A Year in Uruguay

Montevideo, like most big cities, has its share of graffiti, mainly indecipherable scrawls on dumpsters, houses, and statues. Our Uruguayan friends told us that graffiti became much more prevalent after the economic crisis of 2002.

As an economist, "The economy is the cancer of the world" caught my eye, but even more striking was a conversation, of sorts, painted along the wall of Pocitos beach. An exuberant Christian had painted several city blocks of the wall with a stream of religious statements in bold letters. An atheist had responded to every saying with cursive spraypaint, so walking along the beach, it read "GOD LIVES" "inside your stupid head" and a dozen more couplets.

Other graffiti was spray-painted support for soccer teams (Peñarol and Nacional being the most visible) or rock bands (many US and European groups from various decades). Some of it was political, either party slogans or independent outcry. And some were declarations of love or simple declarations of the writer's existence. There were two genres of artistic graffiti, over-sized NYC-style paintings and smaller, and often more interesting, stencil work.


Here is a video slideshow of my graffiti photos from Montevideo:

Labels: art, customs, informal sector, Uruguay, video

Piña means pineapple in most Spanish speaking countries, but in Uruguay pineapple is anana and piña refers to pine cones. Convenience stores in the US don't typically sell pine cones but many neighborhood shops in Montevideo do. Pine cones are used for cooking-- not as an ingredient, but as fuel for the parrilla. Wood is the primary fuel but the fast-burning piñas are added when the cook wants a particularly hot fire.

Labels: customs, Uruguay

Kids in Uruguay's public schools wear the old-fashioned white tunica with a big black bow. Private school kids wear uniforms,too, either dress uniforms (sweaters and ties in the school colors) or gym uniforms (sweats in the school colors).

The kids shown here are on a field trip to see the photo display by Frances Yann Arthus-Bertrand on Montevideo's Rambla.

Labels: customs, education, Uruguay

Although 2007 began a few months ago, in Uruguay the new year doesn't really start until after the last bicyclist crosses the finish line in the Vuelta Ciclista del Uruguay [Uruguay's equivalent of the Tour de France] at the end of Semana de Turismo. December was the season of fiestas, starting with the La Noche de las Luces; January was vacation, and February was carnaval. School did start in March, but carnaval was still going on and then everyone was looking forward to another week of vacation.

I'm told today was the true start of the year.

Labels: customs, seasons, Uruguay

The dogs in Montevideo are amazingly well-behaved. These were "parked" outside my neighborhood grocery this morning.

Labels: customs, Uruguay

We first saw the worshipers of Iemanja, the goddess of the sea, around midnight on February 1st. We returned the next day to see the big gathering.

In the afternoon, it was quiet. Vendors sold candles, styrofoam boats, and other offerings for the goddess. The remnants of the previous night's offerings-- broken boats, waterlogged watermelons, floating flowers-- cluttered the surf line.

By sunset, the beach was mobbed. Celebrants lit candles and left flowers at the statue of Iemanja. Hundreds of people waded into the Río to release their offerings. Individual congregations staked out small areas on the sand, and each seemed to have their own ritual. At one, a woman held a large shell and wailed. In another a teen-aged girl staggered in a trance. Many performed symbolic cleansings. Others danced. Drums beat and bells rang all around us. Uruguay is a very secular country, so this mass spiritualism was surprising.

See some of my photos from Iemanja
or a video from the first.

Labels: customs, Uruguay, video, waterfront

Tablados are an important part of Montevideo's carnival celebration, where murga groups sing on stages in the neighborhoods. For instance, I went to one yesterday on the basketball court of the Defensor Sporting Club near Parque Rodó. Different groups performed for about an hour each. I heard humoristas, paradistas, and three murgas-- a lot of entertainment for 50 pesos (about $2). I left reluctantly around 3:00 am-- torn between enjoyment and fatigue-- but families with little kids were still going strong.

Here are three videos from last night(and early this morning).

1. The tablado a mix of murgas, parodistas, and humoristas.
2. Falta y Resto:
3: Asaltantes con Patente (murga)

Labels: carnival, customs, murga, music, Uruguay, video

Iemanja or Yemanjá is celebrated February 2 in Uruguay. The origins of this ceremony are African and it seems to have reached Uruguay through Brazil. Umbanda mixes African, Catholic, and spiritualist traditions.

