Category: Uruguay

Today’s walk: three observations

Actually yesterday.

  1. An interesting roof enhancement. Probably to be finished with stamped metal sheets. The spacing of the whatever-you-call-them horizontal slats appears to large for plastic imitation-clay tiles.
Wood framing for a second roof over quincho, Atlántida, Uruguay

2. Well, this is moving at a decent clip.

construction

Compare with the photo I posted on March 7:

constr-1

Granted, a “dry” construction house could have been completed in this span of time, but this seems fast compared to another construction on the same street, which I’ve documented.

3. Duneshrooms, next to the dead snakes.

duneshrooms

Syd has collected some edible mushrooms recently during dog walks in Villa Argentina, at the base of eucalyptus stumps. Which seems a reasonable place to expect mushrooms to grow. But here are some growing out of — what? I have never seen mushrooms in the dunes before. And OBTW a meter away (top) are the dead snakes.

Two dead snakes, where snakes shouldn’t be, then two clusters of mushrooms where mushrooms shouldn’t be. OK, maybe not massively weird, like elongated skulls and impossible stone construction (I’m foreshadowing: we’ll be exploring in Peru and Bolivia in July). But, a little weird nonetheless.

Slow construction in Uruguay

Slow construction finally finished in Atlántida, Uruguay

This attractive duplex on the Rambla (beachfront road) appears to be nearing completion after what seems to me an inordinately long time. I remember specifically because the owners, Argentines, rented the  El Nido Beach Hotel last summer, whether to house workers or run as a business I don’t know.

Anyway, as I have documented nearby in the past, by the time the place is ready for occupation the high season will have passed. Rents here are massively higher than the rest if the year, from 15 December through 15 March. So if you wanted to rent in the high season, you’d want to have it ready in December. Should be able to build a house in a year, no?

But then again I have no idea why they built it.

Quincho

quincho

For six years, I’ve walked past this house whose past-prime quincho roof has reminded me of a mangy dog. It’s finally getting groomed, to stretch a simile. It appears the back half is nearing completion, and the facing side is being torn off.

What’s the deal with quincho? Glad you asked. Denise (“day-NEE-say”)  has answered your question exhaustively (and perhaps exhaustingly; we have different styles) here.

The escribano’s handwriting

I was with an escribano (basically, a lawyer for two parties in agreement) getting paperwork done, and was so stunned with his handwriting that I took a picture when he was out of the room:

notes

The first line: my address
Second: townThird: marital status
Fourth: wife’s name – that might be a question mark because I’m not sure what my wife’s proper name is in Uruguay, and I hesitated. She got one from migración, a different one from the Corte Electoral when we became citizens.

Amazingly, it was all correct when he produced the finished document.

 

La palta penúltima

Alas, our most generous gift of avocados had only one problem: they all ripened simultaneously. So, a few friends each got one, and our second-to-last went tonight into a wonderfully lemony guacamole…

guac
And to think, in México we lived so close to avocado orchards *sigh*. But no, don’t miss México….

… accompanied by thoroughly decadent Doritos.

 

 

¡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.