Uruguay - What NOT to Do in Uruguay

hey there fellow travelers mark here with walters world and today we're here in colonia uruguay for the don'ts of visiting uruguay and i want to tell you right now the most important tone you have when you come to uruguay is don't compare uruguay and argentina don't say oh argentina you're great they're the same oh no they're not there's a lot of differences and the locals will not like that okay so don't say uruguay and argentina are the same place okay the second don't i have to for you is don't expect to find a lot of guidebooks about uruguay and this is one of the things when a lot of people put uruguay and argentina together is because a lot of times uruguay just kind of gets shoved into an argentina guidebook for example if you get lonely planet argentina guess what it doesn't say argentina and uruguay it just says argentina but in the back it has a uruguay section if you get the photos born of sarri's book well guess what it has all of buenos aires and then it has uruguay attached onto it so don't think you're gonna find a uruguay guidebook so make sure you do search more online to find more stuff and there's not a lot of stuff out there but there is some good stuff if you can find it right so that's why we're trying to do these videos to help people out here when they come to uruguay so i told you i get back to the food part right and so one of the food things you need to know is when you go out to eat here for dinner don't think you're gonna go out for dinner early okay because if you go out early you know six or seven or something like that you're like does no one eat here well it's because you don't eat early dinners here you eat late nights so don't be surprised if you have dinner like 11 p.m at night that is not uncommon to be going out to dinner even if you have your kids with you so don't worry about that all right now when you do go out another donut i have for you is because you're going to want to have the steaks when you're here oh my god lomo the beef the steaks and stuff it's fantastic here but what you need to realize is don't expect any blood in your meat they like their meat cooked well done so if you're not a well done beef person and i'm not you need to make sure you tell them you want it on the rare side okay because here a usual steak is well done and i mean like well done fantastic meat but just well done so just a heads up for that one okay another donut i have for you with the food is don't forget to eat some dulce de leche the dulce de leche it's like it's caramel basically and it'll come in thousands of different forms okay and you're going to enjoy it in thousands of different forms whether it's in a pancake or on some toast or alcohol which is like cookie and then dulce de leche and then cookie and then covered in chocolate or you get the triple which is like cookie du soleil cookie cookie and then covered in chocolate man there's a lot of really great stuff you can really eat when you are here so do do do not pass that up okay if you haven't noticed yet i guess i should put this in there is don't be a vegetarian when you come here to uruguay because there's so many meats and so many things out there that being a vegetarian or a vegan when you do come here can be a bit complicated now the salads are nice there's lots of fresh fruit a lot of fresh veggies and stuff like that so you'll be okay but just know there's not a lot of vegetarian options when you do come here okay sorry to tell you that one now other don'ts i have for you is when you come to punta del este if you're going to go to the beach towns in the summer don't expect to find cheap accommodation and don't expect to find too much accommodation last minute you really do need to book ahead in some of the more popular tourist destinations in the summertime and remember the summer time here in uruguay december january february into march that's summer time okay so make sure you're looking ahead in those times because otherwise you might be out of luck but the thing is there's tons of great beaches not just puerto rice there's a lot of other great beaches to check out you can enjoy so definitely have that and that's going to go in actually to a safety thing is i'm going to tell you don't mess with the atlantic ocean i know when you go to the beach oh the ocean's so beautiful it's so nice yes it is but do be careful when you do go to the beach okay and it's not just don't forget your sunblock kind of stuff i mean watch out for the riptides watch out for this stuff okay so just be careful another donut i have for you is don't think the atms are 24 7 all right now what you'll find is a lot of times atms will be inside the banks here in uruguay and the thing is is once the bank closes the atm might close as well now some you can get into but not all of them so make sure you do have some cash before closing hours or if there's going to be a long bank holiday weekend make sure you get your cash beforehand just in case because it can be an issue when you are out there because you will be using cash when you are here but i would say is don't worry too much about your credit cards because what's cool is i've seen more international credit cards taken here than lots of places american express visa mastercard no problem okay and another don't i have with the money here is don't worry if you just bring dollars or reals or pesos from argentina a lot of places here in uruguay will take multiple currencies and they'll have a board maybe tell you what they're going to exchange it at so i'd be oh 30 for a dollar or 31 for euros or something like that because i've seen places that take all the different currencies now the thing is though kind of like the de facto foreign currency i say would be the u.s dollar so if you're going to have any foreign currency that's not the uruguay peso i would have us dollars okay also don't forget to tip when you are here at the restaurants you tip about 10 on top of the bill you can put with a credit card or what i would do is just leave the cash on top when you leave that's the best way to go also don't forget to leave like a dollar or something for the cleaning staff in your hotel just because it does make a big difference for them okay now my next set of three domes actually deals with probably one of the most quintessential things you need to do and have when you are here in uruguay and it has to do with mate the official drink of uruguay i know someone says oh budweiser thanks for drinking of america or coca-cola no no mate is something that everybody drinks here if you're not sure what it is it's basically these leaves and you put it in a little gourd a little cub and there's a straw coming out of it you pour hot water in it and you just sip it out like that like through the straw no big deal okay the thing is there's some don'ts i have for you if you get it invited to this and that is one don't pass up the chance to get into the mate circle okay because that means hey we're taking you as a local we want to talk to you and so don't pass up that chance but the thing is is when you get in the mate circle the next don't i have to is don't break the circle make sure you realize the circle it's going in and you're going to get introduced to a certain spot and it won't come back to you until everyone else goes and then it's your turn again don't be like oh i want some more mate no okay don't do that don't break the soak when you're there also don't try to stir it up with the spoon you're like oh i'm sure there's more hot water in there no no no no no no no leave the straw on there the person will fill it