Focus on Montevideo: The Rodó Park Area

cccmedia Ecuador/Colombia Expert

10285POSTS

10 years ago

The park itself and the neighborhoods around Parque Rodó can delight a first-time visitor.

A taxi from El Centro dropped me off at a large building next to the park that houses a prominent hotel and the international headquarters of MercoSur, South America’s largest trade organization.

The verdant park is filled with tall trees and has a lake on which you can travel on rented double-pontoon mini boats.

Scores of Montevideños were enjoying the parque in many ways -- boating, strolling, sunning, necking, smoking legal herbs, chatting in the shade of the árboles.

There was an outdoor photography show featuring dozens of color and black-and-white images all 3’ by 4’ of the work of a Brazilian photographer.

There are statues and sculptures around the park honoring Albert Einstein, Hugo Chavez and the man for whom the park was named -- Uruguayan writer José Enrique Rodó (1871-1917). Some taxi drivers think the park was named for the verb rodar -- meaning “to film” -- it’s that picturesque.

I tripped trying to climb over a half-fence near the lake and did a header toward the pavement, saving major injury with hands outstretched to catch my fall shy of a potential face-plant. Still on the pavement, I tried to gather myself but was hoping for assistance in getting back on my feet.

Within half a minute, three deportistas had come running to my aid from three different directions. They pulled me up on my feet, made sure I was okay, acknowledged my appreciation and then went back to their respective companions.

cccmedia from Montevideo

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cccmedia Ecuador/Colombia Expert

10285POSTS

10 years ago

Parque Rodó is across the street from the Rambla -- Montevideo’s long stone ‘boardwalk’ that runs along the Río de la Plata.

I came out of the park casino -- yes, there’s a Casino Parque ! -- shortly before sundown .. and realized that the geography of the area was about to produce a potentially awesome scene: the sun setting over a large body of water from an Atlantic Ocean-side location. That’s rare because the sun sets in the west all over the world, but here on the eastern side of South America, the Río has a special location. It is not really a river, but a huge estuary stretching all the way to Buenos Aires, Argentina, so large that on this summer’s day (Feb. 27), it afforded a gorgeous golden sunset over the water.

I approached the setting sun walking on the Rambla past a patinaje, a roller skating venue that is half the size of a North American professional football field. Scores of folks aged 3 to 30 were skating for fun and exercise.

Just past the skating area is stone seating perfect for looking out to sea, or in this case, enjoying the setting sun.

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cccmedia Ecuador/Colombia Expert

10285POSTS

10 years ago

At sunset, there were no noticeable food or beverage vendors on this part of the Rambla.

Seeing bright colored lights down the way, I doubled back west on the Rambla toward them.

It was an amusement park -- with multiple food booths.

And also: about half a dozen carnival rides, including a ferris wheel, an above-ground ‘pirate boat’ swinging stern-to-bow on a pivot to lift riders 45 feet into the air .. and a scary fun-house called Casa de Terror.

As the boat swung back and forth on the pivot, the shrieking of the dozen riders was heard all over the park, crescendo-ing each time an end of the boat reached the high point of its ascent.

cccmedia from Montevideo