Making Friends and Living the Life

ALL PICTURES ARE AT THE BOTTOM SO SCROLL DOWN AS YOU GO!

We have made many new friends in a very short period of time in this country!  Right after we arrived here, we were at the mall attempting to purchase cell phones and this nice lady, Rosamee, ask if she could help.  Little did we know that Rosamee would become our most knowledgeable friend and confidante, my "go to" person.  This woman is extremely smart and knows the ways of Uruguay like no other.   She has helped from getting phones to buying a home.  She is an excellent resource for "help" of all kinds.  She even helped us get our healthcare. She knows everyone and is always happy to help us get special discounts, etc.  Rosamee wants to start her own business in helping people move to this country.  We think she is on the right track and should do so immediately.  We would certainly recommend her.  She and her family were our first dinner guests.  Mark cooked on the prilla and everyone enjoyed a great afternoon. 

We have met most of our neighbors.  They are all great and most speak some or alot of English so we are very happy that it is easy to communicate.  (We are working on our Spanish, SLOWLY!)  We've also met alot people that have done work for us.  Here is a pic of Andria and Carolina who do curtains.  Carolina is expecting her second child so we suggested a baby shower and Andria organized it immediately.  We look forward to meeting many more friends!

The architecture around here is so different.  When you walk down the block, you never see a home that looks like another.  That is what makes it so interesting.  You will see thatched roofs, modern flat roofs, spanish tiled roofs, small homes, big homes, all in the same neighborhood.   We intend to do a blog specifically on architecture soon.  But here a couple of pictures of homes.  The first one belongs to our neighbors mentioned above.  The other is one in the 'hood that I like.  Mark found something he and Ollie liked, too!

Saturday we started out to take a country drive and ended up at the first annual Punta del Este Food and Wine Festival!  It has been taking place every weekend in November and the last one was held in Garzon.  If any of you watch Anthony Bourdaine on the travel channel, you will remember his special on Uruguay.   He visited Garzon and Francis Mallman at his hotel there.  Francis is a famous chef and has a cookbook entitled "Seven Fires - grilling the Argentine Way".  He organized this part of the festival and was in attendance yesterday.  The food is faboulous, all cooked with fire.  The veggies are cooked in the ground.  And the wine is also awesome.  There are many vineyards in Uruguay and you can visit them by appointment only for tasting/tours, etc.  The country drive was awesome, too!  We saw birds, owls, reptiles, armadillo's and lizards, cows and sheep.   We actually got lost but found our way back to town after about an hour and 1/2, just in time for the festival.  I leave you with pics of the day!

Andria & Carolina

One of my favorite homes in neighborhood.

Our newest friends, Ed and Susanna's new home.

Mark's favorite thingin the neighborhood--basketball hoop!

Cooking the pork with fire at festival.



One of the many sights on our country drive.



Get ready, Fat Pat, for the Sunday drives!

Young ladies handing our wine glasses--reminds me of the Wine Spectacular in Huntersville, NC.

Maybe Huntersville should do an outdoor festival. 



Cooking the beef--mmm delicious!



Cooking the squash, beets in the ground--very tasty!

Must have!

On the way home!

Happy Holidays to everyone! 

Settling In to Chalet "Suits Us"

Been without internet access for a few weeks while settling to our new home.  In Uruguay, everyone names their home.  We named our home "Suits Us" after our old home in Danville, IL.  It was on Lake Vermilion and the sign over the door said "Suits Us".   We loved the saying and still do.   Our sign is made of old ship wood and huge old nails.   Pretty cool!   A carpenter in town helped us with it.  Although I think the "S" looks like an "L", so some English people might think it reads "Luits Us".   Not sure what that means in Spanish but it doesn't sound good!  Oh well, it is up and staying as is.

The house is new so there is plenty of work still to be done, especially landscaping.  We hope to put in a swimming pool and hot tub.  Not sure if it will happen this summer or next.  Everyone is busier this time of year and the price of work goes up so unless we can negotiate really well, it may have to wait until next year.  This is a picture of our living room.  We have a beautiful big window with pretty view and of course a fireplace.  It is very comfy and cozy!

Other than being busy with the house, we had our first houseguest last week.  John Ausura, from Mooresville, NC visited us for a few days before heading over to Buenos Airies for a conference.   We took him to Los Combres, a 5 star hotel with a stunning view of the ocean and a huge lake.  We also went to the Estancia Vic, mentioned in my last blog.  We visited the city of Piriapolis.  We drove up to the top of the hill where there is a statue of a saint.  If you bring a flower up and pray, you are supposed to be able to find a boyfriend right away.   John commented that there were an awful lot of good looking women up there!  And the view of the ocean was pretty nice, too.  Ate out alot and had many drinks on our patio.   John was pleasantly surprised at the area, likening it to an upscale Portugal or Cannes, France.  It is always quite a surprise when people really delve into this area.   They normally have no idea how nice it is!

We also visited the Conrad Hotel on the eve of Halloween.  They had some awesome decorations and were having their regular Friday and Sat evening style show.   We always enjoy stopping to have a glass of wine and watching the models show off the latest Latin American styles.  Great way to while away a couple of hours with just a little cost.   Much better than sitting in the casino.   I can manage to lose $50.00 bucks in no time flat on the slot machines!  I think I'd rather drink than gamble!

Last Sunday morning we went to the market in Maldonado (sort of like a flea market) but with produce.   It was great.  It reminded me of the Metrolina in Charlotte--without the antiques.  Lots of food, drinks, booths, clothes, crafts, jewelry and JUNK!  We managed to get out of there without any junk for once!   We are trying to be a bit more discerning in decorating our new home.   We did buy an Art Deco bar in an old antique store in Montivideo.  Just could NOT resist.  After a little elbow grease and a few replacement parts, we are looking forward to our first cocktail party.

Booked our girls tickets on the internet yesterday.   Brittany, Bailey and their two best friends will be coming in on December 26th and staying for 10-14 days.  Paid way too much for the tickets!  Oh well, can't wait to see them.  They are going to have a blast during the high season.  We look forward to showing them around Punta, Montivideo and Buenos Airies. 

Hope all is well with everyone.   Keep in touch and come to visit SOON!   Just be sure to book tickets way in advance of high season or be prepared to PAY UP!