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