Mopeds and Maté

Uruguay just earned itself an A+ on our list. It is a beautiful country filled with mellow, laid back folks who are so kind and giving. Uruguay is relaxing no matter what you’re doing. Even if you try to get yourself worked up over something, the good people of Uruguay just won’t let you. We were shocked to discover that even in Montevideo we heard only one horn honked all day. That is quite a change from the usual symphony of horns heard during all hours of the day and night here in Santiago. Uruguayans are obsessed with maté—they drink it all day every day! Rarely did we see someone without the mate gourd in hand and the hot water thermos crooked in the arm. The other thing they are obsessed with in Uruguay is mopeds. Everyone drives them. Everyone. We saw every combination of passengers imaginable…from little old white haired ladies in their church clothes riding doubles on a dirt bike to family members stacked 4 deep (kids safely sandwiched between the parents of course)! We saw one or two fancy motorcycles, but for the most part they range anywhere from decent dirt bikes to the sad old mopeds that whine loudly and need a little push to make it uphill. I commented to Brett that the only thing I hadn’t seen yet was a dog on a bike, and then sure enough, puttering down the highway came a guy with a medium sized dog in the front basket. That was it…we saw everything.