From the diary of an American ex-pat in Uruguay:
Uruguay has the second greatest reserves of water, per capita, in the world, after Canada.Expat Daily News.
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It is at the same relative latitude as the North Carolina Capes - the climate is perfect for me.
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On average it goes below freezing about 2.5 days/year and above 90F/32C only 6 days per year. As we all know, the Good Lord did not intend fat men in wheelchairs to live where it is hot!
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Contrary to my impressions from afar, a high percentage of people speak some English. Between their English and my limited Spanish, we do pretty well.
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Comment on currency symbols: Uruguayans use the $ sign for their Uruguayan Pesos (UYU), which are about 24 to the US Dollar. Consequently, when you see $ on UY websites, it means Pesos, not Dollars. Dollars are usually denominated as U$S.
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I guess they haven't figured out how to "sock it to the gringos yet"; maybe their culture is such that they never will. Too easy - too normal; I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop.
I can't take it! Waiting for the other hob-nailed boot to drop is killing me! If this keeps up I'm going to have to leave here because of the stress...of waiting for the big "gotcha" that must be out there somewhere.
This morning, the government-owned phone company, Antel, showed up as promised and installed our two additional phone lines: amazing! The only downside is that if you want more than one jack per line, you have to hire a private contractor for the additional jacks. Earlier in the day, a 20-page tabloid size advertising flyer in full color was delivered in the post. It was from the local 24 hour pharmacy chain. It offered the usual gamut of items from lipstick to hemorrhoid treatment. That, plus free dial-up Internet access and even real street addresses is too much to take. The normalcy is killing me. To paraphrase one of my readers, I'm waiting for the "immigration police to kick in my door", or the transplanted Russian Mafia to kidnap Harry, or something, anything that will burst this bubble of seeming normalcy before I get suckered in again.
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Another difference is the attitude towards time. After living in the West Indies for a while I learned the system there: whatever time frame was promised would really happen in the next higher time unit: 1 minute is really 1 hour, 1 hour is really 1 day, 1 day is really one week, etc.
I also figured out the time rules in Costa Rica: there are none! If someone is really considerate, they will ring you 45 minutes after they were supposed to arrive to cancel or postpone. If they are from the government telecoms, they will set an appointment and never show up; or they will show up out of the blue and expect you to drop everything to accommodate them.
Time here seems to be understood in an Italianate mode: they try to be on time, but sometimes things happen; and when things happen they are very, very sorry and will do better next time: and they do. Thus far, nothing has slipped more than a day - which amazes me. I waited weeks for telephones in Costa Rica and months for broadband. This place may really be "Eisenhower's America in Spanish". ¡Hasta luego!
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Well, now I'm really annoyed! It is becoming increasingly hard to remain skeptical when everything is working properly. Both ADSL lines are working (all we did to the first line was reposition the wireless router); the housekeeper has been coming in on time and doing a good job (at $2.10/hour inclusive), and we've been able to buy everything we need locally.
On top of that McDonalds delivers, as do the local mom & pop food shops. They seem to have a fleet of kids on motorbikes; and delivery usually takes no more than 10-15 minutes.
The word Uruguay, coming from the Guaraní language, means "river of painted birds":
Translated into English, República Oriental del Uruguay becomes Oriental Republic of Uruguay; The Eastern Republic of Uruguay; or the Republic East of the Uruguay. The last is actually the only correct literal translation (though probably the least common), as it is named after its geographic location to the east of the Uruguay River. Because of the ambiguity in its meaning when translated, the government of Uruguay normally uses simply Uruguay in English.Uruguay has the same population as Oregon (3.5 million) but is smaller: 68,037 sq mi. (Oregon is 96,000 sq mi.)
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[O]fficially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; Spanish: República Oriental del Uruguay pronounced [reˈpuβlika oɾjenˈtal del uɾuˈɣwai]) is a country located in the south eastern part of South America. It is home to some 3.5 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area. An estimated 88% of the population are of European descent.
