Tea and Tango in Montevideo

Amber in Montevideo
see all photos »

Montevideo, Uruguay

March 7-9, 2008

(Amber)

Montevideo has been a trip. I´ve been walking around with no idea really how to sum it up. And I still don´t think I can. It is peaceful and calm but sort of crazy at the same time. It is surrounded by the brown waters of the Rio de la Plata, just like Colonia was, and the population is more than a million, which is about a third of the entire country´s population. We have walked what seems like a hundred miles, and I am nowhere near tired of just looking around. I love it here. I don´t really know if it would be for everyone, but it´s definitely our kind of town.

Common street scene
see all photos »

Last night, after a day of walking and just soaking it all in, we ate great pasta and Uruguayan wine before going to a great little bar called "Fun Fun" and watching a Tango band. It was a blast. We didn't look at a menu before ordering, nor did we bother to ask the if there was a cover charge for the band, and we literally spent our last Peso to get out of there without having to wash dishes. We got back to our hotel around 2am.

The next day we walked all over town, including out to a huge jetty where we watched the locals fish in the Rio de la Plata. And later we went to the Mercado del Puerto near the boat docks and tracked down a food stall that is mentioned in the BBQ Bible (one of our favorite cookbooks) called El Palenque.

Matt at Mercado del Puerto
see all photos »

We had the dish our book mentions, a wonderful pork dish called Matambre (which sounds similar to "mata hambre," or kill hunger in spanish). We also had a local drink called Medio y Medio, which is a champagne and white wine mix that´s unique to Uruguay. We plan to email Steve Raichlen at BBQ University (http://www.bbqu.net/) shots of us eating Matambre at the stand he led us to!

Matambre at El Palenque stand
see all photos »

(Matt)

The Mercado del Puerto was a lot of fun. The only thing being sold at the market was a smorgasbord of grilled meats. It was a vegetarian's nightmare but sort of our dream. There were numerous stalls in a covered pavilion with bars and stools pulled up to the enormous wood fire grills covered with every kind of meat and sausage that you can imagine and some you can't.

These grills require at least three men working frantically to feed the wood into the fire, to transfer the burned down coals under the grill grates, which are about 15 to 20 feet long and double-sided, and to transfer meat (and some vegetables) around to different areas of the grill based upon the method of cooking required for the meat in question.

Neighbors chatting
see all photos »

Each stall is a huge operation. El Palenque looked like it had around 25 employees racing around serving people, cooking, shaving prosciutto, slicing cheese, and pouring Medio y Medio and beer. Having a front-row seat to watch the grill masters was a real treat. Argentina and Uruguay have been a blast, allowing us to watch the grill masters do their art. The whole restaurant´s success is really in their hands. They are a pleasure to watch, being in constant motion dancing around the grill, cutting, seasoning, yelling out to people, cooking and serving numerous types of dishes and meats at the same time.

One of hundreds of people cradling his thermos
see all photos »

The grill masters are the stars of the show, and they are always positioned front and center. They are both an advertisement for the restaurant and the entertainment itself. So that was how we spent our lunch yesterday, sitting at El Palenque surrounded by a haze of the most delicious smelling smoke from the various grills (yes, a vegetarian's nightmare). After a while, they brought us matambre, baked potato, and fries. It was delicious.

(Amber)

One note about what Matt just wrote - So before we left home, Matt was already a bit obsessed with the grill. Ask any of our friends or family in Austin. I have been yanked out of bed at 1am to taste meat he´s been cooking. One night, he even pitched a tent so that he could sleep near his smoking brisket. I fear after all of this, he might just move out to the tent to be near the grill.

Amber at market
see all photos »

So I´ll try to describe Montevideo, but I don´t think I can do it justice.

You have lots of beautiful colonial buildings sprinkled with total eyesores that look like they were built in the 60s, many of which have fallen into total disrepair or complete dilapidation. In the photos, you´ll see a shot of the Plaza Indepencia with your standard warrior on a horse statue. On one side, you have an amazingly beautiful colonial structure that the Four Seasons hotel would be lucky to call its own. On the other, you have the ugliest high-rise slum in sight. Both are backdrops to one of the city´s main plazas.

Matt at antiques market
see all photos »

In some of the colonial buildings, slums have formed and are full of Uruguay´s only urban poor. So buildings that look like they would house a bank or museum....have laundry hanging out of half-broken (or totally missing) windows.

Our guidebook says that Uruguay used to be thought of as the Switzerland of South America...and that that is still true....if Switzerland had an economic meltdown. 

(Matt)

Visually, Montevideo is an odd juxtaposition of signs wealth and poverty throughout the city. Many buildings in the Old City that would be snatched up and restored by an investor in the Microcenter or in San Telmo in Buenos Aires, are vacant and crumbling in Montevideo.

Fishermen at Rio de la Plata
see all photos »

Next door to such a building in Montevideo, however, there may be a completely restored restaurant and bar with the most luxurious amenities available in the Western world. For example, our first Italian dinner was at a very fancy (kind of luxurious really) restaurant in the Old City. Everything was first rate, and you could have been in the nicest restaurant in any major city in the States. But when we left that restaurant, there were several vacant buildings nearby, even though this would be the most obvious area for investment in Montevideo. Anyway, this was a very interesting aspect of Montevideo, and in many ways the city reminds me of Bucharest, which is the capital of Romania in Eastern Europe.

Montevideo
see all photos »

I have to say that the people have been very friendly here. Outside the Mercado del Puerto, which is a cruise ship stop, the city seems unaffected by tourism, which is really cool.

(Amber)

You have a main shopping promenade with modern shops and restaurants, but rickety horse-drawn buggies clopping along with veggies for the market or picking up trash from the curb.

Throughout the center, you have active little markets with antiques, flower stands, crafts, ice cream stalls, outdoor cafes, and musicians just enjoying the day. It´s vibrant and totally alive, and everyone...I mean everyone...carries a thermos and mate cup.

Montevideo is beautiful and alive and friendly and fun...and a little weird. We love it. It is a blast to just walk around and look. We have not met friendlier people than the Uruguayans anywhere. With a very few exceptions, they have been really, really great to us and have welcomed us to their tiny country with open arms.

Random thoughts...

We´ve had a tougher time getting ATMs to work in Uruguay than anywhere else, though El Calafate was difficult too. We usually have to try 2-3 before we actually walk away with cash, which can be a bit scary, since that´s our only access to money.

You don´t see a lot of junk food here that is common in the U.S. They have plenty of junk food, but it´s not the same as ours. We saw Twix in Peru. In Argentina and Uruguay, we always see Oreos, basically the same type of chips with slightly different flavors, and occasionally M&Ms. Everything else is different.

They like Pepsi more than they like Coke, which I can´t fathom. But to negate that black eye when it comes to bebidas, they do serve fresh orange juice instead of Tang.

For photos of our time in Montevideo, click here: http://share.shutterfly.com /action/welcome?sid=8AatmbZk0Zt FHHE