Out in the world

 Uruguay had an excellent run against COVID last year, but this year has been a different story. Cases and deaths started increasing in January, and hit devastating highs in March and April, as they started the vaccine campaign. As a country, they never "locked down" but instead relied on individual and group responsibility (stay out of groups, wear a mask, wash your hands). Schools closed, but bars and restaurants didn't. Commerce continued- as a country that imports so many products, they had to depend on trade in order to stay afloat. The cases and deaths have been decreasing consistently for the past 2 months, and the country expects to have 70% vaccinated in 11 days, using mostly Sinovac but also a recent shipment of Pfizer from the US in the past couple of weeks. We were hoping we wouldn't need to quarantine (negative pre flight PCR test + vaccine documentation...) but just before we arrived, a group of young people returned from the US and while they tested negative before boarding the plane, some came up positive after arriving. In a small country, a small group can cause spread so...the rules changed. We were required to quarantine after our arrival until our next PCR test (7 days after our first). It was an easy drive up nose swab and we got results by 4:30 that afternoon. We had to quarantine for 2.5 days which was actually a wonderful luxury of laying in bed, having food delivered and taking "constitutional walks" in the garden of our hotel with Mei Mei. But by Friday evening, we were FREE to explore! So, like all Uruguayans, we headed to La Rambla (the boardwalk along the beach). And the great news for Uruguayans and us, people are very very responsible with masks. Here hoping the numbers keep decreasing.

These photos are not edited. Seriously.

We walked to the nearby restaurant and shop area to eat dinner. We tried a couple of restaurants, but since it was 6:30, they were not open yet. Typical dinner here starts at..8? 9? I am not sure how to adjust to this cultural norm!

But we found a pharmacy to buy supplies, a pet store for Mei Mei treats and we ended up eating at a crepe chain called "Crepas" which was very good and allowed dogs inside!

We were also happy to find reminders of China- the "Adult Exercise Equipment"! A bit rusty from being near the river.

On Saturday, we got to visit 4 potential apartments, each with their own plusses and minuses. The pluses typically included view of the beach, and the minuses included tiny elevators! We see one more on Monday and will need to decide where we will finally end up. It was really interesting to think about where we wanted to move based on neighborhood, location and parillero (private or shared). A parillero is a Uruguayan BBQ, a very important piece of home life.

The parillero at our hotel

Potential Views- all good!

Rob and I went for a walk for a late lunch and saw a wide variety of amazing archtecture in the old neighborhood of Carrasco. These houses are way out of our price range but it is fun to dream. The mix of European tradition and modern sleek is quite nice here. But no doubt, the beach is the heart of it all.