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The only documented inhabitants of Uruguay before European colonization of the area were the Charrúa, a small tribe driven south by the Guaraní of Paraguay.
The Spanish arrived in the territory of present-day Uruguay in 1516 but the people's fierce resistance to conquest, combined with the absence of gold and silver, limited their settlement in the region during the 16th and 17th centuries. Uruguay then became a zone of contention between the Spanish and the Portuguese empires. In 1603 the Spanish began to introduce cattle, which became a source of wealth in the region. The first permanent settlement on the territory of present-day Uruguay was founded by the Spanish in 1624 at Soriano on the Río Negro. In 1669–71 the Portuguese built a fort at Colonia del Sacramento. Spanish colonization increased as Spain sought to limit Portugal's expansion of Brazil's frontiers.
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Colonia del Sacramento, one of Uruguay's oldest European settlements, was founded by the Portuguese in 1680. Montevideo was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold. Uruguay won its independence in 1811–28 following a three-way struggle between the claims of Spain, Argentina and Brazil.
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Montevideo was founded by the Spanish in the early 18th century as a military stronghold. Its natural harbor soon developed into a commercial area competing with Argentina's capital, Buenos Aires. Uruguay's early 19th century history was shaped by ongoing fights between the British, Spanish, Portuguese, and other colonial forces for dominance in the Platine region. In 1806 and 1807 the British army attempted to seize Buenos Aires as part of the Napoleonic Wars. As a result Montevideo was occupied by a British force from February to September 1807.
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In 1811 José Gervasio Artigas, who became Uruguay's national hero, launched a successful revolution against the Spanish authorities, defeating them on 18 May at the Battle of Las Piedras.
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This led to the 500 day-long Argentina-Brazil War. Neither side gained the upper hand and in 1828 the Treaty of Montevideo, fostered by the United Kingdom, gave birth to Uruguay as an independent state. The nation's first constitution was adopted on 18 July 1830.
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Uruguay is one of the most economically developed countries in South America, with a high GDP per capita.
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Uruguay is rated as the 2nd least corrupt country in Latin America (behind Chile), although Uruguay scores considerably better than Chile on domestic polls of corruption perception. Its political and labour conditions are the highest level of freedom on the continent. It was the highest rated country in Latin America on Legatum's 2010 Prosperity Index. Reader's Digest ranked Uruguay as ninth "Most livable and greenest" country in the world, and first in all the Americas.
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Uruguay was the first South American country to legalize same-sex and different-sex civil unions at a national level, and to allow gay adoption. Uruguay and Bolivia were the only countries in the Americas which did not go into recession (2 consecutive quarters of retraction) as a result of the Late-2000s financial crisis. Uruguay is reimbursed by the UN for the majority of its military spending, because the majority of its military is deployed as UN Peacekeepers. In 2009, Uruguay became the first nation in the world to provide every school child with a free laptop and wireless internet. Uruguay was the first nation in the Americas to test hemp cultivation.
Uruguay's only land border is with Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, to the north. To the west lie the Uruguay River and to the southwest lies the estuary of Río de la Plata with Argentina only a short commute across the banks of either of these bodies of water, while to the southeast lies the southern part of the Atlantic Ocean. Uruguay, with an area of approximately 176,000 square kilometres (68,000 sq mi
Uruguay's climate is relatively mild. Located entirely within the temperate zone Uruguay has a climate that is fairly uniform nationwide. Seasonal variations are pronounced, but extremes in temperature are rare. As would be expected by its abundance of water, high humidity and fog are common. The absence of mountains, which act as weather barriers, makes all locations vulnerable to high winds and rapid changes in weather as fronts or storms sweep across the country. Both summer and winter weather may vary from day to day with the passing of storm fronts where a hot northerly wind may occasionally be followed by a cold wind (pampero) from the Argentine Pampas.
