[Remote Year] Montevideo in Review
I wrote this on March 5, en route to Buenos Aires from Montevideo. Between all the activities available and all the recovery time required here in BA, it’s taken me until the last few days here to sit down and get some non-work writing done. It’s long but mostly short summaries + pictures. Here we go! :)
We are waiting to board the bus to the ferry to Buenos Aires to get vans to our new accommodations. I am sitting on my duffle bag, surrounded by hundreds of Battuta suitcases and backpacks and purses. TJ, Dustin, and Laura are shooting each other with toys from their happy meals. Lauren is lettering her Buenos Aires city title in her sketchbook. Other groups are standing in clusters, playing cards, talking, eating.
I can’t help but have flashbacks to team travel days and hanging out at regattas between races. We’re a big touristy mass, and sometimes it’s great.
Farewell Montevideo
Our farewell party was not last night but the night before — wisely scheduled to allow for everyone to be hungover and sleep late yesterday and make our 10:30 am departure time today. I suspect Remote Year learned their lesson the hard way with RY1…
The party was amazing — some locals from Sinergia recommended the venue. It was someone’s house, so we entered through an unassuming door into this eccentric, almost unending space.
The ceilings were about 15 feet high, and each room was dimly lit by candles and lamps. The first few rooms had antique couches and chairs, old pianos, and unusual art.
Then there was a courtyard room with a bar that had open air view of the night sky. A side room had a DJ playing while several people from the group set up a face painting station next to a glowing black light. The back patio had a small stage (where the band later played), and narrow metal stairs led up to several levels of balconies and terraces.
The drinks were considerably less strong than the last party, which, in my opinion, was a benefit since that meant I could actually count my drinks and survive the night. The live music was great, and we had a good contingent of Sinergia locals and friends that people had made this month.
Even though the welcome party was really fun, this party was even better because we were able to celebrate our first month together with better established friendships instead of just being a party of anxious strangers anticipating a year together.
Trips & Activities
Now for a brief-ish recap of my weekend trips & activities this month — ideally I will write about each, but since I’m clearly slow and behind, a list will suffice for now:
Punta del Este — Organized by Dave / Remote Year, stayed at surf hostel (El Hostelito) near Bikini Beach, $100 for the bus and hostel and surf rental, extra $30 for surf lesson (my first time ever surfing! I did pretty well), plus food & drinks — like delicious homemade pizza at the hostel.
Cabo Polonio—We drove out to the national park, left our van, took a big 4x4 vehicle out 7km across the dunes to the little hippie commune that is Cabo Polonio, and spent the weekend relaxing in hammocks and on the beaches. We used splitwise to pay for the 9 person rental van, two nights at our wonderful airbnb hostel, homemade pizza dinners at the hostel, and drinks and food while out — I paid for about $120 worth of food and drinks and contributed another $75 towards the car and airbnb.
Montevideo Scavenger Hunt — RY organized activity for us to spend 5 hours running around town taking photos and videos to get points from challenges, free except for food and drinks during the activity. My trio spent part of our time enjoying a relaxing lunch at El Brasilero, a historic cafe in old town, so we did not win, but I enjoyed our casual pace.
Volunteering — RY organized with Uruguay Entre Todos, our group collectively raised about $700 USD to pay for paint and materials to paint the exterior of a school in a suburb of Montevideo.
Some people just donated, others just volunteered, I did both — I was tempted not to go and spend the day sightseeing around Montevideo, but if I can find time for myself, I can also find time to give back and do something helpful. It was really fun because a group of kids from the school were volunteering with us, so we got to meet them and have some fun painting, eating, and playing dodge ball together.
Philharmonic Beatles Concert — I tried to see this concert at the Teatro Solis, but it was sold out the night I went. I was really disappointed until Lucia at Sinergia told me that they were also doing a free concert at the Facultad de Arquitectura. It was a highlight of my time in MVD and beyond my expectations. I also really enjoyed the venue — we were lucky to have second row seats thanks to Cait saving us a row, so we watched the orchestra across the pond while surrounded by standing room only in the courtyard and people listening from the second floor classrooms.
