Hola from South America

Work has had me hopping on work trips the past few weeks and this week I was asked to help with recruiting for our new office in Uruguay.  If you are like most people we know, you are asking yourself where is Uruguay?  And what city would you fly into?  As good as I am with geography, I did not know these answer; beyond that I did what I do best, researched.

Here's a recap of what I learned over the past two months about Uruguay:  The country is named after the River Uruguay which means the 'river of birds.' They won the first soccer World Cup, the country has more cattle than people, it is the only South American country without a tropical area, it's a larger port than most American cities, it sits on the best beaches on the continent and it gets overshadowed by its neighbors Argentina to the south & Brazil to the north.  It's only a quick hour or so ferry from Buenos Aires, on a fancy boat.  Also, like Quebec in Canada, Montevideo, Uruguay is the most European city of this part of the world.   

We flew into the capital, Montevideo, on Saturday morning.   If you're curious, ask us about the flight later because it's one I will never forget.   We are staying downtown at the World Trade Center complex.  This is the largest and newest business area in the city.  

The entire city is angled to space each neighborhood along their Rambla (shoutout to Barcelona! See earlier 2016 posts).  It's an amazing beach front city with large promenades and nice boulevards in front of these sidewalks. It continues for over 20 mile exactly the same:

We have spent 2.5 days driving across almost every neighborhood in the city limits.  It is a nicer city than I would have expected in this part of the world.  It's has about one million people, but does not seem busier than the Triad or Triangle region of NC.  

We toured most of the Old City and its two main plazas.  The city gained independence in 1830 but through many government changes did not become a modern democracy until the 1980s.

The first ever public dance of the tango was performed in this theater.

The port area is large and stretches for miles. It has nice old market area within one of the colonial buildings that  locals seem to frequent.  Also, in WWII the German boat Graf Spee was scuttled in the port here.

The area where the World Trade Center buildings are is new and is very modern with amenities, restaurants, condos, etc. like any European or American city.

And lastly we ventured out to the new part of the city, mainly built by and for expats.  The neighborhood Carrasco is the only part of the proper city with houses.  The houses have been built over decades by various nationalities so they are very different (imagine a British bungalow next to a Spanish villa).

We are impressed with this city so far!.

- Lauren