outside in the courtyard. Pablo’s sister Lucía fittingly noted that the only thing missing for a horror movie would be if the merry-go-round were spinning in the wind and making squeaky noises.

Lucía, Pablo and Lucía's mom Brenda, me and Pablo in front of the spooky church

German Bible 

Cuties!

Pablo making a new friend

After that we were finally headed for Colonia, where we first went to see the Plaza de Toros which was a bullfight arena back in the day. It kinda looks like the colosseum in Rome. Unfortunately we could only see it from the outside because due to danger of collapse it’s forbidden to enter it which makes it kinda boring. But only a little bit because it's still pretty cool architecture with Arabic infulence (or so I'd say).

Plaza de Toros (what's left of it)

Right next to the arena however there is a super cool steamtrain museum/restaurant. We didn’t eat there because it was crazy expensive but the old wagons were just so pretty that we took lots and lots of pictures. But then again we did that the whole day.

Choo Choo!

Waiting on a train to come

It's German porcelain mates! 

I didn't even know such thing as a mate exists in Germany. 

I also didn't know what those porcelain mates had to do with the train museum. 

Judging from the size, this was supposed to be for kids to play with...

...but then again, aren't we all still kids?

Ringing that bell

Afterwards we drove along the Rambla of Colonia until we came to the point where it ends and where we found a super cool tree. And the monkeys that we are we of course didn’t pass up the chance to climb it.

Lucía and I under the tree

Pablo being a gentleman and helping me get up in the tree...

...and then launching himself up there with an elegant upswing

Monkeys in a tree

Our facial expressions say it all

Romeo and Juliet gone monkey

Brenda and Jorge

(Pablo and Lucía's parents)

Since we were all kinda hungry we decided to have something to eat and because Colonia is one of Uruguay’s most expensive cities (and the country itself is pretty expensive as well) we went to one of the many “carritos” or food trucks and had some “milanesas” (=schnitzel). Somehow we got to talk with a guy from the Netherlands and a girl from the US who were behind us in line to get food. We found out that the guy was was called Misha and works at the Dutch embassy in Buenos Aires. He was only gonna be in Montevideo for the long weekend (Whitsun!). The girl was called Quinnen and she is travelling around South America and visiting Uruguay before heading towards the waterfalls of Iguazú. Long story short we made new friends and invited them to join us and our friends that were visiting from Buenos Aires for a city tour the following day.

With our new friends Misha and Quinnen

After that we went on to explore the most historic part of Colonia – the Ciudad Vieja (=old city). And since Colonia is one of the oldest settlements in Uruguay that part is really really reeeaaaallllyyyy old. At some points there were still the original cobbled streets and you could see how the houses weren’t built with stones that were all the same size, but with stones of all different sizes and shapes that were cemented together. In between there were all kinds of colorful flowers and old cars. And by old I don’t only refer to the old Volkswagen bugs but also really antique models. Some of which belonged to a restaurant which had equipped them with tables and other props. Pretty neat!

Cobbled street romanticism

Pretty streets, pretty houses, pretty flowers, pretty Lucía

How rad are these?!

Meals on wheels

Slug Bug!!

At Ciudad Vieja we visited the lighthouse which gave us a nice view of Colonia but it soon started raining so after goofing around a bit we went back down and went on towards the old city gate.

Colonia's Lighthouse

The View

We were convinced that those pigeons spend their day flying back and forth between the walls of those ruins and poop on tourists that want to take pictures

Oops!!

The old city gate was “guarded” by a mime who gave us a nice little show for a few pesos. And since Colonia’s Ciudad Vieja is not very big we met some old acquaintances: Misha and Quinnen from the food truck. After taking some pictures we parted again and Pablo, his family and I continued our tour of Colonia.

Lucía and the mime

Fire at will!

Let's pull up the drawbridge so the enemy stays out

The next stop was “Calle de los suspiros” (= street of sighs) where Pablo and Lucía kept telling me I had to take a picture because it’s so famous and iconic. I didn’t really know why but I figured my good friend google might be able to help me out on that. So I took the obligatory pictures and we went into one of the houses that accommodated an art gallery. It also had one room equipped as if it were a kitchen of former times which I found pretty cool. I also really liked how some of the walls of the street’s houses were wonderfully colorful. And of course by now I have consulted with good old google and found out that is a remainder of the colonial times and part of the UNESCO world heritage. And also that there are quite a few legends ranking around it involving death row criminals, sailors and prostitutes, the noise of the wind blowing through the street and a love story with a tragic end.  I’ll leave it up to you to pick your favorite.

Very iconic: the white and blue tiles that are used to indicate street names

Just like in the good ole days

Jorge on the outside looking in

After that we made our way towards the church square where we had a little coffee and “panqueques (crêpes) de dulce de leche” break. Again very delicious. And the café was one of the cutest I have ever seen. Think rustic stone walls and antiques meet pastels. We then went to see the church before heading back home and spending a slow evening looking at the pictures and recounting our stories to Pablo’s uncle and aunt.

Note that thing I'm standing on is a wine cellar!

I loved how they un-matched their cups and saucers

Revenge for the lighthouse "accident"

Altogether it was a very fine day with very fine people and I got to scratch Colonia off of my “Places I want to visit in Uruguay”-bucket list.  

And yes, I am going to tell you about our Montevideo city tour next and only after that I will continue with my Semana Santa stories. Sorry for all the confusion but it really makes more sense to throw in this weekend trip now that it is still hot and crunchy in my memory.