Learn Spanish in Montevideo, a quiet, laidback capital
Uruguay's capital, Montevideo, is a smaller, more quiet and laid-back city compared to its big sister, Buenos Aires. It is home to 43% of the country's 2,9 million inhabitants. It offers a wide range of cultural activities all-year round, ranging from museums, theatre, concerts, and popular festivities to international exhibitions and shows.
Its location on the riverfront (Rio de la Plata) is spectacular and the pedestrian walkway along the river ("rambla") is a must for locals and visitors. In summer, beaches are crowded. Uruguayans are nature lovers and the city is full of enormous parks and green areas. The nightlife scene is concentrated in the old part of town, where the Spanish school is located, and offers an ever increasing amount of pubs, restaurants, tango shows, discos, and bars with Brazilian music or even flamenco.
Montevideo preserves architecture from different epochs, styles, and trends that's difficult to find in other places. The Uruguayan capital is considered a garden city, open and filled with trees, where one can breathe the perfume of the flowers.
It also has a number of important museums of fine arts, such as the Nacional de Artes Visuales in the Parque Rodó, or the monument to Torres García in the Old City. Among museums of history, we emphasize the Museo del Gaucho and living museums, such as the Estadio Centenario, seat of the first World Cup in 1930, now declared the World Football Monument by F.I.F.A.
Carnival lasts 40 nights (from February to March), and is the longest in the world. "La murga" is a mix of music, choreography, colorful costumes and political satire. Along with "la murga," "las Llamadas" is characterized by a parade of "lubola" musical groups full of rhythm and color that bring to the present day its movements and drums, the heritage of African music originating from the slaves over two hundred years ago. Given the great popularity of candombe (the drum music), you can see and hear these bands parading through the streets of Montevideo every Saturday and Sunday.
