Our last week in Montevideo was filled with Spanish classes, preparations for the next leg of our trip, and a day trip to a large city park called El Prado and the area surrounding it. For out trip to the park, we piled into the Campbell family’s old VW bus and headed across the city. Having lived in the city awhile, Aaron Campbell was a great tour guide. On our way we passed Uruguay’s Capitol Building, and were struck with the very low level of security compared to our own country. We saw some guards with fancy uniforms at some of the entrances, but there were young people sitting on the steps drinking mate and chatting, and you got the feeling that security is not a huge issue here. Uruguay really doesn’t have any enemies. There is a conflict going on with Argentina about a pulp mill that Uruguay is building on the river that separates the two countries, and there have been ongoing protests at the border, but no real violence.
The Capitol Building
El Prado is a huge city park, with a beautiful rose garden, an arboretum, a lake with paddle boats, a small amusement park for kids, and lots of open space with trees and assorted statues, crisscrossed with walking trails; sort of a slightly run down version of Golden Gate Park or Central Park. This is the location of the yearly Prado Expo, Uruguay’s equivalent to our local Mid-State Fair with concerts, contests for the best animals in the country, and lots of booths and displays to facilitate local and international trade. The expo was just wrapping up when we arrived in Uruguay, but we didn’t make it there. After going to the park, I regret not making an effort to go.
Christopher on one of the many statues in the park
A young Uruguayan family at the park (notice dad drinking his mate - a very common site)
Elli and a friend on the swings
When we arrived at the park we saw, in the distance a neo-Gothic cathedral, one of the few, I believe, in South America. After several hours at the park we headed over there. The church was in one of Montevideo’s older neighborhoods where the very wealthy built their homes before it was fashionable to live next to the river. In the neighborhood, there were some amazing large old homes and in the midst of these loomed the cathedral. It was smaller than its European counterparts but still quite impressive. Unfortunately, my pictures don’t do it justice. The church,which I forgot to get the name of, was dedicated to the Carmelite saints and carved into the stone next to the front doors are images of St. Dominic, St. Catherine of Sienna, St. Teresa of Avila, and many others.
I couldn't get far enough back to get a picture of the whole cathedral, but if you look closely, you can see images of various Carmelite saints carved into the walls on either side of the door.
Just around the corner from the cathedral was the residence of the president of Uruguay. He chose to remain in his own home when he was elected rather than move into the presidential mansion. Outside his rather unassuming home stood only one guard! This is clearly a president with very few enemies, unlike others we know.
On the last day of Spanish classes, the school had a party for us and the other students who were leaving. We all really liked the teachers at the school and will miss them.
Elli with her favorite teacher, Daniel
Friday night, after helping Genevieve exchange some dollars at the cambio, I had dinner with some local English-speaking ladies (American, Canadian, Brazilian, and Ukrainian). This wonderful, diverse group of women get together every Friday at a local restaurant or in someone’s home. I very much enjoyed my time with them before heading off to the mall to look for sheets and a local cell phone. With sheets and cell phone purchased, I headed back to the school to pack for our bus trip to Piriapolis on the following day.
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