Watching films in Montevideo

Spending a few days in the suburb Libertad, we were back to Montevideo at another host Daniel. Before we talked more about the stay with him, there were more about this city. We dropped by her international film festival, which the tourist information center did not even know about that. According to Felipe, our friend who met us there, Montevideo has the fifth largest film archive in the world. People could pay a monthly fee to be a member of the film club in the city, then they could watch films in some cinemas for free or at discounted price. He as a member recalled his childhood spending hours watching films. What an enjoyable childhood was that if we could do the same in Hong Kong. We got the brochure and read through like the one for Hong Kong film festival. The scheduling and structure of the brochures (https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B0xD5D59cXlidVZCSlBtZUtpQVU) were quite similar: having themes of particular director, actor/ess (it was Julia Binoche), gala of international films, short films, cartoons, documentary, theme of humanism with Amnesty International etc. Member of the film club only paid an extra of U$130 (about HK52) to watch most films for free and other at U$20. I would be a very happy person if I grew up in a city like this which encouarges film-watching so much. Children can also become film experts from early their early age.

The film we watched was a documentary about a group of mother and family members of political prisoners who were detented and disappeared during dictatorship in this country in 70s. They were transferred between the military governments of Argentina and Uruguay, which co-ordinated with each other (or two birds make a flock). These mothers and families kept demonstrating for justice. We asked Felipe if it was a widespread movement in Montevideo, he said no. Only once a while they shouted out and people supported them. However, to claim responsibility of the military official in the past would imply uplifting the current defense department. Therefore it was a systemic issue that the government should claim an overall remembrance policy. So far not much was done and time kept depleting the chance of facing it directly, when effort needs to pump in continually educating younger generation. I imagine that it would be the same inside mainland China as its dictatorship would not even admit responsibility. Hong Kong became the last base for non-government organization to keep commemorizing although it has become ritualistic (better than none). When shall be our chance of getting justice for June 4 massacre ?

Our second film was supposed to be “Monkey sandwich” by a choreographer Maria knew. She looked forward to the film. However, all thing happen in South America, especially when one puts expectation. The spanish subtitle was 3 minutes ahead of the german/english film that the audience was upset that they kept going forward and complained to the staff. some left. how they solved the problem was to stop the film at the middle (hey, we could still understand !). Either we could get refund or go to see another film. We sneaked into another theatre and it was a hollywood movie of Moore playing as a terminal cancer patient and how she was tackling life before death. At the end we could not sneak into another theatre for another festival film (punk movie by Macedonia). We both were quite upset in this cinema experience: Maria could not watch the film she wanted; I was tortured by the hollywood formula that always it was a happy ending and Whoopie Goldberg playing god (again, I recalled more than once that she was playing something like that).

Only the salted-fried chicken kidney and beer helped us settle the upsetness that night. Anyhow watching films here was a part of life here and that made us like Montevideo more.

Museum going in Montevideo

We turned out going to 10 museums in our visits of Montevideo. All have Spanish descriptions only for the exhibits. It is a good practice of our spanish with the iphone dictionary handy.

My most favourite museums were the Museo de Historia del Arte and Museo Nacional de Artes Plasticas y Visuales. Both are free and have rich collection that one day is not enough to see each of them.

Long distance hitchhiking in Uruguay

At first we did not succeed in hitch-hiking to Rocha, where the highway number 9 passed and went south to Punte del Este and Montevideo. Many drivers expected us taking bus, which we finally did by hopping to the bus going to Montevideo. We could have taken that bus and went all the way to Montevideo by just paying the full fare, however, an aim of this trip was to practice our hitch-hiking skill. It would be a pity if we did not practicing it before going to the latter part of our South America trip which hitchhiking should be more frequent. Therefore we changed our mind and took off at Rocha. There was supposed to be a couchsurfing host working in a farm there, but he turned out to be an inconsiderate one who left no contact after agreeing to host and actually was in Montevideo, and wasted our time waiting and making false expectation. However, at least we had a chance to join a local Catholic mass. I thought we just let God lead our way and He really did.

