Copa Libertadores Update

A while back, I wrote a small blog about going to see a Club Nacional game here in Montevideo for the Copa Libertadores.

To update the thread, Nacional is no longer in the competition. Their last game in the tournament was back on April 20th - Nicolás, Fabian, Mari and I went to that game as well. Unfortunately, Nacional tied the game 0 - 0 with Club America from Mexico, and without the win, Nacional didn´t have the points necessary to progress forward in the competition.


As it stands now, the Copa Libertadores is down to the semi-finales. The four teams still battling in the tournement are:

• Peñarol - Uruguay
• Velez Sarfiel - Argentina
• Cerro Porteño - Paraguay
• Santos - Brazil
  

Last night, the first game of the semifinales was played. Santos won against Cerro Porteño 1 - 0.

In about a half hour, the game between Peñarol and Velez will start. As you may remember from my last post on this topic, Copa Libertadores "is the most prestigious club competition in South American football and one of the most watched events in the world, broadcast in 135 nations worldwide". Thus, I am sure the city will be shut down tonight, as basically everyone will be indoors somewhere or other with the game on the tele.

Here, the rivalry between Nacional and Peñarol is huge, as they are the two largest teams within Uruguay. But I have begun to notice, now that the Copa Libertadores is down to the final four, that the animosity between the die hard fans has died down now that its Uruguay vs. the other competing nations. The Nacional fans can sit back and cheer for Uruguay against the competition, instead of cheering directly for Peñarol - the team they have grown to loathe.

The tournament is composed of two games per team pairing - one match played at home and one match played away. Then the points are tallied to see who moves through to the next round. The only oddity to this scheme is that when the points are tallied at the end of the two games, the away teams goals are tallied as double.

One major difference between sporting events here and in the states, is that the game starts at 10 pm - and its here in Montevideo at Estadio Centenario. I notice that things start late here for some reason. I guess the folks just like to stay up and enjoy the night.

Good luck Uruguay as we move forward in this tournament.

Familial Updates

I just wanted to post an update on my brothers trip to Ethiopia. Kyle and Erika arrived home safe and sound this past Sunday with two new children in tow.

Hermon


and Hiyab.


If you want to hear a bit about their most recent adventure, click here to read the Stanley Family blog.

Uruguay vs. Holland - June 8th 2011

For those of you who may not know, I am a huge soccer fan. My life ultimate shuts down around the World Cup and revolves around game schedules.

Thus, last year, watching Uruguay make it to the semi finals of the World Cup was a big thrill. These guys, Suarez (left) and Forlán (right), along with the rest of the team, showed the world that Uruguay can not be taken lightly, and that even though Uruguay is a little bitty country nestled in the south, they have a ton of heart.

Unfortunately, the ride ended when they were knocked out by a 3 - 2 loss against Holland and the dream slowly faded away.


Fortunately for me, it was recently announced in El Pais, the local paper here, that Holland has agreed to a come and play a friendly match here in Estadio Centenario - June 8th, 2011.

These are two great teams and if I can score tickets, I know this would definately stand out as one of the golden opportunities in my life.

New Car

Well, it finally happened. Ruy and Lucy - Mari´s parents pictured below ....


finally bought a new car, trading up the old one they had for the last 16 years.


This car is a cute compact called a Chery QQ. It is an immense step forward in terms of drivability and comfort, and is a large sigh of relief when driving the hectic and sometimes jaw clenching Uruguayan streets.

A list of improvments:

1. the car actually starts and continues to run properly
2. the seat belts work perfectly.
   
3. there isn´t a nauseating smell of exhaust permeating the backseat
4. there is a radio
5. one can now use the heater
6. Its a 4-door instead of a 2-door
7. theres no longer a manual choke

Plan Ceibal

Here is another article Mari wrote, but the folks over at Latin American News Dispatch weren´t too interested.


Latin America is inspired as Uruguay´s pioneering program Plan Ceibal celebrates 4 years of success distributing more than 450,000 free laptops.

Uruguay is the first country in the world to provide free laptops to every child in public elementary schools.

