When our Pipe Band decided to travel to Uruguay for the 9th Annual South American Pipe Band Gathering, I could not refuse the opportunity to go. I knew this would be a once in a lifetime opportunity. Not only would I be traveling to South America with a group of people, be we would be part of some very prestigious performances and competition events. Read on for a detailed trip review
30 hours to get from Edmonton to Montevideo
If you read my previous post http://www.paulasartoftraveling.com/a-canadian-out-of-her-element-in-south-america/ then you’ll have a good idea of the travel we embarked on. We left Edmonton mid afternoon on October 24th. We did not arrive to our hotel in Montevideo until around midnight local time (9 pm Edmonton time). I won’t lie, when I investigated the travel time, I wasn’t sure I could handle it. The longest flight I had been on was from Calgary AB to Frankfurt Germany. Looking back at my fears, I’m so glad I did not let it stop me from doing the trip. I know that I can handle long flights and long travel days. We checked into our rooms at Hotel Esplendor for the next 6 nights.
No rest for us
Our first day in Uruguay started with a morning band practice at 9am. We found a park a short walk from our hotel and practiced for roughly an hour. Lots of people passing by stopped to watch, take photos or videos of our band practicing. Once we were finished getting the bag pipes tuned up and acclimated to the climate, we practiced our tunes and dances for the coming days. After practice was over, we had a bit of free time. Our first stop was a grocery store to stock up on some bottled water and supplies for the next few days. I was not going to risk drinking tap water I’m not used to, so I bought a large bottle of water to have in the room and just filled my small ones as needed. We then wandered around the area for a bit to see what was around. We met up with a bunch of the band at the restaurant they had picked. We had a lovely meal and managed as best as possible with google translate and one girl’s limited Spanish. We had a very kind and patient server, and we enjoyed talking to him in our limited Spanish skills. The food was incredible, and I could only eat half of it.
https://www.facebook.com/elfogonuruguay/
After lunch the dancers went to Plaza Independencia to see where we would be performing the next day. We had a walk through of all our dances to ensure we were ready for the busy day the next day. We ignored the strange looks we got; dancers are used to it. Next it was back to the hotel to change and catch the vans to the local Irish pub for a fun evening. I enjoyed the food, the drinks, and the atmosphere. It was then time to get to bed because the alarm was going to ring at 6am the next morning!
Up early for a long day of dancing
Day 2 was our longest and most exhausting day. I was up early to get my hair and makeup done and have time to go to the hotel breakfast. I’m very thankful that we picked a hotel with breakfast included. The band’s first stop that morning was a performance at Canada School. This school is in an impoverished area of Montevideo and sponsored by the Canadian Embassy. We did a small performance set there, donated a bunch of school supplies to the students that we had fund raised and brought with us from Canada. The students were over the moon with the generous gifts, and they showed their appreciation by giving us each a pin representing their school. After a Q & A with the students we were back on the bus, headed to our next location. Time for us to do our biggest performance of the trip. We had the privilege of being part of a Flower Ceremony at the Plaza Independencia to honor the Hero of Uruguay – Jose Artigas. There were many dignitaries there, including the ambassador’s of roughly 15 countries. While it was not easy dancing on exposed aggregate concrete, it was a pleasure to be part of such an important event. The day was not over, and it was time for some of us to head to the solo piping, drumming, and dancing events. It was interesting to see how the South American’s run competitions. The one thing I loved was the comradery between the competitors. We took a group photo of all the dancers competing that afternoon. That is not something done in North America. By this point my feet were revolting and did not want to do much dancing. I’d love to say the day was over after the competition, but alas it was not. We had to rush back to our hotel to get changed and then back to the host hotel to board the bus to the opening ceremony event. This was a garden cocktail party at the British Ambassador’s residence. Wow, there are no words to describe how incredible this was. I can honestly say a garden party at an ambassador’s residence is a bucket list item I never knew I had until that night. The servers walking around with drink and canape trays was fabulous. The judges for the event graced us with a short performance on the terrace. It was incredible seeing all the bands interact in such a prestigious environment. After we were bused back to our hotels it was the end of the band obligations for the day. Some of us decided to head back to the Irish pub to let off some steam from the stressful day. We ended up dancing with a bunch of the South American band people and it was a mix of Latin and Canadian folk favourites being played. We danced to their music and then showed them how we do it in Canada, to some Spirit of the West and Great Big Sea. Finally, it was time to head back to the hotel and then to bed! What a long day.
