Dilemma of a Gambler - Uruguay

Woke up in the morning by the bus attendant serving breakfast and handing back our passports; I sneak a peek out the bus window looking at all the towns passing by on our way to Montevideo. The bus pulled over many small towns along the way and in every one of them, I could spot a casino. I was counting casino though the bus window like counting white horses. I was a bit worried for being in Uruguay now.

The first thing I did once the bus reached Montevideo was get a map from the tourist information office which was located right inside the bus terminal. One … two … three … four …. Casino marked on the tourist map. I was f*cked.

I had not seen a casino for over a month since leaving Lima in Peru and here was nearly 3 Casino within walking distance and 1 that was a short bus ride away. Somehow I feel that tourist map should not include Casino points. If it’s prominent enough a tourist will wander into it surely like me but putting it on the map is just temptation on a whole new level.

First day and I check in the hostel after looking around quite a bit and headed off to visit the city. Nothing that charming but lovely all the same was Montevideo with lovely old classical building mixed with lovely modern building beside, clean roads easy navigation, beautiful coastline but nothing fantastically eye catching. It was just that kind of city, just enough intricate architecture building to shape the city and a nature coastline that makes it’s not boring but not quite charming enough to make it stand out like a jewel.

First day …. First 4 hours and I have walked the whole city plotting the route along the casino lines and visited all 3 of them. It was time to leave the city of Montevideo. Leave and try to keep my meagre winnings of 300 peso (about SGD15). Next day I got up and headed straight for the bus stop and hop on a bus to Colonia. I thought I made it, I survived! Not losing everything and actually manage to earn some pocket change plus satisfied some of the gambling craving but Colonia had two casinos in them …. A walking city no bigger than half a mile had two casino in it.

There is no escaping the devil within you ……