Gringo pricing Montevideo
It looks like you were really hit for gringo pricing in all of these, Bone Claws. The $u400 1/2 hour sounds double what I can find for 1060 Ejido. It may be that they are getting to posting false price lists now, and telling locals about it.
I see from a spanish language forum the price in Candy's was $u300 1/2 hour in December 2005, a little expensive but I think I saw something earlier in ISG for that rate.
The $u400 rate at Yaguaron 1414 you finally agreed on is double what has been quoted also.
The net is that Montevideo is really getting vicious in trying to fleece tourists, especially mongers. This place is the pits.
I am here in Montevideo now. I will write a more complete report later.
Danger in Montevideo--Thievery and Pricing
In the interests of warning about potential danger, I am making this post separately from another report I plan to make later.
Be very careful in Montevideo. From the standpoint of theft, this may be the most dangerous city I have been in outside the US. Fortunately, the people of Uruguay seem to be very unaggressive with regard to physical violence. I can't see any evidence that armed robbery, mugging and kidnapping are prevalent.
What is prevalent is thievery and manipulative pricing. I have never had as stong a feeling about being a target as in this city. I feel as though I am constantly being watched and measured. The first time I walked down 18 de Julio at around 11:00 PM I reached the corner of Convencion and 18 de Julio and thought "this area is very dangerous". There was a group of young men in the 16-20YO range hanging on the corner. There were various other young men in 18 de Julio hanging around. All were relatively poor wearing "felony shoes" (sneakers). Generally, I consider groups of boys in the 15-19 YO range as the most dangerous. They feel invulnerable, and egg each other on.
Also, there is a look I would have to describe as "envy". There just seems to be a real attitude here, and I suppose it is justified. They are Buenos Aires wannabes, and are VERY sensitive about comparisons to Argentina and Buenos Aires. There is also another attitude, what I would call "complacency". They don't generally seem to be very ambitious. This is a dangerous combination, because they probably don't feel they have a lot of control over their destiny, and their ability to impove things thru personal effort.
As luck would have it, in my first 5 days here I witnessed some part of 5 crime scenes. All took place in the areas of Andes and 18 de Julio, Andes and Colonia, and the area of Colonia around the Radisson Casino. The Plaza independencia also looks dangerous, although I saw no actual crimes there.
The 1st night here, I was standing on Andes and 2 young men ran into the street from the Plaza and tore down two blocks and turned left onto Soriano. I knew they were running from a robbery, and sure enough about 2 minutes later a middle aged couple entered the street looking for them, with the woman complaining about a robbery.
I saw one arrest by the police from the casino. I didn't see the crime.
I saw in Colonia in front of "Moon River" near the casino 2 boys about 17 going down the street suspiciously, "gingerly". They weren't running, but were moving purposefully but worried about what was behind them. Sure enough, about 15 seconds after they turned the corner, 2 policemen came running from the direction of the casino in pursuit. They were much too late.
I got robbed on the corner of Andes and 18 de Julio at about 12:30AM. I was standing talking to the street tout on 18 de Julio about 20 feet from the corner, near the curb with my back to the street. Someone crossed the street behind me and walked up behind me on my left side, unbeknownst to me. I was taking some little fliers for whiskerias out of my pocket and sort of reading them and talking to the tout. Suddenly, there was a grab in my left rear pocket, and someone ran to the corner of Andes and dissappeared around it. Fortunately, all they got was a plastic envelope containing a copy of my passport, the entry stamp page, and a card from the hotel. So that system worked. DO NOT carry a wallet in Montevideo, especially at night.
After they robbed me, I was talking to a young woman at the hamburger wagon on Andes. I was also sort of looking over her head to 18 de Julio. After about 10 minutes, on the other side of 18 de Julio, on the corner, there was a pair of young women talking. The same thing happened. A young man walking down 18 de Julio crossed Andes, and as he approached behind the woman with her back to him, he grabbed into her left rear pocket, and then ran down Andes away from us. He turned the corner at Colonia.
Watch out for pricing of all kinds, especially gringo pricing situations. I will say more about this in a future post.
I have been here now 16 days, and have seen no other crimes. But I still have a feeling of being watched on the street.
To end on a positive note for Uruguay. At night, there is practically NO police presence except near the casinos. In most of the areas I have been in, there is little of the neighborhood vigilante presence one sees in many other cities. Salto, for example had a strong vigilante presence in the centro area. With this in mind, one might think that the people are basically NOT thieves, because there is not more robbery than exists. I have walked around in a large part of el centro and Punta Trouville at night, with no other problems. I have seen many beggars at night, but they have not bothered me.
So caution is the watchword, but not paranoia. Bear in mind the absence of police presence. I don't think going around drunk is likely a good idea. I do not drink at all, and this may be a factor in being left alone.
Apartment Girls in Montevideo
I took the leaflets from the touts on the main drag and went to an apartment nearby.
Climb up the stair in the trash laden stairwell to third floor. The apartment was very dark and dirty. The floor and the walls were rotting out in places. The girls were old and ugly. It looked very scary. I made a hasty retreat. The girls were disappointed and they acted angry.
The same thing happened in a few apartments near 9 Julio. I would never go to these smaller and obscured apartments again.
Brothels: "Casas de Masajes" in Montevideo
The next report is from "INFO CASAS DE MASAJES" from Mr. Relax. For more detailled information, click on:
[url]http://www.fororelax.com/mod-pnForum-viewtopic-topic-1062-start-0.html[/url]
Updated: 04.18.2007:
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"CASAS DE MASAJES": BROTHELS LIST:
(name of the place and address)
Acuarela: Ejido 1626 esq. Galicia Tel. 9016047 - 24hs
Batoví: Batoví 2129 esq. Lima
Casa Violeta: Solano López 1766 bis (ex-Comercio) esq.
