'Let's Go To the Movies!' Life  

Let's Go To the Movies!

Living in Uruguay
Life, Uruguay

Lee (201.221.2.79) -

There are plenty of movie theaters in Montevideo. If you live in Pocitos you find them at Shopping Punta Caretas and Montevideo Shopping (both malls you can walk to) and some smaller theaters too.

What I like best is you can get the schedules on the web.

My favorite is http://www.moviecenter.com.uy . They show whether the movie is in Spanish or has subtitles (subtitles usually means English audio, but not always). Their web page works ok on my Nokia 770

At Moviecenter they have machines where you can buy your tickets on your credit card (there is usually no line). Unfortunately the machines are too often turned off.

2 tickets usually run $7.22 or $9.22 (depending on the night). That price is the total cost of 2 tickets.

Another is http://www.cinehoyts.com.uy I hate their webpage as it has too many plugins so I can't get any useful information with my normal browser configuration.

No trackbacks.

Comment #1 Lee from Pocitos -

Moviecenter is getting a bit annoying as their ticket sales machines seem to be turned off more than they are on these days.

Comment #2 PokerPrincess from Canada, Earth -

Okay, you give us the price for two tickets but is that in U.S. Dollars or Uruguaian money. Speaking of which what type of money do they use in Uruguay?

If that is quoted in American dollars then that is a pretty decent price. It would be a very cheap entertainment. There would hardly be a reason to download movies from the net or to rent them for an evening of entertainment.

Comment #3 Lee from Pocitos -

What I put in the original message was U.S. Dollars (based on the charges appearing on my card).

The local money is Pesos which are currently about 24.2 to the dollar. They use the $ to indicate pesos and US$ or U$S for dollars. And something U$ for pesos.

Most things are priced in Pesos, except for real estate for sale, some rentals, home applicanes in Pocitos are priced in $'s in downtown in Pesos. You can often pay for things in a mix of dollars and Pesos, but normally get a poor rate at stores (and banks).

There seems to be a currency exchange on almost every corner.

All of the ATM's dispatch pesos or dollars, but only 100 dollar bills.

In Uruguay money I think the movie tickets are 190 or 210 depending on the time. The early movies are always nearly empty and the later ones packed full on a Friday or Saturday night.

Comment #4 RiverQueen from EARTH, MILKYWAY -

That's very interesting to know how they separate the dollars from pesos. I wasn't aware of that.

That is actually very reasonable pricing for movies. Do they have special discounts for seniors or is it all the same for seniors and students and everyone else?

I know the theatres in Canada have a distinction between the 3. It's not much but when you are on a set income as seniors are it helps to get us there.

Comment #5 Lee from Pocitos -

They may well have a senior discount. They do have a discount for those who carry a "Bank Boston" card, a two for one special. However, Bank Boston, being US owned won't readily open accounts for Americans...

Now that Bank Boston has been bought by a Brazilian bank (and changed their name) we'll see if the policy for not opening accounts for Americans still persists.

Comment #6 lily from valley -

I never knew the money was separate. I am glad to know that I will be able to get it exchanged easily. Now I just need to figure out when I want to go.

Comment #7 Sweet Angel from cloud nine -

There are a lot of current releases that I recognize playing there. And I agree that it's nice being able to tell if the movie is subtitled or in Spanish.

Comment #8 usagigirl from neoearth -

It is good to know if it is in spanish or subtitles. My spanish is very limited. Was there a particular reason why they didn't want to open to Americans?

Comment #9 Smilers Girl from silent Ninja mania (66.159.79.23) -

YThis is no help with my project at all what kind of money do ppl in uruguay use?? pls answer!!

Comment #10 Lee from Pocitos -

I didn't write it to help you with your project. My preferred money to use is PLASTIC (ie: credit cards). Except at the grocery stores when buying something priced in dollars.

The grocery stores will price an item in dollars, but charge my credit card in pesos. Which usually means the actual amount charged to my credit card is larger than the tag on the item!

For items priced in pesos and charged in pesos I get a good rate on the pesos. For items priced in dollars, I get charged dollars.

For your project you are probably looking for the national money of Uruguay which is the Uruguayan pesos.

But many items are priced in U.S. Dollars, notably real estate, electronics and even the exist tax you need to pay to leave the country! In the hospital I paid the surgeon in U.S. Dollars and the hospital in Pesos. A few things are priced in Euros.

I suspect that in some places, like Punta del Este in the high season it would not be too unlikely to find people using Brailizan reales or Argentina pesos.

If there was something specific you wanted to know you would post a new message asking, but you don't think we are supposed to do your project for you?

Comment #11 Lee from Pocitos -

Oh yeah, at the ATM machines you can get Pesos of 100, 500, or 1000 denominations or U.S. $100 bills.

Comment #12 Santiago Torres from Montevideo, Uruguay -

For Smilers Girl from silent Ninja mania:

I don't know what kind of project you're working in. But what I can tell you is that in usual, everyday transactions (buying food and clothes, dining outside, going to the movies or theaters, going to a disco, etc.), Uruguayans use the Uruguayan Peso (salaries are mostly paid on that currency). For certain transactions, though, we mostly use the US Dollar. For example, as Lee already explained, for real estate transactions. Or for cars. Or electronic appliances and software.

Comment #13 Tom (63.176.159.228) - Thu Sep 25 12:13:30 2008

With the recent fall of the U.S. Dollar many rental properties changed to pesos... now with the Dollar bouncing back a bit I won't how happy they are!

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