At home

Our trip home was much shorter than 2 years ago. It only took 15 hours from the time we left Montevideo until we got home. We only had a 2 hour layover in Miami.

We happened to see Robin's father and Mary Ann at the Minneapolis airport. They were on their way to New Zealand. It was nice to say hello and goodbye.

Robin wrote earlier about contrasts. One thing I noted was that I did not hear kids whining in Bolivia. We heard some in Uruguay and more when we got into the US.

We are glad to be home. Our cat seems to be at odds with us because we were gone so long.

Look for more pictures soon

Journey drawing to an end

We are back at hotel to pick up our bags and get a taxi to the airport. We don´t leave until 11 PM. It is almost a 10 hour flight to Miami. The good thing is we only have a couple hour layover in Miami. We will be home a few hours after that.

Montevideo

We have been in Montevideo, Uruguay for the last three days. Yesterday we had a personal tour by Sebastian. He is the fiance of Soledad who gave us some wonderful information about Uruguay. We even got him into the lighthouse he had never been in.

Today we walked to a couple of museums. Walked down the pedestrian mall. Sat and relaxed.

Our trip ends tonight with a flight home

contrasts

Joel and I have been in Uruguay for a few days now. I felt a pang of regret as we said good bye to our friends in Bolivia. It was so nice to spend time with Patricia and Tony and their daughter,Anna. They were very gracious hosts. I believe in the old adage ¨ fish and guests begin to smell after 3 days¨ however we spent time independently away from them so we didn´t wear out our welcome.

At the SAR barbecue Joel was a great hit as he learned how to make the special sauce using a large stone block and stone grinding tool. We probably spoke the most Spanish of our trip so far at the party. I met several family members of Mario, and tried my best to communicate. There was lots of kisses and hugs all around when we left. I told them that we will return in 2 years to help them celebrate the 22nd anniversary of SAR. My plan is that we will explore different parts of South America over time.

We spent only one night in Buenos Aires. It is a huge,bustling metropolis. We looked in at some of the tango halls. The tango show is part of the tourist circuit. I would rather go dance with Joel!

The most obvious contrast between Bolivia and Uruguay is the appearance of the population. Bolivia has the largest indigenous population in South America. The majority of people are darker skinned and are shorter in stature. Many of the women still wear traditional dress, and in the small towns they wear a bowler hat. Babies are carried in a large, colorful cloth slung across the mother´s back. The indigenous language is healthy and is transmitted to the younger generation.

Cochabamba, Bolivia is located in a valley surrounded by mountains. There was a freshness to the air and at night it became cool.

There are few indigenous people in Uruguay. Most were persecuted and driven to the farthest reaches of the country. Of course disease also took its toll. Therefore the population of Uruguay reflects it´s immigrant heritage of Italians, Spanish, German, Portugese and others. We were warned that Uruguayans speak faster than Bolivians, however so far I haven´t noticed the pace as much as instead of the ¨ll¨pronounced like a ¨y¨, it is a soft ¨j¨. People dress smartly and are slim.

Now we are at sea level and it is flat. We marveled at the countryside while we were on our bus ride today to Montevideo- rolling hills and cultivated fields. Large silos and big farm machinery. Very different kind of farming that Bolivia!

It´s time for me to close,
abrazos,
Robin

Uruguay

On Monday we took a taxi to the ferry terminal. We throught we would be able to check our bags and then go visit the Boca section of town. Unfortunately we had to wait for the earlier ferry to leave. That left us an hour. We grabbed a taxi and went there. It took 20 minutes. We walked around and saw most of the place. It is an old immigrant area now painted bright colors.

We rode the quick ferry across the Rio de la Plata. It is about 30 miles across. The fast boat takes an hour, the slow one is 3 hours.

Our hotel was only about 7 blocks from the terminal in Colonia. We put our bags on our back wan walked over. It was a very cute posada. We found out it had a pool which we used because it is hot and humid.

Once we settled in we walked to the old city. It was also very close. We climbed the light house. There were several street cafes so we stopped and had a drink and a plate of cheese and meat. We then walked to the bus terminal to find out about the bus schedule to Montevideo on Wednesday and to Carmelo the next day.

After a swim and a rest we went to dinner. Unfortunately we got there after a couple of large groups. It took an hour to get our food.

On Tuesday we took the bus to the cities of Nuevo Parmelo and Carmelo. They are further up the river. They are sleepy towns that don´t have a lot of international tourists. It is always fun to see the towns where people really live.

Today we walked around the water´s edge in the old city before getting on the bus to Montevideo. It is a 2 and a half hour bus ride. Another nice air conditioned bus. We took the city bus to within a block of our hotel.

We plan to walk around a little this afternoon. It seems to cool down nicely after 5 PM.

Tomorrow will be something new again.

Quick update

Sorry for the lack of entries the past few days. We have been busy and traveling.

On Saturday evening we were invited to a barbque (parrillada) with the SAR folks. It was at Mario's sisters house. Mario taught us how to make the salsa of Bolivia. I got to grill a bit too. All the young volunteers got a kick out of watching the gringos working. They were all pleased we came. We were quite honored to be there.

Sunday morning we got up early and flew to Buenos Aires. There is a 2 hour time change so we didn't get to our hotel until about 6 PM. We rested a bit and then walked around. We were close to the central plaza, Plaza de Mayo so it was a short walk. We also found a nice restaurant to eat at.

The next morning we took our bags to the ferry terminal for our trip to Uruguay. We had to wait to check the bags until the previous ferry left. We had about an hour then. We jumped in a cab and went to the area called La Boca (the mouth) which is an artist area. It has colorful buildings. We heard tango music so we did a little tango in the street. No one complained that it was American ballroom tango. We zipped back to the terminal for our one hour boat ride.

Uruguayian customs was very simple. No passport stamping because people come here for the day. We are in the town of Colonia del Sacramento.

We got to our hotel and took a nap. Then went out and walked through the old colonial city. We stopped for a snack of cheese and meat. It was a good thing because when we went out for dinner it took 2 hours. We would have been really hungry by that time. We used the pool at the hotel and splashed around.

Today we are on our way up the coast to Nueva Palmero and Carmello.

More about friends

Hello,

Joel and I are learning that when we travel the best part is meeting and making new friends. Of course just having a large circle of friends in general is healthy. Because of our connection with Mano a Mano and also my flamenco dance class friends we are fortunate to have contacts in Bolivia and Uruguay. One of the new friends we have made is with Nathaniel Kuster and his wife Norma. We met Nathaniel in Minnesota because he is connected with Mano a Mano. Norma is from Bolivia and she spent time in Minnesota visiting Nathaniel . We were able to attend their wedding in St. Paul. The ceremony was totally in Spanish. I could figure out some of the service like " for richer or poorer".

Now they are living in Bolivia so we were able to see them here. We went to a popular local restaurant "Dumbos "- and we conversed in a mixture of English and Spanish. Norma is learning English. They are a very nice couple and it was fun to be able to reconnect with them while we are here in Cochabamba.

Today Joel and I are going to a barbecue for SAR volunteers and supporters. It will be fun to see Mario and Isabel Zanibar. Joel really enjoys talking with Mario about rescue operations and I like talking with Isabel. She is a volunteer for SAR also and drives the ambulane along with other duties. They have a darling 6 month old daughter.

So the web of friendship continues to grow, we hope that all our friends and family reading this are well and happy .

Paz,
Robin