We were driving home from dinner around midnight last night and saw activity had already started on Playa Ramírez, near Parque Rodó. We parked and walked down to the beach, where we could hear drumming. Small groups of people were digging holes in the sand and lighting candles. Other groups, wearing white clothing, had waded out into the Río, to send small boats to the goddess. Others were blessing their boats in a ritual with bells, candles, and prayers.

The boats are put to sea with various offerings-- watermelons, flowers, a chicken-- to the goddess. If the boat is blown back to shore it means the goddess has rejected the offering. If the boat disappears, she has accepted it.





For more information:
Discover Uruguay describes the Festival . From Uruguay also writes on Iemanja. An evangelical missionary seems appalled by Yemanjá in this detailed account. Studio Stonek has a page of photos.

Labels: carnival, customs, Uruguay, waterfront

January is vacation time in Montevideo and my neighborhood has been noticeably quieter. Some restaurants are closed, sidewalks are cleaner, and traffic is much lighter. I've heard that Paris is similar in summer, but I've never lived anywhere where everyone vacations in the same month.

Apparently Argentina has a similar schedule, at least for those Argentinians who vacation in Uruguay. There are two shifts-- January 1st to the 15th and the 15th to the 1st of February. The local newspaper said the 15th is the busiest travel day of the year. The Argentinian protestors blocking the bridges between Uruguay and Argentina increase their efforts on those days to inconvenience more people.

Labels: customs, seasons, Uruguay

It's a tradition in Montevideo to eat ñoqui [gnocchi] on the 29th of the month. Some restaurants list ñoqui on their menu, with a little note saying they are only served on the 29th. The ñoquis, like the other fresh pasta, are quite good, but I've never eaten them on the 29th, so today I made a point of it.

Here's a gnocchi recipe. And here's a post about ñoqui from the Southron.

Labels: customs, food and drink, Uruguay

Here's a short video from the opening parade of carnival in Montevideo, Uruguay:

Labels: candombe, carnival, customs, music, Uruguay, video

We enjoyed the opening parade of Montevideo's carnaval last night. It started around nine and lasted longer than we did. We left after midnight, but our cabdriver said the parade would go until 2 am, or so. It looked like most of the crowd was staying for the whole show.

The parade started with the queens of carnaval and the queens of the llamadas riding on floats. Trucks advertizing Coke and Antel (the national phone company) followed. Marchers carried large horizontal banners featuring various sponsors and kids from the audience would lay down in the street so the banners would pass over them. It was fun seeing the murga groups in their elaborate costumes but the parade wasn't really the best forum for their singing. Some rock bands played amplified music from the top of trucks. The candombe drum troupes were the most exciting.

During the long spaces between groups, kids sprayed each other with foam from aerosol cans and threw confetti. The kids also sprayed foam on the floats and on the scantily-clad dancers. Performers later in the night fared better since the kids had depleted most of their ammunition.

See my video of the Desfile Inaugural.

From Uruguay has a nice post on last year's opening parade.

Labels: carnival, customs, holidays, music, Uruguay

Los Mareados played a free concert at Punta del Diablo last Saturday. Because of the strong winds they couldn't sing on the beach, so they set up a couple of kilometers inland, right across from our hotel, Hostería del Pescadores. That made it very convenient for us. It was part of a music series sponsored by Uruguay's Ministry of Tourism and Sport.

Murga is a very popular type of music in Uruguay, particularly during Carnival season. Murga groups often wear elaborate make-up and costumes for their performances. I expect to see more murga during the next couple of months.

Here's a short video of Los Mareados:

Labels: carnival, customs, government, interior, murga, music, Rocha, Uruguay, video

Tres Reyes, or Three Kings Day, is an important part of Christmas for kids in Uruguay. This is the day they get their presents! Santa doesn't deliver presents Christmas morning (probably because it's too hot for reindeer) but the Three Kings bring gifts today. In Uruguay it's also called Día de los niños [Day of the Children]. In English, Three Kings Day is sometimes called Twelfth Night. I only know the Twelve days of Christmas from the carol, so this holiday is new to me.

