We're back....kind of. We're sitting at Gate D40 in MIA. It's 6:20am and we had a pleasantly uneventful 9 hr flight from Buenos Aires. We did enjoy the best seats in the house (other than 1st or business class) as we were in the bulkhead, with about 2 feet of leg room. From my past 2 yrs of flying for work, I've learned the ropes on how to get premium seats. We'll be boarding soon and are flying to Chicago, then on to Des Moines. We should land in DSM around noon today.
We've read the many comments regarding Maryann's interaction with the UY government official with much interest. While she hasn't addressed this issue yet (she's still working up a plausible story), I'll let everyone know that she tried to conduct an illegal driving maneuver directly infront of about 5 Montevideo policeman. Much whistling, honking and pointing was involved. But, these type of things are part of the adventure!
All for now!
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Friday, June 12, 2009
Buh bye Uruguay...
We´re headed to the airport in Montevideo, then to Buenos Aires, then Miami, then Chicago, then Des Moines! That´s alot of airports! I´ll post about our adventures at the Uruguay Red Cross when we get home and add the photos then too. And, apparently I´ll need to offer an explanation about the reason for the discussion with the Uruguay police - my portion of that conversation was, ¨lo siento, lo siento!´´ ... once again, it was a good thing Carlos was with us.
Ciao!
Ciao!
Friday morning....
It´s Friday morning and Maryann is still asleep. We had a very full day yesterday and it lasted long into the night.
We spent Thursday in Montevideo. It was a sunny day, with temps in the mid-50s, so it was perfect for walking around and shopping in the Centro district. After spending 15-20 minutes looking for parking space on the road, we found a parking lot and were off on our shopping adventure.
Maryann looked for shoes and a purse, but unfortunately she was not successful finding either. My guess is that she will continue her pursuit of these elusive items again today.
We did find the ´Mercado de los Artesans´ (Artists Market) which was filled with amazing works of art from Uruguayan artists. We spent over an hour there and bought many treasures for family and friends. I found a beautiful necklace and earring set that I gave to Maryann. This jewelry will always remind us of our time in Uruguay.
After the shopping adventure (lunch was in there also) we picked up our friend Carlos and headed to the Red Cross. The drive there was an adventure in itself. We had a conversation with a government official regarding Maryann´s driving skills, but were able to move along without further incident. I´ll allow Maryann to blog about the visit to the Red Cross, but it was another amazing experience.
Back in our hotel room, but prior to dinner, Maryann and I enjoyed the bottle of Bouza Chardonnay which we had purchased at the winery on Monday. Delightful! Note to our California friends.....Uruguay´s wines are world class! We then headed out for a short walk around Pocitos prior to dinner. During this walk (and only 2 blocks from our hotel) we found the Montecristo (http://www.montecristo.com.uy/), which is an old house, built to look like a castle. This place has much history and now houses both a museum and garden. We quickly changed our dining plans to include the Montecristo. We met Carlos, his cousin Gladis, and long-time friend Enrigue for appetizers at Old Maz and then headed to Montecristo around 10:15 pm for dinner. The evening was filled with conversation about the Montecristo, wine, Europe, Uruguay and the US. We enjoyed several bottles of Bouza Merlot as well! Maryann had ravioli and I had Thai Chicken. We both agreed that these were the best meals we´ve had while in Uruguay. The meal and conversation lasted until 1:00 am, when the Montecristo closed. It was an excellent last night in MVD. I can´t say that I´ve EVER had a meal go that long, but it was well worth it. Maryann and I have commented repeatedly that Marlene-Oma would fit right in here as she likes to nibble throughout the day and then have a late evening meal.
Today, we head for home. It is with much sadness that our time here has come to an end. We have made many friends and have seen many aspects of life in Uruguay. This country has much to offer....the ocean, large bustling cities and the beauty of the countryside. We´re already thinking about our next visit. As to whether we are moving here to pursue our winery, that decision isn´t made yet, but no matter how that decision turns out, we will come back to Uruguay.
I´ve been writing for almost an hour, so I am going to sign off now. I am certain that Maryann will want to tell you about her experience yesterday at the Uruguayan Red Cross.
Ciao´
We spent Thursday in Montevideo. It was a sunny day, with temps in the mid-50s, so it was perfect for walking around and shopping in the Centro district. After spending 15-20 minutes looking for parking space on the road, we found a parking lot and were off on our shopping adventure.
Maryann looked for shoes and a purse, but unfortunately she was not successful finding either. My guess is that she will continue her pursuit of these elusive items again today.
We did find the ´Mercado de los Artesans´ (Artists Market) which was filled with amazing works of art from Uruguayan artists. We spent over an hour there and bought many treasures for family and friends. I found a beautiful necklace and earring set that I gave to Maryann. This jewelry will always remind us of our time in Uruguay.
After the shopping adventure (lunch was in there also) we picked up our friend Carlos and headed to the Red Cross. The drive there was an adventure in itself. We had a conversation with a government official regarding Maryann´s driving skills, but were able to move along without further incident. I´ll allow Maryann to blog about the visit to the Red Cross, but it was another amazing experience.
