South America was never on my short list of places I wanted to visit. Normally I travel to Europe or the United States. However, and exciting opportunity arose earlier this year to be involved in a group trip to Montevideo, Uruguay. This would not be a typical trip of sightseeing in a foreign country. It was going to be a week full of pipe band performances and competitions.
30 plus hours of travel!
One of the most daunting parts of the preparation for the trip was wrapping my head around the idea of such a long travel time. We flew from Edmonton to Toronto. There we boarded the 787-9 Dream-liner serviced by Air Canada for our flight to South America. This was my first experience flying on one of the Dream-liner aircraft and I have to say they are much nicer than a standard 737. I had an aisle seat and could get up and walk around as needed. The aisle seemed to be bigger than I’ve experienced on other aircraft, and I was not hit by everyone who walked past. We had dinner service that was adequate but nothing extravagant. Alcohol was included in the fare which was nice if you want a glass of wine, beer, etc. with your dinner. Our flight plan was from Toronto to Argentina with a short stop over in Sao Paulo Brazil. The flight crew changes, they fuel the plane and passengers continuing to Argentina must leave the plane and go through a security check and then back to the gate for boarding. Those leaving in Brazil exit the plane and proceed to customs. Our seats were the same from the Toronto to Sao Paulo and to Argentina. Once out flight landed in Buenos Aires, we went through Immigration and then went to get our checked luggage. We had to scan our bags once more before leaving the airport. Our group had a private bus organized to take us to the ferry terminal. Once checked in at the ferry, we went through security, and immigration for Uruguay before boarding the ferry to Colonia, Uruguay. After an hour-long ferry ride, we boarded another private bus and it drove us the 2 hours to Montevideo and to our hotel. We could finally check into our rooms and get some sleep.
I should have learned some Spanish
I have learned 4 languages in my life, but unfortunately, Spanish was never one of them. This was the first time I have traveled somewhere with little to no English around. Normally before I go to a foreign country with another language, I try learning at least a few basic phrases. But this trip was planned and organized so quickly that I didn’t have the time to do learn any Spanish. Thank goodness for Google Translate. However, it meant I had to pay for Roam like home data usage. But the fee to use my phone was worth it. Menus in restaurants were in Spanish only and we all needed google translate to make sense of them. It makes me even more nervous not being able to read the menu due to having a few food allergies. The app worked great using the camera of the phone! We could hover the phone over the menu, and it would automatically translate the items to English. We could also type messages into the app and have it translated to Spanish. Most people in the stores did not speak English which made it a little more difficult when it came to paying. But a simple solution was showing our credit card and saying we’d like to pay by card. If I ever return to Spanish speaking South American countries, I’d prioritize learning some Spanish.
Credit cards were easier than cash… And CHEAPER!
Almost everywhere accepted Visa and MasterCard. Stores and restaurants had no issues with our Canadian credit cards. Cash was harder to use as Uruguay has their own pesos. We had been told American money would be accepted but found few places willing to take it. If we paid in American cash, we would receive Uruguay Pesos back as change. This wasn’t an issue, but when I tried to pay with American in the grocery store, I was turned down. So, I decided to just use my credit card. It turns out that this is the better way to go for another reason… It is cheaper to use your credit card! Uruguay has a 22% sales tax that is waived if you pay with a foreign credit card. Instead of having to keep receipts and claim the taxes at the airport, if you use your credit card, the taxes are taken off right at the time of purchase! I wish it was that way in all foreign countries. A small number of pesos was handy when looking at the little street market vendors. The exchange rate was decent from Canada to Uruguay while we were there so, I bought a few things. We unfortunately didn’t have time for much shopping though.
The food and drinks were fantastic
We had learned about the famous Asado dinner in Uruguay before going and were all excited to try it. But we were all pleasantly surprised by how amazing all our meals were while there. I wish we were there longer to be able to eat at more restaurants. There was an Italian influence there and we went for pasta one day and it was delicious. We also went to a pizza bar and had a tasty lunch. Craft beer is pretty popular there and we enjoyed trying various beers. Bottled beer in the places we went were served in 1L bottles and were perfect for sharing if you got a couple extra glasses. Even the bottle local beer was decent. One of the favourite discoveries we made was trying Licor de Tannat. A dessert wine made from the Tannat grapes.
Hospitality was incredible
Other than the language barriers with our group not speaking Spanish and many locals not speaking English, they were more than happy to welcome us to their country. Those who spoke a little English did their best to help us out at the hotels and in restaurants. Unlike North America, meals are not rushed there. You are given time to enjoy your meal and the company you are with. You must ask for the bill and then it will be brought over. They do not split bills there like we are used to in Canada. However, they can allow each person to pay their share. You must do the math yourself and show them how much each person is paying. Every restaurant was more than happy to do this for our group, especially because we were all paying with individual credit cards. Our event hosts went above and beyond to make sure our group was well taken care of. Everyone we performed for were so grateful for us traveling all the way from Canada. Many were so excited to be meeting a bunch of Canadians. We met many amazing people from the South American pipe band and highland dance community. We left with hearts full of meeting new people. Unfortunately the trip was a short one, but it is one that will last a lifetime.
