Fixpoint

Having bought some of the remains of the historic but sadly liquidated Bitcoin firms No Such lAbs and Pizarro ISP, and with expected overseas shipping costs being comparable to a personal courier run, I seized the opportunity for some travel and networking. It's been a success on all three fronts: retrieving the gear, getting a taste of Montevideo, and meeting and spending some quality time with Aaron Rogier aka BingoBoingo, whom I'd previously known mainly as the humorously grandiose voice of Qntra and a thoughtful contributor to IRC discussions; I found him to demonstrate the same insight in person and be quite likable besides. I made it a three-night stay to allow one full day for the hauling and packing and one for tourism.⁽ⁱ⁾

My biggest mess-up of the trip as I see it was not allowing enough time for my initial departure from the "Hub of the Americas", Panama's recently expanded Tocumen International Airport - for which I'm starting to develop a hearty loathing - or the time to get there, my previous departures here having been either in the wee hours or from locations with better toll road access. I got stuck in the check-in cattle queue for the better part of an hour.⁽ⁱⁱ⁾ By the time my turn came, I was informed that due to late check-in my bags would be subject to "voluntary separation" and might end up on the next flight. Since apparently I couldn't find out whether they made it until arrival, I worried and contemplated my options on the flight. At security, while not subjected to the gate-side mandatory gropings reserved for the US-bound, there were still US-inspired theatrics like shoe removal and inspecting my carry-on for liquids, confiscating my over-100ml sunscreen. Serves me right for being such a terrorist, huh.

Things went much smoother from there; immigration in Montevideo was a breeze at least for chip-enabled passport holders, there were no kilometers to walk to the airport's one baggage claim, and my bags had made it just fine. Having been warned about the pricey airport taxi service, I elected to wait for a shuttle, which departed once the next flight had dumped enough passengers to form a group. On exiting the airport (around 2am local time) I was welcomed by the delightfully cool, spring-like air: always a nice thing after months in the tropics, though my skin and nose didn't adjust to the dryness too well.

All the travel intel Aaron had given that I had chance to verify proved accurate, and the Punta Trouville hotel he recommended was the perfect fit for my needs: budget but clean, functional, well located and with 24-hour service. Power outlets and money proved easier than anticipated. The hotel had multi-format outlets; it's just as well I came prepared with adapters, as Aaron said those can be flaky, though they worked for me. While there are cambios all over for changing currency with around 4% spread, I never ended up needing one as the airport transit and the merchants I tried were all equipped and even glad to take my specie (well, USD) and give change in pesos Uruguashos; the local currency sees the sort of inflation that gets automatically priced into yearly contracts.

To be continued (and with photos).

1. Not ideal for really getting to know a place, but I already had a longer holiday coming up and lots to get done before it. [^]
2. The "web check-in" line turned out to move faster; I can't see any good reason as it doesn't save much time at the counter: you still need to get docs checked, bags weighed and tagged, and any overage paid. The main reason as far as I could tell was simply that they'd allocated more agents there and didn't rebalance until the line was entirely exhausted. [^]