One of the things that surprised me about Montevideo was how quiet it was. Given it’s the capital city of Uruguay and is the largest populated city of the country, I just expected to see more foot traffic while walking around. But it didn’t seem to matter whether it was 10am or 1pm or 6pm. We rarely saw any crowded streets or hustle and bustle, even in the heart of the city by Independence Square. In many well known areas, we’d oftentimes be the only ones walking on the streets. Sometimes, it just felt eerily quiet. Where is everyone? I’d wonder. We were walking by all these different homes, yet not many people were coming out. Were they just sleeping in? I looked up a few other travel blogs that confirmed that this wasn’t just me. The one time we did see a lot of people was during the Sunday market during our trip, and that was really it. We’d walk in popular areas and then eventually find people tucked away at little cafes and library cafes, quietly chatting, drinking coffee and mate.

In Buenos Aires, it was just as bustling as I imagined. Of course, it’s an unfair comparison given that Buenos Aires has a huge international and domestic tourist culture unlike Montevideo, but also just based on the size of both cities (and their respective countries): The entire country of Uruguay has a population of about 3.44 million. Montevideo has a population of 1.3 million. To contrast this, Argentina has a population of 46.2 million, and the Buenos Aires metro area’s population is 15.3 million. Given the large metro area of Buenos Aires, you’d just expect to see people literally everywhere at all hours of the day. But we came from quiet, quaint Montevideo with its cute hidden cafes to the tourist hawkers and commotion of Buenos Aires, and it was just a very stark contrast for me. I can see how Montevideo would have a really high quality of life and feel very safe for many (Uruguay ranks as the safest country in all of South America!), but being a city girl, I think I’d crave the activity and noise of Buenos Aires.