Random wide shots in the city

I have been doodling again with the ultrawide lens, taking advantage of a grey day with cool weather. Started in the Cerrito church, just restored, with the builder's sign to prove it:



Montevideo churches are nothing like the magnificent full-of-gold monuments in other Latin American capitals, but they have character. The Matriz cathedral, in the old city, is surprisingly well kept and tidy these days.



The Harbor Market keeps its style and is full of people, from cruise tourists to families to office groups celebrating years' end. There is food for everyone, even if you have to wait for a free table.



The outside area of the market, at the end of Perez Castellanos street, is turning into a tourist and art market. Candombe groups, street artists and kiosks give this area a special vibration.



The lonely Bella Vista dock points to the Cerro and thinks of better days. Maybe the projected dock in nearby Capurro can get this area moving again. In the meantime, it is pigeons and seagulls that use the dock.



Merry Christmas to you all and thanks for watching!

The Carrasco Hotel

Sofitel is taking over the Carrasco Casino Hotel. And this time it seems it is for real; I saw trucks working at the construction site, and there is every sign of a major construction project going on. The Hotel has been taken over a couple of times before, with no success.

This hotel was one of the emblematic Montevideo buildings. This was the place where the great Carnival balls were held, where the Lecuona Cuban Boys played their numbers back in the 1940s, including the "Carnaval del Uruguay" originally intended for our Buenos Aires brothers and often rivals. I have heard many tales from older relatives about this place.

Carrasco was a resort beach back then; the hotel was the reference place for rich Porteños to stay, when visiting the Little Silver Cup (tacita de plata) as our city was called in the first half of the 20th century. Later it degenerated into a casino building, where the only important movement was the turning of the roulette wheel. I do hope it becomes a convention and performances center, which is badly needed in the area. It took a generation to turn it over from the local government administration.

I am planning to keep a photo log of the construction progress. Here are a couple images of the building as of last Saturday.






Technical: Humble Vito CLR with Lanthar lens, Ilford Pan 400, ID-11 1:1.

A crazy wide city

I have been toying with an ultra-wide lens. Please join me in this crazy tour of the Gray City under gray skies.



It might be the only way of getting most of ANTEL's complex into a frame.



Or even the Solis theater!



And the Artigas monument, a requisite tourist shot if you visit the city.



The Buceo marina looks interesting with the ultrawide. This is the yachts marina, inside the club. I'm told that some people actually live in their boats.



Thanks for looking. Film used was Ilford Pan 400 developed in ID-11 1:1.

Artisans Fishing in the River Plate

Fishing for a living in the brown waters of the River Plate estuary is not easy. Hard work and danger are in the day to day routine of the fishermen.



Sometimes they get a good catch!





The nets they use are held by buoys; once in harbor, the nets are neatly folded and stacked in the boats, waiting for the next outing. The buoys have flags with bright colors, to contrast with the gray seas.

The ANTEL skyscraper and a steam locomotive, or a decade and a century ago

In the vicinity of the old railroad station, the telephone company ANTEL built a giant skyscraper, designed by the Uruguayan architect Carlos Ott. This happened about 10 years ago.

The building is the highest in the city, and it took as much conversation as concrete to get it built. The idea was to develop the area nearby, which is full of old warehouses, next to the old, beautiful and abandoned railroad station. I'm not really sure it has worked as intended.







In any case I was lucky enough to see an old steam locomotive ready to start, in the small passenger train terminal nearby. I am pretty sure this is about the only passenger train running these days.





It is a tourist attraction now, but it was built as a very workmanlike machine a century ago in good old England, back when they run our railroads like clockwork.







I must come back fully equipped to get more shots of this shining, well restored machine and their crew.

The Oranje, and after

Downtown, before the game against the Netherlands, it was pure madness.

Well, we lost 3-2, but the game was incredible. Tabarez should have changed Forlan earlier, he could not run anymore. The team upsurged after the changes. In any case we may be proud of a well-played game, and two beautiful goals against one of the best teams in the World Cup. The Celeste is back! I can't stop thinking of Jaime Roos song about the team, it is so accurate.

