Our Colonia Getaway

On Monday we run out of the house, jumped on two buses and after a three hour nap we arrived in Colonia. After arriving we walked two blocks to our hostel, El Espanol. While walking up the street we couldn't help but notice all the English speaking tourists just like us. I know, I know I can speak Spanish but after a month of nothing but Spanish on streets, t.v., newspaper, magazine, etc.... this was a good thing. We checked in, left our stuff and went out for a drink. Jay enjoyed a litro de cervesa and I a half litro de vino at a colorful place, El Drugstore. After drinks we went across the street to the oldest church in Uruguay and no we weren't drunk. We then took our own tour though the streets of Colonia. We fell in love with the cobble stone streets, charming old buildings, the light house, everything in Colonia was right out of a Fairytale. On our walk we stopped at a little wine shop, where we picked up a bottle of Tannat, which is the wine of choice here. This small town on the southwest cost of Uruguay which is bordered by the Rio De La Plata is slow-paced and makes our list of places you must visit.

Mercedes and the Rio Negro

As I mentioned before, we went to Mercedes, which is in the western part of Uruguay. We had just gotten back from camping when one of Tio Jorges friends called him and asked if we wanted to spend the weekend in Mercedes. It was the last weekend of "Jazz en la Calle", a once a year jazz festival. Of course we did! By the way, the accent down here makes the "Y" sounds, sound like "zsh' or "sh", so Jazz sounds like Shazz and my name sounds like "Shay" and John turns to Shawn. But my middle name, Jack turns me into a huge basketball player. Dani gets a kick out of this. Anyways, we wash the wood smoke off and drive west. Our drive was breathtaking, the two lane highway was lined with Eucalyptus, beautiful land filled with sheep, cows, and horses. The sky went as far as our eyes could see. As we drove along this amazing scenery , mesmerized by the view a bird hit our windshield and committed suicide! I've never seen a bird hit a windshield before, another first for both of us. Personally, I've wanted to go to Mercedes ever since I read the description on Lonely Planet, "Explore this quaint little town but don't look for much life here. There isn't much to do except FIND A BEACH HEAD ON THE RIVER AND SPEND THE DAY SWIMMING AND LAZING IN THE SHADE." And that's what we did. When we first got there it was about 9 o'clock and we were just sitting around waiting for things to get started. Around 10:30 we headed over to the jazz fest, which was exactly like a concert-in-the-park but with beer. We enjoyed all sorts of ensembles. I'm more of a blues fan myself but it was well worth it. Dani found out that the concert was founded by 5 guys, one each from Colombia, Uruguay, Brazil, Chile and the US and that this event only takes place once a year for one week and only in Mercedes. One of the jazz singers started sing in english and the whole time we were amazed that she had barely an accent when she sang. After her last song she announced that she had run out of time but not to worry, many acts to follow but we decided to turn in for the night, at 2 o'clock in the morning! Still stuns me, not gonna lie. In the states it's, "11 o'clock! Shut it down" or "2'o'clock! get out!" Here the cops were lounging back eating a pizza while listening to the music well into the morning. The next morning it was a scorching 34 degrees celsius when we made it down to the river. I'm not dense and I knew there had to be a reason the Rio Negro was called the Black river, but imagine my surprise when holy crap! The river is actually black! Sensing my hesitation, and possibly relishing in it, Daniela tells me that our host had let her know the river was safe to swim in and that it's black due to the amount of silt it washes away. I start to get all conspiracy theory and say that it's Agricultural runoff and we'll be coming out with 3 arms but parasite free but she waves me off and says the indians named it that before the Portuguese and Spanish came so it's always been that way. I love her. So with an easy mind and a healthy dose of sunscreen we dove in and had a ball. That evening we have another asado and eat way to much beef, but enjoy it all the same. The river front of the city still has it's old port feel complete with cobble stone streets and french colonial architecture. (google it, it's pretty) and I would love nothing more that to buy a house there and own a ranch/farm. Then Dani reminds me that owning a house and farm would require work and I adjust my desire to laying on a beach by the river instead.

Love, Jay and Dani

Kenya, the killer of rats.

