This Week in History
One year ago yesterday at 06:30 hrs, we landed in a country that we knew very little about. Our mission was to explore Uruguay—not as tourists, but as future residents. We made an agreement that we would avoid the tourist sites and instead try living in the country as locals. Over the seven days we spent in Uruguay, we learned the following:
The people of Uruguay are incredibly friendly and willing to help non-Spanish speakers. Anytime we walked into a store, someone either spoke English, found a coworker who did, or pulled up a translator app on their phone. There was no “Speak Spanish in this country or I can’t help you” attitude.
Straws are uncommon here. Mikey went up to the counter and asked for a straw. The first employee did not understand, so she got another person. He did not understand the question and got a third person. THREE people at a McDonald's tried to help. That level of customer service left an impression on us.
Uruguayans generally do not wear hats that obstruct their faces inside buildings. I had my baseball cap on while shopping and noticed people staring at me. Applying U.S. standards, I thought, “How rude.” Then I looked around and realized that while some men wore hats, they were typically styles such as newsboy caps that did not cover much of the face. Once I removed my cap, people stopped staring. Lesson learned.
There is a high tax applied to foreigners on many items. Mikey needed shoes with better cushioning than the pair he had brought with him. We found some New Balance shoes that he liked. When we went to the counter, the cashier asked for our cédula number, which we did not have. She then asked for his passport number. It is very common to be asked for your cédula (for residents) or passport (for foreigners). The cashier said something in Spanish, and we left. Mikey used a credit card to buy the shoes because it was easier than converting Uruguayan pesos to U.S. dollars. When he reviewed the transactions the following day, he realized we had paid USD $200 for the shoes. My reaction was, “How much would my addition to office supplies going to cost us?”
It is against the law to use your phone inside a financial institution. The reason, as it was explained to us, relates to laws and regulations that were implemented after the fall of the dictatorship in 1985. As cell phones became more common, police in Montevideo realized that some individuals would enter a bank, observe the location of security personnel, and then call accomplices waiting outside waiting to commit a robbery with the info. No cell phones inside means no communication with accomplices outside. For us, it means not Google Translate to help us with transactions.
Uruguay takes education very seriously. Public education is funded through taxes this includes all levels of degrees in the university. For K–12 students, there are both public and private schools. Most families send their children to public schools. Younger children, roughly elementary school age, wear a white smock with a large blue bow, which serves as their school uniform.
There is no shortage of private schools, either. There were so many Saint X Academies around that I felt like I was back in Catholic Sunday school trying to remember which saint did what. Homeschooling in Uruguay is NOT allowed, and there is no charter school system. Before criticizing this approach, consider that Uruguay has a literacy rate of approximately 97%. Education is considered extremely important, and the government backs up that belief with financial support. Now that is a novel idea.
We also learned some of the history of Uruguay. As we walked around the city, we saw several monuments built to honor leaders throughout the country's history. The most well-known is General Artigas. He is roughly equivalent to George Washington in the United States. We visited his monument and walked through the mausoleum where his remains are honored.
We also walked right next to—and I mean close enough to touch the glass windows of—the president's office. There were no fences preventing people from approaching the building. Can you imagine being able to walk right up to the White House?
Most importantly, Mikey and I were not looked at as “those gay guys.” We were simply seen as two individuals who happened to be a couple. We were not something to stare at, point at, or gossip about. We were just us.
These are just a few of the things we learned and experienced during our exploratory trip to Uruguay. On our way back to Connecticut, we both wished we had used the bus system and spent a day outside Montevideo exploring the rural areas of the country.
What we realized was that the next time we landed in Uruguay, it would be to live here. It would not be for a short vacation.
Thank you for sticking with me.
Remember to be kind to yourself and be kind to others.
