Primavera

September 22, 2021

I am embarassed to admit this- I just realized that "primavera' means "spring" in Spanish. I really should know this. But, now I do because yesterday was the first day of spring.

Yes.

Spring.

Living in the Southern Hemisphere freaks me out a bit. When we arrived, we laughed at people in their big puffy coats and scarves, coming from 100+ temperatures. It was so refreshing to be in 60 and windy, and I wore sandals (because all of my shoes were in boxes we couldn't unpack yet) and people thought I was crazy and had cold feet.

Then, a few weeks later, we adjusted. The humidity, usually between 80-99.999 % was starting to wear on us. I bought a big scarf and wore it daily. Marieka bought a big puffy coat. We always had the heat on, and complained about the chill in the air. Winter in August. WHAT?

So now, September 21 is the first day of Primavera. I see some flowering trees blooming, it doesn't get below 50 at night and I don't use my huge scarf everyday...just every other day. We are ready for Spring around here.

This week was our Spring Break...just 2 days but tacked to a weekend made for a wonderful 4 day break. We went to this incredible "glamping" hotel on the beach (just about to the Atlantic) and just a quick 1.5 hour drive away- Big Bang Nature Stays- a series of 8 geodesic domes with a bed, a kitchen, a bathroom and a view of the stars. It was like Sleeping Lady, if Sleeping Lady was on the beach in Uruguay with domes.

View from our bed

A rolling parrilla- essential to the UY lifestyle!

I so wanted to sleep here. It was so windy though

A wonderful DIY art emphasis at Big Bang

MM waiting for us

You can see the Greyhound style bus that is the kitchen in the middle, the dining dome on the right, the living room dome on the left

"Uruguay's first food truck"

The food was wonderful, the bed was so much more comfortable than mine, and to Marieka's delight, there was a trampoline!

My favorite? The wood fired hot tub. The fire is 3/4 of the way submerged in the water. There was a paddle next to it (which we thought was strange) until the maintenance man came to show us how you can use it to swirl the hot water around the tub!

The fire box. I swear, the Uruguayans will use a fire for everything!

A pretty good view. It was really foggy.

Caliente!

We didn't do much (well, Rob rode his bike there 6 hours, but Marieka and I didn't do much). We ate, walked on the beach, ate again, hot tubbed, ate (merienda is our new favorite meal- sweets, sandwiches and coffee at 5pm!), played a game in the living room, ate (dinner was 8-10 and we were ALWAYS the first ones sitting) and crashed.

It was good to be in a new place.

The day we left, we got to ride a horse on the beach. None of us are proficient horse riders, and Rob is downright "unsure" about it, but as you can imagine, they were super mellow and used to unskilled humans.

Rob had the stubborn horse. Go figure.

What I am still trying to wrap my head around is how empty the beaches were. True, it was still winter, and true, it was super windy but I walked for 2 hours towards Punda Del Este, the "Miami" of Uruguay (you can see the highrises in the distance) and I saw exactly 3 people. 2 fishermen and 1 man and his dog. That was it. Someone asked "Was it lonely or peaceful?" I will admit. Absolutely peaceful. The crashing waves kept it from being lonely.

I found a heart in the sand dunes

I love this trail of shells

So windy.

On the way home, we wound our way along the coast, through Piriapolis, the first resort built intentionally in Uruguay, primarily for the weathly Argentinians who like to use UY as their vacation spot. Piria was quite inventive and kooky, laying out most of the roads in Montevideo (which, believe me, are crazy) as well as in Piriapolis. He built a huge hotel, a castle, and a church that was never consecrated because the Vatican never approved it. He was into alchemy, and selected the area because of "good vibrations" which we tried to feel, but must have missed.

The resort town has seen better days (it definitely reminded me of Seaside Oregon, with worn out arcades and an ice cream shop on every corner, but it had a pretty boardwalk and a wide sandy beach.

The church that never was

The grounds of the castle, aka Piria's summer home

The castle. MM was a tired pup.

In other news, I swam in a open water race in Montevideo. There were over 100 swimmers thrilled to be swimming in Playa Ramirez. It was great fun and I got a medal!

We bought some outdoor furniture with the anticipation of lots of patio time.

And I am continuing to build up my art collection of art by Agop. I don't know if this is his name, but this is what I heard. I am pretty much obsessed with his work and his evolution as an artist.

Bird in 2 parts

"Cat with coffee spill and chinese writing"

"Stevie Nicks Eyes"

While we are just living our regular life nowadays (the honeymoon is fading, and the mundane reality of life has arrived), I am trying to notice little gems that keep my brain tuned in to the fact that WE ARE LIVING IN ANOTHER COUNTRY!

Here is one thing I saw today that I love: a sidewalk gas station!

You just drive up and they fill you up, and you can continue on your way on the same road! No turn signal needed! *in Uruguay, turn signals are not universal, more common is "flashers" telling the people behind them "I might be doing something weird, or likely stopping right here, in a minute" *

I love this newspaper stand on a bike at the market. It has the flag of the former President Pepe on it. Newspapers and bookstores- still a thing in UY!