Arrancopelito

Arrancopelito's offspring: Rancho 2Pax

2011-05-07T18:34:00.001-03:00

The beach facing sides

It's been over 3 years since we took possession of Arrancopelito, and frankly the house has proven to be incredibly livable and enjoyable. Can it be improved? Of course, but all the improvements we plan are somewhat frivolous, such as the "spa master suite;" or a third bedroom we don't need. So we can't quite bring ourselves to spend the money on such follies just yet.

This leaves us with a big problem, the absence of a building project. I threw myself into landscaping for a couple of years, but now that the garden is on its way to becoming established, that too seems to be coming to an end as far as it being a project.

The long window spans, from right to left, the bedroom, bathroom and kitchen

2011 being a particularly nasty year at home, it was decided that it was time for a project to lift our spirits and give us something forward-looking. So we summoned up Fabián, and in a few weeks hatched the current plan for the Rancho 2Pax, a single-bedroom beach shack with a combination of rustic looks and not-so-rustic features (the jacuzzi on the deck by the bedroom, a small but crisp kitchen, same with the bathroom, and really nice furnishings). That's the concept, and it can be replicated twice more if we want to in the future, as the siting and floor-plan comply with all zoning rules for multiple dwellings.

The lot, across the street and half a block closer to the beach than our home, has a very decent elevation which gives the shack(s) nice sea views on basically 180 degrees. We don't rule out renting them out for the occasional low season visitor, so the shack will have a wood-burning stove and windows facing the sun in every room.

There will be no lawn. A heresy in Uruguay, but how unromantic can it be to be awoken by a lawnmower or a weed-whacker? So the landscaping will have to achieve lushness and beauty in different ways. As much as the house planning has been exciting, the chance to come up with a different type of garden (here with the help of Isabella from Proverde) is the gift that will keep on giving for a while.

The new brood

2011-05-07T12:57:00.001-03:00

Mike, handsome, huge and lazy

We tried to have Collie fixed a number of times, but our vet, Enrique conspired against it and would not rest until he had pimped her out. The lucky fellow was Corbata, a very handsome, large border collie (as opposed to Collie's smaller size).

Patch

On the day we were flying out for 2 weeks, Collie popped the 5 puppies in our living-room, under the fireplace, a suitable cave-like spot. Thus, we left happy but heartbroken at the same time.

Spot

It's now been 2 months (today) and we have just given away my favorite, Spot, and Laika. Someone who had asked for two puppies backed down a couple of days ago, so Stu and Patch are still with us and waiting for takers. Mike is staying. He's huge and lazy.

Laika

Laika was previously named La Traumada because she whined a lot, but dropped the whining and is now very adventurous...

Stu, as in Stuart Little

The old reigning queen as seen in full page ads in various media:

A few years on, some greenery, and a new exterior color

2011-04-23T12:37:00.000-03:00

It's been ages, probably years since my last post. Last spring here I finally got around to painting the house in blackboard charcoal, almost black. The results frankly were all I had envisioned and more. Since we now have some greenery to frame the house, the popping effect works all the better.

We feel we have come so far in terms of progress with the yard that we're now even worrying about flowers! And we had quite a lot of blooming this summer. The gauras, both massive patches, have been a 6-month source of happiness. We had them chopped recently and they are still blooming.

The tulbaghias, both a purple patch and a white patch, are still in bloom and developed quite some volume after their spring planting.

The yellow broom retamas that we have planted outside our fence in large numbers, probably over a hundred, have grown large on the portion along the road, and to my surprise have been blooming since the spring. I guess it's the sprinklers... In the picture on the top of this post, behind the pool solar panels, there's a massive mound of retamas in bloom... Those were there before us...

The oleanders, also more than a hundred, are in different stages of growth, but the ones around the house are quite bushy and healthy, about 4 to 5 feet high and 3 to 4 feet across, and also had a very happy summer, thanks to the drought.

We have amassed quite a collection of ornamental grasses whose names I don't remember. Some varieties have thrived and grown massive, to 6 feet in height and produced a dense wall. One that stands out is the leymus blue dune, which is low in height but has an amazing spiky look and a fantastic blue-grey color.

Lastly, we have become obsessed with growing vegetables, especially tomatoes. We had quite the variety this summer, and particularly loved our green, black and yellow tomatoes, and all the delicious squash and zucchini (many varieties) that we ate all summer. The peppers we're finally getting to understand.

