Open Side Menu Go to the Top
Register
ask about uruguay ask about uruguay

10-12-2015 , 10:36 AM
how is the legal weed thing going down there?
ask about uruguay Quote
10-12-2015 , 11:53 AM
We already have some membresy clubs where you can sign up and collect your 40g of weed every month for about US$1 a G. Nevertheless these clubs are only a couple and they are most likely full and not accepting new members. Also, you can sign up at the local post office and grow up to 6 plants on your own house.

Regarding the weed the state is gonna sell on pharmacies they just selected the two companies that will grow it and they estimate the first crop will be out around may 2016. Nevertheless, they still got to figure out how to sell it to people because pharmacy workers are not happy about being them the ones selling it, even though theyll eventually will have to agree.

But with all this "legalization" thing (its actually regulation, its been legal to smoke herb since the 1970s) more and more people are growing and its easier now to get good weed (not schwag, not paraguayan brick) from regular people that grow it for sale as an extra income. The price for 25g of the good weed is around US$ 85 and US$ 100 at this time of the year, if you want some particular breed (AK47, Kalashnikova, Starbud, etc) its probably around 150-175 but not that easy to get without contacts. The closer april gets (harvest time) the cheaper you can get it.
ask about uruguay Quote
10-15-2015 , 09:01 PM
thanks for the update man. it is going to be super interesting to see if the government is able really able to produce good weed for a cheap price. so many places are legalizing marijuana around the world and they are all taking on different approaches to legislation/rules. I think Uruguay has one of the best models. hopefully i dont have any trouble finding some when i make it down that way.
ask about uruguay Quote
11-10-2015 , 12:03 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ace Acumen
@theskillzdatklls did you ever make the leap? what factors made you decide to want to go to Uruguay?
Whoops, I somehow missed your Q, I even remember checking this thread afterwards. Oh well. Yes I moved down here September 5th.

The biggest practical reasons I moved were four fold: Relatively easier dual citizenship process, relatively strong banks, very progressive/libertarian paradise/free country/fitting with my views, close by to a lot of places I want to travel to (BA, Brazil, Chile, Peru, etc). My Spanish, while nowhere near perfect, was also finally at a level where I was more than comfortable venturing far from USA knowing I'd be alright.


I guess I'll do a big personal write up on the quirks I've found down here in the 2+ months experience:

One of the most surprising things right off of the bat is that if you are international outside of URU, ARG, BRZ and you use a credit card you get an instant automatic 22% off all purchases at restaurants, hotels, car rentals, (other stuff, haven't explored?). It doesn't apply to everything, like mall purchases, grocery shopping or things with more fixed prices. Combine that with a devalued uru peso and things are very well priced for the moment for outsiders

Everything in general happens a lot later down here. Breakfast is nearly non-existent for this reason. People maybe eat toast if they wake up at all. Then dinner does not start until 8pm or later and often times they serve until 1AM, even at very nice places. Clubs take this to the next level- people generally don't leave for the clubs until 2AM and depending on the crazy level, stay out until 6, 8 or even past 10AM, depending on the circumstances. Its standard to go clubbing with sunglasses so you have them later on when the sun comes out I guess. To me, its all ****ing ******ed and probably my least favorite thing about Uru, but its a small inconvenience compared to the many pluses. It virtually prevents me from ever going out which is a mild bummer as every month or so I like going out with friends. But I don't want to destroy an entire next day or two doing that.

The cities are remarkably nice looking and run surprisingly first-world-like and efficiently. I didn't expect any of that after living in Mexico for so long. Montevideo has more dogs than I can imagine and for that reason there is dog **** absolutely everywhere on the sidewalks so you have to be careful. But aside from that, its an extremely pretty and clean city. People don't seem stressed out but rather just kind of take things at a very casual and relaxed pace which is pretty disarming. People also on the whole look very shy and reserved, especially the girls.

Speaking of the cities, Montevideo is pretty large and is broken up into many fragments each with their distinct personalities. There's a few prime areas. I spend most of my time in Pocitos because I obviously think its the best. Its the upscale-downtown-ish area if that's what you want to call it. Just south you have Punta Carretas which is just slightly more residential than Pocitos but still very nice. To the east there's another nice place called Carrasco but its more for residential homes away from the action. Off to the west you have Centro which is a cheaper area and has its own scene.

I was in Punta Del Este for about two weeks in the off season. Personally, not even close to worth it unless you are doing the LAPT as I was, or a short trip. You end up in a fairly sparse area paying more for less with lots of **** perma closed. I kinda felt like an idiot tourist there unlike Montevideo. Almost any "girls" I saw there were almost always this MILF already married a rich guy look. Zero hot single 25 year olds just hanging around. I'm sure in the summer this place is totally awesome but in the off season I just don't see the point, at all. Its also much more exposed to the elements geographically speaking and is therefore colder/windier and extra unpleasant during the cold times.

Aside from those two major cities, I did travel far up north to a random city for a paintball tournament and it was surprisingly not ****ty. There would be no reason to ever go there normally but there is a rustic charm to the empty north. Then surrounding the coast you have lots of quaint beach towns that each person thinks is the best for their own reason. They are typically a summer time only thing though.

