When Buenos Aires declared independence for the entire Viceroyalty, Montevideo remained loyal to the Spanish crown. BA apparently didn’t consult their neighbors… some things never change! No matter. Montevideo grew as a result, but 18 years later they also broke away. What initially began as a small port town…
Read More »montevideo: avenida 18 de julio
I’ve been busy the past week attempting to confirm dates & purchasing flights. While I’ve made progress, arranging three months of travel is always insane. Hopefully I’ll have time to write about my experiences along the way, but the reality is that work comes first. If I disappear from the internet from May to July, know I’m alive & well. Here’s where I’ll be…
Although founded practically two centuries after Buenos Aires, early Montevideo followed the same city plan in 1724 as almost every other Spanish colonial town. Fitting snugly into a small outcrop & taking advantage of a natural port, the Ciudad Vieja consists of only 100 blocks —give or take a few— arranged in an 8 x 13 grid. The establishment of Montevideo attempted to resist encroaching Portuguese settlements, namely Colonia del Sacramento founded in 1680. Montevideo’s population grew very slowly, but in 1829 city officials demolished fortress walls & the Old City took on its current character.
Read More »montevideo: ciudad vieja
Living in Argentina’s capital city for 12 years, somehow I’d never been to the capital of Uruguay, just across the river. We all know the Río de la Plata is actually a super-wide delta, so the “quick” ferry takes 3 hours & a flight averages 50 minutes. Montevideo isn’t really as close as it appears on a map:
Read More »montevideo: first impressions
Seems like I say the same thing every year, but where the heck did 2012 go?? Lots of guide releases (shown by asterisks above) took up time but so did travel. Below are some major events from this past year:
Read More »year in review: 2012
“Excited” best described my mood when the Kindle Fire became available in November 2011. An affordable alternative to Apple, the device even enjoyed good (although not great) early reviews. Was it set to compete with the iPad, especially at a below-profit price? Didn’t matter much to me. The KF was the first tablet connected to a big e-book provider, & I couldn’t wait to see how it performed.
Read More »business: e-book development