Back in our hotel room, but prior to dinner, Maryann and I enjoyed the bottle of Bouza Chardonnay which we had purchased at the winery on Monday. Delightful! Note to our California friends.....Uruguay´s wines are world class! We then headed out for a short walk around Pocitos prior to dinner. During this walk (and only 2 blocks from our hotel) we found the Montecristo (http://www.montecristo.com.uy/), which is an old house, built to look like a castle. This place has much history and now houses both a museum and garden. We quickly changed our dining plans to include the Montecristo. We met Carlos, his cousin Gladis, and long-time friend Enrigue for appetizers at Old Maz and then headed to Montecristo around 10:15 pm for dinner. The evening was filled with conversation about the Montecristo, wine, Europe, Uruguay and the US. We enjoyed several bottles of Bouza Merlot as well! Maryann had ravioli and I had Thai Chicken. We both agreed that these were the best meals we´ve had while in Uruguay. The meal and conversation lasted until 1:00 am, when the Montecristo closed. It was an excellent last night in MVD. I can´t say that I´ve EVER had a meal go that long, but it was well worth it. Maryann and I have commented repeatedly that Marlene-Oma would fit right in here as she likes to nibble throughout the day and then have a late evening meal.
Today, we head for home. It is with much sadness that our time here has come to an end. We have made many friends and have seen many aspects of life in Uruguay. This country has much to offer....the ocean, large bustling cities and the beauty of the countryside. We´re already thinking about our next visit. As to whether we are moving here to pursue our winery, that decision isn´t made yet, but no matter how that decision turns out, we will come back to Uruguay.
I´ve been writing for almost an hour, so I am going to sign off now. I am certain that Maryann will want to tell you about her experience yesterday at the Uruguayan Red Cross.
Ciao´
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Random thoughts and Punta
Food...cheese, more cheese and then, some more cheese! My muffin top is growing steadily here as meal choices include pizza or pasta. Seriously, other than the eggplant dish I had a few nights ago, I have had pizza (plain cheese or cheese and mushrooms) or pasta )ravioli or crepes - both filled with cheese - for all of my lunches and dinner. It´s usually quite tasty, but wow, it´s a lot of cheese! I think Steve has had steak for almost every lunch and dinner, except for when we ordered in to the hotel and he got spaghetti with cheese sauce. Often we have found that you order what you would like and you receive what they have in the kitchen. We also typically have ensalada mixta which is lechuga (lettuce) y tomate. The lettuce has been very fresh butter lettuce at nearly every restaurant and comes in a large bowl so we split it. The dressing is oil and vinegar at each place.
There are small shops everywhere that have many pastry options... their pastries-cookies are very different than ours. First, they are very small. When I get a cookie at Palmers, Panera or Starbucks, they are huge! Here, to get the same amount, you would get maybe 4-6 of their little goodies. And, they have many more options, some dipped in chocolate, some with fruit, most with dolce de leche. Dolce de leche (caramel) is HUGE here and available almost everywhere. The shop keeper will have a flat styrofoam tray and load up all of your choices - each of which costs about a dime - and then they will wrap the flat in paper and send you to the cashier.
That brings up another thing we have noticed. There are no help wanted signs here and, there are an abundance of workers at each place we go to even though there may not necessarily be work for them to do. So, as one of the ex-pats explained: one person will help you get your item, another will ring it up, another will take your money, another will package it up for you. We haven´t really experienced something quite like that, but we notice many employees hanging out chatting and working their cell phones and we recognize that back home, that wouldn´t fly!
So, yesterday we headed to Punta de Este without our friend Carlos as he had a worker coming to his apartment. Punta was about a two hour drive and gave us a good idea of life outside Montevideo. We saw some suburbs, some countryside and then, when we arrived in Punta, some major Beverly Hills-style mansions!! You can google Punta de Este on the internet and you will see that it is THE place for the rich people of Argentina, Brazil, Spain and Italy as well as some American movie stars. We thought we would do some hob-nobbin´ with the stars, but they apparently didn´t know we were coming and weren´t available. We found a great place near the yacht harbor and had lunch (steak and pasta!) and wine there.
We also visited the home and studio of a famous artist, Carlos Paez Vilaro. Check this link out to see his unreal home! http://www.carlospaezvilaro.com/casapueblo.swf
We then visited the following famous art sculpture and took several pictures:
http://www.welcomeuruguay.com/puntadeleste/the-hand-monument.html
After heading out of Punta, we went to Bodega Ballena which is a winery just outside of Punta. Sadly, they were closed, but it was a beautiful drive.
We have adjusted to Montevideo time/customs so we ate again at 9:00 p.m. and this morning we slept until 9:00 a.m.! We have to confess that prior to dinner last night we went to McDonalds and had hot fudge and dulce de leche sundaes!! We paid in US dollars too. Sometimes you just need a little bit of home.
Today, we are off to do some Montevideo shopping and at 3:00 p.m. we will pick up Carlos and go the the Red Cross Uruguay! I brought them some pins from home and am excited to share them and learn about their activities here. there aren´t many swimming pools here, so I suspect they are not big on the swimming lesson madness we have at home.
Ciao!
There are small shops everywhere that have many pastry options... their pastries-cookies are very different than ours. First, they are very small. When I get a cookie at Palmers, Panera or Starbucks, they are huge! Here, to get the same amount, you would get maybe 4-6 of their little goodies. And, they have many more options, some dipped in chocolate, some with fruit, most with dolce de leche. Dolce de leche (caramel) is HUGE here and available almost everywhere. The shop keeper will have a flat styrofoam tray and load up all of your choices - each of which costs about a dime - and then they will wrap the flat in paper and send you to the cashier.
