Crystal Palace Montevideo

... has become a bit of a back-water in terms of football power. There is little money available, all the best players go abroad at 14, and the memories of great triumphs now belong to a distant era. It's sad that money now rules and small countries like Uruguay can now only dream of such triumphs.<br><br>We headed to the Estadio Centanario where the first World Cup Final was held in 1930. For footy fans, this is a little piece of history to savour. They have a fantastic musuem ...

... the bus into the center of the city, which reminded me a lot of Buenos Aires but much grayer and colder, kind of like a communist version of BA. Sorry Montevideo again maybe it was just the chilly weather. <br><br>I walked around the city a bit and found that after walking for around 20 minutes you enter the historical part which feels totally empty and a little unsafe. I walked back to the main ...

... days of the year and all the bustickets to Salto were sold out until the next morning. I did not want to stay in Montevideo much longer, so I bought a ticket to a little beach town called Punta del Diablo, which turned out to be a great choise. By the way, if there is one thing I will remember form Uruguay it will be the fact that they drink mate. They drink mate on the street, they ...

Day 89 Tuesday 31st March - Uruguay Woke up at the usual 6am and had breakfast as normal then Ismael went off to work. He was at evening classes until 10pm again so it was another day of amusing myself. It's actually easier when you're in a hostel as you can get talking to people and see if they wanna do stuff with you but when you're in a hotel you just kinda go up to your room and see nobody. Might have been better to maybe of booked a hostel ...

... Has some lovely beaches but its a bit Gold Coastish in Australia. For those of you who have never been there, don´t bother going now. Full of skyrise apartments and tacky gift shops. Punta Del Este is a bit classier than that but it just a more upmarket version. Lots of wealthy Argentines holoday here and you notice it pretty quickly in the prices. However, borrowing a branch in true Tipperary style, if you bring your own ham and cheese sandwiches on a day trip ...

... predators. these are also sold as pets in aforementioned flea markets and i hear they are quite chatty if you teach them. you may taste: *meat. really, if you're a vegetarian you are, if you will, **** outta luck here. although of course there are fruits and vegetables [which are fantastic], uruguay, as any proud uruguayan will be happy to tell you, is where meat was born. [any proud argentinean would vehemently disagree but that's ...

... It may have been said in the past that I like a cup of tea or two, but I have nothing on the Uruguayans, they walk everywhere with a flask of hot water under one arm and a special metal cup of mate tea, with a strange metal straw infusion instrument, which goes into the tea which they suck through in the other hand. They even have special leather bags to hold the flask and cup as well, so that their arms don´t get sore, I was very tempted to get one for the tube into work ...

... ripped Danielle´s bag from around her and ran off with all her stuff. She screamed and started running after him, at which point Ed dropped all the shopping and took off after them. He ran around the corner closely follwed by a local guy and couldn´t see the thief so realised he must be hiding. The local guy kept running but Ed started to look in the alley ways. He found the thief lying on the floor in one of the alley ...

... even the udders!) The only part we have not yet tried is the udder which is considered a real delicacy and as such I think the Uruguayans keep it for themselves rather than waste it on foreigners (still we live in hope of trying it!). <br><br>We pick out the busiest parrilla, sit down and still being unsure of the correct names for each bit we simply point at what we fancy and a chunk of meat is delivered to our plates. My favourite of the achuras is the ...

... just a day and its ready....very interesting!!!...they walk around here with their mates and water thermoses..super cool...and the spoon itself has to be only from silver nothing else.. The hostel is nice, very spacious coutryard or innner room...nice people and everything you might ned, from towels to internet...i have couple more hours here before i am taking ferry back to B.A....sad i would jave loved to have more time here, its super nice.