Montevideo

Artigas on his horse. The key figure of Uruguayan independence

We were back down to Uruguay for our last stop in South America, from where we caught our flight to Guatemala. A month ago was unseasonably sunny and warm in Uruguay, but this time around the winter chill had arrived and jackets, jumpers and a bobble hat were suitable attire of an evening. Just a jumper was not sufficient as it turned pretty nippy at dusk. In the main square, with one of the city's iconic buildings behind.

Montevideo reminded us of Spanish cities - the architecture, apartment living, plazas and there is a general European look to the place and many of the people. A notable difference however, is the regular sight of a rickety wooden horse-drawn cart loaded high with cardboard collected by people out of rubbish left out for collection. Here, like most of Latin America, there is a rich/poor divide and many people scratch together an existence.

We stayed in the historic part of the city, and near to the port. Montevideo is right at the mouth of a huge river estuary into the Atlantic. Out of the main centre, it has miles of beaches lined with desirable apartment blocks.

The historic centre was perfect to wander around, with several pedestrianised streets lined with some charming old shops with lovely facades, including traditional tailor shops, restaurants and the bookshop below.

We made no great efforts to see the sights, instead choosing a five mile wander along the waterfront through several parks and back through the town.

Uruguay has some lovely tiles dotted about on buildings and these in a park. They are mostly good quality French tiles imported when Montevideo was vying with Buenos Aires to be the fanciest city in South America.

A mighty fine tree we wandered past on a typical residential avenue in central Montevideo.

Montevideo doesn't capture all that is exciting about South America, but it was definitely a relaxing place to spend a day and a half before our flight.