There is a reported case of Dengue Fever in Pocitos, one of the most upscale and populous regions of Montevideo. And a couple dozen more suspected cases.
So, what’s a government to do?
Why, the obvious: freak out and poison every living thing in the vicinity, assuredly killing every bee, butterfly, and ladybug, and probably severely impacting the health of small pets and children as well. Oh, yeah, and I guess it kind of wipes out any songbirds too
But you can be sure it’s perfectly safe, and that the HAZMAT suits are just a fashion statement. Some politico went on TV to say that rather than shut themselves inside, residents should open all their windows to allow the lovely curative chemical vapors to permeate everything in their living space.
Reminiscent of the USA in the 1950s: running behind the DDT truck…
Just another day in Yesterguay.
Pocitos photos courtesy of Lee Nelson. DDT photo shamelessly kited from somewhere.
A year ago, a friend of ours did an epic canoe trip in Patagonian Chile. He described an incredible find in Lago Copa, in the middle of the middle of nowhere: a first-class lodge, probably 15 km from the closest road.
Nestled at the base of a mountain,
obviously unattended,
but also unlocked.
So they set up camp for the night there. We heard about it, and saw the photos, not long after he returned. They never learned who built or owned it.
Recently, our friend returned to Uruguay, and we had him over for dinner. The lodge came up. Someone had flown over the lake in December and sent pictures of it now.
UPDATE 2016+02+27: the location is -44.89179, – 72.623403. The landslide happened in December. As of today, Google Earth hasn’t caught up:
Fourteen volunteers showed up yesterday to continue the “dog” cleanup project. Uruguayan, Canadian, American, South African, and Cuban. Sweating profusely, we filled two volquetes to overflowing, including
five refrigerators
three televisions
one stove
Less than half the crap we dragged out of the yard and “house.”
In order to fix the front fence, I had brought fence wire, which proved handy when the driver said we needed to tie down the load.
We did “meet” the dogs. Apparently the all-but-immobile husband, closed in the house with the dogs on a hot day, decided he’d had enough. He had already insisted that no one touch a pile of old tires (even though there is no vehicle even close to functioning — the volquete driver will remove the four rusty hulks at no cost, presumably for their scrap value). Husband opened the door. Dogs poured out, barking, making a couple of people understandably nervous. The vet Mariana and I fanned out and helped drive them back inside. They were no problem; obviously loved.
It appeared there were about 25 dogs, not 44. And it seems that ASH(Animales sin Hogar, Animals without Homes), the private animal rescue agency, announced some time ago that they had received 50 or so dogs from an individual. So our speculation is that somehow someone rescued them from Telma, who OBTW is now Marlena (?).
We disassembled the roof that had blown off, and consolidated sheet metal, so the lot is somewhat organized and the dogs have more usable ground. Next phase would be construction, but the person in charge of that is sidelined with a sinus infection.
Meanwhile, the lot-clearing and construction project mission-creeps into a open-ended social work project for low-functioning hoarders. For which others are better suited than I.
Our Canadian neighbors, who put on a wonderful Christmas day get-together, also use the occasion to collect dog food for an impoverished woman in Montevideo who has 44 dogs. Sound like a lot? Last year it was 77.
Delivering the donated food — 260 kilos of it — they were appalled by what they saw. So they organized. Friday morning we arrived, I and another guy with our weed-eaters with brush blades, others with clippers, all with work gloves and most with Wellies. In a few hours, we had changed the overgrown property dramatically.
Tomorrow, we go to fill a dumpster (volquete; I did boring posts about them here and here) with various trashed appliances, and to continue clearing a path for one of four abandoned vehicles to be dragged away. I will use a “found” concrete column to straighten the leaning fence in front.
Next: repair the roof that blew off because the beams had been eaten by termites, make the house a little livable, install a fence to segregate dogs. At present, when we arrive, she has to put them inside. And what does inside look like?
Glad you asked.
Someone’s sleeping quarters since the roof blew off.
We don’t in fact know what they do for bathroom needs
“We never had children, so our dogs are our children,” says Telma. OK, but 44 — ?
It’s not clear that her husband is physically able to do much more. I didn’t take the photo; I don’t know.
Some money is needed for materials. Though no organized appeal has been made, one person (also referenced in one of the boring volquete posts) has made a very generous donation.
Telma expressed her gratitude for our effort: I feel that I’m cared for; that I’m not alone.
Finding volunteer opportunities in Uruguay can be a challenge (everything, it seems, is covered by a low-paid government job), so I’m grateful to our neighbors for organizing this.
Drove to Soca this morning to pick up a used elliptical exerciser that I will use 9 minutes per day (burst training), but will use. About 1/3 of retail cost.
This was our “test” pond two years ago. We didn’t know if it would fill with water or not.
Indeed, it did. So this year we enlarged it. And no rain came. And it went to almost bone dry a few weeks ago. Fortunately, we had never put any fish in it.
Tajamar, August 2015
To get a feel for the difference in size, note that the earlier version ends on the left partly past the front of the neighbor’s ugly barn.
Now to go near Tienda Inglesa, trim some willow branches, and try again to get trees started.