About food, I eat out a lot so I see a lot. A lot to say in no particular order: I'm not a spicy food fan at all, but the food in Uru is comically not spicy. And after 2 months of no spicy food at all I've already noticed I'm becoming more sensitive to the mildest things. Street food/lower tiered food in general is pretty unhealthy here, not very original and kinda bad, unlike my last city, Tijuana were street food is epic good. For street food you'll generally see some kind of fish of the day, a chivito which is just a steak sandwich with lots of toppings, breaded meats, that kind of thing. Lots of meat.

That is the foundation of their food, way too much meat (3 cows per person in this country). There are steakhouses absolutely everywhere "parillas". These places just have tons of beef, some lamb/chicken/whatevs, then their sides/salads and they vary on quality but not by a whole lot. There are a few high value spots in theory around uru but a lot of these high value places are cash only which ends up being ******ed when you get that huge credit card discount I mentioned earlier.

There is a surprising lack of seafood for a country like this. But outside the steakhouses, there are a handful of really quality places that try to serve their unique food. I do have a huge favorite so I'd recommend anyone go to Tandory if you are in Uru. On the whole I'd say nothing ever typically gets too crazy or wild but there's plenty of definitely solid eats. Especially so if you like beef. Overall I'm plenty happy though I could definitely see room for improvement.

For housing rentals, they are kind of annoying, especially when you want furnishing. You generally need to sign a one year contract or they will rape you very hard. If you are able to sign a 1-year with no furniture and look around, you can get a great deal in a great apartment in a nice area. Outside of that, it can be very difficult. I'm overpaying by over double for a month to month furnished place as its all I could seem to do.

The people here are often too nice. I think I get special treatment because they don't see too many foreigners. People are often too excited to hear things I have to say, for better or worse. While its difficult to maintain friendships when so many young people work their busy jobs on low salaries, when people do have time they go hard and are always really happy about it. I've personally met some very high quality people through a paintball circle and through a workout group.

Because its a small country and compact city, there's a lot of tight nit groups. If you have a particular interest, it shouldn't be too hard to find people doing the same thing more than happy to welcome you in.

Girls as I said earlier seem kind of shy in general. It also really seems to depend on the area you are in from my small sample but I was not a fan at all of the girls around Centro but the girls in Pocitos often times are nice. In general, girls here are fairly skinny which is great. I think there is a very large societal pressure on girls not to be fat in the upper class areas from what I've been told by locals. Also, just on a personal note, girls on the whole seem to really like me here which might be a first in my life as I've never felt that way in USA/Mex/other travels. Could just be run good, who knows. On the whole though, Uru girls aren't world class but right next door you have Argentina and Brazil if you get bored

Overall when I rate uru I say that it far exceeded initial expectations. Its easily one of, if not, my favorite country at the moment so I got really lucky on my move. And its really comforting to know if I ever get bored here I'm a tiny boat ride away from BA and could just chill there for a few weeks but so far that hasn't been a problem

Last edited by theskillzdatklls; 11-10-2015 at 12:22 PM.
ask about uruguay Quote
11-10-2015 , 12:20 PM
Great to read your review about Uruguay and glad to know youre enjoying it down here.

Only one small comment:

Quote:
Its standard to go clubbing with sunglasses so you have them later on when the sun comes out I guess.
This is probably due to molly invasion down here the last year. Before Set 2014 there was a small EDM/MDMA scene but there was a "molly uprising" and now is very popular, hence the sunglasses and the past 10pm parties.

Fun to read that you consider MVD clean, to me its one of the biggest cons of Uruguay and annoys me a lot that government hasnt made a significant move to change this yet.

Get to Rocha this summer if you can, youll enjoy it a lot. My favourite place there is Punta del Diablo but also you should check La Paloma, La Pedrera (its carnival is really popular) and Valizas/Cabo Polonio (if youre into natural and laid back holidays).
ask about uruguay Quote
11-10-2015 , 12:33 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by ramabranch
Fun to read that you consider MVD clean, to me its one of the biggest cons of Uruguay and annoys me a lot that government hasnt made a significant move to change this yet.

Get to Rocha this summer if you can, youll enjoy it a lot. My favourite place there is Punta del Diablo but also you should check La Paloma, La Pedrera (its carnival is really popular) and Valizas/Cabo Polonio (if youre into natural and laid back holidays).
Jaja I still hold by my statement of Uru being clean, I just don't see it being that messy outside of the dog ****. The sidewalks are a little uneven. There are loads of parks and the Rambla is all nice. I really like the way the buildings look. I guess when I compare Uru as a Latin American country compared to places I've spent a lot of time like Tijuana, Rosarito, Cancun, Lima and Panama City, they don't even compare. Sure its not as clean as Beverly Hills but it isn't supposed to be either. To each their own

I do want to check out a lot of the places you mentioned, all in due time! Cheers.

