Pictures From Uruguay!

Today, this being a week where I don't have an Everyjoe article, I'm sending you some more Pictures from Uruguay. You guys like these, right?

Today, focusing on some more of the interesting architecture of my home neighborhood, el Cordon.

Here we see a building with some fairly typical 1950s/60s architecture.. is that brutalism? Next to it, one of the literally thousands and thousands of bookstores you see in this city.  There's like a bookstore every three blocks in the downtown core, I swear.  And next to that, "Pancho Villa", a fairly good nuveau-empanada restaurant. And next to that, a bar.  The interesting thing about all three of these businesses is that none of them existed a year ago (and the gourmet chivito restaurant across the street, and the second hand clothes stores and the artisanal furniture store on the other end of the street, and the sushi bar a block away... etc etc.. all new in the last three years).  The Cordon is a neighbourhood that is growing explosively fast into a hipster paradise.

Speaking of Gourmet Chivitos, here it is:

What is a Chivito? Glad you asked:

Its like pretty much the best beefsteak sandwich ever. That up there is the standard Chivito.  At Casitanno's they do it all fancy and with unusual ingredients. They also have the "Casitaco" (tacos are NOT Uruguayan food, they're mexican 'foreign food' which has started to be more popular in the last few years).

This across the street from Casitanno's.  I have no idea what kind of business that is, but the building sure is pretty!

This here is about one block away:

This is the Durazno club. Durazno is one of the 19 'departamentos' or provinces of Uruguay, so this is presumably a club for people originally from there.  The Uruguayans are a Club-forming people; they'll make a club about anything (long time readers will remember I'm a member of the Uruguayan Pipe Club).  In the Cordon there's not just the Durazno Club, there's also the Casa de Salto (a club for people from Salto, another Uruguayan departamento).  There's also a Spanish club, an Italian club, and of course a Futbol (soccer) club (Defensor Sporting, which I guess is my team).  There's also a pool club, a classic car club, a club for vegetarian cooks, a Chinese culture club (in a country with hardly any Chinese in it), and of course a ton of gyms, martial arts, and yoga clubs.  There's also a number of art studios and theater schools (yes, multiple ones, in my neighborhood alone; never mind the rest of the city). Finally, there's a drumming club, and at least two groups of carnaval drummers (who practice year long, but right now they're really gearing up because Carnaval starts at the end of the month).  And all that's just the clubs I know about!

Oh, and you may note that in Spanish, the word "durazno" means "peach". Hence the peach color of the Durazno Club.


Well, that's mostly it for today. Uruguay is still a hidden gem for world travel, Montevideo still a hidden gem of south american cities, and the Cordon is still a secret as the best coolest neighbourhood in Montevideo. But the word is starting to get out fast; the cat is still in the bag, but only barely.

RPGPundit

Currently Smoking: Lorenzetti Solitario Egg + Gawith's Navy Flake