Last weekend we went to Mercedes in western Uruguay for a little trip. I'll write more on that later, but first I have to let you know about the coolest thing I've seen so far. Her name is Kenya and she is a 50lb boxer that is full of fire. She's a sweet heart, we didn't get any pictures of her but if you've seen a boxer before, you know what she looks like. Anyways, we were in Mercedes at a house that belongs to Jorge's friends, Alvaro and Mariana. They have a huge (for here) back yard that is terraced and green. P.S. this part of Uruguay is Ag Land, cows, horses, corn, wheat, stuff with names I couldn't pronounce. So we are all sitting in the lower portion of their house which opens up to the backyard and Vero, Dani's cousin points out a huge rat that is running towards the wood pile. Mariana says, "Kenya! Rata!" and points to the wood pile in the back. In a flash the dog is off the floor and flying to the wood pile. Now I know we have all seen the dogs that look, sniff then give up but not this little girl. She sniffed so much I thought that her nose would get splinters. She was pawing through huge eucalyptus logs going after the rat and as usual, the humans lost interest first. There we are talking about politics, a common topic suitable for any time of the day here, when into the house darts the rat followed by a nimble, brown ball of muscle. Picture, if you will, eight people all on their chairs with their feet in the air cheering a dog on to kill the rat. In Spanish. A beautiful sight. The rat runs to the farthest corner, where I'm sitting with my feet in the air and Kenya corners it there and starts to bite at it. Please bear with me as I take you through this journey. The dog is biting at the rat, the rat is fighting back. The rat is jumping in the air at the dog. The dog is tossing the rat in the air. There is only 12 inches of air between myself and the fight. There is violence and a little blood. There is one thought in my mind. "I wonder if rat/dog fight is covered by travelers insurance?" I don't even know why I thought of that since I don't even have travelers insurance, but I did. Kenya the wonder dog then takes the rat outside and plays catch with it until one of the boys grabs a stick and whacks the rat on the head a few times. Done. The whole thing lasted about 2 minutes, but have you ever had to keep your feet off the floor for 2 minutes? Needless to say Kenya got a round of applause and a treat and we got an experience that was pretty awesome. Something I would like to point out. In the states, or at least in California, having a rat run through your house is something that you don't easily get over. It's followed by the closing of doors/windows, disinfectant and a possible call to the exterminators. Here, it's something you have the dog take care of while you talk about politics. Kinda poetic that the rat and politics intersected and that point in time, I wonder who they were talking about?

La Chacra

My aunt owns a small Chacra (farm) right out side the city. It's a lovely place where you can sit on her porch and read a book as you watch the sun setting over the blueberry bushes. It was so peaceful and quit. Well, not completely quit she does have a few cows, pigs, rabbits, and a lot of chickens.

On Sunday we celebrated a very special birthday! Valentina turned Seven years old, we all got together to have a little party. We all had the best time Some food, drinks, cake, candy and lots of little seven year old girl....

P.s. how about the fireworks, I mean candles....

To our 44th Prez

Today we stayed home and watched, with great pride, the inauguration. We wanted to watch it online so it would be in english but we couldn't get a good feed so we ended up franticly looking for a good news channel that would let him (the Prez) speak first and then they would translate. We loved that it was short and sweet! Mostly because I don't know how much we could take of the awful translation! We were both so proud. Not only because it's a milestone for the United States as well as the world but because President Obama is a man that we will stand up for and have a few times here. We know that problems won't be fixed over night but we also feel that President Obama will have our best interests at heart.

So, we hope that today, while watching, you stepped back and thought about how thankful you are to living in a country where change will, can, and has happened. And in the words of a great orator, "The intelligence of a few can do great good for the hearts of many." (quote by Jay!)

What do we think about this as a wedding location

So the other day on our way home we stopped at a Garden Oasis! What do you think South America 2010?

What Anthony Bourdain didn't tell you..

