Misssion: Investigate Uruguay!

[Barrotes]

If you did your homework as you should, you would know that the IRONHIDE DEVELOPERS are based in Uruguay.

Why not share your opinion, pictures or questions about Uruguay and learn a thing or two about where they come from.

Note: Wikipedia/Web Articles/Pages and/or personal information is not recommended.

[Julian]

How did it feel for Uruguayans to get beaten by the Netherlands in the semi-final of the last soccer world championship?
:-)

[Quest]

well i looked at wiki b4(when i realised the developers were from Uruguay lol).
i was surprised to learn that 90% of the population is white and mostly spanish/portuguese decent. is this unique to Uruguay as a south american country? i must admit that i always thought of south america = mexican.
i m from singapore and pretty ignorant i guess ><

[MaGnUs]

South America is quite different from Mexico, but it is true Uruguay is kind of particular when compared to most of Latin America, in the sense that our native American population is very small; in that way we are kind of beyond the classic "latino" stereotype. We... um... exterminated most of our Charrua indians, as shameful as that is to admit, and yet we call ourselves "Charruas" sometimes...

I, for one, am descended from Spanish/Italian (that's the majority here, not Spanish and Italian, not Spanish and Portuguese) and some other stock, including black Moorish; but I'm very white, and I have green eyes. I don't look like what US TV usually shows as Hispanic.

Also, don't diss Wikipedia. The page about Uruguay is a pretty good starting place to learn about our country; and I for one (even though I'm not one of the Ironhide developers) will be happy to answer any questions about Uruguay.

[Barrotes]

I don't know about Uruguay but was very surprised by your currency. I was trying to covert to Euros and found that hard. Can you give us more info about it ?

[L0k1]

I don't know about Uruguay but was very surprised by your currency. I was trying to covert to Euros and found that hard. Can you give us more info about it ?

If you sell €1 you receive $26 and you have to pay $28 to buy €1 aprox.

How did it feel for Uruguayans to get beaten by the Netherlands in the semi-final of the last soccer world championship?

It was hard, but they played better football than us.
Even that we are playing better, we still have rough time against european teams.

[Quest]

hmm how much is a macdonald's meal? i m trying to gauge the strength of your currency lol. it costs about S$5-7 here.
S$1 will buy 3-5 oranges.

i poked around wiki and realised that south american countries are mostly whites/european descent. its when we get closer to central america that the majority shifts to the indigenous/mixed people.

[MaGnUs]

hmm how much is a macdonald's meal? i m trying to gauge the strength of your currency lol. it costs about S$5-7 here.

Ah, ye olde Big Mac standard! A regular McDonald's meal here costs somewhere around 5-6 bucks, IIRC.

i poked around wiki and realised that south american countries are mostly whites/european descent. its when we get closer to central america that the majority shifts to the indigenous/mixed people.

Not quite, many countries in South America are more mestizo-prevalent (mestizo=indigenous/white mix), such as Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Paraguay; while others like Chile, Argentina and Brazil will have large percentages of those people, but still a lot of whites too. Uruguay is kind of unique, in that respect, for previously mentioned (and sad) reasons. The amount of visible indigenous genes is higher in Central America, though.

[Quest]

ah thanks for the explanation, magnus!
=)

i m surprised that a macdonald's meal costs less than 1 euro??

[MaGnUs]

What? No. A Euro is about 26-28 Uruguayan Pesos, as L0k1 explained, and a McDonald's meal costs about 5-6 bucks (USD), which is about 100 pesos. Possibly a bit more, now that I do the math... more around 7 bucks, or 120-130 pesos.

[Quest]

ah ok that makes a sense now.
i thought it was 5-6 pesos not USD lol. do u usually transact in USD or pesos?

[MaGnUs]

Everyday stuff you pay in pesos. Stuff like appliances, computers, etc can be in either, but it's usually in USD; cars, or houses, almost always in USD.

[Quest]

thanks for the enlightenments, magnus!

[MaGnUs]

No worries.

[DragonKnight]

Do most people in Uruguay speak english or portuggese

[MaGnUs]

Most people? No. Our language is Spanish; though some people up north in the border with Brazil speak a mixture of portuguese/spanish; "portuñol" as they call it, or "Portuguese Spanish Dialect" as the authorities designated it recently. Due to the fact that we're so near Brazil, and that the languages are closely related, many Uruguayans all over the country do speak Portuguese; and in the past 10-12 years or so it's been taught extensively in high school. I myself only knew bits and pieces; but I'm now taking a course at work.

As for English; there are a lot of people who speak the language, at least having a passable grasp of it, and it's been taught for several decades in high schools, and about 15 years or so in primary schools; not to mention decades of teaching in private institutes. Still, although it's a good percentage of the population, it's not "most" of it.