Barbi hard at work on our tomatoes

A long due update

2011-04-23T11:43:00.000-03:00

Back by popular demand: Lunes

2009-09-30T13:17:00.000-03:00

Here she is, on MY couch, posing for the camera while covered by a velvet blanket, befitting the spoiled model that she is.

Melancholy...

...and aloofness, ain't she a natural?

The kids

2009-09-28T15:25:00.000-03:00

Collie is always in a state of agitation when around us, except if allowed to come in the house, where she mellows out and proceeds to nap. Outside she constantly chases Oso, as if he were a lamb, calculating trajectories when he's running back with the ball, intercepting him at an angle and biting him on the front legs. She also growls nastily at Lunes, showing lots of white teeth, when she perceives our attention is being diverted to Lunes. She's still quite small in size, below average for the breed. Must be her chronic respiratory problems.

A really red cardenal bird near our house

No amount of petting is ever enough for Fabiana, our outer perimeter dog.

No longer shy, Shakshuka now comes out to greet us and say goodbye to us when we leave, and is very relaxed scratching Lunes' snout when the evil one comes to attack her. Fearless and cuddly.

Ah, the psycho Zeytin. She follows everywhere we go, meowing away, and trying to climb up our legs. She also steals Fabiana's dead rodents and the other dogs' food.

Oso, with short hair and in full alert mode, waiting for the ball to be thrown...

And retrieving the ball, closely followed by Collie...

The plants, one year later

2009-09-28T13:21:00.001-03:00

Many of the millions of things we started planting in August 2008 perished, others barely survived, and yet others thrived.

I have pictures of the ones that have done well and are coming back strong this spring. Some of them have been in the yard for less than a year, as we have never stopped planting, really.

Gauras were my first flower flower, planted just for the flower, and my mom's gift as well. We planted 70 of them at the end of last summer, and they were tiny. Now they have grown so much you can measure growth by the day. We are adding another 35 to join the two patches that were formerly separated by a fence.

The guavas are native to Uruguay and do extremely well in our yard. We have about 8 or 10 of them.

The inga is another native tree, a gift to us from the owners of Pachamama nursery. It's doing sell, slow but steady growth and doesn't show much damage after nasty storms.

The Tunberghi pine (sure I got the spelling wrong) is a Japanese pine tree that grows bushy and not tall at all, and has done very well in our yard. We tried one out, then added about 6 more. We may add more yet.

Jazmin de leche is a creeper variety that withstands all the punishment in our garden. Other varieties didn't make it, but the four we planted of this type are doing great, lots of new leaves.

In search for diversity in terms of bushes, Isabella suggested the melaleuca, which has a flower like the bottlebrush but white, and whose new leaves come out pink. It suffered a lot during the frosts and tough winter, but it's coming back with a vengeance, and the pink leaves look gorgeous up front and in the distance. There' a large section planted with them, about 25 bushes I think. That's Zeytin's tail on the bottom of the picture.

Acacia trinervis, impervious to our bad soil (clay), strong winds and salt air. Doesn't like it when pruned though, I've seen three older ones in our yard become half dead after pruning, so will have to consult with Agustin and Isabella on how to keep them alive when we want to trim them to form a sort of wall. They grow super fast.

The canelon is a native tree, we found it after clearing a mess of brush last year. It has been punished on the sea side, where it has much fewer leaves, but we hope that as the acacia trinervis "wall" grows, it will block the tougher southern winds and give it a chance to get bushier.

The purple-leaved dodonea planted last November has done extremely well. We decided the guy who planted had set them in too straight a line, so we added a few more a couple of months ago for design purposes, those are the skinny ones on the front, which gives us a before and after look at how the original ones did.

Espina de la cruz is a local cactus type bush that is very hardy, has the most incredible folliage in the shape of a cross, and the most deliciously fragrant flower. Also native to our yard. Our dumb former gardeners pruned them in their mutilating style, so now this one looks like a ridiculous little tree, not their natural shape, which is much more irregular and bushy. I'm told it will grow back.

Our fig tree got so confused with the summer in the middle of the winter that it produced a fig in August, equivalent to getting figs in February in the nothern hemisphere. As Isabella said, "Poor thing, she's so stressed." We're impressed by how hardy this one is, and we did get a few figs last year already, so we're planning on getting a few more.

