Why Uruguay

One of the first questions I am often asked when I meet someone new here is, “why Uruguay”? Which then provokes me to ask, “why not”? I think the issue here is that we can forget how blessed we are to be born in a country of opportunity and sometimes it is difficult for others to understand why we would leave to come to their tiny corner of the world.

I’m not trying to be patriotic in this entry rather, I am trying to explain a perspective that is much easier to appreciate when you are living on the other side of the hemisphere. The United States doesn’t only have the allure of Hollywood, Starbucks and the Big Apple, it’s a place where if you don’t like your hourly job at McDonald’s you can work at Starbucks and they’ll even offer you an insurance plan. Here if you have a decent job but you don’t like it, tough luck, you keep it because you are happy you have it. I asked some Uruguayan friends what was the first thing they thought of when they hear the words United States, and their response was, “Money”.

So why would I leave a country of wealth and opportunity to come study in Uruguay? Of course without the Rotary foundation I may never have had the opportunity to be here but what I would like to do with this entry is answer the question of why Uruguay with a list of all that I love so far, (that way if anyone asks me I’ll just tell them to visit my page).

Mate
Carnaval (The Murgas, The Tambores etc)
The friendliness of the people
Greeting with cheek to cheek kisses
Sunday Asados
Saturday Tambore rehearsals that parade down the streets of the neighborhoods
Soccer games, especially the loyalty to teams and the enthusiasm of the fans
The 29th of every month you eat a special pasta called ñoquis
Tango—on weekend nights in certain plazas people of all ages (even 80 and beyond) gather to tango.
The Market of the Port in Ciudad Vieja where you can eat asado while you sip on the special wine that is half champagne, it’s called Medio y Medio
Going for a walk along the Rambla that lines the coast of Montevideo
Being able to walk or take the bus anywhere I need to go
The relatively relaxed life here, no one seems to be rushed and in a hurry.
Time with the family means you spend all day, not 2 hours or just a meal, you sit around enjoying eachother’s company while sipping mate or eating asado and you don’t worry about what needs to get done for the day.
This list could go on…

Food:
Dulce de leche
Alfajores
Faina
Asado
Chaja (famous desert named after a bird here)
The olives here are much better
Ñoquis
Biscoches
This list could go on too…