Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Learning From a Clown in Montevideo

It’s 10 o’clock at night in the Ciudad Vieja neighborhood of Montevideo, Uruguay. Three of us are gathered around a bench on the city’s main walking street, Peatonal Sarandí, but no one is wandering past us at this hour.

Sponsored
Sponsored

Relishing our mate drinking session, the group is talking, laughing, and also questioning the American in the group about his takes on Uruguay. A church, Iglesia Matriz, and the country’s original government building emit an orange hue that engulfs Plaza Matriz and its benches.

We are an expatriate and two street vendors/performers of Peatonal Sarandi. One sells books and vintage newspapers displayed on a windowsill next to the corner café. But he is more often seen passionately hand-gesturing to friends and would-be patrons offering his views on Uruguayan politics or history. We are also a clown with a painted face (now faded) still playing a flute.

Drinking mate and selling newspapers

It is here, in a series of nights spanning two months, that the art and tradition of drinking mate is learned. It is here that the passionate hand-gesturer details a night when he and his family escaped Montevideo’s city limits, hiding from Uruguay’s dictatorship. It is here that our clown jolts a comfortable Uruguayan silence with an opera-grade voice resonating a Uruguayan classic. We later learn that many years prior he graduated from Instituto Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes — the country’s premier art school.

This is Uruguay: relaxation in a traditional, open, unpretentious package.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Nation’s sexy soldiers stage protest at Pendleton in wake of change in Marine uniform policy

Semper WHY?

It’s 10 o’clock at night in the Ciudad Vieja neighborhood of Montevideo, Uruguay. Three of us are gathered around a bench on the city’s main walking street, Peatonal Sarandí, but no one is wandering past us at this hour.

Sponsored
Sponsored

Relishing our mate drinking session, the group is talking, laughing, and also questioning the American in the group about his takes on Uruguay. A church, Iglesia Matriz, and the country’s original government building emit an orange hue that engulfs Plaza Matriz and its benches.

We are an expatriate and two street vendors/performers of Peatonal Sarandi. One sells books and vintage newspapers displayed on a windowsill next to the corner café. But he is more often seen passionately hand-gesturing to friends and would-be patrons offering his views on Uruguayan politics or history. We are also a clown with a painted face (now faded) still playing a flute.

Drinking mate and selling newspapers

It is here, in a series of nights spanning two months, that the art and tradition of drinking mate is learned. It is here that the passionate hand-gesturer details a night when he and his family escaped Montevideo’s city limits, hiding from Uruguay’s dictatorship. It is here that our clown jolts a comfortable Uruguayan silence with an opera-grade voice resonating a Uruguayan classic. We later learn that many years prior he graduated from Instituto Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes — the country’s premier art school.

This is Uruguay: relaxation in a traditional, open, unpretentious package.

Comments
Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Reader 1st place writing contest winner gets kudos

2nd place winner not so much
Next Article

Angry Pete’s goes from pop-up to drive-thru

Detroit Pizza sidles into the husk of a shuttered Taco Bell
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.