Partition and annexation

2009-09-28T12:16:00.000-03:00

Both the above are views of the lot we bought last year but had not yet integrated to the rest of the property. They had some landscaping against the road, and were unfenced.

This is Omar, our fence builder, and the new fence he put up separating the two lots where the house and pool are sited from the lots fronting on the main road. With a little gate to communicate both and keep the dogs on either side as necessary.

These are views of the newly unified road-side plots, as seen from the bottom of the yard, close to the new fence, and looking out towards the road. Both lots are now over half an acre each, 2,300 and 2,400 m2 respectively.

It's complicated to convey even with pictures, and since I am awful with the drawing softwares, can't do that on a map either... But yes, there were three lots fenced as a single property, plus one outside the fence, and now there are two separately fenced lots roughly equal in size, comprising the four plots of land.

Which means, lots more landscaping opportunities opening up. The top soil for the plantation has been delivered, two truckloads that have been dropped in three mounds surrounding the house. Fabiana loves to dig into them and sit on top of the mounds, queen of all she surveys.

Hopefully tomorrow we can start planting, followed by installation of irrigation system for the new areas. Fence, planting and irrigation will total about $5k, hope Barbi doesn't notice...

The great thing about having "the other garden" is the ability to stash our dogs on the other lot and be free to open the gate to unload something, or just to greet visitors without anyone ending all pawprinted or with their butts on the ground from so much canine loving.

A new fence to restructure our plots and possibly the last landscaping push of the year

2009-08-31T13:36:00.000-03:00

Sometime this week Omar the "fencer" will be back in order to start on the new task: incorporating the old-new plot into our corner plot, and separating them from the house and the pool. In other words, we will now have two "units" of land, consisting of two parcels each (one built, one unbuilt), separated by a fence (and an internal little gate) and landscaped as two separate properties.

After much investment and effort spent on acquiring adjacent plots of land in addition to the ones the house and the pool sit on, we finally came to realize that the additional land does not quite contribute to making our property more valuable, and that in a functional way, it doesn't really make sense either, as the house is turned away from the road and those two other plots. OK, I like to walk the perimeter, I like the fact that I can throw the ball to Oso and not hit fence or end up at the neighbors, but I feel that maybe there is some sort of self-indulgence in this.

Of course, we always justified it with the notion of our "plan B," that is, setting up some kind of B&B there. But right now we feel that it's more of a plan C, or that we are a bit far from Plan B right now, so we want to have the option of selling either the unbuilt lots, or the house. For the right price, of course. Which probably means we will continue to landscape and improve our place for a few years to come :-)

The separation, besides making the properties more market friendly, have the additional advantage of providing us with a half-acre "dog pen" for when we have company. As it is right now, we basically can't enjoy the garden with company because the dogs get so excited that they jump on everyone non-stop for about 10 minutes, resulting in soiled or even torn clothes, some disgusted friends, and even some friends knocked to the ground by so many loving canines. They do settle down after a few minutes, but the initial onslaught can be quite traumatic for our guests and embarrassing and stressful for us.

Another advantage of separating the house from the other parcels is that I have a new fence along which to do further landscaping! Any excuse is good for spending money at the nursery. But seriously though, I'm undertaking a major landscaping push, as we move to plant all along the new fence, inside and outside, on our neighbors lots. There are a couple of truckloads of topsoil on order already, and the list of shrubs will be prepared this week. Initially we're looking at "lots more of the same," taking into account our experience over the past year with what has and hasn't worked out.

Tamarix, agapanthus, yellow broom, oleanders, melaleuca, photinia, dodonea, purple sugarcane, phormium, and native varieties of trees such as canelon, guava, araza and inga, these are the things that have done well and prospered in the harsh combination of dreadful soils, salt air and punishing winds that define our yard. The jury is still out on the tibouchinas. All 45 of these bushes are currently in a state of grey, shrivelled, apparent death, after the last frost, but everyone tells me they will "come back".

In addition to the current "restructuring," recently we also added a fifth plot, across the street, basically an arbitrage buy because it was offered at half the going rate around here, and the two bids I had made for neighboring plots had been turned down. The new-new one went on sale immediately upon execution of the purchase agreement. If our past experience is any indication, it could be sold by this time next year. From what we've seen, everything eventually sells within a 12 to 18 month period. Again, we're in no rush, and neither are any of the sellers in our area, apparently, so we'll wait it out until we reach our price.

