Have to show you my awesome stove in the cabin! It must be 100 years old and works!
There is a Canadian who sailed his boat to Uruguay and is apparently living aboard at the marina. Try as we did, we couldn't find him. We were hoping that this was his boat and that we could buy it...teeeeeee heeeeeee!
The following pic is a brain-teaser (I know you brainy people are out there!). We are on the east coast of South America, looking out at the mouth of the river to the Atlantic. So why are we watching the sunset!!!?????
Bob eating his "guilt-free" (and fantastic) ice cream after dark....hoping I wouldn't catch him...ahaaaa...busted!!! Marny, this one is for you.....we are eating DULCE DE LECHE!!!! The BEST we have ever tasted! Notice the sliver of moon over his shoulder? Beautiful evenings on La Rambla (waterfront) in Piriapolis!!
Last Saturday, Bob and I thought we'd visit an area a few kms away from the town where the locals are invited to make and sell their best efforts, right from their home. We found the houses and farms however everything appeared to be closed. Margarita had told us about this place and said that we must go on a Saturday, however Margarita and Michael had never been here, having heard about it from a friend. We had just returned to our cabin and considering what to do next and decided we should ask our landlady about the place. She told us that we needed to honk our horn or stand outside the homes and clap our hands (this is what you do here!) to let them know someone is outside. If they are open, they will invite you in. We were just about to leave again when our landlady came to the door and handed us the phone. It was Margarita, asking if we would like to go to a horse race (Margie dubbed it "Ascot"). They arrived 40 minutes later, picked us up and off we went. Now, they have never been to a horse race either and they had a vague idea where it would be....close to where Bob and I had just been. One of their construction workers raised, broke and races his horse and we were about to see Uruguayan racing...but first we had to find the track. Margarita, in her brilliant Spanish, engaged many people in a local village and by the side of the road. They all pointed us in the same direction but we just couldn't find it. We did learn, from a couple of gaucho's, that the race had been cancelled due to the heavy rain the night prior. What to do? Off we went, back to the artisan area. We stopped outside several homes and were delighted to buy (very inexpensively), fresh produce, cheese, baked goods and Margie and Michael found a stone worker who might do work at their old house.
Below: Lucy and her daughter ...all baking done in a wood stove! We pretty much cleaned them out.
The next home was owned by a mother and her daughter. The father died 7 years ago. They own a farm with 76 head of milk cows and make their own cheese, booze and fabulous fried dough that tastes like funnel cakes. There are three sisters and none of them ever married. This one does all the farming, cooking and booze making while the 85 year old mother makes home made pasta noodles. Anyone can call and book a reservation for their little restaurant to eat probably the best pasta in Uruguay. Beautiful people! We had a blast here....can you tell??
Below: Mamma (the fella in the corner is interesting but not very lively; the token male in the family...safe enough I reckon)
Below: The daughter. Again, all cooking is done on and in a wood stove
Further down the road we discovered a young woman who makes dolls from wire and fabric. Her work is sold in shops in Montevideo and one of her dolls was used for the cover of a program at the Opera House. She spoke English quite well and it was lovely to not have to make Margarita translate (as she so willingly did all along the way).
We had pretty much reached the end of the tour however saw another inviting sign and decided to drive up the road a bit. We discovered a beautiful quarry below us and would have loved to explore down into it.
A fence prevented us from getting in. What do mature people do in a situation like this? Click below to watch a clip. Needless to say, I was busy video'ing and therefore didn't participate in such silliness (RiiiiiiiiiiiiGHT!!!)
There are other photo's I would like to share however this wifi is just too slow to upload them. We had visited a place called "Flora y Fauna Reserva", run by the municipality and free to enter. We expected to find a place where all the animals were well fed and housed and what we found instead was quite appalling. Although there were many who had huge fields to explore (wild pigs and emu), even they were fed a diet of bread! Some of the forest cats were in very small cages and had no company other than humans. Very, very sad.
I will leave this segment with a couple of photo's of the SOS marine centre and the creatures being saved to return soon to the wild.
Below: The little marsupial
and one of the orphaned sea lions
1 comment:
You are indeed on the East coast, however, if you turn right when you are looking into the bay you are facing west!
Glad you're having fun, MENSA out.
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