That brings up another thing we have noticed. There are no help wanted signs here and, there are an abundance of workers at each place we go to even though there may not necessarily be work for them to do. So, as one of the ex-pats explained: one person will help you get your item, another will ring it up, another will take your money, another will package it up for you. We haven´t really experienced something quite like that, but we notice many employees hanging out chatting and working their cell phones and we recognize that back home, that wouldn´t fly!
So, yesterday we headed to Punta de Este without our friend Carlos as he had a worker coming to his apartment. Punta was about a two hour drive and gave us a good idea of life outside Montevideo. We saw some suburbs, some countryside and then, when we arrived in Punta, some major Beverly Hills-style mansions!! You can google Punta de Este on the internet and you will see that it is THE place for the rich people of Argentina, Brazil, Spain and Italy as well as some American movie stars. We thought we would do some hob-nobbin´ with the stars, but they apparently didn´t know we were coming and weren´t available. We found a great place near the yacht harbor and had lunch (steak and pasta!) and wine there.
We also visited the home and studio of a famous artist, Carlos Paez Vilaro. Check this link out to see his unreal home! http://www.carlospaezvilaro.com/casapueblo.swf
We then visited the following famous art sculpture and took several pictures:
http://www.welcomeuruguay.com/puntadeleste/the-hand-monument.html
After heading out of Punta, we went to Bodega Ballena which is a winery just outside of Punta. Sadly, they were closed, but it was a beautiful drive.
We have adjusted to Montevideo time/customs so we ate again at 9:00 p.m. and this morning we slept until 9:00 a.m.! We have to confess that prior to dinner last night we went to McDonalds and had hot fudge and dulce de leche sundaes!! We paid in US dollars too. Sometimes you just need a little bit of home.
Today, we are off to do some Montevideo shopping and at 3:00 p.m. we will pick up Carlos and go the the Red Cross Uruguay! I brought them some pins from home and am excited to share them and learn about their activities here. there aren´t many swimming pools here, so I suspect they are not big on the swimming lesson madness we have at home.
Ciao!
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
The winery, wine institute and Juanico
We have a lot to post; here goes:
Javier and Carlos met us at our hotel yesterday morning and we took off for the Canelones region (Uruguay´s premier wine region) to see an abandoned winery currently for sale that Steve found on the internet. Javier is the local fellow representing the owner, John, in New York. He drove us straight to it and called the next door neighbor who worked for ten years at the winery when it was in production nearly 35 years ago! We can´t remember his name, but he was extremely passionate about the winery and explained in great detail what they used to do, how everything worked, how many people worked there, how much and what type of wine was produced and where and to whom it was sold. He was quite a talker and it took both Javier and Carlos to keep up with him translating for us. We took many pictures and Steve again became very excited as it was a large production facility and the cement tanks in the basement of the building are still in very good condition. We liked the ´neighborhood´ by the winery much more than the one by the vineyard, but to be clear, it was still in an extremely rural and rustic area. We learned that the name of the winery was Santa Teresa which was very well known across the country.
It also happened to be right down the road from the Uruguay Wine and Viticulture Institute, so we went there next and again Carlos and Javier translated for us as the professors spoke no English. Steve learned about their programs and how they´ve been working to improve the vineyard and winemaking practices in Uruguay. They were very welcoming and would be willing to help us if we started making wine here. Coincidentally, one of the professors was the son of the old man who lived next door to the winery and had shared so many stories with us.
As I mentioned, we were in a very rural area again yesterday as we had been on Monday. As such, it was fortunate that yours truly - who is never without food - brought snacks! As we tooled down the rural roads passing horses pulling their carts and commenting on the variety of homes and landscape, we munched away on Trader Joes almonds and Bare Naked granola!
Next, we headed to Juanico Winery. It was simply amazing! The largest producer and exporter of wine in Uruguay. We didn´t have an appointment for a tour, but it was no problem at all. After a short wait in their unbelievable facility - think super rustic, very spacious, beautiful yet simple and understated art all tied together with Spanish accents - an adorable French-Spanish ´guia´ (guide) took us on a private tour of the grounds and cellars. The facility was quite opposite from what we saw on Monday ' Juanico is a place of mass production, whereas Bouza has chosen to concentrate on a few wines and be the very best they can be at them. We liked them both very much! Juanico is most famous for their Don Pascual wines, but they also currently own the Santa Teresa name. (See above.)
Headed to dinner...will post more later...
Javier and Carlos met us at our hotel yesterday morning and we took off for the Canelones region (Uruguay´s premier wine region) to see an abandoned winery currently for sale that Steve found on the internet. Javier is the local fellow representing the owner, John, in New York. He drove us straight to it and called the next door neighbor who worked for ten years at the winery when it was in production nearly 35 years ago! We can´t remember his name, but he was extremely passionate about the winery and explained in great detail what they used to do, how everything worked, how many people worked there, how much and what type of wine was produced and where and to whom it was sold. He was quite a talker and it took both Javier and Carlos to keep up with him translating for us. We took many pictures and Steve again became very excited as it was a large production facility and the cement tanks in the basement of the building are still in very good condition. We liked the ´neighborhood´ by the winery much more than the one by the vineyard, but to be clear, it was still in an extremely rural and rustic area. We learned that the name of the winery was Santa Teresa which was very well known across the country.
