Culture:

So in case you were wondering what interesting cultural things there are in Montevideo, I would like to share some of what I’ve done.
Theaters and plays: I had the opportunity to see a play that took place on a city bus. When it starts you don’t know who all that actors are, they could be the person sitting next to you. It was a lot of fun and interesting to see how they used stereotypes of people you might see on a bus. The best part was the actors interact with the audience (for example the drunk on the bus ended up in the laps of a couple people). Another fun play I saw was called “Rescatate” and was about some planchas who try and rob a corner store. Planchas are an urban tribe, some people might call them troublemakers, they say “che, vo” and use a lot of slang. Sorry that is actually a horrible description, but its what I came up with. Also a lot of people say “che, vo”, not just planchas. The play was very well done although I didn’t understand all of it because of the slang.
El Teatro Solís is a famous theater in down town Montevideo. I haven’t been to a play there yet, but I got to visit it with my class. The building is gorgeous inside and out. It was built by some rich investors in the mid to late 1800’s and is now operated by the government. (I really should be studying for a test in my culture class right now, but I figure this is kindof like studying… right?)
Día de patrimonio: So to make up for not having huge celebrations on their independence day, Uruguay has a day of patriotism. On this day/weekend lots of buildings are opened to the public that normally aren’t. There are tours of neighborhoods and of the harbor and all the museums are opened. There are plays and shows in the streets and plazas, and everything is free. I went on a boat ride that toured the harbor, visited some interesting buildings downtown, and went on a bus ride of the whole Cerro neighborhood. El Cerro de Montevideo is a fort at the top of a hill that overlooks the city and the bay. It was fun to see everything but at the end of the day all I wanted to do was sleep. (I may or may no have been out the night before till 3:30ish in the am.)
Also it is not ok to go out anywhere (to a club, ect.) before 2am and leaving before 5am is medio raro.
Finally my favorite “cultural event” was the asado (basically a BBQ) I went to at my friend’s house. (I like hanging out with people more than visiting old builds, not that old buildings aren’t interesting, but people are more fun! And yes, I eat meat in Uruguay, Ariell and Amanda you can lecture me later ☺) Asado is very important to the cultural identity of Uruguayans, according to my culture professor. Basically people eat lots of meat, because there are like 5 cows for every person living in Uruguay and asado is a fun tradition. I tried teaching my friends some games from “yankilandia” like loaded questions, but Im not sure they liked my questions. (Leah, I blame you for infecting me with your random questions.) The night ended with Karaoke and some dancing. (Tín, no sabía que alguien de acá estaba leyendo mi blog, pero ojalá que te gusta. Ahora sabes todo lo que pienso sobre tu país.)
(Also if you haven’t noticed yet I like parentheses, sorry if they get annoying.)