Let’s talk toilets. Rich and I traveled to Uruguay in 1996 for his father’s memorial service in the town where Rich was born. We were with family the whole time, so didn’t get to venture out much, but ever since then, I have joked that I can at least say hello, how are you, and where is the toilet in Spanish. So on our recent trip, Rich and I stopped at a little coffee shop and got little coffees (no trenti coffees in Uruguay!). And I had to use the bathroom. Yay, I thought! I get to use my well-polished phrase I have bragged about for literal decades. “Dònde està el baño?” I asked, preening proudly. The young woman behind the counter apparently understood me. I was delighted. Except rattled off an entire sentence filled with words I didn’t understand. And I realized that all these years, I never once thought that I wouldn’t understand the answer. I never bothered to learn to the left, the right or up the stairs, around the corner, outside in the outhouse. It turned out it was up the stairs to the right. The owner of the shop overheard and answered me in English. A definite face palm moment. Speaking of toilets, never did I think that figuring out how to flush different toilets would be part of my international adventure. Every time you use a different toilet, you have to figure out how to flush it. Is it a push button on the top of the tank? Side of the tank? Panel on the wall? Pull chain? So many variations! Also, all the toilets I saw in Uruguay were rectangular. Including the one below which was so close to the wall I was a bit confuzzled as to how to fit in the space. But needs must. |
Now moving on to food. Yes, I am writing about toilets and food in one post. But there are also sunsets, so stay tuned.
I can’t believe I neglected to mention our first dinner in Uruguay in my first post. Facepalming again. After we checked in to the hotel, we walked around the corner to a restaurant that featured asado (you would be hard-pressed to find a dinner restaurant that doesn’t feature asado, a traditional South American dish featuring high quality meat that is grilled slowly over a wood fire.). It was ten-thirty or so. PM. At night. I’m usually in bed at that time. But in South America, that is not too late for dinner, although I do think we were the last to leave the restaurant. But our food was delicious. Throughout our stay, we could walk down the street and smell the roasting meat and would nearly swoon (apologies to my vegan and vegetarian friends!).
The next day, our first full day in the country, we explored Montevideo. We enjoyed the view of the Río de la Plata estuary that laps at the city’s southern edges. We had breakfast in Ciudad Vieja or the Old City—the first of several wonderful breakfasts of cappucinos (still tiny!) and pastry. In addition to grilling red meat to absolute perfection, the Uruguayans can bake some truly delectable delights. You will never guess what my New Year’s resolution is after that trip.
After a few days in Montevideo, we drove two hours southeast to Punta del Este—and fell in love. This town is a vacation spot and has only recently become somewhere that people live year round. It has been called the Monaco of the South and the Pearl of the Atlantic, but since we were there off-season, it just felt like a lovely place to visit. It sits on a peninsula and on the western side is Playa Mansa, or Tame Beach. This is still the estuary of the Rio de la Plata and its waters lap gently at the rocks and sands that form the coastline along that side. On the other side is Playa Brava—Fierce Beach. Here the Atlantic crashes against the rocks and break on the white sands, to the delight of the surfers catching wave after wave. Our hotel was near the southern end of the peninsula and on a slight ridge. We could step into the street and see the tame beach five or so blocks to the right and the wild beach five or so blocks to the left.
On our first night in Punta del Este, we went to see the sunset on the river side. We were not alone. It is apparently the thing to do. People strolled, sat on the low wall that lined the promenade, sat on the rocks that jutted into the water. Some brought drinks. Being an East Coast girl, I don’t often see the sunset on water so we made sure we saw it mosts evenings. The weather, as you can see, was quite cooperative!
Stay tuned for my last installment where I will share some more observations and yet more photos of food.