uruguay: montevideo

our bus to montevideo dropped us at the bus station, and since i had juan's address, it was easy to grab a taxi...juan was a friend of miranda, (the chick we'd stayed with in buenos aires) and she had put me in touch with juan...he'd offered bo and i the chance to stay with him and his flattie, which was great...he had sent me a message with the information we needed to get to his home, it made the transfer very easy...
we arrived and put our stuff down, and hung out in the kitchen as juan made dinner...lasagna...soooo good...after the meal was nearly ready, juan asked us what we do for work...he was surprised when bo said he is a chef, and said bo should've spoken up earlier...hee hee...

we woke up later than expected and found a note from juan telling us what bus to take into town, and the wifi code...bo cooked breakfast, and eventually we got going into the city...
montevideo is the capital of uruguay...it doesn't really feel like a big city, and there is nothing particularly outstanding about the city...
we started in plaza independencia, which, not surprisingly, has a statue of a guy on a horse...(it seems like every city in uruguay and argentina has at least one statue of a man on a horse)...one building around this square looked to use like it was a rocket ready to blast off...

we followed a pedestrian street off plaza independencia for a while, there are shops and cafes along the way...
we took a turn off this street and found our way to the water...it was super windy, but i loved it...something about being near water always calms me down...my hair was going every which way in a couple photos:)...we passed the port, which was full of containers, and cranes...i would've been happy to turn around and walk back and forth near the water for several hours, despite the wind...it would've been fun to get to other areas of water in the city, but we didn't really have time:(

almost by accident we found the mercado we had previously decided would be our location for lunch...it's called the old market, and instead of being filled with fruit, veggie, and meat vendors, it was filled with grilling restaurants...you can walk around the area and check out different places, though they all generally have the same menu...MEAT...LOTS OF MEAT...i ordered kebabs, they ended up being a lot bigger than i expected...ooops:)
on the way back through town the rain started...have i ever mentioned how much i hate rain? we stepped out of the rain for a few minutes in an ice cream shop...

we weren't paying enough attention on the bus ride home, and missed our stop...ooops...part of the reason is that we didn't know where the stop was on the other side of the street...fortunately, i recognized our street as the bus went past, so we were able to get off at the next stop and walk back...juan's flattie danny made seafood paella for dinner that night...i need to go back to montevideo so i can stay with juan and danny again just so i can eat their food!!
the next morning was the same, we slept in later than expected...and again we got off the bus in plaza independencia, and walked on the pedestrian street...

this time we stopped in one of the cafes, i had my first chivitos...it's basically a steak sandwich, how awesome is that?!?! i made room for a chocolate torte for dessert, though i probably shouldn't have eaten the cake...
we found the entry to the carnaval museum, it was on the opposite side of the building from what we expected...carnival is probably best known for taking place in venice, it U20 world cup qualifier...we stayed for a while, it was fun to experience the atmosphere...uruguay won:)
we picked up wine on the way home for dinner, of course bo had more fun picking it out than i did...

danny made pork and potatoes for dinner...YUM...apparently this is one of his best meals, and i could see why...none of us could stop eating...flan for dessert:)