Ahh, Cabo Polonio. Billed as the retreat for artists and escapees alike, Cabo Polonio sits on a desolate, hard to reach point all by itself. The only way to get there is to walk the sand dune or to pay $5 for a roundtrip monster truck to take you (we paid the $5). If you are our friend or were within earshot/grabbing distance, you have heard about the show "No Reservations" and it's host, Anthony Bourdain. And if that's you, then you also know that he did a show on Uruguay. So here's the run down on his take of Cabo Polonio. He went to a place that had a sign saying, "It's a shity life" and also drank something random at a bar that had a resident penguin. He made it sound like a magical little place and it is but let us tell you what wasn't mentioned: A) the wind does NOT stop, B) the sea lions, alive and dead, stink, C) the hippies are out of control (some resembling Jeseus) Ok, I'm not a complainer, Cabo Polonio is actually kinda charming. What seems to have once been a retreat is now a station for day trips with varying degrees of sunburn. At a point there is a government lighthouse that you can climb, but I have to warn you that it's not a spot for people with a fear of heights and tight quarters because this staircase has both, 50 degrees of one-man spiraling, concrete fun! The only way to pass someone on the staircase was to hug the center pole and kick your descending leg out of the way which would then be hanging a good 10 feet into the air. We were never really scared because we don't really have a fear of heights, but we were laughing our asses off because that kind of thin would never fly in the states. After you fight the fear and reach the top it's beautiful. That was topped off by the sign at the bottom in English and Spanish that stated the lighthouse does NOT have medical coverage. We love it here =) One thing we weren't prepared for was the smell of the sea lions, let me re-phrase not just sea lions but dead sea lions and not just one or two but about 20 to 25. This did not make Dani very happy and is now on a mission to fix it. With that said if you go to the end of the point, beware. The wind will blow that lovely smell right up your nose before you know it, and you will gag. Apparently Cabo Polonio as a town doesn't officially exist. It's all government land that over the decades people have quasi-colonized. There isn't any electricity and no running water. people either hijack it from the lighthouse or have generators. Most of the huts run on sunlight and candle power. And every hut has a well too. We walked around and enjoyed it, but it was to windy to go into the water. We found the hut that Bourdain went to with "it's a shity life" (their mis-spelling) but it was rented out by a group of students. We also found the place that has the penguin, but here's the deal. The guy is blind, has no electricity and set his place up with candles and he doesn't open until around 11 at night. So we didn't see the penguin. Dani was a little bummed but when we got back to Montevideo her cousin Gabo told us that we should go there and spend the night. He said it's amazing because it is truly just a small group of people together on an unforgiving cape with the bare essentials. So our plan is to go back then we can see the penguin.

More camping and Fort pictures

Camping anyone...

On Saturday my uncle, the girls, Jay and I got in the car and drove to Punta Del Diablo, this is on the East Cost of Uruguay. After a three hour tour we arrived at the camp site. The camp site was wall to wall tents. No site number, no real sectioned areas, you pay up front, get a wristband and find a place to put your stuff. So we did just that, after pitching our tent we went into town. Punta Del Diablo is a small windy hippie town. A youthful paradise for people who don't care to shower and don't like brushing their hair much but it's a great place to visit. It's full of cute little places to eat/drink, lots of Hippies selling hand made goods, small fishing boats and a lovely beach. A charming, must see place. We spent some time at the beach then headed back to BBQ. Barbecuing has become Jays new hobby and he is very good at it! Barbecuing is an art form in South America and not everyone has the skill to make a perfect medium rare piece of meat but Jay, with only one lesson from my uncle, is perfecting it. After dinner we went to bed, or should I say tried to go to bed. The camp ground did not have a lights out rule so people partied until they passed out.

On Sunday we woke up and decided to visit a couple fortresses. We went to Fortaleza de Santa Teresa which was started by the Portuguese in 1762 and was finished by the Spaniards after its capture in 1793. Santa Teresa is enormous site to see. Before our next fort we decided to stop in Chuy, the town where Uruguay and Brazil meet. Here pedestrians and vehicles are able to cross freely, the streets are lined with duty-free shops and you are only able to buy if you have a passport from an other country. It reminded me a lot of TJ just a little more upscale. After our visit and lunch we headed to Fuerte San Miguel, of the two forts this was my favorite, it's much smaller and has so much character. It was built in 1734 during the hostilities between Spain and Portugal. Its entrance overlooks the greenland border of Uruguay and Brazil. Right next to the fort in the Museo Criollo, it displays an impressive array of carts and machinery that the gaucho, indians and pioneers used. We ended the day with pizza and beer in Punta Del Diablo.

On Monday we got in the car and drove to every small beach town on the East side. At about 6pm we arrived in Punta Rubia. My Uncle wanted to pull in and see what there was, we decide not to stop and as he went to turn around the cars front wheels got stuck in the sand. First Jay and I tried to push the car out, then my uncle and Jay tried to push it out, then a nice man (who spoke english) tried to help but after about 45 minutes we realized we just made it worse. As we stood there trying to think of something a man with his family drove up in a old bug. He got out and said that he would help pull it out. He looked at our situation and got started, first he pulled a rope out of the bug, placing one end on his bug and the other on my uncles car, then he picked up a rock and asked Jay to pull it under the wheel when he PICKS UP THE CAR!!! On three he lifted the car and Jay placed the rock under the wheel. It is the most AMAZING thing we have ever seen. In just minutes he had the car out of the sand and we where on our way back to the camp site. Still amazed Jay and my uncle tried to pick up the front end of the car but had no luck. (Seriously, I tried and wound up with nothing but a desire for more muscular legs! - Jay)