URUGUAY
Carmelo,
best South American resort ?
Smallest
country of Mercosur (the South American common market), Uruguay
coughs when Brazil or particularly Argentina catches a cold.
To avoid the consequences of the crises of its neighbours,
the country makes a lot of effort to improve its tourism industry.
Golf is part of it and the Four Seasons Golf Resort at Carmelo
is an example of excellence.
by R. Bourne
Montevideo, March 2005 -
Squeezed between the two Latin America giants, Brazil (8,5
M km² for a population of 175 M) and Argentina (2,8 M
km² for 17 M), Uruguay with only 0,175 km² looks
like a Lilliput. Its 4 million population is clearly of European
origin. At the beginning of the 19th century, one third of
the inhabitants of Montevideo were black and halfway through
the 19th century the French also accounted for one third.
They are now less significant, as the most part Uruguay populaton
is made up, roughly half and half, of inflows from Spain and
Italy.
Small countries with small population have no choice but to
take into account the existence of rather inhibiting codes
that rule their relationships. So, between the sparkling Brazilian
and the arrogant Argentinean, Uruguayan people is humble but
not submissive and, like the Charruas, local native Indian
tribes did in 1516 when the country was discovered by the
Spanish, he never surrenders but, diplomat, tries to find
the honorable compromise.
Spanish, British, Portuguese have fought during the 17th and
18th to take over the prosperous colony based on livestock
farming. The first person to conceive Uruguay was Jose Artigas
in 1811 but the Declaration of Independence came only in 1825
and the creation of the State of Uruguay in 1828 while the
first Constitution of the Republic was proclaimed in 1830.
Very advanced social legislation was introduced, and production
was encouraged to the point where the national currency became
stronger than the dollar. Even if the country was involved
through the Battle of the River Plate where the German battleship
Admiral Graf Spee has been destroyed by Allied Forces, the
Second World War did not disturb the peace of the Uruguayans
who continued to sell their products —beef, leather
and wool. After a great crisis in 1973 and a few years of
military regime, Uruguay returned to its traditional system
of freedom and constitutional government.
Uruguay is located on the Northern bank of the Rio de la Plata
in front of Buenos Aires which 12 million inhabitants furnish
the main flow of tourists to its 600 km of sandy beaches;
the pretentious highrise buildings of Punta del Este have
been build by Portenos abandoning Mar del Plata! So that at
the first economic alarm in Argentina, Uruguay is contaminated.
And that the reason why the country is looking for new consumers
with new attractive products like golf and especially the
posh Four Seasons Golf Resort at Carmelo.
- where
to play
-
what to see
- where
to stay
- information
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Uruguaya
smallest country in the Mercosur
The
Mercosur's main office in Montevideo
Artigas monument at plazza Independencia
Golf at Carmelo
Four
Seasons Resort
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