Today the mood is more sedated. We all know that the third-position match is almost a friendly, but it would be nice to beat Germany and show that we are indeed back into the elite teams. Even top fashion stores are in the sky-blue mood.




Neptune is comfortably watching everything in Rodo park. He's probably wishing for a large screen to watch these games. After all he was already there in 1930, if I am not mistaken. This generation of players, along with Tabarez, are giving us back our past.







Sunday last, we lost to the young Nationalelf, but we did give them a good rattle! The second goal by Forlan was out of this world. No wonder the guy was voted Golden Ball last Sunday.

Photos taken with an old Minolta AL-F, Fuji Superia 400 film. The camera actually came from the Netherlands!

World Cup - Sky Blue into the best four!

No need to further comment the dramatic Uruguay-Ghana World Cup match. The city is sky-blue crazy.

This guy was selling national flags in the Harbor Market last Saturday, during the Uruguay-South Korea match. After he sold his stock, he kept these two for his family, and just watched the game.

The Ministry of Finance was decorated with two sky-blue stripes. This is the same building where Mario Benedetti worked for a short time in the 1940s, and where his "Office Poems" were born.





A large screen was set yesterday in the midst of Independence Square, where people were coming together just before the game, to watch, suffer a lot and eventually celebrate.







Next week, the Oranje! Whatever happens will be a gift from the team to this small, crazy, football-loving country. We needed this after 40 years.

World Cup - Uruguay vs. Korea in Harbor Market

The city has become a lot more patriotic in the last few weeks. I had not seen so many flags around in a very long time.

Even when eating in the Harbor Market, people actually wear the national flag and are proud of it.





This market is one of the best places to watch a game of the national team in the South Africa World Cup. Especially if our team wins!







The devotion and concentration of the fans were really awesome. We suffered so much during the game that everything was very quiet until the last whistle blowed. Nobody cared about a few photographers shooting the crowd.











Hope we can continue enjoying the games for a few more days!

Fall is upon us

Gray weather and autumn colors are with us. Even if one badly underexposes, those colors come through.

The fallen leaves of sycamore trees (platanos) pile up in the sidewalks.

Around Independence Square (Plaza Independencia)

From Plaza Independencia you have a magic tunnel into the past through the fake Citadel door.

No area in Montevideo is complete without a suitable "carrito" (thrash recycler's horse carriage). Tourist go crazy around them, so do Montevideanos but for different reasons. No offense intended.







This guy looks a bit worried, and he is looking towards the recently completed Presidential offices. Hmmm.







The old, majestic Solis theater is King of the area! What a building. And you should see it from the inside.

April Candombe Drums - Gozadera!

The candombe groups organized a Fall Parade in Rivera street this Sunday afternoon. Fall is upon us, goodbye to the warm season. I was around with just a cell phone in hand when the Gozadera group came in - wish I'd have recorded the sound as well.

Flags come first in the parade. You all know the Gozadera colors by now, yellow, green and violet. It takes skill to move those huge flags around.





Everybody can enjoy the parade!





Dancing was very spirited - this is a group with a lot of style.










Other groups had already finished; youngsters dream of joining in the parade next year.

More fishing boats in the East

Several weeks later and still the same subject? Well, I don't seem to find another easy one these days. Short trip to the East, since after all it is Easter break, isn't it.

Just before Good Friday, it seems every fishing boat in the country is working. We must be eating a lot of fish this season. Activity peaked in Piriapolis harbor, where smaller boats are moored tight against each other.



Larger boats were also tightly moored side by side. In fact, I found a boat from Buceo harbor that had moved to Piriapolis for the peak season. The owner told me that there were not many fish around lately. He was planning to go to Jose Ignacio harbor, further East, before coming back to Montevideo for the winter.



A few miles East, the yacht harbor in Punta del Este seems located in a different world. Full of well-dressed tourists. No fishing boats, no smell. This harbor is for pleasure, rest and relaxation.



Technical details: Voigtländer Vito II, film is FP4+ developed in ID-11.