Late Night Means, skipping breakfast is allowed
Thankfully we had no event obligations until late afternoon on day 3. I opted to skip the hotel breakfast and just eat one of my protein bars I brought with me. Sleep and relaxation was more important. Once the dancers were ready to head out, we went in search of a good cup of coffee. I could not stand the coffee served at breakfast and was longing for an espresso-based coffee. During our hunt for good coffee, we explored the outdoor market along the street named Sarandi. This is a pedestrian only street running from the Plaza Independencia to the Rambla. We bought a few small items like magnets from some vendors. We eventually found a coffee shop and got our good coffee and some sweet treats that looked incredible as well. A friend of ours had found a pizza place online during his trip researching, so we met him and some others there for a nice lunch. The pizza was delicious, and it was lovely sitting there with friends. To work off some of the delicious pizza we ate, we took the long way back to the hotel and walked along the water. I had to get back to the hotel to get ready for the evening events. The first up was group photos at the famous Montevideo sign. All the bands arrived and had time to take photos there. The organizers gathered everyone in front of the sign for a huge group photo. Again, this whole event comradery between bands was something special. After all the photos were taken, we were all bused to the massed band parade route. Every band participating in the gathering was part of a parade through the streets. They prefer to do their massed bands as the sun is setting, which was a new experience for us. The dancers marched behind their respective bands, with those dancers not affiliated with a band bringing up the rear of the parade contingent. Once we reached the end of the parade route, all the highland dancers gathered near the front to perform a massed Highland Fling. It was incredible to see how excited the crowd was throughout the parade and the massed fling. The event organizers asked if our band would perform a 20-minute stage performance after the parade, for the crowd that had gathered there. We danced 3 dances in under 20 minutes, one of which was a 6-minute dance! This was no easy feat in the humidity. After the performance we had a short amount of time to check out the food trucks that were set up. Unfortunately, they were very busy, and it took us a long time to get our food. We almost missed our bus back to the hotel! It was nice to try some South American food trucks, but I wish we had more time, or they had been a little faster with the service. Waiting 45+ for food truck food is not acceptable in North America. Maybe it’s a cultural difference and people are used to waiting like that. Regardless, the food we did get was tasty. A local Montevideo piper joined us on our bus as he lives a short walk from our hotel. I had the pleasure of speaking to him during the ride back and it was nice to have the chance to learn about his life in Uruguay and what it was like living there. He gave us some history of the area, what it’s like for youth in the city and what career paths he’s had. A fascinating young man with a lot of life experience. Once we returned to the hotel it was time for bed. The next day was going to be another busy one.
Competition day
Today was the day the bands had all been waiting for. It was time for the band competitions. Unfortunately for us dancers were not allowed to compete as a dance corps due to misunderstanding of rules around Scottish Judges and red tape and all that goes along with those types of issues. This was absolutely heartbreaking for us dancers, as the dance corps band competition was the real reason for us agreeing to go on the trip. There are not many pipe bands in Canada that have a highland dance corps. We only ever get to perform alongside our band during parades and other performances back home. We never get to compete alongside of them. The idea of an adjudicated complete band with dance corps competition was so exciting for us. To say we were upset that morning to learn we were not allowed to be judged, is an understatement. It took a while to come to grips with this and accept it was out of our control. We had worked so hard for so many months to perfect our choreography and perform to the best of our abilities. The organizers offered to have us perform our number as a non-judged performance, for the audience to enjoy. This was a hard decision to make, because we had traveled all that way to compete as a band. The idea of doing the dance just ‘for fun’ was not something I wanted to do. But after processing the feelings and coming to grips with everything, we as a team decided to showcase what Canadian Highland dancers could do. I’m so proud of us for overcoming our emotions and still getting out on the field, with smiles on our faces and performing our amazing choreography. Us dancers were also there to support our pipers and drummers all day, as they were still eligible for competing in their Quick March and the Medley competitions. I’m so proud of all our band for their strong performance in competition. The trip was not an easy one, and by this day everyone was showing signs of being a bit weary. Another great part of the day was meeting some of the other bands from South America. We were next to the Chilean Pipe band in the band room and had a chance to get to know them better. They are all so sweet and felt terrible about our dance situation. Friendship bonds across continents were formed that day. Our pipers and drummers also had a chance to meet the amazing band from Brazil. They are an inner-city school that helps keep kids off the streets by forming a commitment to the piping or drumming corps. A fabulous group of young people and do they ever put on a show for the crowd. After the long day at the competition some of us headed to a restaurant not far from our hotel called Tannat. All I can say is the food there was amazing. Everyone was pleased with their choices, and we all enjoyed more Tannat wine. This was a nice way to unwind after a stressful day. Again, dinner takes a while in Uruguay, so we just embraced the slow pace and enjoyed our time there. It was after midnight before we were back to our hotel and everyone was quite tired, so we all headed to bed.