In late 2006, encouraged by the One Laptop per Child (OLPC) project, Uruguay´s ex President Tabaré Vazquez launched Plan Ceibal - the first project of its kind in the world. The purpose of this social-educative project was to ensure every primary school child receives a free personal laptop by the end of 2009. Last month, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) approved a 25-year, US$6 million loan to expand the project into secondary schools.

Plan Ceibal started as a pilot project with 150 laptops donated by the OLPC project. Children and teachers of a school in Villa Cardal, a small town 80 km outside Montevideo, tested the small XO laptops in their classrooms. Shortly after, the Uruguayan government started distributing the laptops in rural and poor communities only reaching the capital at the final stage of the deployment.

The XO model laptops utilized in Plan Ceibal are small, durable and easy to carry. The built-in wireless connection allows children in classrooms to connect to each other as well as their teachers and their schools.

According to Michael Trucano, the World Bank's Senior ICT and Education Policy Specialist, “since the rollout of Ceibal commenced, eight-year old children now have the same level of computer literacy that 18 year olds demonstrated just a few years ago.”

A recent survey in Uruguay published by Grupo Radar finds there are currently 470,000 XO laptops in approximately 300,000 homes. As a result, nearly 75,000 adults have started using the internet in their homes after being introduced with the XO laptop.

Since the introduction of Plan Ceibal there has been an increase in household computer acquisitions. According to Grupo Radar, 69% of households own a PC, increasing 7% in Montevideo and 11% outside the capital over the last year. Nationwide, internet use has increased to 1.6 million users out of a total population of 3.2 million people.

With the success of Plan Ceibal, some Latin American countries such as Peru and Argentina have already adopted similar plans to distribute free laptops to children in public schools. The South America public education system is stepping forward to a new technological era.

Uruguayan journalism

In our attempt to try new things, Mari took the lead in following a craigslist post asking for hard hitting news articles written by Uruguayan journalists for a website devoted to Latin American News. Since we have nothing but time on our hands, we decided to take the bait.

After hours of writing and editing, and help from yours truely, she finally got her first article published online. Congratulations to Mari!

The article´s entitled:

Uruguayan Congress Fails to Gain a Majority to Annul Amnesty Law

and deals with the issue of the Uruguayan dictatorship and the fact that there´s an existing law that prohibits the prosecution of military officials for crimes against humanity. There was a Congressional session that started yesterday and ran until early this morning - but again, they failed to overturn the existing 1986 law.

To read the article, click here.

Dan Carrillo

I was just browsing my Facebook real fast when I ran across a post by my friend Dan Carrillo. I used to work with him years ago. In all, I believe we worked together for about 7 years before I left to finish up my schooling. During the years I spent with Dan, he was always highly interested in photography. He would buy cameras on ebay, fix ém, break ém, repair ém, trade up and sell them again, little by little collecting some and exchanging others. It was a revolving door of cameras and equipment. He had more cameras than anyone I´ve ever known.

Over the last few years he became interested in large format pictures using an antique process. Thus, he bought this monster of a camera, and with it, he´s been making magic.


What I read today on Facebook is that he had the opportunity to shoot Tom Skerritt for the cover of The Stranger - Seattle´s local weekly paper. Here is the shot.



He even got Mr. Skerritt to pose with the camera.



Congratulations to Dan for following his artistic dream. He has been doing great work over the last couple years and its nice to see him finally getting some great opportunities.

For more info, here is Dans Blog.

Colonia del Sacramento

On monday, May 16th 2011, Mari, Meli and I headed west to go spend a few days in Colonia del Sacramento. I thought perhaps we should start with a bit of history.

I am stealing this info on Colonia, if you want the real article, go here:

As this site states, Colonia del Sacramento "was the only Portuguese settlement along the Rio de la Plata. Founded as Nova Colonia do Sacramento in 1680 by Manuel de Lobo,and as such was the focus of struggle between the Spanish, who founded the settlement at Montevideo in response, and the Portuguese took over control of the area. For years it operated as a contraband port, evading the strictures imposed on trade by the Spanish crown. Today it is a resort city, a port, and the trade center for a rich agricultural region."

This little map, from Lonely Planet, shows just a small section of colonia - and is mainly focused on the displaying historic district. The historic district is situated on the tip of the peninsula, surrounded on three sides by water.


