I arrived in Montevideo Friday morning half-covered in coffee. The breakfast service came with a side of turbulence while I was precariously balancing too much on a floppy tray. Even the exit seats on a 787 are tight by my standards–not my favorite plane generally and now very specifically. My Exxon Juan Valdez moment aside, air travel is becoming less of a misery from recent practice. That’s good, because it’s becoming more of a necessity.
My biggest concern on this trip was language; it’s a problem, but not an insurmountable one. The people have been friendly and helpful despite the language barrier–my twenty-plus words of Spanish, another several dozen Classical Latin words, and careful gesturing often do the trick. Understanding is hard since Uruguayans are fast talkers; just knowing where one word begins and another ends is challenging. Many of the ‘no inglés’ here understand some English and can be coaxed to try a few words or phrases. Their pleasant surprise at being understood is worth the work. Thank you, MTV cultural homogenization from the 90s!
The executive summary: I can live here, and Uruguay still actively wants people to come. Now for some gory details …
On The One Hand
The renowned slow pace leads to an easy comfort while exploring the city. It never feels crowded–something vexing an Italian man who’d come from Buenos Aires expecting more and feeling trapped. Ciudad Vieja (Old City Montevideo) feels like Old City Philly where the days and weeknights feel calm and cozy.
There are plenty of urban amenities. Some American chains like the ever-present McDonald’s and Starbucks (but no Five Guys or Popeyes–argh!) are mixed in with many personal-scale businesses without overwhelming them. (One alarming note about McDonald’s here: they don’t bake OR deep-fry apple pies because they don’t have them at all!) Small storefronts house single-chair barbers and “carefully curated” convenience. Walking around the hotel, there were lots of rug and fabric stores; it gave me a NYC garment district vibe. Life here would not require consumer privation.
The climate is not terrible in summer. My original plan was an Autumn trip–May or June for this hemisphere–but I decided to come now (their summer) to clear those months in case I’m re-employed and disappearing for two weeks might be problematic. The temperatures are in the high 70s to low 80s with enough humidity for my skin to recover from our heavy-duty winter back home. Fall, Winter, and Spring are perfect for me, sweater-and-a-hot-drink weather.
On The Other Hand
The slow pace prevents Getting Things Done on my normal deadline-driven schedule and objective-oriented mindset. It’s Tuesday; I’ve been here for almost five days and I still don’t have a transit pass. Part of the problem is bad timing–Monday and Tuesday are national holidays with many people off for Carnival.
Montevideo feels smaller than expected with its population of 1.3 million. Mass transit is buses–just buses! There are no subways, no trolleys, no light rail. Even the recently-financed big transit project is buses! Despite the strong LGBT rights and secular government, the community feels small and spread thin; there is no official gayborhood, many bars are mixed, and many here are semi-closeted despite the progressive policies. That said, I have noticed plenty of ambiguously-gay, well-groomed young men with frosted hair walking French bulldogs.
Uruguay is the unofficial “Skin Cancer Capital Of The World”. The sun here is strong regardless of how mild the summer feels, so there’s lots of SPF 50 being applied for days outdoors. Some of the city is tall enough that I can slip through the shadows when forced to day-walk, but further out there’s less cover. I have noticed that even with the mild temperatures, the residents cluster in the shade to sip mate and watch the gringos fry.
On The Gripping Hand
I’ll spend some of my second weekend in Buenos Aires. It’s 130 miles away, a 3-4 hour ferry ride, and may be that place for “more” when I need it. Manhattan being an easy day trip has made the relative quiet of Philly easy to manage, and maybe BA can give me that same urban boost when I need it. Argentina is far less stable than Uruguay, politically and economically, so it’s not on the “move here” list. We’ll see if a weekend in BA can convince me to embrace some unwanted chaos for some wanted chaos.
I’m emboldened by this trip to visit Madrid in March. A friend mentioned his long-term plan of moving to Spain in about a decade, and several at WebSummit suggested I look at Spain. I originally dropped it from the list due to the climate (too hot and dry) and language … but now it’s on me to remove Spanish as a blocker to some of the best options for what’s next, so …
It’s time to learn Spanish. At this point all my strong candidate cities are Spanish-speaking, and a combination of Spanish and English would make even navigating Brazil easier. I’ve always preferred computer languages over human languages other than English. Could I ever know enough Spanish for the wordplay that I love so much in English? I don’t know, probably not. What I do know now is how much more willing I am to learn when the reward from successful communication is something tasty or entertaining!