up and usually the person that fills it with the hot water is a person whose gourd it is and mate it is so just have a heads up for that one okay the thing is when you go around you're going to see people walking around with their mate gourds and their thermoses of hot water all over the country like everywhere and when you go to the shops you'll see that as one of the big souvenir things that people buy okay so don't feel bad about grabbing a mate set when you're going home i mean i have a couple back in the u.s but the thing is i would say is when you're going to go to those shops don't expect to do any shopping on sundays okay and also don't forget about the siesta so sometimes the stores will close from like one to three or one to four or something like that because there is kind of a break to go have lunch so do have a heads up for that but also sundays maybe not gonna be the best day to shop well i think i'm gonna go someplace else to finish off this video because i'm getting a little wet so i got out of the rain on the other side of peninsula here in colonia and the next still i have for you is if you're gonna be traveling from argentina and especially from buenos aires don't expect the hustle and bustle of buenos aires and argentina to happen here okay this is a completely different place like i said before and the reason why i'm telling you that is because you really need to make sure you don't forget your patience when you are here things do take a bit more time here in uruguay than they do in argentina i've found so just have a heads up for that and one last relation with argentina is a lot of people when they come to south america they think oh yeah it's gonna be really really cheap the thing is uruguay is not expensive but don't think you're gonna get argentina prices argentina's had so many financial meltdowns and issues and problems that people don't realize is actually uruguay is actually quite stable the government the economy the banking system is actually quite stable education system all kinds of stuff so don't think that you're going to get it as cheap as you are we'll get in argentina now you don't worry you're not going to break the bank coming to uruguay but don't think it's going to be as cheap as going to some other parts of south america and the thing is like i said you're not going to bust your budget when you are here and one of the things that's nice is don't think you're going to have to pay for the museums at least the public museums because the publix museums here in uruguay are free so that's actually quite nice for a tourist and even the ones that aren't free actually are quite affordable so you're not really gonna have a problem seeing the history to go along with the beautiful beaches and stuff like that i do have a few more don'ts i would like to add before we finish off here oh we're here in montevideo now actually the cathedral's right there nice place to check out if you're going to be here in uruguay definitely check out montevideo anyway another don't have for you is don't think that when you come here when you see all the marijuana signs you smell all the marijuana that you can go buy it and you can go smoke it it is legal here but only for residents of uruguay so if you think you're going to come here for a 4 20 time you need to know there are some rules you're going to have to follow and you will not be able to buy the stuff i don't advocate it but i've seen a lot of tourist signs and stuff like that to promote these kind of tours and visits and stuff but realize don't think that you can buy the stuff okay another donut i have for you is don't worry as much about crossing the street now i say this because i know a lot of people are coming from argentina or born of saturdays where it's literally like take your life into your own hands when you cross the street or like in brazil here it's crazy don't expect to see stop lights or stop signs but the thing is you can cross the street they actually stop for you now i'm not saying blindly walk out on the street but i won't say that it's a lot safer to cross the street here than in other places and my last donut i'm going to give you from here in montevideo is don't be afraid to share the garnishes the side dishes when you order your meat it's going to come just as a meat and then you order a side and most of the time those sides are going to be big enough to share one of my favorite sides is get the papas frites con chapiones or the french fries with mushrooms so it's like mushroom sauce on top of fries it is so good but seriously it's big enough to share or big enough for a meal to be honest so those are some don'ts we have about coming here to uruguay it is a fantastic country to visit it's really safe we've been super nice we've had some great people while we've been here highly recommended if you're looking for a safe easy place to go in south america it's a really easy safe place to go whether you're hitting the beaches or you're going up to salto and doing the hot springs up there you're just heating up colonia for the history this or just here in montevideo there's a lot to see and enjoy and i hope you will come and i hope you don't skip out on it when you do head to buenos aires or in brazil because it is worth a stop through so i hope that helps you and my last don't for you for here in uruguay is i know it's a small country and most people they kind of think pasik or you see big old brazil with rio and sao paulo or you think argentina with the pampas and patagonia and buenos aires and iguazu falls and stuff like that look don't skip out on coming to uruguay it is well worth the stopover and the thing is even if you're just coming for a day trip from buenos aires on the ferry it's worth it to come here to get a different feel than you do in argentina or brazil and things like that and you'll see when you come here how many brazilian and argentinian tourists argentine tourists are coming here when they want to come and enjoy and have a nice time because it is a really nice place with super nice people okay so i hope this helps you know a little bit more about what you don't do when you do come here to uruguay if you want to learn more five things you want to eat when you come to uruguay maybe you want to know the don'ts of argentina or brazil we've got all those on our website at waltersworld.com we're also on twitter facebook instagram youtube and we really appreciate your like subscriptions and all you people that have been to uruguay love uruguay and you have other don'ts whether good don'ts or fun don'ts or safety don'ts please put those down in the comment section below so that people can read through the comments and get better ideas for other things they can know because like i said there's just not a lot of information out there in uruguay for you to enjoy this beautiful country okay oh also don't think it's just beaches and montevideo and colonia you can go to the estancias the ranches and go out there and the gauchos and stuff like that there's all kinds of other stuff to do as well alright so have a good time and i'll say bye from colonia uruguay

Channel: Wolters World

Views: 153,570

Keywords: travel, europe, wolters world, travel advice, tourist attractions, travel vlogger, honest travel, Walters World

Id: fTiSzM0ekOc

Length: 12min 16sec (736 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 17 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/Samus_]

dice que comemos la carne bien cocida, se debe haber pedido un chivito nomas xd

igual es cierto que mucha gente le da cosa la carne jugosa, yo la como pero la prefiero a punto