=====================================
Woke up at 8 AM. Breakfast was OK. It was certainly better than not having breakfast. I stuffed myself with 4 croissants. I was out of the hotel by 10 AM. I visited the local tourist office and obtained some information on visiting the Plaza de Toros (Bull Fighting Ring).
I took a bus from the front of the tourist office to Plaza de Toros . The ride took 25 minutes and I got off right in front of the Plaza de Toros. It must have been a grand bull-ring once. Uruguay has banned bull-fighting for many decades now (Those Killjoys :)). The Plaza de Toros is old and crumbling. One is not allowed to visit the interior for safety reasons. Major work needs to be done here before the pubic can be allowed to visit the interior of the Plaza de Toros.
I visited many old rail cars in a nearby railroad depot that also appears abandoned. I asked a couple (who had also come to visit this place) to take a picture of me near the bullring. It turns out that they were from Jackson heights, NYC! Talk about travelling a long way from home and running into folks from your neighbourhood. The man was a native of Uruguay who had moved to the US when he was a child. He still has lots of family here and the couple were spending 3 weeks in Uruguay visiting his family. They were quite upset about the spate of bad weather as well.
We bid adieu and I took a bus back to the Centro. The ride back took 20 minutes. It was close to Noon. I visited a DHL office (close to my hotel) to inquire about the charges for shipping a package to the USA. The charge appeared reasonable so I headed to my Hotel to get the stuff (Documents, Souvenirs and clothes - no longer needed during this trip) that I wanted shipped. For a total 4.5 Kilograms (10+ Pounds approx.), I was charged 1915 pesos (US$ 91 approx). It was expected to reach the USA in 3 days. I would get to carry 5 Kilograms less during the rest of my travels. Thus far I have shipped out close to 15 Kilograms (33+ pounds approx.) since I began my trip back in December 2007.
I wandered around for a bit. A kid from the tourism department wanted me to answer a questionnaire. I spent 10-12 minutes answering all his queries. Needless to say, I panned the cuisine. I visited a place called the Drugstore and had lunch there. I had a Gnocchi with vegetable sauce. I also had a BAD Tannat from Bodega Don Pascual (2007). As the restaurant did not accept credit cards, I had to pay cash to settle my bill. I was down to 80 pesos (US$4 approx.) cash on hand!
I used 50 (of the remaining 80 pesos) to visit the municipal museum. Purchasing a ticket to this museum allowed me free access to 4 other museums as well. I spent over an hour visiting the Portuguese and Indigenous museums as well as the colonial house and the Mosaic Museum. While they had fancy costumes and china in the Portuguese and Colonial museums the biggest collection in the Indigenous museum was stones! This is an abject display of Indigenous civilization while showcasing European civilization. If you have wiped out the Indigenous population, you can portray their history any way you want - without being challenged.
I headed to a currency exchange place and changed US$100 for 2035 Uruguayan pesos. I had an ice-cream at a supposedly famous place. There are times like these when my guidebook falls short (by recommending an ordinary ice-cream place as something very special and great). They think that 3 vegetables (on a salad) qualifies them as having a good vegetarian selection and colourful displays with different labels qualifies a place as being the BEST Heladeria (Ice-Creamery) in town! Ignorant bastards.
I headed back to the hotel for a short rest. I may decide to go out later for some more sunset pictures.
I observed many folks using Mopeds in Uruguay. Not sure if they are all supplied by the large moped manufacturer from India - TVS.
I headed out of my hotel around 7:30 PM and took a leisurely walk to the waterfront. I found decent location and sat down. I could see the Buenos Aires Skyline in the distance. Although there was no rain, today has turned out to be quite cloudy. We had a terrific sunset around 8:20 PM. I took lots of pictures with my tripod, of course. I could not find a decent Internet cafe to back up my memory cards. I will have to do that when I get back to Buenos Aires tomorrow.
I head back to Buenos Aires on the 10:15 AM ferry tomorrow morning. I will have 2 half-days (tomorrow and the next day AM) before heading to Salta in Northern Argentina.
No comments:
Post a Comment