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

Cuidacoches are very common in Montevideo. I think it's the combination of low levels of employment and high levels of petty theft. Cuidacoches watch the cars parked on a particular block in exchange for a small tip (5-10 pesos, 20-40 cents) from the car owners. They frequently help drivers pull into or out of parking spots. The same cuidacoche works the same street every day, like a regular job. Some of them sleep on the streets, as well.

Labels: informal sector, Uruguay

Montevideo is a large modern city yet in every neighborhood you can hear the clip-clop of hooves on pavement. While the city's official recycling system gets little use, scavengers with horse-drawn carts recycle an extraordinary amount of material. A newspaper account said over 65% of the Ciudad Vieja's garbage moves by horsecart.

The scavengers make their rounds of the neighborhood dumpsters collecting all the recyclable materials. They gather huge bags of plastic bottles, bales of cardboard, and everything else that could possibly have value.

I'm told that years ago horsecarts were part of the official garbage collection system but the city government replaced them with a modern fleet of garbage trucks. Without other income options, the collectors continued on their own. When Uruguay suffered its economic crisis, more people entered this sector.

The horsecarts add a certain charm to Montevideo, but they complicate traffic and some scavengers leave mounds of garbage on the sidewalk after they've taken the recyclables. I feel sorry for the people, particularly the children, who earn their living in dumpsters.

Labels: informal sector, Uruguay