Finally Uruguay...

The journey began.
Ahhh Before we left the departure lounge we bought some Alfajores... which we left to eat later...
I was on foreign soil... Uruguay, I'm going to blow you away! It was absurdly cold! The kind where the wind hits you and your bones ache!
After chatting with the guys at the information booth... To get tips on how and where to go, we headed to the bus stop in front of the airport!
I was a bit tense, it was another language, I'd never taken a course or really tested my "Spanish", Mimi didn't speak any of it and Raphael was scratching...
But I'd done very well so far. I'd even solved the "little problems" at the airport, managed to talk to the guys there and picked up some tips... lol... At most, I was going to have a bit of a hard time. We carried on and waited for the bus.
Good heavens, what was that? Do you know a travel bus? The kind with the wide, padded seats? Yes, yes! It was their conventional bus! It's true that it must have been built at the beginning of the last century and hasn't been renovated since... but if we were in the rain, we'd have to get wet, right?
I wanted to live and get to know the local culture, I didn't want to ride in a taxi! Their currency is very devalued against the Real... 1 to 10 at the time! That's right, ONE Real was equivalent to TEN Uruguayan Pesos. Today, if I'm not mistaken, the Real is even better!!!
The bus was in poor condition, with torn seats and foam coming out of the upholstery, noises that I don't know where they were coming from, loose bits and pieces and the people were very different!!! There was only one door, which served as an entrance and exit... the driver was the changeover and every second more people got on... I really felt like I was in another part of the world... everything was so different!!! Smells, sensations, people, accents, language, looks and behavior!!! I couldn't wait to photograph everything! But as I'd been warned about "danger", I held back and put my camera away for the journey =( I didn't really know what the place and the people were like, did I? Better not to risk it.
We walked and walked... it looked like Brazil Avenue... The airport is a long way from the center... after more than 40 minutes we started to see something resembling a city... so I went to talk to the driver... Hola... blah, blah, blah will you let us know when we get to the center and near the street? Thanks....
The guy spoke VERY fast, but little by little I got used to it... and when we arrived at our destination he told me... I chatted some more, asked him some questions and he also said... Look out, it's dangerous up there. The paradox of the information I had that it was safe there with the information from the locals was making me dizzy... and as I was still going to Buenos Aires and needed my documents and things that were with me there, I didn't want to risk it...
We got off the bus and Mimi and Rapha were wondering what the driver had said. So I explained... he said that we're right, we should only walk about three streets and get off at this place, but that it's "dangerous" and you have to be careful and blah blah blah....

The monument... ahuahauh

We walked around a bit. We came across a "monument" (we didn't know what monument it was and so from then on... every statue or something like that became a monument for us... just saying "monument" was enough) and next to it a Podrão... Charming... closed and everything, all protected!!! Also, if it wasn't protected, I think I'd freeze my food. HOW COLD!

We entered the very cute place and began to see the names of things. So many different names and even more different foods. I ate a little, just to try it, and it was delicious!!! Hmmm it was a micro bread with a big sausage and a very good sauce!!!
From afar, we could hear the fans cheering at the nearby stadium, where there was a soccer match on! Oh, you Uruguayans! I wanted to go there just to shout BRAZIL! Lol the bastards won us the World Cup HERE! Hunf! =) We felt like going to see it, but at the same time we felt lazy, since we'd have to walk a long way and we were exhausted from the trip.... We preferred to go straight to the mall and play in the casino! Ahhh the casino!

This time we took a taxi to get there faster! And another difference! The taxis there... have glass separating drivers from passengers! We didn't know and Rapha got into the front seat!!! The driver noticed that we were foreigners and told us that there had been a few robberies there and this was for their own safety... and they don't normally accept passengers in the front seat! After the explanation and a few streets passed... we arrived at the Shopping Mall, we recognized the terrain lol =p we bought some souvenir shirts and caps at an Olé Olé stand and went straight to eat... Of course, during the break we took lots of silly photos... including of the money =p and the food... OF COURSE =p

Full stomach, we set off to reconnoiter the Mall!!!! We saw the Cinema and took a photo in front of it, of course... and then we went to the Casino! But unfortunately we could only take pictures outside =(
We took our photos and went in to play! Ahh very nice, I was excited for my first time in a casino!!! =D hmmm

Casino.

*continues...*

Cinema.