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All Photos & Many Graphics Can Be Expanded By Clicking Them

For TWC's email report on Uruguay, see
"Tea time in Rio Gallegoes, Uruguay in One Day, & Hostage Drama in Buenos Aires"


Montevideo: Present & Future on Stamps
The Cathedral at the heart of Montevideo, capital of The Oriental Republic of Uruguay, so-named because the country is on the eastern bank of the Uruguay River. 
Palacio Salvo, 26 storeys, was once the tallest builging in Latin America.  Better times were long past...Montevideo is the poor cousin of Bs.As.  It is more run down and pretty quiet.  The streets are also narrower and dirtier.  But things are also cheaper here, and the obnoxious citizens of Bs.As. come here on shopping trips or weekend trips... and they say, "Yes, Argentina is an European country..."
 Statue commemorating the founding of Montevideo in 1726.  This hill-top city was founded in response to the Portuguese fortress at Colonia del Sacramento.  Nearby is the house of Garibaldi, hero of Italian unification.
Mosaic-monument commemorating the "33 Orientales", who with Argentine support, fought to libertae Banda, i.e., area to the east of Rio Uruguay, from Brazilian occupation.  Eventually, a buffer state on the pampas between Argentina and Brazil. 
Stamp depicting Jose Artigas, the Liberator of Uruguay.  The Republica Orientale's equivalent of Jose de San Martin and O'Higgins.
 The gigantic mausoleum of Jose Artigas at Plaza Constitucion, centre of Montevideo. 

Stamps depicting the now-decimated native Charrua Indians and the gauchos, or free cowboys, who created this country. The colourful banknotes of Uruguay.  Protests which finally led to the reinstatement of democracy in Uruguay..

The Indians rode better than the gauchos... Brown limbs!  Naked on horseback!  Their children learned to ride before they walked.  They were one with their horses.  Ah!  Mi Indio!

Bruce Chatwin, In Patagonia, attributed to "The Poet"
Beautiful mosaics on the ceiling of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Banknotes with the arms of the departments of Uruguay.  The David of Montevideo ?  In front of the City Hall of Montevideo.
Beautiful wall murals in Colonia del Sacramento.  COLONIA DEL SACRAMENTO,
UNESCO World Heritage site...
Frankly, I found it quite boring...		 The muddy waters of Rio de la Plata, the largest river estuary in the world.
Colonia del Sacramento: Wall mural with the map of Rio de la Plata. Stamp commemorating the delineation of Rio de la Plata between Argentina and Uruguay.
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