But also, it's good to control a bit more of the neighborhood because we immediately have the land cleaned up, which automatically improves our own surroundings, and by increasing the price we insure that buyers coming in will build relative to the higher cost, rather than the shacks they used to build around here when land was too cheap.

Do we qualify for a Discovery Channel special?

2009-08-12T21:36:00.001-03:00

Lots of excitement at one end of the yard drew me close to check out what was going on.

It was Shakshuka!

Well, actually, first it was Zeytin, but the dufus lost her prey, which was then claimed by Shakshuka, who did some amazing acrobatics with the poor field mouse, while the dogs watched in .

Harvest!

2009-08-10T20:04:00.000-03:00

That's it, yes, a wheelbarrowfull of leeks. At 13 pesos per leek at the supermarket, that's equivalent to more or less $28 in hard currency harvested right out of our yard, yessir!

They are now residing in our fridge and freezer, chopped, sliced, diced, creamed and souped. For dinner tonight, capeletti with creamed leeks and spinach.

We left a few thin ones still in the ground, but just a dozen or so.

My husband's love child

2009-08-07T23:23:00.000-03:00

I've known for a while, the sneaking of leftovers was the giveaway, and then he just came out and confessed. There is another puppy, he told me, six months ago. Where did they meet? At our warehouse in Cerro Pelado. Now I finally get to see him, and hear his name: Roberto. We'll just have to keep the news from Lunes, who knows what she's capable of.

Visitors

2009-08-07T23:11:00.000-03:00

We've become such crazy dog people that now we have friends come over not with human children, but with their dogs... Sadie was an exemplary guest, ours should learn from her and Mike should be proud.

The whales are here

2009-08-05T11:44:00.002-03:00

I always knew I had "powers". Yesterday I woke up talking about a dream involving a kindergarden for whales, all riding around in little tricycles. "They start out having legs and then they lose them as they grow," I explained to my husband, who agreed with my Mom´s later diagnostic of "She´s gonna end up locked up".

Anyhow, I woke up again this morning wondering "Where are the whales? They´re late!"

The season started officially two weeks ago but last year they had appeared uncharacteristically early, so we were already missing them. Anyway, yesterday´s sighting was in Jose Ignacio, further east from us... Look forward to seeing them at our beach.

A perfect birthday weekend

2009-08-03T18:13:00.003-03:00

Time with my celebrity dogs, time in the yard, a visit to the nursery, planting in the vegetable garden, dinner at a friends' yet-to-be opened restaurant and lunch with all siblings, Mom and various sisters in law at my brother's in Montevideo. All in all, I had quite a full and pleasant birthday weekend.

View of Vida Devagar, in Playa Verde

In the gift department, the first was the surprise of stumbling on a picture of Oso, Collie, Tulu and Lunes in the NYT. I had submitted the picture a few days before, but after seeing they were up to 16,400 contributed pictures, I had absolutely no expectation of running into our brood.

The second gift of the day, of a more material nature, was a "nursery voucher" from my Mom, giving me another unnecessary excuse to visit my friends at Proverde, resulting in an additional green gift, this time from them, in the form of a crate with seedlings of red and white cabbage, cauliflower and broccoli, already planted and hopefully happy in their new home. Plants, the gift that keeps on giving...

For my "gift certificate" I chose 15 poligala bushes, to add some softer foliage and color to the area nearest to the road, where now there's just some formios and some ornamental grass that I plan to move over a bit to the left, in order to bunch them together and make room for the poligalas, while making them more of a single-looking bush, rather than separately identifyable plants. Of course, while I was there I decided to add a few more oleanders (we never have enough, it would seem) and formios to existing patches, with the same philosophy of "safety in numbers" against the brutal winds here.

Back home I ran out back to plant the new winter veggie babies. We've resumed weeding and clearing the vegetable patch, which is now about 50% clean and planted in various stages of growth, and 50% a filthy jungle.

On Saturday night we went to Vida Devagar, our friends Alex and Cecilia's restaurant/bar in the making, in Playa Verde, next door practically to Terra Nostra (they who refused to seat us on Mother's Day) and the sadly closed Carumbe... I believe that independently of the merits of Alex's cooking and the charm of the place, they can develop a business just from aggrieved guests rejected by Terra Nostra, who apparently are doing too well to care about serving regular customers. In any case, the Japanese salad of cucumber and carrot with sesame seeds was delicious (I skipped the calamari dish) as were the home-made ravioli with mushroom sauce.

