Montevideo, Uruguay

January 4, 2024 | Mike Mikus | The Americas

Note: In response to your questions, over the years, I’ve strived to learn the native pronunciation for the places we visit. Hence my intros to all of our destinations in my posts…

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Hello! Today we are visiting the capital of Uruguay, Montevideo (pronounced mawn-te-vee-the-aw, oo-roo-gwahy).

The population of this capital city is 1.3 million, which is more than half of the country’s population.

Uruguay was founded by the Portuguese in 1717. Its name is thought to have come from the Uruguay River, which means “river of the painted birds” in the (native Uruguayan) “Guarani”. Along the river’s coast, there are about a hundred colorful bird species.

The name Montevideo is believed to have originated from the Portuguese explorer expression “I saw a mount”, referring to Cerro de Montevideo, a small hill visible from The Port of Montevideo, which stands out in the country’s relatively flat landscape. Allegedly, while discovering Uruguay, one of Magellan’s lookouts exclaimed “I saw a mount”, and it stuck.

The Guarani language is Spanish, but it is a bit different than the Spanish spoken elsewhere, in that it includes many Italian words and phrases. Also of interest, at six minutes, Uruguay has a longest national anthem of any country, and is the only country that has a single letter repeated three times within the first 5 characters of its name. Wedged between Brazil and Argentina, Uruguay is the second smallest country in South America, but unlike its neighbors, it is entirely outside of the tropics.

To enhance public health, a number of years ago, Uruguay outlawed salt in restaurants. It is also the world’s largest consumer of beef. Chivito, the national dish, is a sandwich on a bun with “churrasco” (sliced beefsteak), ham, mozzarella cheese, tomatoes, black or green olives and tomatoes. Sometimes it also includes includes bacon and a fried egg. Yum! (Don’t know for sure, but I’ll bet it is especially yummy with salt…)

Reportedly, Montevideo has the best quality of life than any other Latin American city. It has a vibrant old town area and is famous for its phenomenal wines. Wanting to try this nation’s specialty products, Karen and I visited the Bodega Spinoglio Winery winery during our visit. This was especially nice, because the fine folks at RCCL provided this excursion to all UWC passengers at no charge!

After touring the vineyards, the tastings, and checking out the winery, we were treated to a fabulous dinner show in the winery’s event center. Man, those guys know how to do it. And the wine. Davvero muy favoloso mi amigos!