After the mass we had some dinner and washed up in the central plaza (taking water from the toilet of the nearby bus company). There were children playing and curious of us being the rare Chinese (expecting us knowing kung-fu). They kept asking us questions and we could only answer some such as where we were from. It was dark and we had to go. After walking for ten blocks back to the highway 9,we passed the gas station where there were several heavy trucks with lights off. I thought even they were on the right direction, the drivers could be sleeping and we may wake them up. The better time may be in the morning when they started off. However, we did not have plan to sleep next to the gas station though it was safer than next to the highway at dark. So we walked away, passed the bus station (there was still bus to Montevideo at 10pm, it was an easy way out but we did not want to take that), and kept thumbs up. We also made a signboard saying “en cualquier lugar hacia la Montevideo” (anywhere towards Montevideo, we were not sure if the Spanish was correct). Vehicles kept passing us.

The planned one came. There was a heavy truck stopping in front of us to buy stuff from the canteen nearby. We were so excited and must "thicken our face-skin". Practising what we should say in spanish “a donde va ?” (where are you going ?), “puedomos ir con usted ?” (can we go with you ?). The driver laughed at us following the words in iphone to ask these questions. He finally brought us, even though we did not know exactly where he was going. He said something like not going to Montevideo but “San Teresa” (we did not know, as long as it was south along highway 9 then it should be fine).

The kitchen at the side of the truck

Our first truck hitch-hiking in South America !!! The driving cart was so high up that we had to climb up the ladder into that. We thought that we could not do that if we were taking very heavy backpacks. The trip of the driver was from Sao Paulo of Brazil. It was a really long way to come here. Due to the high cost of living in Brazil, he cooked his meal on the truck, not in the truck. How ? There were two metal boxes at the side of the truck for storing food and a gas stove respectively. I wondered if the gas stove was actually burning the diesel from the tank ?! The driver wanted some hot water for his mate, so he stopped the truck aside of the highway, went out, got his kitchen ready, got water from the water tank and boiled it. He made us coffee. It was necessary that we stayed awake in the drive, because it didn’t look good to sleep on the way when the driver was giving a free ride. Better if we could speak spanish, we could chat with him. However he seemed to have fun talking to us even though we did not understand most of what he said.

We did not know where he was taking us, so I kept reading the map and got prepared to know where we would be dropped. Finally we were in San Teresa which was only 20km from Montevideo. Then we just paid 43 peso for two city buses getting to home, just about one-tenth of the long distance bus tickets. Hurray !!! Thanks to the driver of whom the name we did ask but still did not know.

We learnt a good lesson in hitch-hiking: the face should be thick (a chinese saying that we should dare to ask)

Hitchhiking練習薄

Hitchhiking練習一
 距離：15km （步行3小時／車行半小時）
地點：巴拉圭Encarnacion 列為UNISCO世界文化遺產的耶穌會遺址Jesuit Mission，Jesus與長途車公路之間
特點：遺址來回公路的公共交通只有一輛傳說是一小時一班的巴士（回程等了1.5小時也等不到）和沒有的士牌嘅的士


俾錢的話：公車每位約HK$5，的士每程約HK$50
Hitchhiking 經過：去程坐的士，中途見巴士在路上，回程時已查詢好巴士時間，並提早15分鐘在站前等候。結果1.5小時也沒有車，賭氣不坐經過嘅的士，心想，大不了行3小時，用走的吧，中途遇上巴士才上車。行了數公里，只遇到反方向走的巴士。心急起來，便胡亂擮車。居然有架工程車停下來，讓我們坐在車尾箱上的木梯、電線及鐵線之間。安全將我們帶回大路
心情：第一次hitchhiking興奮又緊張。


Hitchhiking練習二
距離：30km （步行5小時／車行一小時）
地點：阿根廷Posadas列為UNISCO世界文化遺產的耶穌會遺址Jesuit Mission的Nuestra Señora de Loreto與Posadas巿中心之間
特點：遺址到Posadas的公共交通又是一小時一班的巴士，但要走回頭路，須先回San Ignacio然後再𨍭車
俾錢的話：公車每位約HK$30一程，沿路卻沒有見過的士
Hitchhiking 經過：遺址只有難以辨認的石牆遺跡，參觀人數不多，有專人帶隊講解（否則完全不明哪裡跟哪裡）。參觀完畢，同行隊友中，是有車的本地人，我們走出大門，正迷茫如何轉車之際，輕輕的擧手，加上期盼的眼神，他們便停了車送我們一程。
重點：我們與一couchsurfing的保加利亞美女同行，車上則是兩夫婦及他們的男性朋友，上了車，後排擠住四個人，美女貼住那老友坐足一小時，問完名又問電郵......
心情：太幸運了！將我們送到巿中心。但太擠了，坐完腳抽筋！


