Christmas Eve takes a slightly different style here in Uruguay. Rather than starting in a pub or family party at 8pm, or for those better behaved at a mass somewhere around midnight, the celebrations kick off at midday in the street with a bottle of cider. Pour this bottle over your neighbour and in Montevidean terms you have a party!
Hearing about the crazy cider tradition we thought it had to be seen to be believed and so with a few native friends we ventured into the mayhem of Mercado del Puerto.
Crowds of people were 
hoarded on the street, chanting and clapping along with the claxons and drums as they sprayed, and got soaked in, cider.
We ducked into the covered Mercado to sink a few bottles of media y media, eat an asado containing bits of cow I have never seen before, and headed back to the street to get drenched. A few brave, or drunk, souls climbed up the monument to wave the Uruguayan flag and get bottled by drunken revellers during their two minutes of painful fame. Completely insane.
As evening approached we thought it was time to head back for a shower and to head to our Uruguayan family for Christmas proper.
The evening was spent eating, drinking, watching a thousand fireworks at midnight then opening presents before heading to bed exhausted.
Christmas morning I was awoken by Nacho’s dad stoking the huge outdoor BBQ. We ate breakfast and quickly regretted the fruit and cake as numerous platters of nibbles were presented to us less than 20 minutes later. Deciding that the ‘when in rome’ mentality was better we jumped straight in and joined the men on the whisky and the women eating all the food in the kitchen.
A huge BBQ with a who
le lamb and plenty of sausages was next on the list accompanied by an array of salads, followed by desserts, turron and then leftovers. Family came and went replaced by more family and by the end of the day it didn’t feel too distant from an English Christmas. That is of course, apart from the weather.
We finished the evening watching the sunset on the beach toasting a lovely Christmas, Uruguayan style (that is with media y media in hand).
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