Title:forgot the title. (repost)

Our friend Gabriel demonstrates how to offer someone a Mate.

Consider yourself lucky if someone does. 

Mate is still king in Uruguay. 

Coffee may be the drink on the way up, but the cultural gatekeeper is this messy, inconvenient and bitter 'tea' like drink that most people still enjoy with alarming regularity.

It has a bit of stigma as of-the-previous-generation or a bit too country for the swank set, but I feel it's the benchmark for being Uruguayan. 

Still, the wife is a dyed in the wool Uruguaya and never aquired a taste for it and seems some of the younger generation will not fall in with this tradition. Sadly time marches on.

For the present, we take it, as we take life here in the ROU, easy.  And hope against hope that things can remain as they are for a bit longer.

Toma, dale.

 

Cops, chillin' just let the kids hop on. No problem.

 Things go easy around here. At first you find yourself resisting, then giving way to not-fighting-about-everything.

It's nice, you'll see.                                                

The 'ferias' or street markets are a big part of life here. This is Tristan Nervaja in city center and happens each Sunday, but smaller neighborhood ferias are in every neighborhood each week are where the smart buy as much as they can. Supermarkets are convenient and enticing, but too expensive for what most earn. Staying away as much as possible is the only way to fight back.

Remarkably, plenty of wealth on display in this modest city experiencing the same financial adjustments as the rest of the world.

No problem with that at all, but is everybody ready to pony up?

Let's see.






I still love the Ami 8 from Citroen. It's a flimsy antique powered by a squirrel, but I smile every time I see one.

That's worth something.

Obama Kills Osama

Are you kidding? 

Further evidence that there is absolutely no hope for the US and it's populace emerges with wild celebration over the 'death' of Public Enemy Number 1, Osama Bin-Laden. I've heard reports of pandemonium in the streets of New York City. People are jubilant, euphoric, very, very happy. 
Indeed.

It's absolutely mind boggling how some people can be so easily mislead. Lied to, really.


In Uruguay and I'm guessing most of the rest of the world, this news is greeted with skepticism (at a minimum). The people I've spoken with simply do not believe this story. There is much to doubt; why no body as evidence, for one?
This does appear to come out of nowhere and coincidentally could distract attention from what has become another undeclared and illegal war in Libya. Hmm.

Lots of people doubt all the facts surrounding OBL; did he have anything to do with 9/11 or has the 'search' for this guy been real at all?


There are very few choices for people who conclude they're stuck in a kind of national mess. Very limited are even the opportunities to discuss it. Patriotism is still commonly viewed as a favorable trait,  political differences routinely become polemic and don't forget the plain old comfort of denial. 


Sadly, those are mute points if you believe the good guys have just killed a bad guy.

Don't know nothin'

Whatever you think you know, it usually turns out you don't. The cruel irony is that we acquire knowledge and ideally wisdom then only to relax our natural curiosity and skepticism.  Oh you think you don't, but you probably do.

Do you listen to people and think "yeah, I know" or even worse, wait for your turn to talk and then say "yeah, that's just like blah-bity-bloo and so and such thing", or "I used to know a", or "isn't that something like the ...."?

Do you follow this? It's what we do.

We respond with something pertaining to the subject matter, and delude ourselves into believing it's polite and engaging to add something relevant to the conversation. It's really so we can show that we've learned something too. We're proud of it and in many cases have good reason to be.

It takes years, patience and some degree of suffering to 'know' anything. Alas, we must share air time with folks spewing opinions, people with a blatant contempt for facts, the insecure, narcissistic and often dull. It's maddening.

So just assume the next time you open your mouth you'll say what doesn't need to be said and wouldn't matter one way or the other anyway.

Look here for tips on frugal living in Montevideo. That's if you live here. There will be no advice for those people "thinking about moving here". No posts on the cost of living here,  for your comparison. 

There is much to respond to in regard to some of the ExPat sites out there. I want people to know the truth, knowing how subjective that is, and what I read sometimes is far from it. Anyone who is skeptical is invited to discuss it in depth with me. You will read about how we live with in our budget and why I think anyone can.

I will do my best to keep this up. The challenges are many, rewards few. 
Let's see if anyone is interested.

All in all, a biased, unapologetic and hopefully lively discussion on living in Uruguay.