It also happened to be right down the road from the Uruguay Wine and Viticulture Institute, so we went there next and again Carlos and Javier translated for us as the professors spoke no English. Steve learned about their programs and how they´ve been working to improve the vineyard and winemaking practices in Uruguay. They were very welcoming and would be willing to help us if we started making wine here. Coincidentally, one of the professors was the son of the old man who lived next door to the winery and had shared so many stories with us.
As I mentioned, we were in a very rural area again yesterday as we had been on Monday. As such, it was fortunate that yours truly - who is never without food - brought snacks! As we tooled down the rural roads passing horses pulling their carts and commenting on the variety of homes and landscape, we munched away on Trader Joes almonds and Bare Naked granola!
Next, we headed to Juanico Winery. It was simply amazing! The largest producer and exporter of wine in Uruguay. We didn´t have an appointment for a tour, but it was no problem at all. After a short wait in their unbelievable facility - think super rustic, very spacious, beautiful yet simple and understated art all tied together with Spanish accents - an adorable French-Spanish ´guia´ (guide) took us on a private tour of the grounds and cellars. The facility was quite opposite from what we saw on Monday ' Juanico is a place of mass production, whereas Bouza has chosen to concentrate on a few wines and be the very best they can be at them. We liked them both very much! Juanico is most famous for their Don Pascual wines, but they also currently own the Santa Teresa name. (See above.)
Headed to dinner...will post more later...
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Reflectiones by Esteban
¡Hola! It´s Tuesday morning and we´ve already had a strenuous workout at the deluxe workout facility here at the hotel. We´ll post photos later..... Today, we´re headed to look at the winery for sale. It should be interesting as it has been vacant for about 10 yrs. But, during our conversation with Bodega Bouza yesterday, they started with something very similar and now its beautiful. We can use that as our inspiration.
Several people have asked about our meals. Unfornatuately for Maryann, the veggie options are limited to salads, pasta and shrimp with heads. They don´t eat veggies here....ie, no squash, zucchini etc. Additionally, they don´t have any type of ethnic food, such as Chinese, Indian or Thai. But, they DO have beef! Lots of beef. I´ve had steak several nights for dinner and they´ve been excellent.
We´ll post more tonite after the winery adventure. Ciao.
Several people have asked about our meals. Unfornatuately for Maryann, the veggie options are limited to salads, pasta and shrimp with heads. They don´t eat veggies here....ie, no squash, zucchini etc. Additionally, they don´t have any type of ethnic food, such as Chinese, Indian or Thai. But, they DO have beef! Lots of beef. I´ve had steak several nights for dinner and they´ve been excellent.
We´ll post more tonite after the winery adventure. Ciao.
Monday, June 8, 2009
Lunes continued...
This afternoon we spent an hour or so in an old cafe in Las Piedras where we had capuccinos and coca-cola light. Looking out the windows we were struck by the contrast of the old - really old - things we saw (cars, bikes, storefronts, equipment, etc.) and the new (cars, cellphones, advertisements for remote control t.v.s, movies that JUST came out at home, etc.). Being there is almost (but not quite) like stepping back in time as the mule and cart pass by carrying large burlap sacks, except the girl behind them is sending a text to her pal.
We then headed to Bodega Bouza ... I think we had their link on the first post. We met with the owner for a long tour and were completely impressed by the immaculate and beautiful grounds and winery. We were also amazed to find a very classy restaurant operating inside the refurbished barn. The whole scene was right out of a Polo advertisement. She was exceptionally stylish and lovely, fresh flowers in the banos, exposed brick in the main dining area with a large fireplace and overstuffed leather furniture welcoming guests to sit and sip their fine wines. Her husband also sat with us and for about an hour they shared advice and Steve shared his plans. It was a really nice afternoon and we felt very welcome there. Following our goodbyes, Steve, Carlos and I went to the cashier to purchase some wines and the owner came back in and told us her family has a property with a nice house and hectares to grow vines. We may go look tomorrow.
That´s all for now... Cheers!
We then headed to Bodega Bouza ... I think we had their link on the first post. We met with the owner for a long tour and were completely impressed by the immaculate and beautiful grounds and winery. We were also amazed to find a very classy restaurant operating inside the refurbished barn. The whole scene was right out of a Polo advertisement. She was exceptionally stylish and lovely, fresh flowers in the banos, exposed brick in the main dining area with a large fireplace and overstuffed leather furniture welcoming guests to sit and sip their fine wines. Her husband also sat with us and for about an hour they shared advice and Steve shared his plans. It was a really nice afternoon and we felt very welcome there. Following our goodbyes, Steve, Carlos and I went to the cashier to purchase some wines and the owner came back in and told us her family has a property with a nice house and hectares to grow vines. We may go look tomorrow.
That´s all for now... Cheers!
Lunes
Buenos noches mi amigos...
