When we first arrived at our B&B and had settled in a little, our new friend César gave us a quick map tour of the city and told us we had to go to the “Fuente de los Enamorados” (Fountain of Lovers) and take pictures for sure. On our initial walk through the city we had not found anything that resembled the fountain of lovers so we asked at the restaurant where it could be found. The waitress had no idea what we were talking about and asked several other people with no luck. Finally someone was able to explain where it was and when we walked to it after eating, we understood why noone else had a clue of what we were talking about. The fountain is actually called “La Fuente de los Candados” or Fountain of the Locks.
In front of the fountain
Legend has it that if you place a lock on the fountain with the initials of two people in love and they later return, their love will forever be locked together. This intrigued us, and Courtney, who has a serious boyfriend, decided that we needed to take part in the fun. That first evening we bought locks (Courtney and I) and whiteout to write on them. Back at the hotel she placed her initials and her boyfriends initials on one lock. On the other I wrote two question marks and my initials.
The following day (Sunday) we returned to the fountain to place our locks. Apparently now I just have to find “question mark” and return to Montevideo in order to have my love forever locked with a currently unknown somebody.
Courtney and me with our locks on the fountain.
This same day we were able to visit one of the biggest outdoor markets in the world- Feria de Tristán Narvaja. All together it is probably equivalent to 30 city blocks located in a neighborhood north of the center of town. It was incredible- part store, part artisan market, part garage sale and part antique store along with all kinds of animals for sale, including one corner dedicated to people trying to sell puppies. I have pictures of it all because Courtney is great at taking pictures whenever and wherever. We had some great tortas fritas with sugar. And we learned how much more Uruguayans are “materos” than Argentineans (mate drinkers). Almost everyone we passed had a thermos tucked under one arm and a mate cup in one hand. It is amazing. I would say that mate is to Argentina and Uruguay as coffee is to the United States- and they may even rival us for first place in their dedication to their drink.
A view of the feria
In Uruguay they are definitely "materos"- mate drinkers. Almost everyone was walking around like this- thermos of hot water under the arm and mate cup in hand
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