再來一次
距離：400km（步行-唔係掛！？／車行4至5小時）
地點：烏拉圭東南方的海邊小鎮Cabo Polonio
目標：用三日兩夜時間，看看可否一直hitchhiking回到首Montevideo，單程巴士車費每位約HK$150
Hitchhiking 經過：
Part 1
從Cabo Polonio小鎭坐30-40分鐘鎮上唯一的交通工具 - 4x4巨型吉普車到車站（約HK$36一位），然後沿著回Montevideo方向的公路Ruta10走了約半小時，沿路一直嘗試折車，終於有一家五口的小貨車停下，說了一個我們聽不懂的目的地，但總之方向正確，我們便跳到車尾，一坐坐了近一小時，一直到了La Paloma附近。
心情：一車坐足100km，興奮又感動，就讓命運帶我們到下一個旅遊點吧！


Part 2
我們到了人煙較少的Costa Azul，在沒有人的教堂找到水源，吃了點朱古力及麵包做晩餐，再在沙灘附近找到適合的camp site。遊客租住面向馬路的落地玻璃海景渡假屋，我們則偷偷在馬路往沙灘的草叢旁露型。


早上起來，吃了早點，便沿著沙灘走到La Paloma，那邊有個碼頭，我們嘗試看看有沒有機會hitchhike隻帆船到Montevideo。碼頭多是釣魚人、漁船或忙著整理船隻機件的船主，看來機會不大，又怕羞不敢四處亂問，只好放棄，往巿內走。


又是一個海邊渡假小鎮，走了一圈，步行到公路去，已近下午4時。一直走、一直試，多是耍手擰頭，沒有遇上往長途車方向的車(長途巴士除外)，終於，我們還是上了一輛往Montevideo的巴士，但決定再試試運氣，在附近的小鎮Rocha下車。


在鎮上四處閒逛，看看巴士時間，吃了點包點，參加了一台彌撒已近七時半。又用走的出到公路碰運氣。


天氣已黑，我們想去油站截車，試試看有沒有前往Punta del Este或Montevideo的貨車，又怕要厚著面皮逐個問，溝通不了，只敢站到路上舉牌。公路的車也是風馳電制，我們拿著寫上Montevideo的紙牌，路上的車完全沒反應。

忽然，有輛超巨型的大貨車在路上停下，司機走到路邊還開的小商店，不知是買東西還是上厠所。機不可失，我們跑上前，等他回來，然後試著朋友教的 Hitchhiking spanish：
我：A donde va usted?（你去邊呀？）
司機大叔：Santa Teresita（其實都唔知係邊！？）
我：Es la Ruta 9? (是在9號公路嗎？）
我：Podemos viajar con usted?
（可以跟你走嗎？）
司機大叔：你去邊？
我：Montevideo
司機大叔：唔經喎！
我：經9號公路嗎？下個油站都得！
司機大叔（笑，斜對面就係油站！）
我：（睇住iPhone再照稿讀兩次）Podemos viajar con usted?
司機大叔（大笑）
得咗！
原來Santa Teresita是在Montevideo uptown,我們一坐，坐了三粒鐘順風車，途中仲停低在星空下打開車側隱藏的小廚房煲水飲咖啡、吃餅乾和泡mate。
重點： 要厚面皮, 唔理佢講乜,死而後已, 要上到車為止, "來讓我跟你走,流浪到天邊海角。
心情:   因為唔知去緊邊, 每見到去Montevideo嘅路牌都偷笑一次, 又近20km ...