Uruguay has a largely uniform temperature throughout the year, summer being tempered by winds off the Atlantic, and severe cold in winter is unknown. The heaviest precipitation occurs during the autumn months, although more frequent rainy spells occur in winter. The mean annual precipitation is generally greater than 40 inches (1,000 mm), decreasing with distance from the sea coast, and is relatively evenly distributed throughout the year.
The average temperature for the mid-winter month of July varies from 12 °C (54 °F) at Salto in the northern interior to 9 °C (48 °F) at Montevideo in the south.[5] The midsummer month of January varies from a warm average of 26 °C (79 °F) at Salto to 22 °C (72 °F) at Montevideo.[5] National extreme temperatures at sea level are, Paysandú city 44 °C (111 °F) (20 January 1943) and Melo city −11 °C (12.2 °F) (14 June 1967).
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Uruguayans are of predominantly European origin with an estimated 88% of the population being of European descent. A 2008 survey by the Instituto Nacional de Estadística (INE) of Uruguay requesting the respondent to self-report their predominant ancestry (only one choice was allowed) found that 95.4% reported a predominant white ancestry, 3.4% Black or African, 1.1% Indigenous and 0.1% Asian or Amarillo ("yellow"). Another INE survey, also conducted in 2008, found that 10% reported having some degree of Black/African ancestry, 5.5% partial Indigenous, and 0.3% partial Asian ancestry.
Most Uruguayans of European ancestry are descendants of 19th and 20th century immigrants from Spain and Italy (about one-quarter of the population is of Italian origin)[7] and, to a much lesser degree, from France and Britain. Earlier settlers had migrated from Argentina and Paraguay. Few direct descendants of Uruguay’s indigenous peoples remain, and mestizos account for less than one-tenth of the population. People of African descent make up an even smaller proportion of the total.
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Uruguay has no official religion, church and state are officially separated and religious freedom is guaranteed. A 2008 survey by the Instituto Nacional de Estadística of Uruguay gave Catholicism as the main religion, with 45.7% of the population, 9.0% are non-Catholic Christians, 0.6% are Animists or Umbandists (an Afro-Brazilian religion) and 0.4% Jewish. 30.1% reported believing in a god, but not belonging to any religion, while 14% were Atheist or Agnostic.
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Uruguay [is] the most secular country in the Americas. Uruguay's secularization began with the relatively minor role of the church in the colonial era, compared with other parts of the Spanish Empire. The small numbers of Uruguay's Indians and their fierce resistance to proselytism reduced the influence of the ecclesiastical authorities.
After independence [In 1811} anticlerical ideas spread to Uruguay, particularly from France, further eroding the influence of the church. In 1837 civil marriage was recognized and in 1861 the state took over the running of public cemeteries. In 1907 divorce was legalized and in 1909 all religious instruction was banned from state schools.
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A dense fluvial network covers the country, consisting of four river basins or deltas; the Río de la Plata, the Uruguay River, the Laguna Merín and the Río Negro. The major internal river is the Río Negro ('black river'). Several lagoons are found along the Atlantic coast.
The highest point in the country is the Cerro Catedral whose peak reaches to 514 metres (1,686 ft) AMSL in the Sierra Carapé hill range. To the southwest is the Río de Plata, the estuary of the Uruguay River which forms the western border, and the Paraná River.
Montevideo is the southernmost capital city in the Americas, and the third most southerly in the world (only Canberra and Wellington are further south).
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From 1963 to 1985 an estimated 320,000 Uruguayans emigrated. By far the most popular destination for Uruguayan emigrants was Argentina followed by the United States, Australia, Spain, Brazil, and Venezuela. In 2009, for the first time in 44 years, the country saw an overall positive influx when comparing immigration to emigration. 3,825 residence permits were awarded in 2009, compared with 1,216 in 2005.[83] 50% of new legal residents come from Argentina and Brazil. A migration law passed in 2008 gives immigrants the same rights and opportunities that nationals have, with the requisite of proving a monthly income of $650.