First, we´ll start with a few items I´ve forgotten to post:
When we arrived at the Montevideo airport and were passing through customs, guess who was there greeting all the arrivals? Cruz Roja Uruguay! Two gals in their RC vests were handing out pamphlets about swine flu and what to do if you came down with a fever, etc. I quickly whipped out my Red Cross business card and showed it to them. You should have seen their faces light up! Unfortunately, there were people behind us and we had to move quickly, so after a very brief introduction, we had to move on. It was really fun to see their presence so quickly.
Next, here are all the modes of transportation you may utilize on the roads here:
walking
running
bicycling
bicycle pulling really gigantic mound of stuff and multiple people
a three wheeled car-bike hybrid
motorbiking
horse and cart
car
car pulling smoking car
bus
It wouldn´t be out of the question for all of these options to be speeding down the highway at the same time. There will also be dogs running at breakneck speed down the side of the road/sidewalk and they will dart in and out of the traffic occasionally - as do bikers and people - and none ever seems to get hurt. It makes for high-blood pressure driving if you aren´t used to it, but it certainly seems to work out for everyone here.
Last night we met Carlos and his friend, Andrea, and went to dinner at a small, quaint, family owned bar-b-que restaurant tucked into a little neighborhood off the beach area. We would never have found it without them and we wouldn´t have had a chance navigating the menu without Carlos either. Steve had steak and I had an egglant/mushroom/cheese dish that was fabulous. We enjoyed an excellent bottle of tannat wine and the special apple pancake dessert and then, before we knew it, Carlos ordered lemoncella liquor treats for all. Dinner began at 10:00 p.m. and we went till 12:30 a.m. It was delicious!
This morning Carlos met us at our hotel and we went to Sauce to see the vineyard that we traveled all this way for. The drive there was interesting as my two navigators worked off approximately five maps and had many discussions with each other. We only stopped for directions once; again - thanks to Carlos as we were definitely not where English was spoken!!
We made it to Sauce and for some amazing reason, the two men we were meeting pulled up behind us.. we have no idea how they knew it was us. I had to use the banos, so one of the men personally escorted me to the farmacia on the corner, had a brief conversation and handshake with the owner about the only blonde senorita in town, and suddenly I was being escorted to their employee potty. I had a recollection of when I was at Hurricane Katrina and the National Guard guys escorted me to a bathroom and then waited outside the door for me!
We followed the men to the vineyard - we were definitely out in the boonies! The vineyard looked just as rough as in the photos on the internet, but the longer we walked through it the more it grew on us. We bought it on the spot!!
ha! gotcha! Just kidding. We´re totally laughing now imagining your reactions. :)
Anyway, we did spend a fair amount of time there and Steve took pictures, checked out the soil and talked about what he would do with the vineyard. I checked out the building on the property and other than having a tree inside of it and no roof, it was very quaint. Not too long ago, cows were using it as a bano. Steve came up with a winery name: Bodega de Cow Bano
Gotta have a sense of humor! Following our visit to the vineyard, we went to Las Piedras and then to Bouza. Our dinner just arrived, so those adventures will be in another post.
Having a great time!
First, we´ll start with a few items I´ve forgotten to post:
When we arrived at the Montevideo airport and were passing through customs, guess who was there greeting all the arrivals? Cruz Roja Uruguay! Two gals in their RC vests were handing out pamphlets about swine flu and what to do if you came down with a fever, etc. I quickly whipped out my Red Cross business card and showed it to them. You should have seen their faces light up! Unfortunately, there were people behind us and we had to move quickly, so after a very brief introduction, we had to move on. It was really fun to see their presence so quickly.
Next, here are all the modes of transportation you may utilize on the roads here:
walking
running
bicycling
bicycle pulling really gigantic mound of stuff and multiple people
a three wheeled car-bike hybrid
motorbiking
horse and cart
car
car pulling smoking car
bus
It wouldn´t be out of the question for all of these options to be speeding down the highway at the same time. There will also be dogs running at breakneck speed down the side of the road/sidewalk and they will dart in and out of the traffic occasionally - as do bikers and people - and none ever seems to get hurt. It makes for high-blood pressure driving if you aren´t used to it, but it certainly seems to work out for everyone here.
Last night we met Carlos and his friend, Andrea, and went to dinner at a small, quaint, family owned bar-b-que restaurant tucked into a little neighborhood off the beach area. We would never have found it without them and we wouldn´t have had a chance navigating the menu without Carlos either. Steve had steak and I had an egglant/mushroom/cheese dish that was fabulous. We enjoyed an excellent bottle of tannat wine and the special apple pancake dessert and then, before we knew it, Carlos ordered lemoncella liquor treats for all. Dinner began at 10:00 p.m. and we went till 12:30 a.m. It was delicious!
This morning Carlos met us at our hotel and we went to Sauce to see the vineyard that we traveled all this way for. The drive there was interesting as my two navigators worked off approximately five maps and had many discussions with each other. We only stopped for directions once; again - thanks to Carlos as we were definitely not where English was spoken!!
We made it to Sauce and for some amazing reason, the two men we were meeting pulled up behind us.. we have no idea how they knew it was us. I had to use the banos, so one of the men personally escorted me to the farmacia on the corner, had a brief conversation and handshake with the owner about the only blonde senorita in town, and suddenly I was being escorted to their employee potty. I had a recollection of when I was at Hurricane Katrina and the National Guard guys escorted me to a bathroom and then waited outside the door for me!
