Days Inn Montevideo

... to their World Cup and Olympic victories. An extremely enthusiastic museum curator, who spoke superb English, gave us a personal guided tour. He spoke glowingly and waxed lyrical about his country's heroes from a by-gone age. <br><br>The photos and old film-reels were fascinating and demonstrate how much has changed; for example, some of the Argentinian players in the 1930 finals wore cloth caps! It took two weeks for the victors of the 1924 Paris Olympics to return across the ...

... which includes Montevideo`s main theater and the Palacio Salvo which upon completion in 1925 and standing 100 meters was the tallest building in South America.<br><br>While waiting for my night bus-ferry back to Buenos Aires I did partake in some of the local culture, well I went to one of confiterias a cafe/restaurant. They were offering some kind of menu, for a few dollars which included a Russian ...

... mate in the bus, they drink mate on the motorbike and I bet they drink mate when they are having a ****. They drink mate always and everywhere. It is very funny to see the people walking on the street having a bottle with hot water on one arm, while lurking on a cup of mate, which they carry in their hand. PHOTOS: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=8 6739&amp;id=690697553&amp;l=ab022dae4b

... paid for a twin room or something. Oh well lesson learnt I guess. The weather was pretty good so I went up to the roof terrace for a sunbathe from 8:30am until 10:30am as I would get told off if I stayed out in the sun after 11am hahaha. He's only looking out for me I guess. The terrace is not great for sunbathing as it has on one side the wall of the rest of the hotel where the sun goes down behind in the afternoon (not that I have been up ...

... it´s not so bad at all. In my very quick trip to Uruguay, I found it to be a sunny, friendly and relaxed place to be. Not cheap by South American standards, it is very reasonably priced for food and especially artesenial goods ( I bought some funky prints for my house for something like 2 Euro - not a bad deal if they make it home in the mail). Montevideo is a nice, manageable city and the girls there put up some of the strongest competition I´ve seen to BA so far.

... bedtime story]. the meat here is delicious, i won't lie, although i'm not used to eating such massive quantities of it. meat dishes include, but are not limited to: - chivitos - a sandwich [which here they pronounce "sangwicheh" and cracks me up every time] that puts any big mac to shame in a corner with a dunce hat on. you have a layer of bacon under a thin steak under a layer of cheese under a layer of ham covered in sliced hard-boiled ...

... I get home. We arrived in Montevideo the capital of Uruguay and were very surprised to find how quiet and small it was compared to Buenos Aires (I think most young Uruguayans leave on the 3 hour ferry ride across the water to BA for more opportunities and a bit of life). It had a real French influence compared to the Italian on in BA though, still very European, but a little more old fashioned, with horse and carts still in the streets. If we thought the steaks were big in BA ...

... and so went and grabbed him. The local guy came back and between the two of them they started to search him for the missing money. At this point a van load of local men pulled up and told us to move away, they would handle it. The thief was still saying he hadn´t done anything so the local guys took matters into their own hands. Lets just say I don´t think the thief will be trying it on in that area again in a hurry ...

... or intestines which are grilled until crisp on the outside - absolutely delicious but a bit like pate de fois, very rich! <br><br>We like Uruguay as a country. It is the most stable and, according to various international agencies, the least corrupt country in South America (often described as the Switzerland of South America) and has one of the highest literary rates in the region and certainly the best health service but I suppose it lacks the spectacular ...

so we arrive in montevideo, its cold. its dark and the bus men are on strike so we have to get dropped off at some road and then queue for taccos to take us to hotel. we had happy times having bag wars and eating you guessed it, cheese sandwiches whilst we waited. it doesnt look very pretty in montevideo but in its defense it rained and was overcast and we hardly explored the town at all, mainly cos our tour leader said not ...