impressions

[BillTickle]

I’m just back from a house hunting trip to Punta del Este so I thought I’d try and put a few impressions together.

My wife Alice and I visited last year to get a feel for the country. I’d got pretty excited about the place from research on the net but I must admit that our initial impressions were a bit negative. There was nothing wrong with the country, it was just……. a bit dull! So we forgot about investing and just enjoyed a wonderful holiday. The funny thing was that at the end of our nearly three weeks Alice just said “I’d like to live here”.

Having hopefully sold our house in Spain we returned to Uruguay earlier this month, this time with my 20 year old daughter. After 2 days she said “I don’t understand why you like this place so much” and I must confess I knew what she meant! Yet a fortnight later the magic had worked again and she was talking about coming back at the first opportunity with or without us fogies.

So what is it that makes Uruguay so special? The Southron described it as a “meat and potatoes” kind of country and I think that is the root of the appeal. I know there are plenty of places that are more immediately spectacular and exciting but there is perhaps a lot more depth to Uruguay’s appeal. Solid, important things that matter in every day life that can’t be counted and aren’t always obvious, make it a great place to visit and presumably live.

To begin with the country seems to work. For example the roads aren’t jammed with traffic and don’t get washed away when it rains and the electric doesn’t go of in storms! There seems to be some method and organization in the way things are run and whilst the paperwork may be a pain in the neck it does seem to be intended to work towards a result. Here in Spain where I live now by contrast Catch 22 is frequently the order of the day and obstruction the norm.

Another appealing feature is that Uruguay seems clean and unpolluted. A country that is cared for and where the environment is respected (despite the occasional truck putting out more pollution than your average Chinese coal fired power station). Something we have noticed on both trips is the wonderful variety of birds to be seen in Uruguay. Lots of countries probably have as many varieties but I have never been anywhere else that they seem so tame and unconcerned by the presence of humans.

The greatest attraction however is the people. Everywhere we went we found people extremely friendly and very welcoming. Nothing over the top but there was a genuine warmth that made us want to stay. And no one could typify this friendliness and helpfulness more that Arrancopalito who endured my constant questions with such good will and who’s supply of blankets saved us from becoming the first people to die of hypothermia in a Punta del Este summer.

So when the sale of our Spanish house finally goes through we will be back. Permanently.

[gaberoo]

Bill, I think you got it right; there is a certain "comfort" one encounters when living/visiting Uruguay (I don't know if it's the combination of the laid-back lifestyle, the lack of dense urban/suburban development, the people, the vegetation...).
For me, undoubtably, it is the memories tied to the country that plays a part in why I like being there (much as I may try to disentangle those from my reasons for feeling good while in Uruguay, it is impossible to do so).

Michelle, Randy's wife, mentioned the friendliness of the people as one of the main factors that gave her a positive impression of the place.

I also agree with "boring" as an adjective you might want to use in describing Uruguay, but then its appeal has never depended on words like "spectacular", "exciting", and "exotic" and in everyday living, sometimes those qualities lose a little of their luster (I prefer to have smaller doses of those).

[ant]

I also agree with "boring" as an adjective you might want to use in describing Uruguay

Exactly... Why is that such a bad thing for a place you want to settle in. I'll take that if thats what Uruguay is.

[clara]

Uruguay is like a comfortable pair of old slippers. A glamorous pair of designer shoes looks great and helps you feel exciting and special for the evening. But when the party is over it feels soooooo good to take them off and get back into those slippers.
Uruguay is boring, non glamorous, not exciting but comfortable. It feels like HOME.

[daniel]

I think that a recurrent problem is mixing the criterias to evaluate a country.
Those you use to evaluate a place to live are not exactly the same as those used to evaluate a touristic spot. Some people don't realize the difference and make wrong decisions.
This criterias also depend on which moment of your life you are living. I prefer noisy places with a lot of young people, but I'm sure I will change my mind as soon as I'm older and have to raise a family.

[arrancopelito]

Thanks Bill for the nice words, and am glad that you have left with such a positive overall feeling about the place. It was great to meet Alice and Louise as well, and a young, smart, bilingual and worldly girl like Louise (sorry, i forgot to say very pretty also) will surely find her place here in no time.

