Montevideo

April 8, 2018 – April 15, 2018

We had booked a “roof-top cabin” in the historic centre of Montevideo for a week. We tried to pack light, but we were going to be without our truck for about 7.5 weeks, so the bags ended up being pretty heavy, despite our best efforts. We struggled with our bags and Piper through the streets of Montevideo, quickly overheating in the midday sun. We arrived at our building, hauled our bags up two interior flights of stairs and were led to an outdoor, circular, metal stairway that would lead us to the roof and our accommodations. We certainly did not anticipate the drama that was about to unfold.

Piper is a fit and capable dog, who is generally fairly fearless, but she took one look at the spiral open riser staircase and she was like “uh, uh, no way”. I suggested to Derek that he take her off her leash so that she could go up the stairs at her own speed, so Derek did. When Derek instructed her to go up the stairs, instead she balked and made an ill considered jump down, off of the landing, about one metre below to the top end of a sloped “coroplast” type roof top of a courtyard space in the adjacent building, and then slid about 3 metres to where the rooftop met a concrete wall. Holy *&%!!!!!!

We called her to us, and she would take a few steps up the wobbly plastic but then slide back down…she was having difficulty getting traction on the sloped not-so-rigid roof. Derek lay on his stomach, encouraging her to climb up to him, while I held my breathe hoping that the flexible semi-transparent plastic roofing material would continue to hold her weight. Eventually she kind of belly crawled up to Derek’s outstretched arm. Derek, still lying on his belly with his upper body half hanging through the railing, hauled her up and through the railing to safety. It was all a bit unceremonious and needless to say, we were all incredibly stressed at this point.

Derek put the leash back on her and guided/encouraged Piper up the stairs, which ascended about 5 metres. There was just a metal handrail enclosing the stairs, but for Piper there was only the inner metal pipe of the structure beside her as she climbed the narrow parts of the wedge shaped treads. She made it up, but I worried about how she was going to handle going down the steep winding steps head first.

But, she did it…several times per day in fact. Very quickly the stairs almost became a non-issue….what a little trooper she is!

We spent the week in Montevideo walking around the old centre, loving the grand architecture of the old buildings. We walked along the Rambla, one of the longest ocean side walkways in the world. We toured Teatro Solis, the capital’s early 19th century, Italian designed, restored theatre and opera house. Montevideo, and Uruguay in general, was very expensive compared to Argentina, prices running up to and beyond what you would expect to pay in Canada, but we still enjoyed a few dinners out.

Palacio Salvo and Plaza Independencia.
Teatro Solis.
The theatre was closed for several years for renovations. In the process of the renovations, they wanted to make the theatre more inclusive, so they got rid of separate entrances for the more expensive seats and they lowered the prices. You can now see the symphony, opera or a play for about $US 6-8.
Part of the ceiling in the theatre.
One of many “pedestrian only” streets in the old downtown area of Montevideo.
There were beautiful buildings around every corner.
Grafitti and demolitions, backed by old colonial architecture….a multi-layered city.
The view from our little roof top cabin.
The street below from our patio.
Fresh fruit and vegetable markets were everywhere.
We walked for hours around the different streets.
Another of the “pedestrian only” streets, and the street our apartment was on…in the evenings restaurants would put tables out and vendors would lay out blankets on the street to showcase odd mixes of goods they had for sale. For example, one regular vendor that we would greet each evening might have one pair of leather boots, some antique kitchen gadgets, a few books a man’s overcoat and some Lionel Ritchie albums for sale….

Soon, our week was up, and so we headed the few blocks down to the ferry terminal. There, we put Piper into a kennel provided by the ferry. She was taken away to the baggage compartment below deck and we boarded the ferry for the 2.5 hour crossing of the Rio de la Plata to Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina, and the city out of which we will fly when we return to Canada.

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