Metropolitan Montevideo is the only large city and has around 1.3 million inhabitants. The rest of the urban population lives in about 20 towns. Uruguay is less densely populated than Argentina and Brazil
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Uruguayan Spanish has some modifications due to the considerable number of Italian immigrants. Immigrants used to speak a mixture of Italian and Spanish known as 'cocoliche' and some of the words are still commonly used by the population.
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The folk and popular music of Uruguay shares not only its gaucho roots with Argentina but also those of the tango. One of the most famous tangos, La Cumparsita (1917), was written by the Uruguayan composer Gerardo Matos Rodríguez.
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Asado is a popular traditional dish in Uruguay, a kind of barbecued beef.
Beef is fundamental to Uruguayan cuisine and the country is one of the world’s top consumers of red meat per capita. Popular foods include beef platters, steak sandwiches (chivito), pastas, barbecued kidneys and sausages.
Locally produced soft drinks, beer, and wine are commonly served, as is clericó, a mixture of fruit juice and wine.[5] Uruguay and Argentina share a national drink called mate. Grappamiel, made with alcohol and honey, is served in the cold mornings of autumn and winter to warm up the body. Often locals can be seen carrying leather cases containing a thermos of hot water, the traditional hollowed gourd called a mate or guampa, a metal straw called a bombilla, and the dried yerba mate leaves. Sweet treats, including flans with dulce de leche and alfajores (shortbread cookies), are favourites for desserts or afternoon snacks.
Other Uruguayan dishes include: morcilla dulce, a type of blood sausage cooked with ground orange fruit, orange peel and walnuts; milanesa, a breaded veal cutlet similar to the Italian cotoletta; snacks such as olímpicos (club sandwiches), húngaras (spicy sausage in a hot dog roll), and masas surtidas (bite-sized pastries).
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Motto: Libertad o muerte Spanish for "Liberty or Death".
FAQs.
Uruguay has a large (and wealthy) expat community.
Expat forum on Immigration requirements.
Investing: Ease of Doing Business rank is 114 out of 183 countries, with Standard and Poor’ currency risk rating of BB-.
I haven't yet checked out commercial real estate.
Land in Uruguay is not cheap. The average price for a hectare (2.7 acres) of farmland in Uruguay during 2010 increased 13% and reached 2,650 US dollars.
There are some bargains (gambles?) Winery Plus Vineyards (12 Acres) $50,000.
42 acres for $155,000 with two buildings.
50 inches of rain a year spread throughout the year!
Estancias (cattle ranches):
Please view our current listings here farmland for sale Uruguay. An Estancia in Uruguay could be an alternative for you if the following aspects attract you :Panagea estancia - pics of a real ranch.
- owning land that has real agricultural potential (as opposed to southern Europe where agriculture is hardly viable once subsedies stop)
- temperate climate, not tropical, but with distinct seasons, reverse to the northern hemisphere. Roughly a mediterranian climate with more summer rain.
- Rural estates with stately mediterranian, late 1800s, architecture (patio with well/cistern, wrough iron, high ceilings), elements you would expect from a historic cortijo in Andalucia. One needs patience to find one in Uruguay though.
Or maybe a polo ranch?
[T]he Polo heartland, a heaven for raising horses with mild climate and natural pasture year round.Or a hotel like ESTANCIA PARADA ARTEAGA.
Distance to Polo locations like Buenos Aires, Montevideo/Carrasco, Punta del Este is in the 1-3h drive range.
One of the Easiest Countries to Gain Residency and Citizenship:
The income requirement is fulfilled by proving that you have a yearly income of at least US$6,000.Punta del Este:
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Uruguay does not require that you own property or have investments in the country, in order to grant residency. On the other hand, owning property does not eliminate the income requirement.
Just a one-hour flight from Buenos Aires, Punta del Este and surrounds are full of pristine Atlantic beaches, bronzed beauties, and great food.Estancias for sale.
45% of the population lives in Montevideo. 70% of the population lives in the cities on the south coast such as Montevideo, Punta del Este and Piriopolis which remind me a lot of Durban in South Africa where I was born and raised.
Great amateur non-tourist pics here.
