Art museum is always good, so many birds! and we are kinda cranky

Yes, we are a bit cranky today, but it’s for reasons that are valid for a traveling duo. More on that later. Let’s start with laundry! We did. Hotel laundry machine worked great. We spent our cycle time on the back deck watching birds (mostly Jen) and standing knee deep in the pool (all me). Feels good to get that checked first thing in the morning. 

On the tourist list today was Montevideo’s main art museum: Museo Nacional de Artes Visuales. We’ve been Ubering into Montevideo because the traffic is awful, the drivers insane, and the parking absent. So Ubered we did to see the art. I’ve been to many many art museums in my travels, so I had an image in my brain about what my eyes would behold when we arrived. Didn’t see that, I’m here to say, and that is just fine. The museum is housed in a 2 story warehousy kind of building with an entrance that looked more like a door to an apartment complex than a museum. But behind the doors, the art itself did not disappoint. Most was from Uruguayan and South American artists, and content often focused on topics related to the same. Jen and I both enjoyed the splendor, and we saw every painting and sculpture in the building. We were, in fact, surprised by how quickly we finished and moved to the next item on the itinerary.

Out the door of the museum is a gorgeous park called Parque Rodo. After striking out finding a bathroom in the museum, we were hoping to grab food and a restroom before enjoying all the park had to offer, but alas, no food of substance and no bathrooms were found. Having to pee while wandering a new and unusual park is kind of a bummer, but we didn’t let that stop us from wowing at the trees and the birds, OMG the birds! Jen is the one with the ornithologist's brain so she may be disappointed when I don’t name the various species that we saw, but heck, she can write her own blog if she wants. I’ll just say that I’ve never seen the variety and the volume of birds in one place (that may change because we are going birding tomorrow with a guide). The park and its avian creatures get an A+. Having to pee does not. 

And to fix that problem, a restaurant needed to be found. Good news is that we located several. Bad news is that they were all closed. This is not weird and we did expect that finding something open between the hours of three and seven would be a challenge. Most spots close for the afternoon before the typical late dinner which is the custom in Uruguay and many other countries that are not the United States. Hard knocks for the sisters and their bladders. Approaching 5PM, we came close to heading back to the hotel earlier than expected, but then Jen remembered that Rhonda the Missionary told us about this mall that used to be a prison and it was a short five minute drive away! Uber was summoned. That was a mistake. Our ride showed up with a dented car and a surly attitude. We’d barely closed the doors before he zoomed down the street, honking and swerving and scaring the crap out of us. I felt terrible for the folks driving cars around us because we were the asshole car tailgating and cutting people off without mercy. I waved at other motorists and mouthed sorry to them in a language they probably didn’t understand. It was brutal.

But, hooray! We arrived at the prison mall. The building looks sort of unique from the outside, but as soon as we entered, we were transported back to the United States. It was super disorienting after several days in such a different environment to walk in and see H&M, Swarovski Jewelry, and Cinnabon. I was going to take a picture for the blog but really, you’ve all seen malls. It looked like that. The first mall task was to find the bathroom, which you’d think would be easy, but no. Signs were confusing and patience was low. We were hangry after our long and fruitless search for food at the park. Wandering inside a mall is also a reason for grumpiness, at least for me. We finally did relieve ourselves (in the located bathroom, don’t worry) and then hunted for ice cream because, well, it’s ice cream. That task also took ages but our reward was the gelato store, where we failed to understand how to order and stood around looking like tourists. Turns out that in Uruguay, you don’t walk up to an ice cream shop, look at the flavors, point, get your cup, and pay. It’s the reverse. Find the register no where near the ice cream, pay, point, and receive. We are learning so much on this trip.

Time to head back to the hotel, and we call our last Uber. All seemed fine for the first few minutes of the ride. We were tired so the fact that our driver didn’t talk was just fine. But then, what he did do, and then proceeded to do for the full half hour ride was cough and clear phlegm from his sinuses. And what he didn’t do was cover his mouth. So if we are sick in a few days you know why. There were other annoyances in the day such as bringing the wrong charger for our phones and purchasing playing cards that were not really playing cards at all. These were actually interesting. Did you know that there are different types of decks depending on the country you’re in? It’s true. We are the proud owners of (very cool looking) Naipes cards (Spanish suited playing cards). No hearts, diamonds, or spades. Instead we’ve got bastos (clubs), oros (literally "golds", that is, golden coins), copas (cups) and espadas (swords). And there are only 48 cards. I think we can play most of the games we want to with a few adjustments, but dang! We didn’t really get much right today. And tomorrow, we are out the door at 6AM, which is Jenny’s least favorite six. Whew! Kinda glad this one is done.