24 de Abril 2011

Well, its now sunday night of the 24th. As I am writing this, Ruy is in the next room talking on the phone with a radio station. He is passionate about horse racing. He knows nearly everything about the sport, including the history as well as the family lineage of nearly every horse from the past to the present. He writes a weekly column for a local magazine, he forecasts winners for upcoming races, and like now, he does a weekly spot on a local radio show where he summerizes the events of the weekend and advises on the races still to come. Although I cant understand him when he speaks on the phone, he sounds fluent, passionate, and well versed as a sportscaster.

Mari and I just returned home yesterday after taking a few days off to head to Piriapolis, where Lucy and Ruy have a summer home, to enjoy La Semana de Turismo, or Tourism Week. Here, as in Argentina, there is a week long vacation where nearly everyone and their mother gets the week off. The people in Montevideo pack up and clear out, heading towards the countries interior or the beaches lining the Atlantic Coastline. There are attractions and festivities all over the country. For example, in the department of Paysandu there is a festival known as Semana de la Cerveza, or Beer Week, where they host a large festival drawing nearly 200,000 people who enjoy beer and music. In the department of Colonia they host a cheese festival known as Cata Nacional del Queso where you can taste all the artisinal cheeses of the area. There is a steam engine train that you can ride to the train museum and learn about the history of who brought the trains and tracks to Uruguay. Although that all sounded amazing, especially the beer festival, we decided to visit Mari´s parents at their summer house in Piriapolis.

Piriapolis is roughly 100 kilometers east of Montevideo, towards the Atlantic Coast. Its small, yet bustling little town known for its accomodating beaches and smalltown feel. Their house is located about 5 kilometers outside the central plaza of downtown of Piriapolis, yet adequately located only 4 or 5 blocks from the beach. The town was chock full of tourists, but offered a beautiful getaway none-the-less. Although summer has come and gone here, the coming fall still offers some warm sunny days.

We stopped by an abandoned night club (The Moonlight Discotech) located a few kilometers down the beach outside Piriapolis. Someone had discarded all the couches on the back porch and I was able to snap this pic of Mari with a backdrop of the countries beautiful green interior.

A day at the beach.

A slice of Uruguay outside the Metropolitan City.

The days were warm and sunny and bright and beautiful. But the nights were filled with electrical storms that raged over the ocean and brought showers throughout the night.

We ate good food, enjoyed a pleasant and tranquil easter weekend, and took in a bit of sun and beach.