When we took the taxi from Montevideo Airport into town, what seems like a lifetime ago, Montevideo appeared very prosperous and spread out. We weren't expecting beaches and eight or more storey blocks of apartments lining kms of seafront. We weren't expecting the sea to be brown either but that's because it's still a river and not the sea - an extremely wide river at that - and the excuse/ reason given to us for the dead fish on the beach. They were river fish who didn't like the very salty sea.
The main street in town seemed very prosperous at first glance - lots of people buying things from lots of shops. But then you started noticing things like lots of rubbish on the floor around dustbins, people sleeping on the benches, the occasional beggar, the people who looked a bit off their heads and you started reading the graffiti. A lot of things in Montevideo are London prices. Luckily our accommodation wasn't. A lot of the buildings were very rundown in the centre of the old town - beautiful buildings but in areas that some also said not to venture out to at night. Montevideo felt very safe to us - yes there were some rough edges and quite clearly deep poverty and a number of people that had been left behind by society but it didn't feel aggressive. We weren't hassled at any time despite being obvious tourists.
People were rifling rubbish bins to find things to eat. In one instance, in a large commercial size bin, we were not sure whether somebody was actually living in the bin as we saw them getting in and out a number of times.
Speaking with the people we met they talked of bad, hard drugs having come into the area and that how cannabis had now been made legal to try and wean people off the bad hard stuff. What support people were getting, we don't know. How successful the programme was going to be is yet to be known. But none of this applies to the old shoeshine men with their wooden stools watching the modern world go by in their white trainers. Pavements don't seem to be maintained by the city and the large number of trees all seem to have roots bursting through - and we wonder what happens with people who need wheelchairs as you don't see them about.
Our first ride took us to a tourist town about 200km from Montevideo, Colonia del Sacramento. It was very pretty and as the name suggests has a colonial history, Portuguese and Spanish. The history here is relatively recent. There is nothing in this part of South America equivalent to medieval or Roman Europe. Colonia was pleasant and did not have the visible poverty of Montevideo.
A half day in the sun suffices however - and ferries left there for Buenos Aires so we booked ourselves on one for the following day.
The thing to do in Colonia is take photos of the sunset with the towers of Buenos Aires highlighted by the setting sun. Francoise couldn't resist.
The ferry was very simple. Lots of foot passengers, six cars, our motorbike and two pushbikes. It was very calm and we were not sure whether the water was deep or not as there were small green tufts of vegetation bobbing up and down with the waves. There must be a deep channel at least as large ships enter into Buenos Aires.
It was very interesting coming into Buenos Aires by boat. It is absolutely massive and the skyline gets bigger and bigger as you draw closer. Montevideo seemed like a small town in comparison.
The ferry passed rows of rusting hulks as we came into dock. There was a very tall tower in construction - or had construction been halted because of the 'economic bomb' as it is called here?
Customs was one of the easiest we have ever done - only marginally more difficult than Dover-Calais and in this instance quicker as there were only nine vehicles and two of them weren't motorised.
Our hotel is very basic and, we feel, a tad expensive for what it is. But it is right in the centre of Buenos Aires and although the prospect of the ride through Buenos Aires was a bit of a daunting prospect, it was actually very straightforward.
Argentina is in a severe economic downturn. Inflation is running at 140%. We looked up the menu for a restaurant on the Internet. Two years ago steak and vegetables with mushroom sauce was 800 pesos. Two weeks ago it was 4,600 pesos. However the main thoroughfares were bustling. The cafes and restaurants were far from empty. Maybe it is a bit like London with its cost of living crisis and Oxford Street - you need to look elsewhere too see the real problems.
Like a number of cities the 'splendour' of the main thoroughfare is only one block deep. However so far, despite the economic situation, we haven't seen a similar scale of issues as we saw in Montevideo - we are probably not looking in the right areas. And the pavements are in better condition.
Argentina, like Uruguay, is built on immigration. At the end of the 19th Century the population was circa 1million and with a huge land mass. So they opened their doors to immigrants hoping for European money to come in. Instead they got impoverished Catholic Italian and Spanish workers who, once settled, brought their families across such that at the beginning of the 20th century the country's population was 70% immigrant. They all arrived via La Boca, home of Club Atletico Boca Juniors football team and after its demise as a port in the first part of the 20th century the 'barrio' was converted into a Montmartre-type artist's quarter and since preserved as such. There were also the Welsh that we should come across later if we get further on our trip. All this made us reflect on the recent UK census which said that only 40% of London's population was born in either England or Wales.
We have done a lot of walking in Buenos Aires and our two and a half days here is probably enough. At least for us. We have solved the money question that has been bothering us. For a number of reasons we did not come cash heavy on this trip. Everything in Argentina seems just as expensive as in London. However if you walk down one of the streets here and give a wink to one of the people who stand every 20m shouting, 'cam, cam, cambio' as Paul did today, something strange happens. He was lead into a ladies clothes shop and taken in to the last trying-on cubicle. There was a door at the back of the cubicle which led into another room where a muscly man with tattoos gave Paul 85,000 pesos for his two 50$ bills compared to the 350 pesos which is the official exchange rate. If only we had worked it out earlier - before paying for our accommodation! You cant withdraw US$ from the bank in Argentina - but I could have done in Uruguay. I would have tripled my money overnight and Argentina would almost have been free for us! If only... No wonder there were so many foot passengers coming across from Uruguay on the ferry presumably dollar laden with big suitcases to take things back in.
The Internet says Argentina is not safe. Especially Buenos Aires. We have not felt threatened or unsafe at any moment. There are Police everywhere. Perhaps its like the poverty and it depends where you look.
Argentina, like Uruguay, is built on immigration. At the end of the 19th Century the population was circa 1million and with a huge land mass. So they opened their doors to immigrants hoping for European money to come in. Instead they got impoverished Catholic Italian and Spanish workers who, once settled, brought their families across such that at the beginning of the 20th century the country's population was 70% immigrant. They all arrived via La Boca, home of Club Atletico Boca Juniors football team and after its demise as a port in the first part of the 20th century the 'barrio' was converted into a Montmartre-type artist's quarter and since preserved as such. There were also the Welsh that we should come across later if we get further on our trip. All this made us reflect on the recent UK census which said that only 40% of London's population was born in either England or Wales.
We have done a lot of walking in Buenos Aires and our two and a half days here is probably enough. At least for us. We have solved the money question that has been bothering us. For a number of reasons we did not come cash heavy on this trip. Everything in Argentina seems just as expensive as in London. However if you walk down one of the streets here and give a wink to one of the people who stand every 20m shouting, 'cam, cam, cambio' as Paul did today, something strange happens. He was lead into a ladies clothes shop and taken in to the last trying-on cubicle. There was a door at the back of the cubicle which led into another room where a muscly man with tattoos gave Paul 85,000 pesos for his two 50$ bills compared to the 350 pesos which is the official exchange rate. If only we had worked it out earlier - before paying for our accommodation! You cant withdraw US$ from the bank in Argentina - but I could have done in Uruguay. I would have tripled my money overnight and Argentina would almost have been free for us! If only... No wonder there were so many foot passengers coming across from Uruguay on the ferry presumably dollar laden with big suitcases to take things back in.
The Internet says Argentina is not safe. Especially Buenos Aires. We have not felt threatened or unsafe at any moment. There are Police everywhere. Perhaps its like the poverty and it depends where you look.
