And we’re not in it

For the first time in six years, I have phone books. For the entire country, outside of Montevideo, maybe 1.5 million people. (Half the population lives in Montevideo.)

phonebook

I was returning my shopping cart outside Disco, a most un-Uruguayan thing to do, and a guy with a small pile of phone books asked if I wanted one. Asked my cédula (ID) number, started talking to someone on his cell phone to verify, then hand-wrote my name on a sheet of paper.

First thing, of course: check to see if we’re in it. We’re not. Did we opt out long ago? Wouldn’t surprise me.

Joy of the mundane

The street

They’ll burn everything but the kitchen sink

Ah, incense! The sweet smell of …

Cannabis-scented incense, street market, Atlántida, Uruguay.

¡Paltas!

paltatrees

Our two avocado trees are growing beautifully. Unfortunately, after six+ years they show no interest in producing fruit. A few months ago I chopped the tops off them to see if that would help.

paltas

Good news, though: we have generous friends 😉

omelet-palta

Just the thing to accompany a Sunday omelet and homemade bread.

I finally saw the horse people

I’ve seen the hoof prints for a long time (and watched our Shi-Tzu face-plant in a couple), and finally the question is answered … sort of. Two gaucho guys who come from the east.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

I saw a large plastic tub today in a ferretería (hardware store), something unusual, something very similar to what I used in Mexico to bring home vegetable market castoffs for composting. And I have a source in our local féria. With the “strong” dollar, its price of 380 pesos means thirteen and a half bucks, which seemed quite reasonable.

val-day

But its decoration raises questions for the curious mind. What does a gray plastic tub have to do with Valentine’s Day? What could it? What do a gray plastic tub and Valentine’s Day have to do with raspberries, strawberries, and butterflies? Butterflies fertilizing plants, birds and bees, love and sex? Do butterflies fertilize plants (sorry, not up for another tangential intertoobz search adventure right now)?

Help me here ….