Time for a beach day
We had one full day left in Uruguay before heading home, so us dancers decided to go to a highly recommended beach. Unfortunately for us, it was incredibly windy, rainy, and chilly day. But we had a private driver arranged so we did not want to cancel at the last minute. We embraced the day and layered up and enjoyed exploring in Punta Del Este. People had recommended that we check out Le Mano at the beach, so we planned a day around going there. Even in the poor weather, we still had fun. We walked out onto a pier, took some fun photos. Watched the sea lions and seagulls fighting for scraps at the fish market. Le Mano was neat to see, and we enjoyed taking some photos there. We also braved the cold weather and walked across the beach and got our feet wet. It wasn’t raining anymore so it wasn’t so bad. Our driver then took us to a restaurant for lunch. The food was really good, but language barrier was bad, our server was frustrated when we couldn’t understand what she was saying, but we made do and enjoyed our meal. We had a 2-hour drive back to the city, it started raining again, and we were all tired, so everyone enjoyed a siesta in the van while the driver drove us back to the hotel. Once we got back to the city, we had some time for some last-minute shopping for things to bring home. After that it was time to repack the suitcase and try fit everything back in. Why is it that nothing fits in as well on the way home as it does on the way there?? I didn’t even buy that much, but I sure had a hard time fitting it all back into the suitcase. To celebrate our band trip to South America, we had the organizers arrange for us to attend a traditional Asado dinner. This is a traditional Uruguay BBQ with the Asador explaining what he is doing to prepare the meat. Everything is cooked over the open coals. Some interesting meats were cooked. I tried everything, but I’m not much for kidney or sweetbreads. The chorizo was absolutely delicious though. As was the chimichurri and salsa they served with the food. We had an incredible experience that and I’m so grateful the organizers were able to assist us in planning this special group dinner for everyone. Everyone had the meat sweats and food coma before heading off to bed. What a great last day in Uruguay.
When you fly through Brazil after a federal election…
We started our long travel home by getting on the bus at 6:30 am for the 2-hour drive to Colonia where we would be boarding the ferry to Buenos Aires. We passed through Immigration before boarding the ferry. The ferry was roughly 45 minutes long, and thankfully not too choppy. Immigration at the Argentina side was stressful since I have no Spanish language skills. From there it was off to the airport for our first flight. We flew from Buenos Aires to Sao Paulo where we had to get off the plane, do security and get new boarding passes. Here is where the trip derailed. When we went to get our new boarding passes, we were informed that the flight was delayed. Brazil had their federal election the day before we arrived. The sitting president did not accept his loss, and refused to leave office. There were massive protests all over Brazil. Our new flight crew was not able to get to the airport due to the protests and road blockages. We had no idea when or if we would get depart. Air Canada kept delaying us hour by hour. With no hope of boarding any time soon, we found places to eat, grab some drinks if that’s what people were wanting. As no flights were leaving the international terminal, there were very few places to sit, so a few of us ended up sitting on the floor. Finally, at roughly 1:30am we heard word that the flight crew was finally at the airport and going through security. When they walked through the terminal they were welcomed with loud cheers and clapping! Around 3 am we finally took off from Sao Paulo. Of course, this meant we missed our flight from Toronto to Edmonton the next day. But thankfully Air Canada was able to get our entire group on a new flight later that afternoon. They provided us food vouchers for the delay, and we took advance by having a nice lunch before the last leg of the journey home. By the time we landed in Edmonton at 5:30pm the next day, I was so happy to see my boyfriend, and grab my luggage and go home to see the dog and relax. This was the longest travel time of my life and while it was not terrible, it’s not an experience I want to do again soon. I did learn that the long flights aren’t terrible for me, but the long delay in the airport was hard. At least it was on the end of our trip and not the way to Uruguay.
Overall, this was a fabulous experience. I never thought I’d go to Uruguay or anywhere in South America to be frank. It has opened my eyes to new possibilities of returning in the future. I’d love to explore Argentina and I’d love to go back to Uruguay and have more time to be a tourist, instead of having so much time taken up with pipe band obligations. But if it weren’t for the band, I would never have imagined going to Uruguay in the first place. However, if I do return, I’ll be sure to learn some Spanish and be more prepared for Immigration officers not speaking any English. I hope one day we get to welcome our South American Pipe band friends to Canada for an event.
Good article!
thank you! I’m so glad you enjoyed it! – Paula