Uniquely Uruguay: 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!