Uruguay Day 6 – Exploring More Neighborhoods + A Protest March!

Barrio Pocitos & Barrio Punta Carretas

We spent the morning and afternoon exploring the Pocitos and Punta Carretas neighborhoods (barrios) of Montevideo (after our daily visit to Pausat, that is). There’s a long stretch of sandy beach in Pocitos, lined with high-rise apartment buildings. It was a windy and overcast day, so nobody was at the beach. As you move to the interior of Pocitos, there are lots of tree-lined streets with a mix of smaller apartment buildings and single-family homes. It reminded us a bit of Midtown Sacramento.

We had a nice walk through Pocitos to the interior of Punta Carretas, which had a very similar feel to Pocitos. There was a main drag with tons of shops, bars, and restaurants. There were a lot of Italian restaurants, and even a couple stores that sell fresh pasta, so we’re guessing it’s sort of an unofficial Little Italy. We were making our way to Mercado Williman for lunch.

Mercado Williman

Mercado Williiman is an upscale food court with lots of international options (they even had an American shop selling Philly Cheesesteaks). I wanted ramen, because one of the photos on Google Maps looked delicious, but it was the one shop that was closed. I opted for Mexican (Tacos al Pastor), while Teresa and Daniel both had Spanish (Tortilla Española and croquettes).

My tacos were terrible – very dry, with corn tortillas that were stiff and not very good, and I’m pretty sure the meat was chicken instead of pork (and definitely not carved from a spit). 1 out of 5 stars.

Teresa and Daniel fared much better. The Spanish food was excellent. Huge portions and very good flavor. 4 out of 5 stars. Overall I’d say Mercado Williman is a good choice if you’re with a group and can’t all decide on what to have for lunch or dinner. There’s enough variety that everyone should be happy. Just avoid the tacos.

March to Protest Offshore Drilling

In the evening, Daniel and I went back to Piwo for some ice cream. On our way back, there was a protest against offshore drilling in front of the Presidential Palace. Uruguay has begun awarding licenses to foreign oil companies to begin the exploration phase for offshore drilling, and people aren’t happy about it.

As the protest began to move, marching down Avenue 18 de Julio towards Plaza Libertad, we joined in and marched the 8 blocks with the group, which added more people along the way. The street (one of the main streets in Montevideo) shut down the entire way, with about 2,000 protesters marching down the middle of the street, and protesters using long banners to block the side streets. People didn’t seem to mind too much, as I’m told it’s not an unusual occurrence. What really surprised me, though, was that there wasn’t a single police officer in sight anywhere along the route. Not even watching from the fringes or side streets.

After some research, I learned that the right to assemble/protest is a constitutionally protected right, and since protests in Uruguay have been peaceful, there’s no need for police involvement. Unlike the United States, which is currently antagonizing protesters (sometimes violently through police brutality), and is now starting to use facial recognition to track down and arrest protesters after the fact, Uruguay actually honors the constitutionally protected rights. What a concept!

Steps for the day: 16,247

Videos From the Protest

Here are a few short videos I took during the march. Some have singing, some have chanting, some have cheering. It was peaceful.