Montevideo, Uru-where?

In preparation for our return to Luxembourg, we thought visiting a small country will get us back in the mood, so after Brazil, we headed to Uruguay. With only 3.5 million inhabitants, we were welcomed very warmly, given that they had finally found out more about a nation that made them seem really big. And with 13 million cows and 11 million sheep, you can't say noone lives here, you must only be careful the cows don't start a revolution, cos then the Uruguayans would have to run fast... Cows are on the menu everywhere here: parilla, asado, leather gloves, leather jackets, cow skins as carpets and the whole thing accompanied with delicious local wine or their mate tea that everyone drinks all day long. We love Uruguay and especially Montevideo: it's small, green, clean, quiet, it's cheap, and they put the sun on display for the first cold days that we were here, very nice.

Uruguay is, however, also the country of contrasts. If you live around the beach or the old centre and you're around 30, you're most likely to have a good education, speak English, most probably have university education, and a job that pays about 250 Euros a month, which also means that you're probably thinking of joining the other 50 000 Uruguayans who leave their country every year to live in some other promised land.

If you live in the outskirts, and you are 30, you are most likely to have had about 5 to 7 children, have a tin shelter as a house and not good primary education. Your husband may be one of the men collecting rubbish in town with the horse carriage, separate it and sell it to make some money, and you're most likely not to regard a kitchen, bathroom, a medical or teeth as a normal part of your life.

After spending the first week in the glossy area of Montevideo, we spent the second part of our stay with an NGO in the slums, and learned a fair bit.