January 14-16, 2024
“The colonel stood up. “I hope you enjoy your trip to Uruguay. Its government is stable, democratic, and politically mature. There’s even a welfare state. Of course, the people are entirely European in origin. I believe they exterminated all the Indians. As a German, you should feel very much at home there.”
― Philip Kerr, A Quiet Flame
It is helpful to start with a little geography. The official name of Uruguay is The Oriental Republic of Uruguay . I know, I was thrown by the “Oriental” title as well. In this case it simply means the left bank of the Uruguay River. This small, prosperous country sits on the other side of the River Plate Estuary from Buenos Aires. There is frequent high speed ferry between the two nations making a short visit easy.
You will notice the water is brown due to the push and pull of the Plate River which is very large fighting the tidal push of the Atlantic Ocean. This action keeps the sediment perpetually churning. The reason for most of these borders are due to geography and the arbitrary dividing lines imposed by the imperial powers of Spain and Portugal (with a little help for the British) trying to carve up the resource rich region in the colonial era.
After Napoleon overthrew the government of Spain, the colonies went into a free for all of land grabbing and violence. Terrible civil wars were fought in Uruguay and, particularly, Paraguay resulting in great loss of life and ruination of the indigenous populations lives and culture. There was also a large number of European Immigrants who poured into the area looking for a fresh start from the conflicts in the old country.
This familiar tale is true for much of South America. However Uruguay has had a happier ending. By the 1970’s-80’s, while Argentina’s economy continued to crater under the poor management of successive military dictatorships, Uruguay turned inward and insulated themselves. They became a stable democratic republic. They embraced creative finance and tax laws that attracted investment. There #1 export, cattle products, thrived and made people wealthy. There are 4 cows for every person here.
Today, Uruguay is considered the safest country in South America and the wealthiest per capita. It was the first to legalize recreational marijuana, and same sex marriage. It has universal health care and a very good educational system. The literacy rate here is 96%. (Our’s is 76%). It is a IT/Software hub for South America, the lowest income inequality for the continent, won 4 World Cup’s, and 100% of its energy comes from renewable sources.
Things are good here. Across the river with it’s big neighbor, not so much.
We spent two days wandering around Colonia Del la Sacramento. This was an old Portuguese fort built in 1762 to rival the Spanish down the coast in Montevideo, the capital today of Uruguay. Unlike the terrible cold back home, we enjoyed sublime weather very reminiscent of San Diego.
The streets were well maintained, clean, and quiet.
Pro tip - you want a beautiful city? Then plant lots of leafy Plane trees.
Among the Plane trees and Palm fronds there were large numbers of Monk Parakeets. They are beautiful birds but very, very noisy. They are considered a pest here.
We walked along the main street and ate at restaurants overlooking the river.
Our last day here it started to rain. Big fat drops of jungle rain fell. We made our way to the ferry and returned to Buenos Aires.
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