When we arrived, we headed straight to the historic district to walk around and take it easy.

Heres a pic of Mari and Meli hanging out near the water.

Me and Meli.

A view of the waterfront. The day was exquisitely nice, but a little chilly.

"Built in Portuguese style of houses and cobblestoned streets, the historic portion of Colonia is reminiscent of old Lisbon. Winding streets and colorful houses are laid out in a pattern different from Spanish colonial cities, and a delight to explore. The historic quarter, Barrío Historico, on a small peninsula jutting out into the river, was named a UNESCO heritage site in 1995."

"The Calle de los Suspiros, otherwise known as the Street of Sighs," is Colonias most photographed and recognized street. Its colonial and beautiful.

From Wikipedia


We also walked through the "Puerta de la Ciudadela, also called Puerta de Campo - a drawbridge built in 1745 by the Portuguese governor to safeguard the walled city as the only entrance. Restored, it marks the beginning of the historic district, with thick fortified walls and tile and stucco buildings ."

What I like about the historic district of Colonia is that even outside of the really ancient streets, there are still some decently old gorgeous buildings. Take a look at this old world stone construction - beatutiful and amazing.


This building was in a state of disrepair. But seeing how amazing it is, and situated right in the heart of the historic district, I cant see it sitting around like this much longer. Some forward thinking person is going to snatch this up and turn it into a gem.


The historic district still uses the old fashioned street lamps hanging from the buildings, and ceramic tile street signs.


The tiles are everywhere, but here are two that stood out to me.


And last, but not least. The oldest church in Uruguay - Iglesia Matriz - dating from 1695–99.


Colonia is a wonderful place to visit. Its gorgeous, very walkable, and quite enjoyable. The only downfall is that it really only takes half a day to see it all. There isn´t a lot of staying power, well, at least for us coming from Montevideo. But I can easily recommend it as a perfect getaway from the exhaust filled air and hustle and bustle of Buenos Aires.

Hipodromo Las Piedras

This is sort of an interesting story that will unfold in reverse.

If you are an avid reader of my blog, you probably know that Mari`s father, Ruy, is a big horse racing fan. His passion for the game goes so far that he writes and submits weekly race forecasts and has a weekly spot on a local radio station.

Thus, the other day, when we didnt have much else going on - we headed down to Hipodromo Las Piedras, one of the local horse racing tracks. Las Piedras isn´t the biggest or the fanciest racetrack, but it´s a bit off the beaten path and looks to have a rustic heart that gives it a bit of charm. Ruy reminisced that back when he was a kid, Las Piedras was a lot nicer and fancier, but its been hit hard over the last few decades. Plus, it now lives in the shadow of the bigger, grander, and much more prestigious Moroñas. Anyways....

We were there, enjoying the day, laying down bets and losing - but having fun the whole time. I think we stayed for 4 or 5 races. The process is interesting and goes like this. First they bring the horses out into a small pen for all to see, walking them around and letting them get some sun and air. Heres where you can take in the massiveness of the animal, see up close the musculature of the horse, and analyze the horses personality a bit - all to size the animal up in order to make a more qualified bet. Next, the jockeys come out, and you get to weigh them up a bit too, how big they are (very small), read up on their personal records, that sort of thing. Then they round up their horses and head out to the track where they line up in the gate, and race. The race doesnt take long, it´s all over in roughly a minute or two, depending on the predetermined length of the track (800m, 1000m, 1200 m). Then the whole process is repeated. Each run through takes roughly a half hour, thus there are roughly 2 races per hour.

After the 4 or 5 races, we all hopped back in the car and leaft the track, returning home and moving on with our normal lives. Originally, I wasn´t going to write about this day and put it in the blog, as there was nothing substantial and impressive to write about. Kinda a normal day, even though it was my first time visiting a horse track here and all. But still, not much to write home about. But after a small twist of events, the story finally gained enough value to become blog worthy.

About a week after our visit to Las Piedras, Ruy bought the newest Invasor - a weekly magazine dedicated to horse racing and horse racing afficianodos. Its full of data on horses, future and past races, articles of great jockeys and horses, and things of that nature.

