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.

cccmedia from Montevideo

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