A brief video from the concert (this excerpt is their jazz riff on Eleanor Rigby)— I have many more to upload later: https://www.instagram.com/p/BCMGXvIyR0j/
Cooking Class with Martin — This was another highlight experience, both because it was probably the most delicious food that I ate all month and also because Martin was so friendly and it was great to be cooking in his home. We ate vegetable rolls, braised lamb (amazing) with peach chutney, papas rellenas, and an upside-down fruit torte.
It was a great activity to do with a group of 9 people, and I was so happy to be back in a kitchen and clean space, even though I didn’t really do a lot of actual cooking as much as observing and drinking and snacking. Absolutely worth the $50 and recommend it highly: Martan Cocina.
Dance Class — Pitu, our Spanish tutor and a local, organized a dance class for us “gringos” to learn how to dance reggaeton. The first class of 25 people loved it so much that they had to organize two more classes so the rest of us could do it. Since I grew up dancing and it’s one of my absolute favorite activities, I was thrilled and enjoyed every minute of it. I was surprised and impressed to see everyone in class really go for it, even though the style of dance is definitely not something most of us (especially the guys) are used to. If you’re in MVD, take a class with Lautaro.
Lettering Class — Lauren Hom, one of our fellow RY2 Battutas, is a professional letterer / illustrator who does beautiful work. She organized a lettering class for beginners at Sinergia, which again was so popular she booked another night to accommodate us. This was open to the public, so in addition to getting to learn a fun new skill, it was also a great opportunity to sit and talk with some locals for a couple hours while we worked.
Museums in Montevideo — on Tuesday, I finally got around to going to a few of the museums around town, and luckily that was the day they’re mostly free (if open), so I was able to do quick visits to the Museo del Gaucho y Moneda, Museo Gurevich, and Museo del Carnaval. I really liked the Museo Gurevich and Museo del Carnaval, though for very different reasons as they have quite different purposes and exhibits.
Yoga Classes — I taught my first two yoga classes ever since doing my teacher training in India last April with my mom! I lead a super beginner intro to yoga workshop one morning and then a vinyasa flow another morning, both in the lovely, light-filled rooftop room at Sinergia.
Restaurants & Cafes
La Pulperia — my favorite restaurant experience for meat in Montevideo, we got the ribeye, flank steak, blood sausage, and chicken AND were able to sit down to dinner at the obscenely early hour of 7 pm, which was lovely.
Primuseum — a unique dining experience in a little antique shop with live tango music starting at 10 pm; it’s a set 5-course meal with unlimited wine for $65…
El Mingus — went on one of our first nights and it was actually really good; I had a salad with fresh fruit and goat cheese mousse so was plenty happy about that plus the nice ambiance.
Cocino de Pedro — near our workspace, we got the big piles of assorted meat dishes, which isn’t my favorite but is kind of a must-do while living in Montevideo if you eat meat at all.
La Fonda — an Italian restaurant with an open kitchen so I watched the chef make my pasta by hand; the sauce wasn’t my favorite but I enjoyed the environment a lot and had a relaxing lunch, worked for a while, and got a complimentary espresso at the end.
Pasta making & good music at La Fonda: https://www.instagram.com/p/BCakDKiSR-M/
Mercade del Puerto — meat on grills everywhere. Anthony Bourdain visited and ate here apparently. It’s touristy but also plenty of locals eating here.
Baron Barbershop — a speakeasy behind a functioning old-timey styled barbershop; it is pretty contrived feeling but still a fun place to go once, and they had better mixed drinks than average in Montevideo.
Jacinto — probably my favorite lunch spot even though I only went once; they have a great chef apparently, and we enjoyed a nice burrata salad, air conditioning, and good wifi.
Cafe Philomene — super cute place with pretty good scrambled eggs and coffee and adorable wallpaper.
Camelia — air conditioned! and had decent coffee and good salads, sushi (based on my observations, all sushi in Uruguay is smoked salmon), and other food.
