The president of Uruguay is very well known for his modesty and his good charitable work. His name Jose Mujica, or as they call him here Pepe. I heard about Jose Mujica from reading many articles about his modest life. He lives on a farm and has an old Volkswagen beetle car, he earns 12,000 dollars a month and gives 90% of it to charities. The country of Uruguay is not a poor country, in fact the standard of living are very high and the citizens of this country live in good conditions. This president, Jose Mujica, sets an example not only for other politicians but also for anyone who can listen to his message because he believes there’s so much over-consumption and where politicians try to imitate the rich people in their countries instead of imitating the majority of their own citizens who live on modest means. While traveling to Montevideo, I talked to the locals and asked them what they think about him. Everyone I spoke to were very proud of him, I even remember one lady who told me, although she wasn’t from the same political party of Jose Mujica, but she likes what he did to the country, she said; “El pepe thinks of something, he says it and he does it”, he’s not afraid how he will be judged or whether to please other politicians.
Personally, I am more interested in his message about modesty and living with someone’s means than about him as a politician. So I wanted to meet him and I went to the modest building that houses the presidential office. I have no idea how to meet a president so I just walked to the person who’s at the front desk and told her I would like to meet the president. She said you have to fill a form and they will respond to me, I told her I am just a tourist and don’t have a telephone number or permanent address, I thought maybe I can show her that I have a busy schedule like more than the president 🙂
I tried to get more information from her and she told me that the president doesn’t come to this building often and he works from his home. He has a little farm near Colonia, the city where I was a day earlier. I decided on my way back, maybe I’ll try to go and see if I could meet him. I arrived in Colonia and started to ask how to go to his farm and was told that the farm where the president lives can be visited from the outside from Friday until Sunday, but not allowed to go inside. While I was at the hostel I met a couple from France and when I asked them why they came to visit Uruguay, they said they came to visit the president but they couldn’t. I said well then I am not the only one 🙂
The French couple told me that they brought with them a bottle of wine from Bordeaux in France to give it to the president but when they went to deliver it in hope of meeting meet him in person, they were told they could leave the gift and the guards will deliver it to the president. But they never could get a chance to meet him. I realized then that I won’t be able to meet him, so I continued on with my traveling.
Next day, I called Sonia, the lady I met from Colonia on the bus on the way to Montevideo. Sonia was very kind and generous, she came and picked me up in her car and showed me around the city even further than where most tourist spend their time. It was nice to meet people while traveling and then you go and visit them in their cities. I hope that Sonia will also get the chance to come and visit me in Canada.
At the hostel I also met some interesting people. I met a guy from Peru who was cycling through South America. I also met Moon, a South Korean man in his sixties who was also cycling in South America. It was very inspiring to meet someone like Moon who shows, that someone can be active at any age if you have a strong will and you like something you can do it.