In the back of the magazine, like in the back of many magazines, they have photos of champion horses winning great races from various tracks around Montevideo the previous week. In this example, you can see the spread has a total of 4 photos on the two pages - all taken from Las Piedras on May 6th 2011.

The photo in the upper right shows the winning horse - Cascaruda, with the jockey, owner, family and friends.

And if you look real close in the background, behind the guy in the white hat, you can see me, Matias, and Mari - unknowingly peering into the award winning photo. I am holding Matias, and Mari has the camera up to her eye taking a photo.

After seeing the photo above in the magazine, I dug into our photo Archives here at American Excursion headquarters, and found the shot Mari was taking at that exact instant. Here´s her point of view at the same time.


Not too shabby for a casual day spent at the track. I have included a few more nice pics from that day.

Watching my money go down the drain.


Hipodromo Las Piedras.


Matias contemplating his next big bet.

16 de Mayo 2011

It´s 8:07 am. We are drinking coffee and packing clothes to head northwest for a few days. Mari is joining Meli in another trip to Buenos Aires (BsAs) for her store Muaa, but this time, instead of crossing the River Platte and spending a few nights in BsAs, we will stay on the Uruguayan side in Colonia del Sacremento and they will simply take the ferry there and back in the same day.

Photo stolen from: buenosairestravelplanet.com


Mari and I visited Colonia del Sacremento two years ago on our last trip to Uruguay, and I have fond memories of this gorgeous old colonia town. As I learned on Wikipedia, Colonia del Sacremento is a World Heritage Site and is referenced as the oldest city in Uruguay - founded in 1680 by Portugal.

Gotta finish my coffee and brush me teeth. I promise to upload photos when I get back.

Curtidores de Hongos

Friday the 13th, Mariana and I were invited by our friends Patricia, Nicolás, and Nacho to the Museo de Carnival to see Murga.

Stealing from Wikipedia -

"Murga is a form of popular musical theatre performed in Uruguay during the Carnival season. The Murga is performed by a group of a maximum of 17 people, usually men. In the months prior to Carnival, which takes place from late January to early March in Uruguay, each group will prepare a musical play consisting of a suite of songs lasting around 45 minutes. This suite will be performed on popular stages in the various neighbourhoods, known as tablados, throughout the Carnival period. Groups compete against one another in a prestigious official competition.

Lyrical content is based on a particular theme, chosen by the group, which serves to provide commentary on events in Uruguay or elsewhere over the preceding year. Consequently, murga lends itself well to being used as a form of popular resistance. For example, during the dictatorship in Uruguay in the 1970s, groups became known for their left-wing tendencies, subversive commentary and oppositional stances."

The show is a song and dance type extravaganza, with costumes and makeup. The lyrical content, as its stated above is typically a commentary on events over the preceding year, but what it doesnt say above is that it comes across as a parody, a protest, a critique, and a comical satire all rolled into one. They sing about politics, corruption, World Cup Soccer, governemental blunders or exposés, crime, and things of this nature. Overall, the role is to take a jab at Uruguayan society.

The group we went to see is named Curtidores de Hongos. They placed 3rd in this years competition. Although the competition season is over, they were playing Friday night to promote the release of their newest DVD.

Here is a sample video of the type of show we saw, although this footage is simply taken from Youtube.



My spanish is best when I can talk to someone one-on-one, in a small group it diminishes where I can follow the conversation but rarely talk, and in a concert hall when listening to a group of singers up on stage - it utterly disappears. Yet, even though I couldnt understand a single thing, it was a great experience. As a musician myself, I can always find a way to get lost in the music, finding something admirable and inspiring despite the language barrier. And although the humor went over my head, my group of friends, as well as the audience in general, had a great time taking in the humor and laughing at the jokes.

The Curioni clan (Patricia, Nicolás and Nacho) spare nothing to introduce me into the varying aspects of Uruguayan culture. They are passionate people, with interesting passions, and I feel lucky to have such great guides during my stay here in Montevideo. Many thanks.

