Summer Internship in Montevideo, Uruguay

It's a pleasant enough city, but not particularly exciting. The old town near the port has some pretty good restaurants, but nothing groundbreaking. Montevideo isn't particularly adventurous when it comes to food, but you will find good steak and some decent local wine if you like South American reds.

There a few bars that attract a decent crowd in the business district, but again, nothing remarkable.

For whom will you be interning?

Sounds like he'll do just fine there. Have fun, where there are young people there's fun to be had.

Huh. The thought of a married intern annoys me.

My wife is from MVD and I have spent a fair amount of time there myself. Unfortunately, you'll be there during a kind of a crappy time of year. Most of the touristy stuff (primarily beach towns) will be really quiet (too quiet; a lot of stuff won't be open). You will have missed Carnaval, which is too bad. Anyway, along the Rio de la Plata, you can make the trip to Colonia...this will be really cheap during the off-season ($35-50 for a decent hotel room). Along the Atlantic coast, you might check out some of the sites (Punta Negra, Punta Ballena... Punta del Este will be really quiet, but cheap in the off-season). Jose Ignacio is really beautiful, and I've heard the same about Cabo Polonio, although you might not be able to get to the latter very easily in the off season. If it's your thing, you could probably arrange to go to one of many Estancia-type resorts (think B&B on a ranch setting). In Montevideo, I would definitely hit up Mercado del Puerto with some friends...have some medio y medio with a traditional asado. The Museo de Torres-Garcia is small, but worth checking out. You see Torres-Garcia inspired art/design EVERYWHERE in Uruguay....they're super proud of him. I would also hit up Manos del Uruguay...it's a store (multiple locations) that sells a lot of good-quality Uruguayan artisan stuff (leather goods like wallets, belts; hand spun, hand knit wool scarves, sweaters). Just remember that a lot of buildings don't have central heat. The winter is cool and somewhat rainy, but temps don't often go below freezing. You will want to bring (or buy there) a couple of thick wool sweaters. 45 degrees F might not sound that cold, but you feel it more when you come inside your home, and it's essentially the same temperature as outside.

Interesting internship. There's a strong likelihood that you'll run into my mother (she moved there for work and does a lot of volunteering.) PM me.

One interesting thing I found was that there are quite a number of American expats who play for the Uruguayo pro basketball league. They can be found in the bars a lot, as you'd imagine, and are actually quite a lot of fun to hang out with.

As far as drinking and eat goes, beer isn't as popular as wine and cider. You'll also find some of the best tasting meat out there that you don't need to slide into an expensive restaurant to get (IE: chorizo, churrasco, etc). Then again, you've been to Argentina; so you get the idea. Cool tourist shit to do: Beaches Out-door carnivals Shopping district Futbol themed sports bars Cool normal Uruguayo stuff: Drink Mate Out-door markets Small cozy bars Cybercafes

Sucks to be married.

How did you get this job?
Sounds like it could be alot of fun to spend a summer in SouthAmerica

hola, el argentino!

I am an American law student who will also be working as an intern this summer in Montevideo from late May to August, though I'll be working with the US State Dept in an office that deals with free trade (so maybe we'd cross paths anyway?). I'm looking for any and all possible contacts as I will not know a soul down there. holler at me if you'd like to meet!