Last edited by theskillzdatklls; 11-10-2015 at 12:47 PM.
ask about uruguay Quote
11-10-2015 , 04:26 PM
Nice write-up Bryce, glad the transition is going well.

We'll keep working hard up North to make sure the best restaurants/street vendors in TJ don't go out of business anytime soon.
ask about uruguay Quote
11-11-2015 , 01:33 AM
pretty much perfect summary of MVD. would add in weather being kinda **** and cold half the year, but I'm sure by now it's nice and will stay that way for the next 6 months. Decent to good live poker scene as well, since so many people on 2p2 seem to care about that
ask about uruguay Quote
11-11-2015 , 07:39 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gramps
Nice write-up Bryce, glad the transition is going well.

We'll keep working hard up North to make sure the best restaurants/street vendors in TJ don't go out of business anytime soon.
Thanks gramps, I'll be back in TJ pretty soon, probably less than two months to help support the cause

Quote:
Originally Posted by boliver
pretty much perfect summary of MVD. would add in weather being kinda **** and cold half the year, but I'm sure by now it's nice and will stay that way for the next 6 months. Decent to good live poker scene as well, since so many people on 2p2 seem to care about that
You are probably right, I think I just dodged all of that so I wouldn't quite know. The weather right now isn't much short of perfect the past couple of weeks so it hasn't even been an afterthought.
ask about uruguay Quote
11-15-2015 , 02:02 AM
thx for the write-up skillz. looking forward to coming down for a few months in January. the lack of seafood seems odd, but steaks and chivitos sound like something i could live with. wonding how the public transportation is in montevideo? do u think i can rent a car or motorcycle and take it into argentina for a few weeks?
ask about uruguay Quote
11-17-2015 , 12:15 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ace Acumen
thx for the write-up skillz. looking forward to coming down for a few months in January. the lack of seafood seems odd, but steaks and chivitos sound like something i could live with. wonding how the public transportation is in montevideo? do u think i can rent a car or motorcycle and take it into argentina for a few weeks?
the lack of seafood is odd and very real. if there's anything, its usually just salmon or a random "lower quality" white fish. tons of steakhouses as I already said though, every cut of beef, a few other animals and whatever vegetables/cheeses they have on top of that for sides.

public transportation in montevideo operates very first world like imo. there are buses that travel high frequency roads and while i dont think they are on any particular schedule, they just stop if people wave it down or if someone wants to get off at specified locations. a mix of 3rd/1st world i guess. taxis in montevideo are moderately priced. much cheaper than usa but definitely more expensive than other parts of latin america, overall im happy. i think going from pocitos to centro costs $7-9 depending on your time of day/location. they use a meter system though so you have no chance of getting gringo'd. punta del este though, taxi prices can go through the roof, i guess i really dont know for sure what they are but im pretty sure they are over double montevideo (though you get get to ride in a bmw to fill your ego ).

as far as short/long term car rentals, i dont know much, but a foreign credit card should give you a big discount. the buquebus that shuttles between BA/Uru is a really big thing and probably accommodates this but youd have to ask. the reason i know nothing about car rentals is that im a walker and bicyclist. walking in pocitos is pretty easy as you are usually within a 1KM radius of most of what you'd need. very bike friendly community if you are into that. theres tons of motos buzzing around so im sure you could always rent one of those as a cheaper rental option if you wanted, but i know nothing about them either.

Last edited by theskillzdatklls; 11-17-2015 at 12:24 PM.
ask about uruguay Quote
11-22-2015 , 09:49 PM
Any montevideo must-do's for a weekend visit? Likely to come in this coming weekend.
ask about uruguay Quote
11-25-2015 , 02:33 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by ClarkNasty
Any montevideo must-do's for a weekend visit? Likely to come in this coming weekend.
Rambla (beach walk) from Ciudad Vieja till Carrasco. Its a nice time of the year to do it as the weather will most likely be nice. Try to get a bicycle, ask reception at where youll stay to rent one, as its a looong way, but a total must do.

Also walk around Ciudad Vieja ONLY at day, it gets kinda unsafe at night. A lot of people seem to love Mercado del Puerto (also in CV) for food, but is truly ovepriced. Nevertheless, its good food for sure, specially Asado (beef).

And if youre into football (soccer) and maybe also if not as football is very important for Uruguay, go to Estadio Centenario (really close to Centro, its a nice walk) where the first World Cup Final was played. Not sure when the museum thats located in it operates but there must be a way to get to the grades.
ask about uruguay Quote
11-26-2015 , 04:22 PM
Awesome, thanks
ask about uruguay Quote
11-29-2015 , 08:19 AM
Did all 40km. Was amazing. Thank you!
ask about uruguay Quote
11-29-2015 , 08:44 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by ClarkNasty
Did all 40km. Was amazing. Thank you!
Enormously glad to read that.
ask about uruguay Quote
03-18-2016 , 03:43 PM


Here's a little bit of Montevideo
ask about uruguay Quote
04-16-2018 , 06:47 PM
2 years with no questions. Uruguay is still here, bo!
ask about uruguay Quote

      
m