Day 65

Today, we went on our way to Mercado Ferrando, we sat down here and ate something. We then walked through Palermo, on our way to Feria de Tristán Narvaja. We walked past all the stalls with people selling fruit, clothing, etc.. We then went on our way to the afternoon tour at Puntas Carretas, and on our way made a quick stop at Montevideo's city hall. Puntas Carretas is a former maximum security prison turned into a shopping mall. In 1971, 111 people escaped from this prison. These people were all political prisoners that were imprisoned during the time of their last dictatorship. These people escaped via a tunnel. One of these people lived to become the president of Uruguay. Next, we saw a church, something Uruguay does not have many of. In 1916, Basche separated church and state, because he was in love with his cousin’s wife. He made the law that women could divorce their husbands and not only the other way around. He also introduced the concept of marrying for the state instead of the church. This is the main reason that state and church are now separated in Uruguay and there are no religious signs in hospitals or offices. We then passed the house at 2535 Solano Garcia street from where the 111 people escaped. The woman who lived there back then still lives there. She came outside and told the story of how her neighbour came to her house with a stethoscope to listen to how far the prisoners were with digging the tunnel. Then, all 111 prisoners appeared one by one and got new clothes, a gun and some money. After a few hours, they were able to go outside and tell the police prisoners had escaped, but as it was 5am in the morning, they thought that she was drunk and did not believe her. A few hours later the guards noticed the prisoners were gone, which is when they came to her house. After their investigation, they waited 20 days before closing the tunnel with cement. She was very afraid during those days that another prisoner would escape through there. In the end, her neighbour was imprisoned for a long time. When he came out, he went on to be a doctor and eventually started a clinic in Montevideo, where he is now this woman's neurologist. We made a stop at El Berretin. Nowadays this place serves as a restaurant, but before it used to be a small family owned corner shop. They tried to help other prisoners by starting a tunnel from their shop, but they didn’t succeed because their neighbours reported the sounds to the police. The tunnel can still be seen from the restaurant. Afterwards, we got a mate masterclass in a park. South Americans all drink a lot of mate. Definitely not my favorite drink, at all. The tour ended at Castillo Pittamiglio, a castle built in between appartment buildings. After the tour we walked back to the hostel and didn't do much more the rest of the day.

Geschreven door Romymatse