Continental Montevideo

... were the world's first football superpower. They won the precursor to the World Cup - the Olympic Gold medal in 1924 and 1928 - and as a consequence were given the honour of hosting the first World Cup in 1930. Thirteen teams from around the globe were invited and the hosts ran out as 4-2 winners in the final against Argentina. They claimed yet another World Cup in 1950 and today they claim that they are 4 times World Champions!<br><br>How times have changed. In these days ...

... is much more interesting than the actual town (a World Heritage site) having changed hands twelve times between Portugal, Spain, Brazil, Argentina and finally to Uruguay. <br><br>Arriving in Montevideo was a breeze, the tourist information guy acted like someone was forcing him to take this job against his will so he gave out his very useful advice on buses in the most disinterested way he could! I ...

... Iguazu in one of the next few days. I got an invitation there from some nice people to surf their couch, so I was quite excited with the plan. Nevertheless the Eastern weekend started, which means that all the Uruguayans head to the country side to enjoy their free days with their families. As more than half of the population is living in Montevideo, it turned out the be on of the busiest ...

... import most things from Argentina. So I'm gonna wait until I got to Buenos Aires to buy clothes n stuff. Headed back to the hotel and went to the restaurant so some food at the place round the corner that does nice food. I had some kind of meat with chips that I was told was the tender part from the side of the cow near the ribs. Ismael had chicken stroganoff (which was a new one on me I thought it was usually beef). Got to bed about 1:30am - knackered !

... I remember is, well two things actually; one was the arty feel to some of the museums - they have had some fantastic artists from Uruguay (not seen too many in the other countries and two; many, many beautiful ladies walking in the street. Worth cruising around for that solely. (iii) Punta Del Este The number 1 trendy beach area in Uruguay. I would have preferred to head to Punta Del Diablo a little further east but I was time pressed and wanted to take one in ...

... practicing for the pre-carnival festivities at this time of year. *vendors with raspy voices pushing their carts and croaking "caaaaalientitos los panchos!" [hot hotdogs] or "heeeelado! heeeelado!" [ice cream] *the squawking of cotorras, little green parrots that have become pests here since the importation of eucalyptus trees which, being taller than indigenous uruguayan trees, have provided a nesting place safe from the reach of ...

... many foreign tourists going that way as the immigration office was a lone woman and a mad dog that kept jumping us at us, and biting Damo´s rucksack, and she had lost the forms for foreigners to fill in, and there were no taxis from the port to the bus station, so they had to call one especially for us. Uruguay was a lot like the the NE of Argentina, serious Gaucho country again (there´s a place called Frey Bentos where the steak pies come from), and the population are all ...

... a look at. It was cool with lots of model heads and costumes. Then we walked a bit more around the city. We were on our way back to the hostel when we ran into 2 problems, the first being that I stepped on a fish hook that was lay ont he pavement and so Ed had to extract it form my foot. Lucky I have had a tetanus hey?!! The second problem was more serious in that as we were walking up the hill a guy ran up behind us ...

... we have never seen so much meat! These gigantic barbecues are literally covered in meat. Mostly beef but also lamb chicken with the odd half goat thrown in for good measure. <br><br>Unlike the rest of the world, Uruguayans and Argentines eat virtually all of the cow. Not only are the cuts of the beef totally different from the UK and the US, but as an entree you also get to eat most of the insides and dangly bits (e.g. tripe, sweetbreads, intestines, pancreas ...

... served in any of the places here and...one guy in one of the bars solved this mystery for me...apparently it is a very personal drink...each person has its own mate and first when you just buy a new one, you cant use it right away, have to put yerba in it with some water and leave for like 5 days changing the water..or if you like to have it ready faster than that, can also use whiskey and keep it for a day and night and than use yerba ...