Colors of Summer
The city truly shows what makes it special when spring turns into summer and people make their way onto the streets. Many trees and plants make the charming streets filled with color. Traditional music plays while people are dancing and the sunsets have never been more stunning. Every cloud-free evening you can see the streets filled with locals and tourists waiting for the sunset.
Beach days
It is not an ocean but a huge river, actually the widest in the world. On a perfectly clear day, you can see hints of Argentina on the other side. The size makes me still say ocean most of the time though. The fact that it is a river means that we can enjoy the warmer water and little to no waves. Weirdly enough it also means aggressive fish. The water is the perfect temperature so you are very close to falling asleep before a sneaky fish bites you. Don’t worry, it doesn’t feel worse than I simple pinch but it can really catch you off guard.
On a good day the beach is where you find everybody, luckily there are kilometers of beaches so it never gets too crowded. If you want to disguise yourself as a local, my suggestion is to put your beach chair so your feet reach the water, read a mystery book and take a sip of mate every two minutes.
Happy Holidays
When was the last time you celebrated Christmas and New Year with shorts and t-shirt? Christmas in Uruguay is celebrated with tasty finger food and lots of sweets, like most countries. We had to wait until 12 at night to give and receive presents, do kids manage to stay awake that long? I guess the promise of toys is quite the motivator. What I considered amusing was how we waited for so long to give each other presents that when it was finally time; everybody gave and opened there presents within minutes. This contrast nicely to the Swedish present giving process where it can take hours.
A person like me that has never been to South America could not wish for a better first experience than Uruguay. I can’t wait to see what remaining months has to offer. If you’d like to read more about the culture clashes with me in Uruguay, click here.