We followed the men to the vineyard - we were definitely out in the boonies! The vineyard looked just as rough as in the photos on the internet, but the longer we walked through it the more it grew on us. We bought it on the spot!!
ha! gotcha! Just kidding. We´re totally laughing now imagining your reactions. :)
Anyway, we did spend a fair amount of time there and Steve took pictures, checked out the soil and talked about what he would do with the vineyard. I checked out the building on the property and other than having a tree inside of it and no roof, it was very quaint. Not too long ago, cows were using it as a bano. Steve came up with a winery name: Bodega de Cow Bano
Gotta have a sense of humor! Following our visit to the vineyard, we went to Las Piedras and then to Bouza. Our dinner just arrived, so those adventures will be in another post.
Having a great time!
Sunday, June 7, 2009
El domingo
Our Sunday adventures...
We took a long walk down the Rambla today until the playa (beach) ended, then we dodged up into the neighborhoods for the walk back. Ít´s so interesting to see a different way of life and living. We saw many people walking to the local mini-markets where the fruit and vegetables are on display in crates out front and you go inside long, narrow aisles to find all the things you might in a large supermarket at home, but with fewer choices of a particular item, different packaging and certainly a different language... however, we were surprised to see many similar brands. We found Helleman´s mayonaise, but in a plastic bag. And, Pedigree dog food - same yellow bag. Yogurt is in a large glass pitcher-like container... just interesting. We had a brief conversation with the storekeeper where he offered to sell us a newspaper and I explained that we couldn´t understand it, so no thanks.
After our long walk we headed to the ex-pats lunch and had a wonderful time with a welcoming and very talkative group of people. We met people from all across the U.S., several Uruguayans, one Canadian and two from Ireland. They had much to share with us about moving to, living in and doing business in Uruguay. They all love it here and seem very happy. They identified a few things they miss, but not anything they couldn´t live without. They answered our questions at length and seemed very supportive of the wine industry here. One woman, whose family makes wine in Argentina, knew all about growing grapes and wine making and noted a few other vineyards she knew of for sale.
And, Carlos showed up to give us a phone and set our arrangements to meet for dinner tonight. You may recall from our first post that Carlos is the father of a Red Crosser I work with. Carlos is coming to our hotel at 9:30 tonight and we will go to dinner somewhere he chooses. For those of you who know Steve, this is quite a late time to go to dinner, however, this is apparently when the town gets going for evening meals and socializing. Apparently, if you are going out to the clubs, you wouldn´t dare show up earlier than 2:00 a.m.! We will not be doing that!
After our ex-pat lunch, we took another walk because it´s really fascinating to see the shops and cafes and found several pastry shops, a sporting goods store where Steve bought a fleece pullover with the National rugby team´s logo on it and then we found the most amazing McDonalds I´ve ever seen. McCafe...very cosmopolitan! We can report that a Big Mac meal is about $5.00 in Uruguay, although we were too stuffed to eat anything else.
That´s all for now... we have to go take a nap so we can be awake for dinner at 9:30 p.m.!
Marianna and Esteban
We took a long walk down the Rambla today until the playa (beach) ended, then we dodged up into the neighborhoods for the walk back. Ít´s so interesting to see a different way of life and living. We saw many people walking to the local mini-markets where the fruit and vegetables are on display in crates out front and you go inside long, narrow aisles to find all the things you might in a large supermarket at home, but with fewer choices of a particular item, different packaging and certainly a different language... however, we were surprised to see many similar brands. We found Helleman´s mayonaise, but in a plastic bag. And, Pedigree dog food - same yellow bag. Yogurt is in a large glass pitcher-like container... just interesting. We had a brief conversation with the storekeeper where he offered to sell us a newspaper and I explained that we couldn´t understand it, so no thanks.
After our long walk we headed to the ex-pats lunch and had a wonderful time with a welcoming and very talkative group of people. We met people from all across the U.S., several Uruguayans, one Canadian and two from Ireland. They had much to share with us about moving to, living in and doing business in Uruguay. They all love it here and seem very happy. They identified a few things they miss, but not anything they couldn´t live without. They answered our questions at length and seemed very supportive of the wine industry here. One woman, whose family makes wine in Argentina, knew all about growing grapes and wine making and noted a few other vineyards she knew of for sale.
And, Carlos showed up to give us a phone and set our arrangements to meet for dinner tonight. You may recall from our first post that Carlos is the father of a Red Crosser I work with. Carlos is coming to our hotel at 9:30 tonight and we will go to dinner somewhere he chooses. For those of you who know Steve, this is quite a late time to go to dinner, however, this is apparently when the town gets going for evening meals and socializing. Apparently, if you are going out to the clubs, you wouldn´t dare show up earlier than 2:00 a.m.! We will not be doing that!
After our ex-pat lunch, we took another walk because it´s really fascinating to see the shops and cafes and found several pastry shops, a sporting goods store where Steve bought a fleece pullover with the National rugby team´s logo on it and then we found the most amazing McDonalds I´ve ever seen. McCafe...very cosmopolitan! We can report that a Big Mac meal is about $5.00 in Uruguay, although we were too stuffed to eat anything else.
That´s all for now... we have to go take a nap so we can be awake for dinner at 9:30 p.m.!
Marianna and Esteban
Rise and Shine!
