Montevideo and its deepest heartbeat

By Flavia Tomaello, https://flaviatomaello.blog/, Instagram @flavia.tomaello

There are cities that beat differently. Its rhythm does not come from traffic or the murmur of cafes, but from something deeper: a memory that vibrates beneath the surface, an echo that reminds us that before the asphalt there was a drum. Montevideo is one of them. Among its ancient streets, between the shadows of the Old City and the echoes of the port, Afro-descendant history rises, silent and powerful, like a heart that never stopped beating.
That heartbeat today has a name and form: Latido Afro, a project that rescues the living imprint of the Afro-Uruguayan community through memory, architecture, music and art. It is an itinerary, yes, but also a sensory experience, an invitation to explore the city from another perspective: that of those who made it by dancing.
Latido Afro is an emotional map of Montevideo. It proposes a tour of emblematic spaces where Afro-descendant culture took root, redefining corners, patios and tenements that were the heart of candombe. Each point along the journey reveals a fragment of history, but also a promise for the future: that of a country that learns to recognize itself in the diversity that makes it up.
The proposal combines heritage research, technology and urban art. Through an interactive walk, visitors can discover places steeped in history—former troupe headquarters, murals, cultural spaces and collective houses—listening to the voices and rhythms that marked the identity of Uruguay. It is not a traditional guided tour: it is an immersion. The streets of the Old City and the South District are transformed into an open-air museum where the walls speak, the corners sing and the ground seems to remember each beat.
A territory with soul
The route begins in the heart of the Barrio Sur, where the history of the Afro-descendant people in Uruguay is intertwined with the growth of the city. There, in those streets that preserve the texture of time, candombe became a language and refuge. The llamas—those drum processions that still cross the city during carnival today—were born here, between narrow patios and humble facades that vibrated to the rhythm of small drums, chimes, and piano.
Each point along Latido Afro’s journey reveals another layer of that history: the old tenements, social clubs, troupes and workshops where drums were made and tuned as sacred instruments. But beyond its documentary value, the experience achieves something unique: returning body and emotion to a story that was marginalized for years.
Walking through these neighborhoods is to cross a symbolic geography. The colorful houses, the narrow sidewalks and the aromas that mix with the river breeze evoke a Montevideo that still breathes identity. Each mural tells a story: women who resisted through dance, men who built culture through the drum, children who inherited a tradition and reinvented it.
The heartbeat of the Middle World
Among all the points on this living map, there is one that concentrates a good part of Afro-Uruguayan memory: the Conventillo Medio Mundo. It was much more than a collective home. For much of the 20th century, this building in the Barrio Sur was a cultural and social epicenter where the black community of Montevideo built identity and belonging.
Its patios were the scene of parties, troupe rehearsals and community meetings. The drums that gave rise to modern candombe were played there, songs that are today anthems were born, and social movements that marked the history of the country were born there. The Middle World was a home and a symbol.
In 1978, the Uruguayan military dictatorship ordered its demolition. But the walls did not disappear completely: they remained engraved in the collective memory, converted into a symbol of resistance and dignity. Today, thanks to projects like Latido Afro, that spirit is materializing again. A few meters from the original site, a symbolic reconstruction of the tenement allows us to relive the experience of that shared space, with testimonies, photographs and contemporary art that return the strength of that community to the present.
Touring it is more than an act of cultural tourism: it is a gesture of respect. The visitor encounters a story made of faces, sounds and memories that dialogue with architecture and silence. El Medio Mundo no longer exists in its material form, but its soul vibrates in every drum that sounds in the Barrio Sur.
Cuareim 1080: the eternal appearance
Another of the cardinal points of this route is Cuareim 1080, a name that designates an address and, at the same time, a legend. There emerged one of the most emblematic troupes of Montevideo: Comparsa Cuareim 1080, heir to that Middle World community and bearer of a tradition that transcends generations.
More than an artistic group, Cuareim 1080 is a way to keep collective memory alive. Its members, men and women of all ages, parade every carnival through the streets of Barrio Sur, remembering with each drumbeat those who once resisted uprooting. The sound of the drums is their language, their prayer, their way of saying: “We are still here.”
Anyone who witnesses a call in Montevideo immediately understands that it is not just a celebration. It is an act of identity, a tribute in movement. Drums don’t just beat the beat: they also tell a story. That of a people who found in rhythm their way of affirming themselves, of healing, of remaining.
A heritage that breathes
Latido Afro achieves something that few cultural projects achieve: turning memory into living experience. When visiting its stations, the visitor does not feel like a spectator, but rather part of a plot that continues to be woven. Montevideo reveals itself as a mosaic of voices, times and sounds that coexist in harmony.
The recovered heritage is not made only of buildings or illustrious names, but of emotions. It is a heritage that breathes, that is heard, that is felt. In every corner of Barrio Sur or Palermo there is a story that still beats.
At the end of the tour, the visitor understands that this is not just another tourist experience: it is an invitation to look at the city with respect and curiosity. Montevideo, through Latido Afro, teaches us that culture is not preserved in display cases, but in the skin of those who live it.
And so, between drums, murals and memories, the city beats again. Its rhythm, ancestral and contemporary at the same time, reminds us that the past has not passed, that it is still there, marking the beat of the present. Montevideo, in its luminous modesty, preserves that unmistakable pulse: the Afro beat that gives meaning to its history.

You can move around Montevideo easily: Uber is a simple and well-known resource, the 1919 Celeritas Taxis will schedule any section for you, Transfer Transfers and Incoming Tourism can make your journey end-to-end.

For the Buenos Aires–Montevideo route, Buquebús operates with 25 weekly frequencies, maintaining daily departures and multiple schedules per day.