Uruguayan Blue, Nerudian Sunsets, Pulpo and Reminder: You’re in the Third-World
With a few days before my next ‘From Hegel to Nietszche’ class I picked up at the university here I decided to take in a few days of Uruguayan coastline, with blue sea, beautiful sunsets that the Chilean poet Pablo Neruda exclaimed are the most beautiful in the world and with the chance to eat some fresh seafood by the water I hopped a midnight ferry with my friend Brendan to Colonia. From Colonia we took a bus to Punta Del Este, which in a nutshell is the Hawaii of South America, and only hours away from the most cosmopolitan of South American capitals, Buenos Aires.
We spent three days reading by sea, wandering about town and eating local fish (Brotola) and drinking frosty local beer (Patricia) and sipping espresso’s (various) while watching the sun’s rays glisten on the water (Atlantic). The cool breeze rolls straight in from Antarctica as there is only the ocean separating the two continents. Looking out onto the water you feel as if you’re at the end of earth. One night staring up at the starry sky with waves breaking twenty-feet away I felt more connected than ever. The boulders of rock around me, the ocean waves breaking on this beach, the stars in the sky, all virtually unchanged and for how many milenia? How much longer will it be like this?
The first couple days we spent in heart of the city by the puerto, and the last in La Barra a quaint town of cafes and artsy boutiques and we found a little shack by the water and I got to savor eating Pulpo a la Gallega or Octopus cooked Galician style (province in the NW of Spain). This, I believe, can quite possibly be my favorite single dish in the world. We washed it down with local Uruguayan wine which is excellent on account of Uruguay’s coordinates which match up to the best wine growing regions in Chile, Argentina and Australia with a climate similar to Bordeaux, France, though slightly warmer and more humid. The wine and a liter and a half of sangria (shared) were the perfect accompaniment to our meal. Underneath the wooden planks on which we were sitting crabs scurried about and a rowboat stood listlessly. Pleasant. Perfect. Perfect.
On the way back we took a few hours to check out Montevideo, the capital city and place where I spent a couple wonderful days a few months back. After a nice meal we were walking through the dark, deserted streets (like most in Montevideo are) on the way to the main plaza. One street kid who asked us for “una moneda” or a coin earlier reappeared a couple blocks down the way and began more persistently asking us for money. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a guy walking fast behind us and gaining ground. Finally the kid put his hand under his jacket trying to insinuate he had a gun or weapon of some sort, we continued walking and now the guy was a few feet behind and I turned around and it happened in an instant. The kid pounced on me and reached deep into my pockets (with my passport, camera, and credit cards as we were about to leave the country heading back for Argentina) and I instinctually grabbed into them and tried to spin him off and we both hit the ground. My friend Brendan was quick to pull him off and the other man didn’t engage.
It all happened so fast. Looking back it could have turned out very differently. As we thought about it on the bus we seemed easy targets. Walking in the dark deserted streets with backpacks on our shoulders, the most all of the streets there are like this. Luckily nothing happened, a couple scratches and a startle, but we were unhurt and had nothing stolen but on the bus I couldn’t help but think about it. I wasn’t angry or upset, but really thought about how desperate these people are. Throughout much of the world there are literally billions of people who are in similar desperation. Not just in South America, but in Asia (think of the numbers in China and India alone) and Africa is beyond comprehension. This is not the same as the poor or those in the inner-city in the U.S. and homeless who have it hard. This is on a completely different scale.
What needs to be done to help change this situation? Education, economic opportunity, time. This is all I can really think of now, but how? There is so much need and so little aid and attention coming. Most of the governments here are strapped thin, and the U.S. announced it’s reducing aid and programs next year to the region to help pay for the war on terror.
Everything taken into account, I Love being down here. The more I’m here the more I grow attached, the more I want to see and the more I want to learn. I’m thankful I made the decision, and fortunate to have the opportunity. Some years from now I’ll look back and perhaps realize these to be among the most important months of my life.
We spent three days reading by sea, wandering about town and eating local fish (Brotola) and drinking frosty local beer (Patricia) and sipping espresso’s (various) while watching the sun’s rays glisten on the water (Atlantic). The cool breeze rolls straight in from Antarctica as there is only the ocean separating the two continents. Looking out onto the water you feel as if you’re at the end of earth. One night staring up at the starry sky with waves breaking twenty-feet away I felt more connected than ever. The boulders of rock around me, the ocean waves breaking on this beach, the stars in the sky, all virtually unchanged and for how many milenia? How much longer will it be like this?
The first couple days we spent in heart of the city by the puerto, and the last in La Barra a quaint town of cafes and artsy boutiques and we found a little shack by the water and I got to savor eating Pulpo a la Gallega or Octopus cooked Galician style (province in the NW of Spain). This, I believe, can quite possibly be my favorite single dish in the world. We washed it down with local Uruguayan wine which is excellent on account of Uruguay’s coordinates which match up to the best wine growing regions in Chile, Argentina and Australia with a climate similar to Bordeaux, France, though slightly warmer and more humid. The wine and a liter and a half of sangria (shared) were the perfect accompaniment to our meal. Underneath the wooden planks on which we were sitting crabs scurried about and a rowboat stood listlessly. Pleasant. Perfect. Perfect.
On the way back we took a few hours to check out Montevideo, the capital city and place where I spent a couple wonderful days a few months back. After a nice meal we were walking through the dark, deserted streets (like most in Montevideo are) on the way to the main plaza. One street kid who asked us for “una moneda” or a coin earlier reappeared a couple blocks down the way and began more persistently asking us for money. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a guy walking fast behind us and gaining ground. Finally the kid put his hand under his jacket trying to insinuate he had a gun or weapon of some sort, we continued walking and now the guy was a few feet behind and I turned around and it happened in an instant. The kid pounced on me and reached deep into my pockets (with my passport, camera, and credit cards as we were about to leave the country heading back for Argentina) and I instinctually grabbed into them and tried to spin him off and we both hit the ground. My friend Brendan was quick to pull him off and the other man didn’t engage.
It all happened so fast. Looking back it could have turned out very differently. As we thought about it on the bus we seemed easy targets. Walking in the dark deserted streets with backpacks on our shoulders, the most all of the streets there are like this. Luckily nothing happened, a couple scratches and a startle, but we were unhurt and had nothing stolen but on the bus I couldn’t help but think about it. I wasn’t angry or upset, but really thought about how desperate these people are. Throughout much of the world there are literally billions of people who are in similar desperation. Not just in South America, but in Asia (think of the numbers in China and India alone) and Africa is beyond comprehension. This is not the same as the poor or those in the inner-city in the U.S. and homeless who have it hard. This is on a completely different scale.
What needs to be done to help change this situation? Education, economic opportunity, time. This is all I can really think of now, but how? There is so much need and so little aid and attention coming. Most of the governments here are strapped thin, and the U.S. announced it’s reducing aid and programs next year to the region to help pay for the war on terror.
Everything taken into account, I Love being down here. The more I’m here the more I grow attached, the more I want to see and the more I want to learn. I’m thankful I made the decision, and fortunate to have the opportunity. Some years from now I’ll look back and perhaps realize these to be among the most important months of my life.
posted by Matt In The Hat | 4:57 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home