It´s Sunday am and we had an excellent night of sleep. Pocitos hotel is a few blocks from the ocean and has many small stores, restaurants, bars and a large park nearby. We should be able to find everything we need here. Just had a nice breakfast spread... things are a little different here... the yogurt comes in a pitcher and is slightly thicker than milk... the coffee is super black - more than even I like. The theory is cafe con leche, so I poured the cafe about half full, then half milk, but something isn´t quite right, so I´ll keep trying...
I forgot to mention my meal from the mercado was also an adventure.. I ordered jumbo shrimp with legumes, what I got was jumbo shrimp with heads, feelers and legs! yikes! But, you get what you get... Steve offered to ´de-head´them for me, but I figured, when in Uruguay, do as the Uruguayans do... (no, that does not mean I ate the heads)...
We also didn´t mention our clever dodging of the man on the street who was trying to collect parking fees from us... we were sure he wasn´t really a parking meter guy, so as he stood in front of our car motioning for us to show our ticket, I shook my head and Steve motioned for him to move out of the way... he did and as we went by, he was less than happy with us... we got moving pretty quickly as he hollered for his pals who came running our direction! Remember, it´s been a long time since I´ve driven a stickshift, so the poor guy was really taking a risk!
This morning we´re off to take a walk on the Rambla (ocean front walk that goes for miles and miles). Íts winter here ánd many people here are wearing long parkas, hats, gloves and covering their faces with their scarves...we think it´s kind of funny since it´s just mid 50s. Finally this California`-Iowa girl isn´t too cold in winter.
The keyboard here is pretty odd... keys are in different places, so typing this is a bit of a challenge, so please forgive any typos.
Buenos dias mi amigos...
Marianna
I forgot to mention my meal from the mercado was also an adventure.. I ordered jumbo shrimp with legumes, what I got was jumbo shrimp with heads, feelers and legs! yikes! But, you get what you get... Steve offered to ´de-head´them for me, but I figured, when in Uruguay, do as the Uruguayans do... (no, that does not mean I ate the heads)...
We also didn´t mention our clever dodging of the man on the street who was trying to collect parking fees from us... we were sure he wasn´t really a parking meter guy, so as he stood in front of our car motioning for us to show our ticket, I shook my head and Steve motioned for him to move out of the way... he did and as we went by, he was less than happy with us... we got moving pretty quickly as he hollered for his pals who came running our direction! Remember, it´s been a long time since I´ve driven a stickshift, so the poor guy was really taking a risk!
This morning we´re off to take a walk on the Rambla (ocean front walk that goes for miles and miles). Íts winter here ánd many people here are wearing long parkas, hats, gloves and covering their faces with their scarves...we think it´s kind of funny since it´s just mid 50s. Finally this California`-Iowa girl isn´t too cold in winter.
The keyboard here is pretty odd... keys are in different places, so typing this is a bit of a challenge, so please forgive any typos.
Buenos dias mi amigos...
Marianna
Saturday, June 6, 2009
We made it to Montevideo!
Although there were several delays, our flights were relatively uneventful. I did have the benefit of taking Benedryl and then Melatonin, so I slept much of the way, while Steve kept a watchful eye.
We arrived in Montevideo this morning and weren¨t terribly tired, so we got our manual transmission Fiat and headed straight to the Mercado. We parked where we hoped our car wouldn´t be gone when we came back and walked down the alley to a great open-air market and found a place for lunch. As it turned out, it was apparently THE place for lunch and we found ourselves completely immersed in locals enjoying their Saturday afternoon! There was singing and partying all around us and the food was good too!
We explored the Mercado a bit - Steve bought me a scarf as it´s cooler than we expected - bought a bottle of local wine and after the large meal and the thinking involved in working your way through a foreign country after 20 hours of travel, we decided to head to our hotel.
Thankfully, I had practiced driving in John´s BMW last week, so I was well-equipped to handle the roads and parking situations here! The lines on the roads mean nothing!
Hotel Pocitos Plaza is just fine and is well located too. The place we are headed tomorrow to meet the ex-pats is about five doors down. We found a place for a local beer and a great pizza spot for dinner just now. We even found a pet store where we had broken conversation about pet overpopulation and what they do about it here.
We went into a local restaurant-bar to have a beer and started speaking with the employee who is a fan of american football. When I asked him what his favorite team is.....he said the ¨Green Bay Packers!!!¨ What are the odds! We talked about the Pack and american football for a while. He was clearly a knowledgeable Packer fan!
We arrived in Montevideo this morning and weren¨t terribly tired, so we got our manual transmission Fiat and headed straight to the Mercado. We parked where we hoped our car wouldn´t be gone when we came back and walked down the alley to a great open-air market and found a place for lunch. As it turned out, it was apparently THE place for lunch and we found ourselves completely immersed in locals enjoying their Saturday afternoon! There was singing and partying all around us and the food was good too!
We explored the Mercado a bit - Steve bought me a scarf as it´s cooler than we expected - bought a bottle of local wine and after the large meal and the thinking involved in working your way through a foreign country after 20 hours of travel, we decided to head to our hotel.
Thankfully, I had practiced driving in John´s BMW last week, so I was well-equipped to handle the roads and parking situations here! The lines on the roads mean nothing!
