Over the last 8 months we have spent so much time focusing on how livable Montevideo is that we have largely ignored one of the key elements that make it so: Montevideo is the Capital City of Uruguay.
That fact may sound obvious, and seem like an unimportant bit of almanac trivia, but it is not.I didn’t even start to think about the Capital issue until the Ibero-American Summit last week when an array of VIPs from King Juan Carlos of Spain to the Vice President of Cuba descended upon our city. Since my house is just off the Rambla, motorcades carrying VIPs, officials, functionaries (and police late for their lunch dates) went screaming by all day and well into every evening. That, coupled with the constant helicopter over flights penetrated even my thick skull: damn, I moved into another capital.
In fact, I have lived in or around a lot of capital cities: Washington DC (the capital of Capitals—or at least they think so), the world famous Charlestown—capital of Nevis, beautiful St. Georges—the capital of Grenada, now not so beautiful since a hurricane decided to erase most of it, Podgorica—the dumpy administrative capital of the otherwise spectacular looking country of Montenegro, and San José—the incredibly run down, smelly and dangerous capital of Costa Rica.
By any standard save those of a “power-junkie”, Montevideo is the best in which I have lived. (Richmond might be better, but its return as CSA Capital has been somewhat delayed.)
For Uruguayos, Montevideo is the heart of their culture and nation—everything else is ancillary. Because of this, things WORK in Montevideo. Public services are very good, the telecoms work, the streets are relatively good (I have seen a lot worse in parts of Washington) and crime is low (compared to almost anyplace with a population in excess of 10,000 people). The selection of museums, galleries, restaurants, hotels, bars, theatres, cinemas and other entertainments are myriad. The street are tree-lined and the parks, miniscule-to-magnificent, are verdant islands of repose surrounded by urban vibrancy. Annual events range from rodeos to operas.
All of that AND the cost of living is low: life here is good!
Montevideo truly is a capital Capital City!
