Montevideo

Uruguay you should be proud of your long distance bus system, they are clean, very comfortable and run on time.
Che Lagarto Hostel gave us an update to an ensuite room with no extra charge but the room was freezing. We arrived on a Sunday to find everything closed in town. It took us a while but we found one of the few restaurants that were open to have dinner. It was a really local place on the corner where I ordered the Ravioli as a change from the copious amount of steak I have been having over the last week. It was OK but the delighful addition was the identifable meat substances added into my sauce. Oh well, at least im not alergic to anything :)

On the Monday we headed to Mercado del Puerto which is a food/restaurnat market opposite the main ferry terminal in town. It was a meat fest.... We could hardly believe our eyes with the amount and size of the steaks on the grills. This was our place for lunch!!!! We found a prime spot in front of the grill and sat and watched the butcher come chef at work. As the orders came in he selected his piece of meat, chopped it if need be and wack it on the charcoals. The firewood burns at the back in a grill and once the charcoal forms it is dragged down under the grill. The chef was magic, so passionate about his meat with a wonderful smile. He would tell customers about the diffferent types of meat. I wish we knew more Spanish so we could tell what each cut was. I ordered and was delivered a one inch thick piece of meat that took up my whole plate, F had a giant chop thing. Both were cooked to perfection and melt in your mouth delicious. I could only manage half my steak so it was steak salad for dinner as well.

I was pleased to discover that Montevideo has good markets where it is not just the mass produced stuff found everywhere else so far in South America. Each of the stalls is attended to by the artist and goods range from clothings, jewellery, homeware and much more.

The Uruguayan buses continued to excel with out bus from Montevideo to Salto. It was direct and made only two stops in the outskirts of Salto. Once in Salto we couldnt connect with another bus to take us across the border so we had to jump into a taxi. Add that to the list of ways to cross a border.

Montevideo and Uruguay in general were lovely but would have been more enjoyable in the summer where you could get out and enjoy the outdoor activities and beaches on offer. We had unfortunate timing in that a polar blast had come through making things very cold. I do have to say though the steak is better than Argentina.