Category: people

Día del Padre

diedelpadre

Father’s day meant to me finally, a circular from Tienda Inglesa whose front pages are filled with cool stuff instead of women’s clothes and processed food products.

It took on new meaning when Santi arrived waving a paper, which I took to be a bill he’d seen in our mailbox. But no, instead he gave me a father’s day note and a very nice bottle of wine I’d never had before. Sweet! (The P.D. says The bus was moving a lot [when he wrote the note].)

Particularly unexpected since he has a father and father-in-law living nearby. But that’s Santi; he bought a Hibiscus for my wife on mother’s day.

Rodrigo’s back!

I hear a yell from my wife upstairs, and look to see Rodrigo, who left for New Zealand over 18 months ago, strolling up the driveway! Seems he likes surprises; he told no one but his brother (since he needed a ride from the airport) that he was arriving. Serious noise at his parents’ house: what are you yelling about, his mother demanded of his sister, who saw him first.

New Zealand gives out 200 work permits per year for Uruguayan kids; he left last year ahead of the others. Great joy to see him back.

Elsewhere in the news, we had chivitos today. Big deal? At Marcos, yes. Big. When we moved to Uruguay, I promised myself I would not have a chivito more than once a month. This is my first (I think) this year. What’s a chivito? Watch (note: since posting, blocked in Uruguay; requires VPN…or just have fun searching chivito on your own!)

In which I become an herbalist

Ten days ago I posted a short video about comfrey.

Five days ago, my son stumbled steps in the centro (at 5 AM, ahem), creating what turned out to be a nasty fracture of the tibia that required surgery and several screws.

x-ray of broken ankle
Did I mention nasty?

He spent three nights in the hospital, during which he spent some money for outside food and TV rental in his double room. Retrieving him, I paid 719 pesos (USD 38.45) for at-home anti-coagulent, antibiotic, and pain meds, and 1,410 pesos (USD 75.40) for 15 daily in-home visits to administer the anti-coagulent shot. That was it.

What would this cost in the USA, $25-30,000?

Today I made a poultice for the first time, using comfrey I transplanted from a friend’s place over a year ago. He said it felt good!

Also interesting: we’ve been here over three and a half years; he’s only had medical insurance in the last six months or so.

Ahh, the little fashionistas…

Tienda Inglesa student uniform ad, Uruguay

In this back-to-school season a couple years ago, a friend of our son went to Tienda Inglesa with him, and apparently got a brief look at a ubiquitous Uruguay tradition through a newcomer’s eyes.

I’ve never thought of it before, but the uniforms we wore in primary school really do look kind of stupid, he confided to us afterward.

Well, how about that?

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After several hours of weed-eating in the hot sun yesterday, clearing a line for the fence people, I arrived this morning only to find that my neighbor had brought over his tractor and mowed the back yard. About an acre.

Just because it needed doing. As soon as the fence is done, he can again turn his cows loose beyond it on our property, so it’s a nice informal trade.

Couchsurfing redux, redux

We got involved in Couchsurfing when we lived in Mexico, and hosted a number of interesting, and fun, people.

One time it was Sara and Sébastien from Paris, en route by bicycle from Anchorage Alaska to Ushuaia, at the southern tip of Argentina and the southernmost city on the planet. When we hosted them, we had no thought of moving from Mexico. When they learned we were in Uruguay, the became our first return couchsurfers before heading back to Paris.

Similarly, Marjorie and Jörg, retired five years and traveling extensively in the Americas from their home in Lörrach, Germany, stayed with us in Mexico, and when they learned of our move promised to include us in their South America trip. We shared their delightful company for a few days as they got ready to head home, while this rather impressive refitted Toyota Land Cruiser parked in our driveway.

the-rig

As an added bonus, they taught me some new German words: Grünschnabel, Quatschkopf, Quasselstrippe, and Frostmemme. You’re on your own for the first three; the last means someone who’s always cold. I’m not sure I’ll be using them any time soon, but you never know.

They are, after all, kind of catchy.

Connections

The retiring executive we bought furniture from in Montevideo a couple years ago, whom we introduced to our town and who now lives a few blocks away, mentioned to my wife the other night a book he thought she’d enjoy.

A couple days later, I saw written in her calendar, A Deadly Affection, by Cuyler Overholt. That’s not a name you forget, but I hadn’t thought about it in probably four decades. We went to junior high school together in Connecticut a third of the way around the planet from here, even hung out with the same kids. She was cute. 😉

I left after 9th grade, and didn’t stay in touch with anyone at the high school, but someone from my prep school and her college connected us. Delightful to make contact – turns out later in high school she and my 8th grade girlfriend became best friends, and in their calendars is a trip together next week to enjoy Anchor Steam and sourdough bread in San Francisco.

The Argentinian we met in Buenos Aires through friends in Hawaii told us that our house name ‘Caviahue’ (houses here have names, not numbers) refers to a small town in Patagonia with ski resort and thermal baths. She used to have an apartment there. For all the mentions of Bariloche, also in Patagonia, I’ve never heard anyone mention Caviahue – oh, except for the owner of a excellent nearby winery – who also had a house there.

It looks like a cool place to visit. Unfortunately, the government’s latest plan to destroy the Argentinian economy tempts me to wait before thinking about it.

Big day for some local kids

New Zealand offers a limited number of one-year working visas for young Uruguayans, and several of our son’s friends jumped at the opportunity. One left in January, the rest today. Seeing people off at the airport here is a big deal. There were many, many people inside seeing off travelers.

Santi (center front) arrived in a sullen mood…

…but, being Santi, that couldn’t last too long.

The three in the middle in back, Matilde, Mauro (twin brother Rodrigo the one already in NZ), and Diego are the ones taking off. The boys have been like family much of the last two and half years. We’ll miss them.

¡Que tengan un buen viage y muy buena suerte!