Uruguay is a lot like Argentina, but much smaller, less populated, and more expensive. The prices of restaurants and supermarkets look reasonable until you realize that the Uruguayan peso is a lot stronger than the Argentinian peso and suddenly everything is twice as expensive as in Argentina. As nice as the beaches are and as fun as the holiday party vibe with tens of thousands of Brazilians and Argentinians taking their “overseas” vacations in Uruguay, I can’t wait to go back to Argentina.
Day 1 (64):
| Mobile credit | 403 ARS |
| Ferry to Colonia | 2364 ARS (39.66 USD) |
| Celestino Hostel (2 nights) | 20 + 4.16 USD |
| Groceries | 312 UYU |
| Total: | USD 79.33 (RMB 552.48) |
It was not as easy as I thought it would be to get Uruguayan pesos fresh off the boat. Luckily, I had a bit of USD in cash to float me for the first couple of days. Strangely, the USD-UYU exchange rate was much “better” when I booked the hostels so I think I am locked in at a 38:1 rate though the “real” rate is closer to 36:1.
Day 2 (65):
| 2.25 Liters of Water | 42 UYU |
| Total: | 42 UYU (USD 1.17) (RMB 8.15) |
I cooked enough food (pasta with a simple homemade sauce) the first night to last me a couple of days, and only needed a bit of water when I headed to the beaches of Colonia del Sacramento in the afternoon.
Day 3 (66):
| Bus ticket to Montevideo | 424 UYU (11.36 USD) |
| Ukulele Hostel (5 nights) | 2817 UYU (75.45 USD)+ 12.75 |
| Disco (groceries) | 526 |
| Tomato puree | 34 |
| Total: | 3801 UYU (USD 115.15) (RMB 801.9) |
Moved to Montevideo and am learning to pull out the credit card since I am going to be cash poor in Uruguay. I really wish I had hit up a grocery store in Buenos Aires before going to the ferry because even the basic necessities of cooking are almost triple the price in Uruguay and it is going to be hard to get by without salt. And for some odd reason, the big city is more expensive to buy basics than the small tourist town. The shakshuka I made would last 5-6 meals, so I guess the unit price isn’t so bad.
Day 4 (67):
| Chewing gum | 23 |
| Free walking tour tip | 100 |
| Marijuana | 150 |
| Movie tickets to Star Wars (2) | 660 (17.68) |
| Burger King | 200 |
| Total: | 1133 UYU (30.86 USD) (RMB 214.9) |
I squeezed in a bit of tourism before everything would shut down for the New Year’s holiday. Marijuana is legal in Uruguay, though only citizens are allowed to register to purchase it in pharmacies. I took a friend to see Star Wars and apparently Burger King was the best option for a bite to eat before the movie started.
Day 5 (68):
| Coffee Beans | 201 |
| Potatoes | 48 |
| Italian Christmas fruitcake and apple cider | 156 |
| Cooking oil | 49 |
| Total: | 454 UYU (12.90 USD) (RMB 89.8) |
So, I managed to get 300 USD out of an ATM, which gave me three ancient 100 dollar bills (seriously printed in the 70s and 80s). Fortunately, when I hit up an exchange house on Monday (when they were open again), they took them without a second glance. With the ATM fees (6+2.5) the exchange rate works out to be 35.2 UYU per dollar, while so far the credit card is giving me an exchange of 37.3 and considering that restaurants and supermarkets are supposed to automatically discount the 22% VAT on transactions with foreign credit cards (though evidence suggests otherwise), the credit card is the way to go.
I gambled that Uruguay might have better coffee than Argentina. It doesn’t. Even the Starbucks is 80% more expensive for beans, but I luckily stumbled upon one of those specialty food shops where they had whole beans available in bulk.
Day 6 (69):
| Booze and groceries | 974.03 (*) |
| Ice and cider | 171 |
| Lighthouse | 30 |
| Total: | 1175 UYU (USD 31.82) (RMB 221.6) |
For New Year’s Eve, I decided to do martinis (possibly because I spotted a martini glass in the hostel kitchen). After talking with the handful of other guests in the hostel and realizing that no one was really clear on what to do, I just bought a steak for myself and some stuff to make Spanish rice. It ended up being a “quiet” night where I drank too much and passed out by 10pm, completely missing out on the scattered fireworks and all night dancing. The plus side is I woke up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed in the morning, so I assume that is a bad sign for the coming year.
Day 7 (70):
No expenses. Nothing was open on New Year’s Day and I only ventured out for a jog along the waterfront. I had a giant container of rice to chow down on and pancakes of shredded potato and carrots.
Okay, Uruguay is really expensive! Not quite Europe, but on par with South Korea.
Uruguay (7 days)
Running Total: 271.23 USD (RMB 1888.9)
Daily Average: 38.75 USD (RMB 269.8)
South America (70 days)
Running Total: 1811.07 USD (RMB 12612.8)
Daily Average: 25.87 USD (RMB 180.2)