I took this picture yesterday in Plaza Zabala in Montevideo's Cuidad Vieja. The kids were quite excited and explained that they were gathering grass to leave for the Kings' camels.

Labels: customs, holidays, Uruguay

I'd read about candombe music in Uruguay and I'd heard a little at the Fiesta de la X but I hadn't seen it in its natural environment-- on the streets of Montevideo. Candombe season seems to be starting now and I've seen, or at least glimpsed, several troupes in various places.

This group was playing outside a parrilla about a week ago and the waitresses had joined in the dancing. See a video clip.






I also saw an informal group of drummers playing at midnight on New Year's Eve while their neighbors launched fireworks. See a short video of them.

Labels: candombe, carnival, customs, music, Uruguay, video

Christmas eve, or Nochebuena, is the main event of the holiday season in Uruguay. Families and friends get together for big dinners late in the evening. Kids can open their gifts after midnight. (If they open them early, the presents turn to ashes!) The shopping malls were open late the night before, for last-minute shopping. Punta Carretas Shopping was still crowded when we left at 1:00 in the morning.

update: At midnight on Christmas eve, it seemed like everyone in Montevideo set off fireworks. We went out to the street to watch and then went back to eat our dinner. We ate a delicious lechón. Firecrackers continued to explode throughout the night and groups of young people were still drinking on the Rambla at 8 the next morning.

Labels: customs, holidays, Uruguay

Getting covered with mud and shaving cream seems to be part of the 15 years (quince años) celebration in Uruguay. I've noticed it a few times. The girls are really a mess but they seem happy about it. I think there's a big party later in the evening. I don't know much about the tradition in Montevideo, but I think it differs from the experience shown in this movie: Quinceañera

Labels: customs, Uruguay

Dulce de leche is the most popular sweet in Uruguay. It's a creamy milk caramel used in many ways. It can be spread on bread, like peanut butter. Many pastries are filled with dulce de leche. A popular snack, the yo-yo, is a thick layer of dulce de leche sandwiched between two cookies, then given a chocolate coating. Sweet, gooey, and sticky

Dulce de leche fills an aisle at every supermarket. Even the smallest corner shop will carry a dozen varieties. We don't have a jar in our kitchen which, no doubt, marks us as foreigners. A Montevideo native says, "As a kid I thought all the world had dulce de leche, and that all the world eated it as much as we do."[see from Uruguay]

Dulce de leche is becoming more popular in the US. The current Wikipedia page is illustrated with a photo of Smucker's brand dulce de leche. I tried dulce de leche m&ms in Kalamazoo. (Very good, but I don't think they caught on.) I don't think the US will ever match Uruguay's love for it.

Labels: customs, food and drink, Uruguay

There are lots of dogs in the neighborhood where we are staying, enough to keep professional dog-walkers in business. The dogs are well-behaved and don't bark or lunge at passersby. The absence of pooper-scooper laws mean you need to watch where you step.

Labels: customs, Uruguay

Several friends have asked me what Uruguay is like. I haven't had a concise answer for them.

In some ways it's easiest to say what Uruguay is not. It's not like Mexico; it's not like Ecuador; it's not like the Dominican Republic; it's not like Costa Rica. They don't serve tacos or burritos. They don't serve beans and rice. There's no tropical rainforest.

Culturally, Uruguay and Argentina are similar. They grill beef and drink mate. French fries are a common sidedish. Dinner is late-- after 10 pm. You can drink the water. Wine and beer are more common than rum, tequila, or aguardiente. Afternoon tea is popular.

Uruguay has winter-- although it's more like winter in New Orleans than Kalamazoo. The Atlantic Ocean tempers the weather-- both winter and summer are fairly mild. The coast is pretty, with a regionally famous beach at Punta del Este. We didn't travel to the interior on our last visit, although it's possible to stay at ranches and watch the gauchos in action.

We'll see if my description changes during this trip. It looks like we're going to leave Michigan on August 18.

Labels: customs, Uruguay