Tango in Montevideo

The city claimed the origin of tango earlier than Buenos Aires. Compared to the prosperous tango scene and several milonga a night, Montevideo lagged behind and milonga were not frequent. Thanks to Mario, he brought us to a small milonga in a wine house. We did not dance much because there were so few people, but we enjoyed the cozy atmosphere and the wine. It was our first time tasting Uruguay wine, typical wine of the new world good for dining but not much on vintage tasting. The second milonga, after we made sweet and sour pork in Mario’s place (he liked Chinese culture and read literature of Lao-tze), was a Sunday milonga by Joven Tango, situated in an old market (Mercado de la Abundacia). Our first impression of the tango there, because of the milonga, was that it was only danced by old people. We were the youngest couple there. Actually we just came at the wrong time, there was another milonga the same night with younger tango population. Back to this one, we were not only the youngest, but also the best dancers there. There was even an old man in suit praising us that he treated us free pizza and beer before we left (as we had to rush for the last bus back to Libertad). The organizer of the milonga, who was a woman, even gave us telephone number and asked if we could perform for them! We were flattered by the invitation but we had other plan on the weekend, so we just took the number for future contact. The floor there was good, but the music there was very bad, the dj had no knowledge about tanda and mixed milonga and neuvo in the same tanda. Even there were only two milonga coming together, the tanda had only these two songs. I had to stand a few second before figuring out what I should dance next. Therefore I did not dance much too.

On Tuesday in the same place there was a free practica by another organizer. It was raining hard on that day and before going we went to another tango place that we searched on internet but it turned out a show-tango dinner placing costing several hundred dollar a person. This time most of the younger dancers come out. I would say the young community here is more welcoming than Buenos Aires. With my observation about good-looking women in Uruguay, on average there were more than Buenos Aires, so were the good looking tanguaras. They even invited men for dance. Although the dj sucked again, at least I enjoyed more dancing on this Tuesday. Maria had more handsome guys dancing with them, but most of them were not good leaders. I hope she enjoyed dancing with handsome guys.

The last milonga we had in Montevideo was one Thursday in a pub on Jose E Rodo street next to the crossing on the main Bvar. Gral. Artigas. Good dj, good floor, beautiful dancers, free wifi, what else can we ask ? We had a good time from 11pm (the BsAs typical start time) to 3am in the morning (still early in BsAs standard but there were not many dancers left at that time). The time schedule of tango of Montevideo matched a 9-5 life better than BsAs. Actually we can go to this Thursday milonga again before we left, but we enjoyed staying in the place of a new host Felipe (also we were short of cash and did not want to change more peso) so much that we did not go.

In all, the tango in Montevideo could still not be compared to Buenos Aires in terms of music and dance level. However, the more friendly community and common higher standard of outlook of the tangueras made her also a good place for me.

Back to the more modern and expensive city - Montevideo

After 19 hour of comfortable bus trip, we reached Montevideo in the morning. It took us some time to find a free internet line in the bus station to get the skype and contact our new CS host Pedro. Not sure about the arrival time I said we would be there at 4pm, we turned out having 4 hours to wait for him back from work. It was kind of the security person who let us put down the backpacks covered and we went out for a walk. His place was near to the bus station and there was a co-operative supermarket, which ran in a special way with cheaper mechandizing so that they can sell product in cheaper price. People in pension and subsidy could join membership for discounted shopping. Certainly it could not compare to farmer’s market, as we later found out, but it was an acceptable choice in this expensive-to-live city (a litre of beer cost U$50 ~USD2.5, compared to Paraguay costing around USD2).

Finally we met Pedro, he just moved to the new place for a few months. As an IT professional, his home had what we mostly want : wifi. We could have stayed at his home for a whole morning updating our blog, contacting friends and family in Hong Kong, finding the next couch-surfing, the cheapest cross-atlantic flight ticket if possible etc. He also had two bikes that we had a good afternoon riding a bike along the coast. But before the coast we had to ride along busy road that was not easy for bike-newbie like Maria. She also gave me a hard time putting the chain back to her bike after doing something which a biker doesn’t do : changing gear and pedal backward while standing. My hands were all black after this, one good thing about the consequence was that I needed to cook that night. It was steak in Pedro’s kitchen which only had a microwave oven with grill function. We did improvise on that the first night to make a dinner for five by making fried rice and chicken (I was still proud of that).

We stayed at Pedro’s place for two more nights, which was a little unexpectedly short in our and his views, but we had another host offering a place in Libertad and we would like to see more people, so we went. Our stay with Pedro was comfortable and happy, with his friendliness and considerateness. Another day when we came out to the downtown and got late after tango, he was willing to let us stay for a night so that we could save some transportation back to the suburb. We wish him a good living in the new place and the home improvement projects (such as the projector, kitchen stove and others) go well.