Tomate — another cafe where I also had a nice salad and listened to some Beatles music the morning of the concert — heyo universe!.
Sinergia Cowork — this was our workspace, and they have a chef that comes in to make lunch on weekdays. It was actually really tasty and one of the few places to get a good salad consistently.
Montevideo Money Math
My month in Montevideo by the numbers, rounded up, in USD:
- Remote Year $2000
- Additional Travel $200
- Food $850 (average $25 / day)
- Activities $150
- Social $100
- Transportation $60
- Personal $100
- Total $3460
- Average (35 days) not including RY fees = $43 / day
This includes some things like SIM cards and most of what it required for me to live for the month, but not all of my work and personal expenses or taxes.
A Fraction of my Feelings
I certainly am neither an expert on Uruguay or Montevideo at this point, nor do I know everyone from the group terribly well yet, but it’s amazing what develops after a month.
A month is an interesting amount of time because it’s neither a quick vacation nor really long enough to settle into living somewhere. Combine that with working / looking for more work, and the result is an experience very different from what most people are used to.
People are always asking (aka obnoxiously commenting on social media) if we ever work, but that’s because they’re looking at the pictures of the beautiful sights and activities from our free time — anyone can make life look glamorous in a couple pictures from an entire day or week.
Not pictured, or really reflected in my summaries of activities and side trips, is my emotional experience of this trip and transition into this lifestyle.
I only speak, naturally, of my own personal experience, and the other Battutas likely have very different perspectives. But I was surprised by how hard this month has been for me, and in ways I didn’t anticipate at all. Because I hadn’t thought too much about who was in the group, I also didn’t think about the group dynamic as much.
As I explored more in-depth in an earlier essay from my perspective at two weeks in, it feels something like adult summer camp or the first week of college.
Some of that is amazing and is exactly what we signed up for — like piling 9 of us into a van and hostel for a beach weekend at a hippie commune, or having so many different people available to do activities and meals with — something that “normal” adulthood in America is lacking: people are often busy and it’s easy to feel isolated even in a city full of people.
However, there’s a lot of stress that comes with meeting 75 people all at once and trying to navigate all those social dynamics.
In addition to that all being physically and emotionally draining at times, there’s the difficulty of being in a foreign country and new city. Even though we were in a pretty walkable area, had cell phones / SIM cards with data, and people to help research and recommend places, it’s still exhausting to be struggling with a second language and in an environment where everything ranges from slightly different to completely unknown.
Whether it’s the extra attention it takes to read a sign or menu to having to adapt to different foods, there are small difference every step of the way that end up having a big cumulative effect on the psyche and body.
Since I left NYC in June 2014 to travel, this constant state of exhaustion and need for alone time at home relaxing and sleeping has been something that constantly surprises and frustrates me.
I’m always forgetting about the need for macro recovery and the toll that this lifestyle takes on me, and it’s hard not to feel lazy or guilty about needing extra sleep or being too tired to do everything when you’re on a crazy adventure. But it’s just a non-negotiable, at least for my body and mind.
Wrap all of that up with some stress about work and money, pair it with (anticipated but not easy) heartbreak from home, and it’s been a month as full of insecurities, tears, and stress as it has of adventure, amazing new experiences, and moments of utter joy and elation.
In some ways, the dust has settled some and I have a better sense of how to navigate myself in the group, am making progress with finding new work / projects, and am trying to integrate healthy eating and yoga into my daily life as often as possible.
But it’s impossible to anticipate how our new living situation and the city of Buenos Aires will affect things or what new challenges and opportunities await during the next month of this crazy experience.
Onward to Argentina!
And that’s my MVD reflection, a month late. I could edit it or inject more thoughts / feelings thanks to my changing perspective and experience from being in BA for the past month, but that’s for another time. I’m already too long-winded as is :D
Thanks for reading! Comments and questions welcome — I will try to respond as quickly as possible!
Katherine is a digital nomad, working remotely while she travels the world — living on the road since June 2014. She’s a member of Remote Year 2 Battuta, living around the world with 75 other digital nomads from February 2016 to January 2017.
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