Anacahuita trees, at least in my mind, are smallish, wispy shade trees. At least they were until I saw this one. Wow!
What it is ain’t exactly clear.
Welcome to Uruguay. Please type “www.”
Responsive, sophisticated web site designs, but you still have to type “www” to get to them.
Uruguay, you never cease to amaze me.
Moving carton mystery
- All people leaving Uruguay move to English-speaking countries, or
- The moving companies has boxes in different languages, depending on the client, or
- They just love possessive apostrophes, or — ?
Plastic doesn’t fare well in Uruguay
Both this table and the watering can are now several years old, but I was reminded yesterday when I went outside and the sun felt strong. I’ve experienced hot before, but this strong is new to me in Uruguay; it must be the ultraviolet. It eats plastic.
I showed last winter how spray-painted graffiti had actually protected the color in a trash container. I lived in Germany, where the containers are made, so I know they have nothing like the sun here to think about.
I expect this damage is solely from the plastic becoming brittle, exposed to strong sunlight all day long.
To each its own
Somebody went to considerable effort to make a VW bus much more likely to tip over.
Spanglish, Uruguay style
The POP stand from yesterday reminds me of substitutions people make here, generally to shorten words (one of the trickier words we tried when we first arrived in Buenos Aires long ago was estacionamiento, which i eight syllables to say “parking.” And indeed, you can see signs that say “parking” here.
So “off” in place of descuento, but why “on line” when the Spanish is en linea?
And what’s with the possessive apostrophe? Guys, in your language there is no possessive apostrophe. (No matter how many years you’ve been dreaming.)
Olé Olé Pop Pop
Yes, the accents on Olé Olé are backward.
View from the top
I went with some friends returning to the USA to Piriápolis to help with legal stuff concerning their house sale. They insisted I ride the chairlift (aerosillas) to the top of Cerro San Antonio. Scary. At two points, you can almost touch the power lines beneath you with your feet.
They treated me to lunch at the top. Lovely day for it. I could actually see the World Trade Center building in Montevideo, 80 km away.
I love it when stuff like this happens
A few years ago, in Buenos Aires, our friend visiting from New York couldn’t believe the little things people were selling on buses, everywhere. “Who would buy a ball point pen?” she wondered. “I just did,” I replied, “I forgot to bring one.”
So couple years later in Manhattan, she emptied her “excess pen” drawer and we returned to Uruguay with a plastic bag full of pens.
Recently, though, that one from Buenos Aires has been my favorite, so I was slightly saddened to throw it in the trash when it ran dry (I might have replaced the guts, but that didn’t seem possible.) Until I realized: WAIT! That spring! Exactly what I’ve been look for to keep our water filter tube from crimping!
Thank you, pen from Buenos Aires!