Rain Delay

We woke to another rainy morning. Missed the free breakfast and finally wandered down to ask where we can get lunch. Our hostel is in a really great area with lots of restaurants and obviously proximity to the beach. Our guy directed us to this cafe up the street. We entered and it was another pizza place. I am beginning to see a pattern. J and I both ordered sandwiches and coffee. What arrived was the most giant portions I have ever seen. J's caprese sandwich was literally 2 baguettes with cheese, ham and tomato covered in more cheese. My “sandwich” was actually 2 sandwiches with ham, lettuce, tomato, mayo, olives and egg salad. It was good just way too much food.

After lunch the rain was ending and we decided to head to the Old City. We boarded the 121 bus to Ciudad Vieja. Almost everything closes around 6:30pm and we were getting a late start as it is so we stuck to the walking tour on the Map. Lots of plazas and beautiful old buildings. We were too late for the National History Museum but did stop by the Museo Torres Garcia who was the most famous modern artist from Uruguay. The Plaza de la Independencia was in the center of our walk and is where their hero Artigas' ashes are guarded by soldiers in dress uniform. I was not aware these soldiers were real and was going up to take a silly picture with them when all of a sudden he blinked. I ran back to Jason and told him the soldiers were real. “Well of course they are real!” Well thanks for the heads up sir. I was too embarrassed to go back up to the solider so J bit the bullet. Talk about awkward family photos. After Independencia there was not much else to see, just shops. I wanted to head back to the meat vendors in Ciudad Vieja for a late lunch but by the time we arrived back they were closed. Jason wanted to head back ASAP because we heard the Ciudad Vieja changes when the shops close and we should definitely be out by sundown. We had trouble finding our bus back to Pocitos and Jason was becoming more and more nervous. Eventually, we just got on a bus headed to  Pocitos and not the 121 bus we had taken before. It turned out completely fine, maybe a local bus and not the express bus. Once we were back to Pocitos Jason was much more calm. Funny, I am usually the one freaking out.

We went to this really nice restaurant for dinner (rated #1 in Montevideo via Tripadvisor)and we joked that our hostel would never have recommended this place to us because it is a bit expensive (but cheap to NY standards- $100 for a bottle of wine, 2 entrees and an appetizer). The portions were more in line to what we were used to in the States and our waitress was adorable. Apparently, she used to live in NYC and work at an art gallery in Soho but had to leave after her visa ran out.

Needless to say, we slept well that night. Full bellies with wine. Practically a Nyquil.