Welcome to Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay! Half of the country’s 3.3m people live here.
The country is located on the Northern side of the Rio de la Plata — the widest river in the world.
Uruguay ranks first in South America in democracy, peace, lack of corruption, quality of living, e-Government, press freedom, prosperity and security.
Already the immigration system is superior to the ones in the US and EU: The number shows the booth where you have to go. Simple.
Uruguay’s president is a medical doctor. Smoking is prohibited inside, as is providing salt or ketchup on the table in restaurants (you have to ask for it).
Cannabis is allowed, though.
Workshop
I give a talk at the workshop on Information and Communication Systems and their application to vertical sectors. I learn that “ICT is at the core of key innovations”, ...
...that “the lack of significant demonstrated business or economic cases is perceived as a limiting factor”, and that “we are now entering the new era of cognitive computing”.
However, I also learn how machine learning can be used to detect malicious skin cancers or steer trucks in a copper mine.
When the workshop plan said that the third day is “Networking”, I thought that we would hear talks about computer networks. That is not the case. What is meant is “Social Networking”,...
...i.e., real world human interaction in a nice place. In our case, the choice is Punta del Este, Uruguay’s luxury resort area.
Punta del Este has a kind of roller coaster bridge that is real fun to drive across...
...and a beautiful colonial architecture. The city has 10,000 permanent inhabitants, but 24,000 apartments to host the summer population.
The most famous land mark is the “Hand of Punta del Este”, a sculpture by Chilean artist Mario Irarrázabal. The other hand is in Chile. The body in between has not yet been digged out.
We visit nice places, and network as instructed...
...which involves also some physical activity.
All in all we’re having a great time...
...which we’re sharing with other tourists in the area.
Montevideo
At sunrise, this problem does not exist (why?).
We take a bike tour around the hotel. The Rambla de Carrasco is one of the most elegant and safest residential neighborhoods in Montevideo,...
...and reminds us somehow of California.
Montevideo itself has a beautiful center, with a number of pedestrian zones and parks.
The city was founded by in 1726 by Bruno Mauricio de Zabala.
The Plaza Constitución was the first square of the city, and the Metropolitan Cathedral was built in 1790.
Today, the Plaza Independencia is the center, shown here with fragments of the original city wall.
We visit the National History Museum. José Artigas fought for Uruguay’s independence, first against the Spanish, then against the Argentines, and then against the Portuguese.
This picture shows a first attempt by the artist to draw Artigas, where unfortunately the frame was not large enough.
The good thing about national history museums in South America is that you can be done with them in less than an hour, because there is not so much national history.
Uruguay is fiercely secular, and even streets are not allowed to be named after saints.
Montevideo has some very beautiful colonial remains...
...but many houses in the city center are in ruins or for sale (or both).
The “Mercado del Puerto” offers fire-grilled meat. We admit, though, that we have not found as good beef meat as in Argentina. We are becoming picky.
We also learn how to clear out an apartment Uruguay style. We imagine that the process will be much faster when it comes to the washing machine.
This fountain love-locks half of the population of Uruguay. May it work as intended!
Click here to continue to Rio!