I have to agree with some of the above comments. In my personal case, beyond the family and business ties that pulled me back to Uruguay, the main reason was that I want peace. I want a low level of serious political issues (meaning wars, terrorism, etc.), I want low levels of traffic, noise and pollution, and high levels of green and nature in my life, including the birds.

I had never noticed the birds until my now husband came to Uruguay for the first time and went crazy over them. I then started to pay attention, and I have to agree with Bill, they are very un-scared by humans, to the point of cheekiness. Now, we´re constantly watching them everywhere, and I gave my husband a pair of binoculars for his birthday last year...

I also want solitude interspersed with social interaction with lots of interesting, smart, nice people from various walks of life. This was one of the reasons I left Uruguay, the fact that it felt like living in a tiny village, but thanks to recent changes, socially Uruguay and Punta del Este have become a lot more interesting.

[Sandlapper]

Exactly... Why is that such a bad thing for a place you want to settle in. I'll take that if thats what Uruguay is.

Know what you mean! I lived on the mainland side of Hilton Head Island for a couple of years back in the late 1980s, and I learned that living in a resort area and visiting one are two different things! Though it was easy to find good paying work there at the time due to the labor shortage, I couldn't wait to get back to Columbia and "the real world." There were only two months in the year when the place wasn't overrun by tourists, Jan. & Feb. Also, I strongly agree with this from arrancopelito:

I want peace. I want a low level of serious political issues (meaning wars, terrorism, etc.), I want low levels of traffic, noise and pollution, and high levels of green and nature in my life, including the birds.

A quiet life in a pleasant place is worth a whole bunch!

[ant]

that is the first thing i come up with when someone here asks me what I like about Uruguay. No wars / terror / security threats. Beautiful women help a bit too.

[loei]

So what is it that makes Uruguay so special? The Southron described it as a “meat and potatoes” kind of country and I think that is the root of the appeal. I know there are plenty of places that are more immediately spectacular and exciting but there is perhaps a lot more depth to Uruguay’s appeal. Solid, important things that matter in every day life that can’t be counted and aren’t always obvious, make it a great place to visit and presumably live.

To begin with the country seems to work. For example the roads aren’t jammed with traffic and don’t get washed away when it rains and the electric doesn’t go of in storms! There seems to be some method and organization in the way things are run and whilst the paperwork may be a pain in the neck it does seem to be intended to work towards a result. Here in Spain where I live now by contrast Catch 22 is frequently the order of the day and obstruction the norm.

Another appealing feature is that Uruguay seems clean and unpolluted. A country that is cared for and where the environment is respected (despite the occasional truck putting out more pollution than your average Chinese coal fired power station). Something we have noticed on both trips is the wonderful variety of birds to be seen in Uruguay. Lots of countries probably have as many varieties but I have never been anywhere else that they seem so tame and unconcerned by the presence of humans.

The greatest attraction however is the people. Everywhere we went we found people extremely friendly and very welcoming. Nothing over the top but there was a genuine warmth that made us want to stay. And no one could typify this friendliness and helpfulness more that Arrancopalito who endured my constant questions with such good will and who’s supply of blankets saved us from becoming the first people to die of hypothermia in a Punta del Este summer.

Spot on.

Like most lasting pleasures, many of the joys of life in Uruguay are not immediately apparent... they grow on you slowly. The longer I´m here, the more I love it.

Yesterday I moved from my rented house in Colonia Valdense to an "antique" rural house adjecent to my chacra at Paso Las Toscas. This morning the UTE man called by to deliver the electricity bill and although we hadn´t met before, he recognised me as the owner of the house under renovation at the top of the hill... so he gave me the bill for that too with a funny quip about my beautiful "palacito."

If I had to pick the one most endearing aspect of Uruguay it would be the Uruguayan people themselves.

Patrick.

[snowykarma]

Total agreement here,since our visit last spring (March- April ) we are wrapping things up here asap.Why?
It is the most European city of 30-40 years ago that I have seen. Prior to our visit,we checked out most of Europe again for retirement locals,but found them changed for the worse.(In our eyes.) On top of that comes the cost factors etc.

They may not have everything London,Berlin,Paris,or Rome can offer,but the flavor and relaxed way of life are every where. Viva Uruguay! snowykarma