Humberto Primo Tel. 6136641 - 24hs
Candys: Soriano 1267 esq. Carlos Quijano (ex- Yi) Tel. 9032220
Casablanca: Ejido 1060 esq. Isla de Flores Tel. 9089231
Casablanca: Gaboto 1472 esq. 18 de Julio
Chaná: Chaná 1834
Divas: Yaguarón 1414 esq. Colonia Tel 9018750 - 24hs
First Class: Buxareo 1231 esq. 26 de Marzo
Glamour: Tacuarembó y Guayabo
Hechiceras: L. A. de Herrera 3587 casi Gral. Flores Tel: 2000027 - 10 a 24hs
Mamasas: Rivera 3587 bis esq. Tiburcio Gómez Tel. 6285075
Nueve Reinas: Neyra 3626 Tel 4860077 - 14 a 21hs
Priveé: Daniel Muñoz 2268 esq. Acevedo Díaz. Tel 4082915
Ronbilis: Guayabo 1516 Tel. 4019167
Sensaciones: Tacuarembó 1520 esq. Colonia Tel. 4025814
Starbene: Ramón Fernández 285 Tel. 7102368
Sweet: Rondeau 1541 y Paysandú Tel. 9031063
The One: Paysandú esq. Yaguarón
Mamasas: from Av. Italia 3281. Tel 487 36 10
Malibú - Constituyente y Tacuarembó - horario nocturno solamente
La Clínica - Juan Paullier 1529 y Brandzen
Angeles - Zum Felde 1611 y Rivera. Tel. 614 21 33
Lirio Azul - Martin C. Martinez esq. Goes
Amigas - La Paz 2328 (atrás del Chopin XXX)
La Casa Azul - Marmarajá 2110 y Agraciada Horario 9am a 22hs
Río Branco 1312 y San José - No me acuerdo el nombre.
Marcelino Sosa 2213 y Martín García Horario 9 am a 22hs
Andes 1342 apto. 702. precios alrededor de los 300 1/2 hora
Whiskería Bahía - Yi entre Colonia y Mercedes
Whiskería Odaliscas - Salto 1182
Estamos en tu mira (ex Pétalos de Rosa) - Burgues 2926 y A. Machado. Tel.. 2081374
Monte Caseros 2796
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Best option in Montevideo are the "escorts-girls" Nice chicas all night long for very low rates.
[size=-2][b][u]EDITOR'S NOTE[/u]:[/b] [blue]I certainly hope that the author or somebody else will post a link to this report in the Reports of Distinction thread. Please [url=http://www.internationalsexguide.info/forum/announcement-reportsofdistinction.php?]Click Here[/url] for more information.[/blue][/size]
More Action's good response at Diva Yaguarón 1414
Your story presents a really interesting situation, More Action. It contains a lot of useful elements.
Perhaps most important is the way you handled the pricing by asking someone there, especially someone a little buzzed(less likely to also try to rip you off). Buying him the beer was definitely your best investment. Its too bad you didn't also ask the beer price. Latina Addict reported it as 60p/liter in January 2006. In the end, it is one of the few ways we have to combat this kind of crap. Eventually, though, the locals also become greedy for tourist cash, won't help without it, and help little with it. I encountered this type of attitude some in the resort towns of Dominican Republic.
Another thing it shows is the need to study the forum and try to learn a little of the culture and attitude of a country. The 100p/item cafeteria pricing is not so much gringo pricing as it is a cultural phenomenon of the country. They love the upsell. I didn't say much about this in my posts on Montevideo but discussed it much more in my post on Salto. They may have gringopriced the 100p portion, but Latina Addict reported the same price in January 06. The idea of the upsell is pure Uruguay. For an idea, look at the way they price the popular local Chivita sandwich in restaurants. The basic sandwich was maybe $ur50, but put on decent options for toppings and stuff and you will pay $ur120 or more, definitely overpriced.
This cafeteria pricing is a useful way of getting all the wealthier to pay more, and is probably more a result of the long socialist heritage of Uruguay. For those with limited resources, it is possible to buy some product. The more luxury one demands, the more one pays proportionately, with real luxuries commanding huge prices. This is more or less fair. It does, however, complicate the situation. The only defense is what you did ultimately, negotiate a price for a package beforehand. To do this, one needs to learn the appropriate levels for the economy of the area. If you don't, the sky is the limit in this situation. This makes it hard to deal with Uruguay unless one truly doesn't care about money. I personally found it tiring, as I was constantly being hustled.
I also found the overall business attitude toward tourists was hard and unfriendly. I went thru an exercise with a hair dryer I bought in a main street store but had to return because at 2000 watts I couldn't use it in the hotel and needed something smaller. I finally got them to exchange it(about 2 hours after buying it) for a 1500W model, but they wouldn't return the extra money. They made me buy other products in the store for that value. They were practically desperate for the money. Again the culture of the country.
I do wish that more people would learn to just say no and walk away. They essentially won in this situation, since they extracted 700p from you for not much, and could easily have extracted 1000p or 1200p. So they are still encouraged to do it again, and stronger. "Este no es aceptable" or "No van a robarme" (you are not going to rob me) is a great response, followed by an exit. Very few people have had a good session after one of these go arounds, especially if the negotiation is difficult. The situation shows a bad attitude on the part of the business, and a difficult negotiation may leave the house feeling they lost, and will deliver service accordingly. Paying the price isn't likely to yield a good result either, again because of the original bad attitude.
But congratulations on putting up the good fight. And better luck in the future.