At the risk of exploding the next day we had amazing ricotta tortelini alla Carusso, a typical Uruguayan sauce of cream, ham and mushrooms. Followed by strudel from former Hamburgo, now panaderia Del Museo.

In a carbo-fed stupor, we arrived home early in the evening and treated ourselves to a double feature, a satisfying Clive Owen vehicle with the most fantastic photography and interiors, where he destroys the Guggenheim (The International), and a contrived Mexican auteur indie film with typical great cast, confusing editing and a depressing aftertaste: "Burning Flame" or something like that.

Winter

2009-07-13T13:35:00.004-03:00

Sunday afternoon hanging out with the non-traditional family

Winter is not something I'm very used to still. It's been cold recently, something like high 40s or low 50s, with nice sunny days and not so nice ones a week ago. But it's Uruguay, so we go from 70s one day to freezing the next.

We try to make the most of it by taking the dogs out for walks every day, unless it's raining too heavily. My favorite walk includes going all the way to the end of the road by La Carolina, and then backtracking to the beach, and back home. By then we're all exhausted enough that I have no problem getting all the dogs in the gate. If they're not too tired they go on further explorations across the street, which freaks me out.

After re-installing the bench seen in the picture above, we all sat down, including Mom, to enjoy the beautiful sunny Sunday afternoon, the sea views, and to fend off the dogs, jostling for affection as they do every second we're with them. I love having this bench here, because it gives us a completely different view than we get from other spots in the garden. We have another similar bench on the other side of the house, overlooking the pool.

Zeytin the psycho cat helps Barbi tighten some screws

We taunt the cows on our daily walk by La Carolina

This pond at La Carolina is a good reason to be rich

Earlier in the week, a very frosty morning

It almost looked like snow, everything covered in a thick coat of frost...

Fabiana II and Shakshuka

2009-07-07T09:06:00.007-03:00

Fabiana by the fence, her napping spot

Fabiana II is the female dog we previously mentioned here as a male, possibly the father of the first batch of puppies. We subsequently found out that no, she wasn´t a he, and this we discovered when faced with her 6 puppies, which we gave away a few months ago. According to the vet, Fabiana has some Akita blood, hence the black tongue, curly tail and beautiful coat of hair.

Inside and outside the fence

Thing is, nobody took Fabiana, who carries the name of the first dog at Arrancopelito, in turn named sarcastically by the construction workers after Fabian, the architect. Well, Fabiana stayed closer and closer after the puppies were given away. She´s very shy and sweet, but very territorial and will chase away any stray that dares come near the perimeter of our place. The only problem is that Lunes, being Lunes, hates her, so she took every chance she got to go out and attack Fabiana, with pretty pathetic consequences. Fabiana defends herself quickly and effectively, resulting in a Lunes with several bleeding holes in her ears, snout, etc.

So Fabiana, who is a hunter and "free" dog stays outside the fence. We recently had her fixed, so no more puppies at least. The last time we went out to the beach all together Lunes thought of attacking and then thought better of it, but displayed her usual jealous disposition throughout the outing. Maybe in the end we can all get along, but I still would feel bad locking up Fabiana in the yard. She knows her way around the street, the fields, etc., unlike the others who don´t understand what happens when car comes in contact with their body.

Fabiana wants to make friends with Oso

Shakshuka

The calico cat, Shakshuka, came to us quite big, not much difference from her current size, also a few months ago. She took "shy" to new heights, literally, by spending a few weeks on the rafters downstairs, only coming down for seconds at a time.

She has now conquered the surroundings and a couple of times a day goes out into the fields with Zeytin. They are not super close, but they play together and go hunting together, although Zeytin is convinced she´s a dog. Shakshuka is the softest, sweetest thing, incapable any untowards behavior.

Winter day at the beach with the Fab Five

The Indoor Four

The Ks get creamed, and so does the FA

2009-06-30T11:35:00.002-03:00

My usual and determined stance of maintaining a absolute ignorance about political comings and goings in the region has been hard to sustain these past couple of days, when, to my horror, I have succumbed to excitement about the elections Sunday on both sides of the river.

