Day 313 Cont...
Montevideo, Uruguay South America
About this hotel here in Montevideo..more good things...
There is fresh water available in the lobby..and we´ve been told the water in Uraguay is ok to drink!
Breakfast this morning was beautiful. Fresh rolls and crouisants and cereal. And fresh coffee and tea. We had tea..both of us haven´t had coffee since we overdosed in Brazil!!! Amazing hey. One New Year´s resolution we´ve actually kept. Can´t say as much for any other´s we may have made! But! We´ve been drinking red wine instead of beer..so that has to be a good thing!
The tour we went on today was great..we always find when we go on these city tours we learn so much. It´s not exactly cheap (330 each) but it gave us a good feel of the place so now we can go exploring a bit ourselves.
Our guide told us a bit about the way of life here as well.
She said the people of Uruguay mainly eat meat! And do not like chicken!!! She said there are 3 million people here..and 12 million cows!!! Imagine that..four cows per person...gosh.
Wages are low..only 200 US dollars a month. Seems like pittance..and doesn´t seem to reflect the climate. It looks wealthy as you look about. Lots of big houses.
Education is free here in Uruguay..98% of children attending school can read and write which i was really impressed with. She said public school goes for 4 hours a day and private school goes for 8 hours a day but most of the kids attend public school. About 34% of the people in Uruguay live here in the capital and a lot of students live here because the education is free..as well as University.
And the president, when voted into parliament, only serves five years and can not be re elected. To save corruption.
The buildings here are neo classical and look so beautiful although a lot of them are in desperate need of repair...some look as if they´re ready for fall down.
We went to the PLaza de la Armada which the people are extremely proud of and say it´s their most beautiful spot. Here we saw a man and his wife drinking mate tea. We´ve seen a lot of people drinking mate here..it´s so weird. Apparently it´s a bigger thing to do here than in Argentina.
On the way home..we once again passed the beaches..and as we were looking i was thinking, gee the water looks murky! Then the guide said that´s because here in Montevideo we are at the mouth of the river and the silt flows from the river to the ocean making the ocean look dirty. They call their beaches here river beaches!
So even though they look gorgeous at night...in the day they´re murky looking. We won´t be swimming in them! We´ll have to wait until we go to
Was a great tour!
