A lot of my friends headed for the beaches of Punta del Este or Rocha for Uruguay’s New Year times. But I had heard of the spectacle here in town. From everything I heard, on the day of the 31st the Mercado del Puerto sounded like a soggy version of Marti Gras in New Orleans.
I say soggy because the whole day involved people pouring, throwing, or spraying each other with a 4% alcohol apple cider drink. It was nothing short of amazing. The crowd showed up at 1pm in the market area. Plastic bottles of the apple cider started to be hurled around the area at about 1:30pm. A mime was chanted into kissing a girl in the crowd (which the group reveled in afterward as a mosh-type scene erupted).
Bottomline: if you are in Montevideo around New Years and would like to see a crowd of wet drunks, go to this party. But make sure to leave no later than 4pm as the ambience and environment starts to get intense/dangerous.
