Tuesday

Mentevideo!! Today is my first real day in Uruguay, and since I was already here, I decided to explore Montevideo. Montevideo is the capital of Urugauy, and it really showed. It's buildings were spectacular and it had a bunch of great places to go and things to see.

As I walked out of the Plaza Independencia through a large gateway, I began to think of how run down the gateway seemed to be. I tried to ask someone on the street, but he was too busy. So, I asked someone else. This time, he told me that the gateway is actually called La Puerta de la Ciudadela, which means "the door of the citadel." He explained that it was so run down because it was a ruin from the destruction of the colonial fort in 1833. What was that? I had no idea, so I went to a museum to find out.

I went to Ciudad Vieja (and I'm sorry there's so much translation, but you gotta do what you gotta do) which means Old City. I figured that this place must have a history museum some where, and I was right. In fact, there were a lot of museums, but I chose the one that was the most beautiful. I stepped into the museum through the front door, ready for that clean, old, and partially dusty smell of museums. I was not disappointed.

I looked around for a while, and then I finally found a picture of the citadel. Sadly, it was everything about it was all in Spanish! I had to look for about 10 minutes to find someone who could translate for me. So here is the citadel's story, in a nutshell:

The citadel took 40 years to build, and used to be surrounded by a moat. There were walls all around it, but now they are all ruins, except for a little by the Teatro Solis. (I had to go there!) Anyway, it surrounded Ciudad Vieja I guess, but now it's all in ruins.

I thanked the woman who was translating and went on my way to Teatro Solis (Solis Theatre). There weren't any plays going on right now, but there was something going on tomorrow, so I must go see it after I eat. However, I did see the walls that were now crumbling, even though they were almost non-existant. I had a really fun day, and tomorrow I get to eat steak!