Holy week in Uruguay! 2ª Parte.....

The night after having lunch at the Parrilla, we had to take a rest at the hostel to recover from all the meat. Then we decided to head to the Rodeo..... what's that? Yes I said Rodeo, a Guacho rodeo in fact, in a nieghborhood of Montevideo called El Prado at what would be like "fair grounds" in the states, called La Rural. Apparently this is where Montevideo's population had been hiding. It was FULL of people, compared to the rest of the city which seemed to be a ghost town. Everyone came out, Mate in hand to watch the Rodeo games. it reminded me somewhat of the States, yet the cowboys here dress a little different. I really loved Uruguay's rural non-metropolitan feel.

Real life gauchos... I don't think American cowboys would wear French bérets though, do you?

They also had a great Artesan fair at the Rodeo as well, where I was able to pick up some cool souvenirs.

On day 3, we spent most of our day at the Beach. It was great because the sun had finally came out over Montevideo, and the temperature got up to 75º F. It is almost winter down here, so that was great, we did the Uruguayan thing and brought our thermo and mate and hung out on the beach.

After catching some sun, we began to walk along the beach (called Playa Pocitos by the way) we headed to the near by mall, a huge mall with most of the stores you could expect to find at a mall and then some. The mall is called Punta Carretas which, interestingly, was a prison and a torture center during the dictatorship of the 70's and early 80's. Well obviously its been remodeled, and its one of the most important shopping centers in the country.

Our last day, day 4, we spent mostly at the beach, and just hanging out in the city getting ready to leave that night. Uruguay was really fun, Montevideo was dead, but I loved it, I'd like to go back one day. It was a needed trip to get away from Buenos Aires' craziness and to relax before midterms, which start next Monday!