Travis

Happy Mothers Day

Speaking of kids and families and moms and dads. Today is Mother´s Day here in Uruguay, referred to as El Día de la Madre. Now I know what your thinking, Mothers Day was last week. But as I found out on Wikipedia, it is celebrated on different days around the world running thru the months of March, April and May. As an extreme example of oddity, our next door neighbor and closest cultural brother - Argentina - celebrates Mother´s Day the second sunday of October?? No sé porque?


As I am in the Southern Hemisphere, soaking up the culture, customs, sounds, smells, and holidays. I figured it best to celebrate the day today like a typical Uruguayan. I want to send special Mother´s Day wishes and kisses to my Mom and Mary. Thanks for everything you did for me and my life.

I also want to wish happy Mother´s Day to all the mothers I know out there in the US - Erika, Christine, Lucy, Sienna, Olivia, Sieu, Deanna, Cindy, and Kerry.

Plus the ones I know here in Uruguay - Patricia, Fabiana, Virginia and Laura.

Cheers!

15 de Mayo 2011

Well I agree with you .....its been far too long since I´ve written anything for the blog ... and for this I apologize. I will try and get back on it and make it a higher priority. Perhaps I was just waiting for something really juicy to spring up and write about - and lucky for you - I got it.

Today, Sunday May 15th, my brother (Kyle) and his wife (Erika) -


are flying out of Seattle headed towards Addis Ababa, the capital and largest city in Ethiopia. After months and months of bureaucratic waiting, ie paperwork processing, interviews, and things of this nature, they were finally given the green light to fly in and pick up their two new children.

On the left we have Hermon, and on the right, sweet little Hiyab. They are brother and sister, and its fortunate that they have been given the opportunity to remain together.

If you are new to the Stanley Family, these two are just an addition. It´s my pleasure to inform you that they already have four wonderfully handsome and smart boys, in various degrees of height and age.


I guess when the dice were thrown they rolled a six. But luckily, Kyle and Erika have that rare gift of being great, solid, inspirational parents. And with this gift they are headed to Ethiopia to bring two more deserving children into the warmth and comfort of the Stanley fold.

The itinerary has them spending one week in Addis, before returning the following Sunday. Unfortunately for me, I am on the extreme opposite of the American continent and will not be able to attend the festivities and excitement of the welcome home process. But I hope they know, and feel, the warmth and pride and love I have for them as they take this next giant step, or leap, forward.

Congratulations Stanley family! You have set the bar quite high for the rest of us.

1 de Mayo 2011

May 1st has finally rolled around again, and here in Montevideo, its completely dead. Everything is closed for Labor Day - or as they call it here, el dia del trabajador. Thus, I know today will be a fairly lazy day of not doing too much, which is good cause outside its completely miserable - raining fairly heavy and the wind is blowing like crazy rattling the windows and shades.

Last night we headed out on the town for my birthday. We made our way to a few places, but kept moving until we landed at a bar named Burlesque. It had a nice atmosphere very reminiscent of the states, and for once, a great beer menu - which, as I have found, is a difficult thing to find in Latin American countries.


The crowd was fairly young like ourselves, and everyone was dressed up to head out on a saturday night.


Meli, Mari and I ordered some good food. This is the first Mexican food I have seen here in Uruguay. I ordered Enchiladas while the girls ordered Chivitos - a very very very typical Uruguayan sandwhich.


For the first time in many many months, I got to order a few non traditional South American beers. I had two half liters from a company named Otro Mundo based out of Argentina. I started with a Nut Brown Ale and finished with a Strong Red Ale. They were 120 pesos each ($6 USD) and were well worth the extra cash because they helped lift me out of the Budweiser type beer fog that predominates the area. I cant wait to return and try out a few more beers.

I didnt notice, but Mariana pointed out the fact that they used a pint glass as well. A pint glass is so normal to me I didnt quite notice, but here in Uruguay they dont use pint glasses like we do in the states. The typical beer glass here is a thick clear mug with a heavy handle.


The pint glass, the imported beer, and the atmosphere within the bar all helped lend a hand to remind me of good times. I love finding the similarities and dissimilaties between here and the states, and I love finding places like Burlesque that help blur the line. We had a good time and I appreciate Meli and Mari taking time to take me out and show me another slice of their city and culture.