Prior to travelling to Uruguay for the weekend, I didn't really appreciate how it would feel backpacking through places you have already visited five years ago, as Bernard had done for his first 8 weeks on tour in Africa. It struck me for the first time how dangerous it can be to revisit places that you remember so fondly – places change, people change, you change. Its hard not to be disappointed when expectations (relatively high ones at that) are not met, fully or even partially. This is how I felt travelling through Uruguay. I was in a strange part of my journey five years ago – I had grown accustomed to doing things on my own but feeling lonely. I interacted with locals as best I could, as often as I could. I was used to food and other items being extremely affordable, and as I hadn't travelled to Europe at that point, I marvelled at the Europeanesque architecture. Therefore the memories I treasured from before were about the kindness of strangers, and that I felt like I was discovering a hint of “Europe”.
This time obviously our experience was against us – we've seen so many beautiful things during our travels that it takes a lot to impress. The weather was against us – it rained for most of the day whilst we were in Colonia which was a real pity because once the rain disappeared we could easily have spent a few hours watching the world go by in a cafe, if only our bus didn't leave in half an hour. Even the local architecture was against us – a large chunk of a balcony fell and grazed Bernard's shoulder – had it fallen half a second earlier it would have struck Bernard directly on the head. And the time of year was against us (which we knew beforehand) – in January everyone is at the coast enjoying the beaches, so Montevideo was half as vibrant as it may be in other months of the year. And finally the prices were against us – it used to be so cheap, but now it was more expensive than dining out even more expensive than outstanding quality restaurants in BA.
What a shame. So will hold onto my memories of the place from five years ago.
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