Tag: infrastructure

Not sure what’s up with the basureros

basura: trash
basureros: them wot spozed to quitar the basura

Overflowing trash containers, days before tourist season starts, Atlántida, Uruguay
The day before tourist season officially starts, it appears the basureros have decided not to work.
Overflowing trash containers, days before tourist season starts, Atlántida, Uruguay
When they resume, will they pick up all the overflow? Curiously, along the Rambla (beachfront road), the containers have been emptied. The two closest to us were burned to the ground (one for the third time) about a month ago. When I called the Intendencia to inquire, they explained that they were waiting for new, equally flammable (OK, they didn’t say that) containers, so at present had no replacements.

Overflowing trash bins on beach the day before tourist season starts, Atlántida, Uruguay
Meanwhile, the usually-diligent beach crew seems to have slacked off as well.

In case you’re curious, the breed of that hunkering creature in the background—who has gone from 10 kg to over 20 kg in less than two months—has finally been established. It’s a rare Oriental Spinkle-Faced Sand Hound.

More about the funky, UV-prone, flammable trash containers:

 

 

Cajun-style comadreja

Cajun-style comadreja, with essence of plastic

I’ve spoken of our trash collection system before.

Last night, for the third time, our closest container was burned. Yeah, it makes some kind of great sense to collect trash in flammable containers.

dumpster-burn-3

Just as it makes sense to purchase for Uruguay trash containers from a country with absolutely no UV problem: Germany. Plastic doesn’t fare well here.

However, the irony—or synchronicity—in this current destruction is that my wife took a shovel yesterday to remove the body of a dead possum (comadreja) from the road, and threw it in that container.

So the little critter got a proper cremation.

Well, almost. From the attention our garbage-hound Gita gave today, apparently there are some Cajun tidbits still edible by her standards (shared by almost no other living thing besides ants and bacteria).

Southern winds

We’ve had several days now of persistent, on-shore wind. Here in Uruguay, off-shore points to Antarctica. Yeah, it’s been chilly. And I’m finally feeling righteous about finally having a proper winter jacket! (Purchased last November in Miami, when we were heading into summer here.) And so, for the first time in six years, we had a wonderfully mild winter, one that barely required a winter jacket.

I’m not implying causality, for the record. But, erm, uh … Uruguay, thank me if you will. It’s been pleasant, no? But this cold wind….

The Rambla (beachfront road) in Parque del Plata has always had a ridiculous stretch that half-fills with sand during the winter. Prior to tourist season, a front-end loader and dump truck appear, scoop up the offending dunes and deposit them upstream in the Solís Chico river, making a nice little beach for the locals. Which can then wash back down the river, into the sea, and — OK, let’s not go there.

This year, they have their work cut out for them, thanks to these cold southern winds.

dune-road
OK, you can’t see it, but the sign says “Calle Cerrado,” which means … well, it’s not the name of the street.

Meanwhile, the dune — above the boardwalk built to prevent further erosion of dunes — has gotten high enough that today I walked through the neighboring gap instead. Sort of like the gap where they built the boardwalk. But, hey.

buried-walkway
Today I approached through the gap to the right, rather than expend the effort to surmount the dune formed above the gap the boardwalk was built to “solve.”

Except for a 6-month amazing stint in Lincoln City, Oregon (1986-7), I have never lived near a beach, until the last six years, and the constant changes fascinate me.

Unlike my father, I’m not an engineer. Nor as smart. But I don’t think I’m thus unqualified to ask, what exactly are we not “getting” here?

OK, forget it: nature is amazing.

 

 

 

 

 

What? A line?

New line on street in Uruguay

The repaving of the bus route (see here and here) has actually turned out quite nicely. Avenida Mario Ferreiria has become a pleasure to drive instead of a nightmare. I’m not sure about having a line down the middle of a two-lane road in Uruguay, though, given the challenge so many drivers have deciding whether to drive in a lane or on a line.*

Did they all grow up with slot cars? That would explain a lot.

*0:50 here if you missed it

Name that beverage!

Uruguay tap water this morning

If you said, tap water this morning, congratulations! A few hours later, the tap water has cleared up again.

We had thunderstorms starting in the wee hours yesterday, but apparently it was the flooding from the rain all day that caused the electricity to go out five or six times, for a few minutes each, much later.

Apparently 162 people were evacuated from their homes, and 9,500 houses left without power.

The potholes in front of our house are growing as a result , but at least  the road did not become a river as it did before they fixed it.

Another one bites the dust

I noted 2-1/2 years ago the improved beach access, even though the side rails had mostly gone away on the boardwalk nearest us.

I noted a year ago how the dunes had risen to their natural level, depositing a half-meter of sand on top of this boardwalk.

And, 8 months ago, how flooding had overwhelmed the same boardwalk.

collapse-rail

Today, I see that — through accident or vandalism — the rail has started to go away. We’re not in heating season, so it may not disappear (as firewood) as quickly as in March 2012.

But probably no reason to think it will be repaired.