Roadtrip Video

I shot this footage on our roadtrip from Montevideo to Santa´Ana Do Livramento. This footage compresses the 5 hour car ride into a heartfelt 3.5 minutes.

Thanks to Band of Horses for making such incredible music and helping to increase the quality of my life over the past several years and thousands of hours spent listening to their music.

11 de Marzo 2011

In a general update, Mari is still draining her cyst. She visited the hospital again this morning and they chose to keep the wound open to allow it to cleanse. But, I must say, the cyst has reduced once again to its normal size, isnt red and infected any more, and doesnt have the biting pain it once inflicted. I believe on Monday, they will remove all the bandages for good to allow it to heal up before they operate the total removal.

Unfortunately, Mari is beset with another ailment. She caught the flu I believe, as opposed to food poisoning, as she was up most of last night vomiting and taken with fever. Poor Mari, she cant seem to catch a break healthwise.

Its now 10:42 am on Friday, I am watching the news about the horrific earthquake in Japan, and Mari has crawled back in bed to get some rest.

I want to wish my Mom a happy 61st Birthday today, March 11th 2011. I love her and wish her the best from down here in the southern hemisphere.

That new movie about space invaders comes out today here, in spanish its called "Invasion del Mundo - Batalla Los Angeles". It looks like a good, shoot em up action movie to see to help celebrate my moms bday.

T

Locks Fountain

The other day Mari and I headed into the downtown area of Montevideo to walk around and visit some of the old city.

Near La Ciudad Vieja (the old city) there is a beautiful old fountain, covered in lovers locks. In spanish its adequately named "The Fountain of the Locks", but the english translation clumsily refers to it as "Locks Fountain".

When I visited Montevideo over the winter vacation two years ago, Mari and I bought a lock for this fountain. We used red finger nail polish to paint on our intials, possibly with a big red heart in the middle. Then made a special trip downtown to lock it onto the fountain, participating in the downtown ritual.

Unfortunatley, we cannot quite remember where we placed our initial lock. We had a rough guess, but were unable to locate it. I think this is due to two problems. The first is our lack of an exact memory as to the precise location of the lock. I could guess in a general area, but I wasnt exactly sure. The second problem is that this time around, two years later, there are many more locks than there were before. I cant remember exactly what it looked like two years ago, but I can tell there are a lot more lovers locks on the gates than there were before.

I know we took photos of the lock and its placement two years ago, but all my photos are sitting on my computer back in Seattle, which is now safely packed away in a packing box and locked in storage. Guess we will have to wait a bit to try and solve the mystery.

If you are heading to Montevideo, be sure to buy a lock and place it on the fountain. The best ones on the fountain prepared ahead of time, having their locks engraved in fine lettering with names, dates, what city they were traveling from, and possibly a little message of love. To me, its truely a unique fountain that stands out in my travels around the world. It helps ingratiate travelers to this city, and makes me wonder why Seattle doesnt have anything like it.

I think its a wonderful idea to construct something within a city that both locals and travelers can participate in. The more people participate, the more interesting it becomes. This fountain is really a sight to behold.

Now, if anyone is looking for a great business opportunity during their stay in Montevideo, I say build a stand next to the fountain that sells different types and styles of locks, colors of finger nail polish, and possibly, on the upper end, personalized engravings. I cant believe there isnt one already.

T

Uruguayan Road Trip

We packed up Ruy and Lucy´s little white compact and headed out of Montevideo. We were heading due north, straight through the heart of Uruguay.


We made a quick gas stop in a town named Pasos del Toro. This giant bull stands guard near the entrance to the town.


As for Central Uruguay, as you can see it contains lots and lots of fields. Green fields, brown fields, corn fields, cows, horses, ostriches, sheep, goats, watermelons, squash farms and more.




As you can see, the interior is filled with bright blue skies and fertile soils. It reminded me a lot of what the interior of the United States looks like as well. Except here, instead of farmers, they have Gauchos. Who keep the old school traditions alive in the Uruguayan heartlands.

Carnaval Night in Santana Do Livramento

The parade starts late in these parts, maybe around 10:30 pm or so. It wasnt too much different than a parade in the states except for a few minor details. The most striking difference to me was the amount of beer being bought, sold and consumed on the street. There were bottles and cups in the hands of adults and teenagers everywhere - and, I must admit, it was a welcome addition to a foreign steet fair.

The second difference was the amount of kids playing and rough housing in the street between processions. They would run and play and push and shove, kicking anything in sight as if it were a soccer ball. They played one on one with an empty beer cup, or perhaps two on three with a bottle cap. Plus, they all had bottles of white silly spray that they sprayed on anyone close enough to spray, which typically ended up being the people within the processions themselves.

The third major difference actually took place within the parade. Some of the processions came with singers, who walk with the procession belting out their tune. I am adding a video to illustrate this example, and will hopefully give you a little insight into the types of parades they have in Brazil, in the small towns, to celebrate Carnaval.

On TV we watched the major Carnaval taking place in Rio de Janeiro - which is 1000 times more spectacular than the little small town parade we watched. Perhaps its the same difference between watching the Macys Day Parade in New York City in contrast to the Strawberry Festival Parade in Marysville. Both have their purpose, but if you want to see the big dogs play the game, you gotta go to Rio.

Durazno Zoo

We returned from our short roadtrip to Brazil yesterday and I was finally able to grab some photos to throw up here.

We headed out of Montevideo heading north. We made our way through a few departments and stopped for lunch in Durazno at their free, local zoo. Durazno is the spanish word for peach.


All these pictures are of birds even though the zoo had a bit of everything. Lions, Tigers, a bear, goats, deer, turtles, warthogs, monkeys, rabbits and more. But these are just the standout photos. The lions were amazing to see, but they were just lounging around trying to cool themselves in the summer heat.

I love the bright, tropical colors exhibited by these birds - well all excep this last one that just looks comical in its serious tone.

5 de Marzo 2011

Mari, Ruy, Lucy and I are staying in a border town on the frontera between Uruguay and Brazil. We arrived yesterday to spend 5 days and 4 nights here to celebrate Carnaval - Brazilian style. Ruy and Lucy come to visit family every year, as did their parents before them. This tradition has been going on for quite a while and the ties were sewn long ago.



We arrived yesterday in the early evening. We unpacked, relaxed and said our hellos and chatted. And then as evening rolled around they threw a big welcome party with family members visiting to say hi and meat on the grill. We drank beer and scotch all night, and I had to overcome not only my spanish barrier with Mari and her parents, but now I have to overcome the portuguese barrier that these Brazilians are speaking.



Portuguese is a strange language, it sounds like a mixture of German and Spanish to me. And sometimes it sounds so foreign it could be Croatian, or some other language I have never heard but wouldnt understand. Yet then, I am listening to the conversation and fully understand everything thats being said. Its funny how it alternates back and forth.



We are here visiting a man named Beto, but there are also two others that live in the house as well - Plinio and Diva. Diva cooks the most amazing food. No joke, the food I ate last night for dinner and the food I had today for lunch was the best tasting, scrumptious meals I have eaten in the last 6 months. Totally and utterly amazing. I left to walk around the city today and returned to the fabulously prepared lunch, and vowed that I can no longer waste my time traveling through Brazil any more. I have work to do, and it involves me sitting in the kitchen taking notes on how to prepare a tiny portion of the food I have been eating. From the stories I have heard, everyone knows about the quality of her cooking - so when there is a party thrown in this house the guest count doubles and there are uninvited guest arrivals. From what I have tasted so far, I can see why.

We are heading out soon to partake in the Carnaval festivities and watch the parade. Cheers.

T