Switzerland - but not as you know it

Chocolate, watches and snow-capped mountains are not the first things that spring to mind when you think of Uruguay, but it`s apparently known as the `Switzerland` of South America. Having spent a week there, I`m still not entirely sure where the comparison came from. It`s got good cheese and wine and even true French bread. And it`s quite expensive in parts. But I think it`s suffered some kind of economic meltdown since the comparisons with Europe`s money-laundering capital were first drawn.
We arrived there after a 10 hour bus ride from Brazil and foolishly asked to be dropped in Punta del Este - a seaside resort well-known for its Yacht Club set, usually found strutting along the esplanade in their Gucci sunglasses. But there was not a Prada shoe in sight. Like the Swiss Alps in summertime, we`d clearly arrived in the wrong season.
Two very expensive orange juices and a ´croque monsieur´ later, we decided to pull stumps and head straight to Montevideo - just two hours away. Or so we thought. We jumped on a bus and within 10 minutes were cruising along the coast to the capital. Now, we`d been told there was little or no wildlife in Uruguay, so imagine ouir surprise when we looked out of the window to see a whale. Yes, just 30 yards off the shore, this black hump, which we had merely assumed to be a rock formation, suddenly squirted a fountain of water into the sky, before rolling over to display its fin. It was incredible. In fact, we were so engrossed that we hardly noticed when our wheel trim careered across the road in front of us and the bus came to a grinding halt with a burst tyre. As everyone filed off, we continued to stare at the whale and by the time we realised what was happening, we`d missed our replacement service into Montevideo. Still, we`d seen a whale!

Anyway, we did finally arrive a couple of hours later than expected and checked into our hostel - complete with bar, table tennis and pool table. Not bad. And Montevideo turned out to be an absolute gem. I expect it`s not top of most travellers` must-visit destinations but it was one of the most laid-back cities I have ever been to. It sits on the banks of the Rio del Plato (River Plate), which separates Uruguay and Argentina and is the second widest river in the world after the Amazon. Beautiful colonial buildings lined every cobbled street and there was a real sense of history and pride to this little country, with its Spanish and Portuguese roots. Everywhere there were statues of a man called Artigas - credited for bringing about Uruguay`s independence - and his ashes even remained in the city in a spooky mausoleum in the main square. They also laid claim to South America`s tallest building - at least when it was built - which stood just 26 storeys high and was beautifully decorated.
But it was the football that had instilled the real sense of pride in the Uruguayans we met. To have won the World Cup twice - in the first year of the competition in 1930 and beating their giant neighbours Brazil in 1950 - was such a triumph for such a small country. Andy was in his element when we were taken to a student party one night to find a room full of people who knew almost as much about football as he did.

We left Montevideo after two days, but vowed to return, and headed on to Colonia, where we were plagued by mosquitoes for two days. A cute little town, with a wonderful ruin of a bullring that we cyclked to nearby, but I think we could have done it in two hours and been out of there and on our way to Argentina. Next time we`ll definitely spend our time in Montevideo. It`s not Geneva, but maybe that`s just part of it`s charm.