Cantegril

Cantegril is the local nickname given to the shanty towns that surround Montevideo and other cities of Uruguay.

The name is meant to be ironic, as Cantegril is one of the most expensive neighbourhoods of the international seaside resort Punta del Este., originally it comes from Provençal dialect cante gril which means cricket sing, probably taken from homonymous novel by Raymond Escholier in 1921.

According to 2007 data, ca. 6% of the total Uruguayan population (174,393 people) lived in cantegriles.