I picked up one of those little advertising booklets. Flipping through it, a couple of things struck me. A guy advertising his transport service with a picture of a 60 year old truck.
And who could possibly think this imagery is going to inspire confidence in a locksmith?
Ah, Uruguay, es lo que hay.
Yummy.
A Mercado Libre order arrived with this “business card” inside. I don’t know if it’s a Latin American aesthetic, but I started noticing illegible business cards and ads when we arrived in Mexico 15 years ago.
Here’s an example from a few years ago.
You just have to wonder.
I got my first 2022 calendar recently, from the fish guy. It’s notable for a number of reasons. First is that I never knew the place actually had a name, since it doesn’t display it anywhere. Regardless, I can barely make out the name on the calendar. And they are definitely not open every day of the year, despite the claim. And interesting to note—though certainly understandable—the foods pictured do not include fish.
It does have moon phases, though, which may prove useful.
I think this is my favorite sign ever. There is literally one letter of it that is completely correct: y.
Queso cacero hongos y más. Homemade cheese mushrooms and more.
Brilliant. I’ve never actually stopped at the stand. I think I need to.
UPDATE: Syd of the Dog Walks: The Keso Kasero is as bland and tasteless as all the others of the genre. She has never had fresh hongos in two or three stops we have made. Y mas is preserved morrones, hongos, too sweet jams, et al.
Waiting in line for the ATM the other day, I noticed something I’ve seen a couple times before: the architect’s name in metal on the side of a building (or house).
In this case the telecom building is a poster child for 1960s brutalist architecture, with the added twist of a 12 foot high north-facing glass facade. You can see dark transparent plastic has been applied and is now coming loose, and huge blinds to attempt to block the sun (being in the Southern Hemisphere, the sun is in the north). But basically what the architect has created is an enormous solar oven. And an ugly one at that.
Quite a legacy!
This display appeared, at the opposite end of the supermarket from the beer section, after the panicdemic arrived in Uruguay. I didn’t even know they sold this shit here, but then I’m not a beer drinker.
Not atypical language mashup. Possessive apostrophe (which doesn’t exist in Spanish; happily not used to make “lunch” plural), “Delivery.” But hey, one gets the message.
A couple of weeks ago, I posted Quadruple bypass on a bun, amazed that such an excessively unhealthy thing could exist, even in Uruguay, home of the chivito. The other day, riding the bus back from Montevideo, I spotted this:
Curious, I went back to the Burger King site to see what this monstrosity might be. I found no “Ultra Whopper,” but there’s the same photo:
To refresh your memory, on the product page there is a link to “nutrition information,” consisting of
To add to your gastric distress, perhaps you’d also like artificial chocolate goop or acrylamides via potatoes fried in “vegetable” oil.
But wait, there’s a punchline here, in the last line: Frente a H. Clinicas. So after scarfing down all this “good stuff,” you may not even need an ambulance: they can just roll you on a stretcher across the street to this grim monstrosity,
Pesticides? No thanks! Tienda Inglesa looks out for you. We monitor for the presence of pesticide residues in the fruits and vegetables that we offer.
Sorry: no you don’t. Now that you’re owned by Americans, your marketing people have determined that pesticides are becoming a concern to hoi polloi, so you pretend you’re concerned and looking after your customers. You’re not. It’s simply bullshit.
Oh but wait! There’s a Gmail email address. That somehow lends legitimacy?
OK, I will write them for specifics. But I just spotted this today, and I’m calling bullshit.
28 May update:
Sr. ,
ante todo gracias por su contacto e interés en la calidad química de las frutas y hortalizas que consume, a continuación usted podrá encontrar las respuestas a sus preguntas.
Buen día,
Veo que están probando las frutas y hortalizas para detectar residuos de plagacidas, y tengo algunas preguntas:
¿Específicamente, que frutas y hortalizas están probando?
Se monitorean TODAS las frutas y hortalizas frescas que se comercializan.
¿También está probando la presencia de residuos de herbicidas, como el glifosato?
Se monitorean diferentes herbicidas utilizados en la producción hortifrutícola.
¿Prueban con qué frecuencia?
Se realizan monitoreos semanales
¿Qué laboratorio hace las pruebas?
Como usted habrá podido apreciar en la cartelería el laboratorio encargado de los ensayos es SMART ANALÍTICA
Los clientes de Tienda Inglesa, ¿donde pueden ver los resultados?
Con respecto a los resultados, se toman las medidas correctivas con productores en caso de tener que hacerlas.
Saludos Cordiales
