A DAY WITH BENEDETTI IN MONTEVIDEO URUGUAY

I am not sure when Benedetti entered my life. His association with Cuba 1977 was long before mine. I visited Colonia with . my brother Itzhak and another time with a friend I met at a Tango class. 
But this was my first visit to Montevideo and it was love at first sight.
I had been thinking of Mario Benedetti and Eduardo Galeano two great Uruguayans and giants of Latin American Literature. 
In Cuernavaca I had gone in search of Cafe Geneva, where Gabriel Garcia Marquez was understood to have occupied a table. On a recent visit, my search was in vain. Cafe Geneva was no more. Gabo while passing Cuernavaca got the inspiration to write Cien Anos de Soledad which was to bring him the Prix Nobel..
Mario Benedetti 
a co founder of the  Casa de las Americas in Havana
exiled there by the civic-military dictatorship of Uruguay.

(the above photo was taken in Cuba)
I knew that Mario Benedetti frequented a cafe in Montevideo and I was intent on sipping a cafe there.. to imbibe the spirit so to speak..
The flight from Panama City was comfortable enough. There was no one sitting next to me and I had twenty winks and when I woke up the sun was rising over the Uruguayan coast and we landed soon.

 There were no immigration officials only machines and within minutes of arrival I was on the other side of one of the smallest terminals of latin american capitals. ( I must confess it rivals Asuncion in size but much cleaner and quietier and far better looking people)

Thank God for UBER, and the driver was informative and talkative and very soon I was discharged in front of Hotel Palacio in a good location between two plazas and two churches.
As the room was not ready, I went out looking for breakfast. at 9 am, nothing was open and this city slowly woke up. Breakfast at Cafe Passiva was just ordinary, walked around the plaza and got back to the hotel only to find that I had been assigned to a lovely room.

view from my room.
after a short rest and shower, once again UBER took me to Mario Benedetti Foundation where I had a nice chat with the person in charge (he has been to Cuba, and thus able to explain the Cuba-Benedetti relationship)
My heart began to feel with a strange sense of contentment, I am in the city of Benedetti! (similar to being in Palermo thinking of Jorge Luis Borges or Cartagena thinking of Gabo)
Another UBER ride took me to Plaza near the cafe San Rafael where Benedetti used to pass time, reading,writing and drinking coffee and chatting. He lived close by.

 this painting is by a Cuban painter, a gift to the writer/foundation

At this conference room at the centre, the table which used to grace Benedettis house now occupies the lectern.

 this iconic photo, above and not below, was also taken in Cuba ..

I walked around the plaza a little, looking at the ornate architecture that graces Montevideo from the 1920s and 1930s.

this was the table Benedetti used to sit and confer with his colleagues and visitors.

It was a pleasure to walk along the streets of Montevideo, vaguely reminding me of Melbourne, Australia.

statue of Artagas at the Independence Square, and a very short walk to the hotel from there.

Indians have taught me that when the Spirits grant your wish, you must thank them (they also taught me the rituals). Having received the good news of a medical condition of someone close in Europe, I decided to take a detour and offer tobacco.

 time for an organic vegetarian empanada.. Uruguay meets the New World..

I had been given a lovely room with a large balcony from where I could observe the sunset. Earlier I had gone and acquired a bottle of Don Pascual Sauvignon Blanc which went down well as the Sun went nether to other horizons.
I wanted to thank the Sprits to look after the two people who are unwell, one in Brussels and the other in Havana, to implore the spirits to look after the Little Poet of Quiberon, say thanks to the friendships of my brother and sister in Miami. Once again hope my friends in the far east, my close friend YMC who has taken on extra duties lately, MD in VN and friends in India, Thailand, Philippines and Indonesia, Qatar.. also thought of some good friends in Melbourne, G and G..
lots of people put in an appearance which is good sign of my being grateful to all of them for their presence in my life.

This is how I spent my first day in Montevideo, Uruguay.