Hotel Pocitos Plaza is just fine and is well located too. The place we are headed tomorrow to meet the ex-pats is about five doors down. We found a place for a local beer and a great pizza spot for dinner just now. We even found a pet store where we had broken conversation about pet overpopulation and what they do about it here.
We went into a local restaurant-bar to have a beer and started speaking with the employee who is a fan of american football. When I asked him what his favorite team is.....he said the ¨Green Bay Packers!!!¨ What are the odds! We talked about the Pack and american football for a while. He was clearly a knowledgeable Packer fan!
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Gettin' packed!
Steven and I are nearly packed - trying to remember all the little things we may need in a foreign country! We have an adapter, a Montevideo map, instructions on how to purchase a temporary telephono, lots of Airborne and other medicines we may wish to have, the phone numbers and email of our soon-to-be-new-friend, Carlos, and lots of dinero!!
We'll leave Des Moines tomorrow at 2:00 p.m., fly to Miami, then it's just a few miles south to Montevideo baby! We land there around 9:00 a.m. on Saturday morning. The time in Montevideo is just two hours ahead of DSM (Mom - that's four hours ahead of you).
Saturday is Montevideo sightseeing and probably a few hours of napping too! Sunday we hope to meet Carlos at or following the ex-pat meeting. If you've read my first post, you can see that an ex-pat has already left an encouraging and welcoming comment!
Monday and Tuesday, Steven has appointments for us at local wineries and vineyards as well as the properties that we've been imagining could end up being ours! His professor called to wish us good luck today and keep Steven on task for the types of questions he should be asking...
After Tuesday, we don't really have a plan, but I'm guessing things will just come together. Of course it will be important to find the coffee places, internet cafes so you can have updates, take lots of pictures and become as aquainted as possible with this charming country. Steven's goal is to visit as many wineries as possible... I just hate that idea.
We have a few more things to do before morning........
Mantengase en contacto,
Marianna y Esteban
We'll leave Des Moines tomorrow at 2:00 p.m., fly to Miami, then it's just a few miles south to Montevideo baby! We land there around 9:00 a.m. on Saturday morning. The time in Montevideo is just two hours ahead of DSM (Mom - that's four hours ahead of you).
Saturday is Montevideo sightseeing and probably a few hours of napping too! Sunday we hope to meet Carlos at or following the ex-pat meeting. If you've read my first post, you can see that an ex-pat has already left an encouraging and welcoming comment!
Monday and Tuesday, Steven has appointments for us at local wineries and vineyards as well as the properties that we've been imagining could end up being ours! His professor called to wish us good luck today and keep Steven on task for the types of questions he should be asking...
After Tuesday, we don't really have a plan, but I'm guessing things will just come together. Of course it will be important to find the coffee places, internet cafes so you can have updates, take lots of pictures and become as aquainted as possible with this charming country. Steven's goal is to visit as many wineries as possible... I just hate that idea.
We have a few more things to do before morning........
Mantengase en contacto,
Marianna y Esteban
Monday, June 1, 2009
Uruguay? What are we thinking?!
About a month ago, Steve stumbled across a vineyard for sale in Uruguay. Where you say? Uruguay... Is that the same as Paraguay? Nope. Go south, really south down to southern, South America. It's small, to the east of Argentina and below Brazil. Just up from where the penguins live!
So, a month later, we have plane tickets, a hotel room, a local contact, the date of the next ex-pat meeting and we're headed there on Friday to scout around a bit. Pet sitters are secured too - don't worry about Basia, Packer and Trinity! We'll be visiting many of the wineries there and seeing the places he's found for sale. And, we'll go to the next ex-pat lunch at Old Maz on Sunday at 1:00 p.m. (their time is only two hours later than ours, but it's winter there, not summer). You can check out Old Maz here:
http://www.oldmaz.com/english
Here's the winery link: http://www.uruguaywinetours.com/esp/visitenos.htm
They are re-doing the website right now and took down most of the English language information, but you can still wade through the pics and get the gist of why we think it looks pretty cool!
We'll be staying in Montevideo for the first few days and are most interested in the Canelones region at the moment, but who knows once we get there!
The excitement is building so I wanted to get a blog set up in hopes that we can work our way through the language barrier well enough to find an internet cafe and update it!
Pretty soon it will be 'adios mi amigos' for one fun week!
Buenos noches,
Marianna
So, a month later, we have plane tickets, a hotel room, a local contact, the date of the next ex-pat meeting and we're headed there on Friday to scout around a bit. Pet sitters are secured too - don't worry about Basia, Packer and Trinity! We'll be visiting many of the wineries there and seeing the places he's found for sale. And, we'll go to the next ex-pat lunch at Old Maz on Sunday at 1:00 p.m. (their time is only two hours later than ours, but it's winter there, not summer). You can check out Old Maz here:
http://www.oldmaz.com/english
Here's the winery link: http://www.uruguaywinetours.com/esp/visitenos.htm
They are re-doing the website right now and took down most of the English language information, but you can still wade through the pics and get the gist of why we think it looks pretty cool!
We'll be staying in Montevideo for the first few days and are most interested in the Canelones region at the moment, but who knows once we get there!
The excitement is building so I wanted to get a blog set up in hopes that we can work our way through the language barrier well enough to find an internet cafe and update it!
Pretty soon it will be 'adios mi amigos' for one fun week!
Buenos noches,
Marianna
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