Being more manageable and stable, the Uruguayan primary elections were not as momentous, no "life or death" feeling about them. Actually I had come to terms with what many feared would be the certain result of the November presidential elections, a victory by the left-wing coalition Frente Amplio, headed by former guerrilla Mujica. As repulsive as that feels to me (and to practically two thirds of the country, I would venture), in the end I don't feel Uruguay would descend into Chavez-Morales-Kirchner dementia, so frankly I was not so fired up by the primaries.

But the beating taken by the FA on Sunday and the surprisingly high turnout of voters for the Partido Nacional (the best, viable alternative for these elections, despite many shortcomings) were really inspiring. Suddenly my call months ago that the presidential election would be Lacalle vs Mujica, with Lacalle winning, does not seem so farfetched any longer.

And lastly, the poor, beaten Partido Colorado has found a viable leader for future elections at least. True, he's a son of Bordaberry, and that is hard to swallow for many, including yours truly. Plus, that whole Opus Dei thing is gag-inducing as well, but I'm sure that he will find a way to neutralize his religious fervor in order to win the vote of a secular country like Uruguay.

But the true joy this week has come from Argentina. The uber-enemies of Uruguay, Cristina and Nestor Kirchner, took a well deserved beating that has had us watching Argentine political talk shows on TV for days now. The reign has been broken, they lost their majorities in both chambers of Congress, new "presidentiables" have emerged both in the opposition as well as within their own party, and Nestor had to quit as party chairman. The humiliation could not have been greater, especially since they framed the mid-term congressional elections as a referendum on their performance.

Onwards and upwards

2009-06-18T21:46:00.006-03:00

Ficus repens -- creeping soon up a wall near us.

Maybe I´ve been sidetracked with the landscaping for a while, but it´s high time we do finish this house!

With that in mind, today I called Hugo, a local realtor-cum-general contractor who I´m hoping will give me a reasonable estimate for making a large deck next to the pool. We have a lot of slate tiles left over from the patio downstairs, and rather than doing a wooden deck, I want to continue with the same slate, even if I need to buy a whole bunch more. I´m aiming for 1.3 times the size of the pool, more or less, or about 600 square feet of slate surface.

This mini-project, in addition to giving the place a more finished, neater look, will free up sprinklers to concentrate on the heavily planted borders of the lot. The sprinkler thing is a growing issue, the more land, the more I plant, the more sprinklers I need, and we´ve arrived at a point where for the next extension we need a new irrigation computer and maybe a new well, or we are risking overusing the pump (if it has to be pumping 12 hours a night) or we have to figure out something else.

That something else may be a combination of less lawn (helped by the coming deck) and possibly a rainwater collection system, seeing that we have lots of roof surface. Rainwater would also allow us to use a drip irrigation system (now we are prevented from doing so by the heavy composition of our well water, which would clog the drip holes). So I have an appointment with Antonio, a neighbor from Punta Negra who as chance would have it stopped by to offer solar and irrigation systems last week.

The next round of improvements will involve enclosing the downstairs bbq area, which will give us a further 645 square feet of usable indoor space. That one is pricey because it´s all windows, sliding doors, etc., and possibly some cabinetry. We desperately need some storage space for garden stuff, tools, dog stuff, a proper "mud room", etc., and it would be nice to be able to use the bbq downstairs year round, regardless of wind conditions and without a pack of dogs walking all over us.

Lastly, we are planning big changes to the outside appearance of the house, involving dark charcoal paint for the wood cladding, and covering the brick/mortar cube side with a green creeper. This will contrast with all the white windowframes and the white retaining wall downstairs.

We have chosen the ficus repens, and already planted them all around the three sides, and were told that once they start growing they go up very fast. It´s a perennial, with a tiny, flat leaf. For now, they look like little crappy mounds next to the wall. But I can picture the super chic dark grey and dark green, framed by sea and sky blues and the surrounding, lighter green landscape, and I get very excited. The paint job will have to wait for spring cash-flows, but we will probably have the pool deck started soon.

One King´s Lane´s homepage image is sort of the color scheme, although we are planning a darker grey. We even have the matching dog!

Also, lest I forget, we need to fence in the new lot. I am coming to the conclusion that we will divide our land into two lots, with the one the house is on and the one the pool is sited on becoming one lot, and the other two next to the road joined as another lot, more or less half an acre each. I will run a fence dividing them, leaving a gate between them for now, and will install a gate on the far side of the road. This way, if I decide to sell either the house or the other lot they will already be landscaped separately.

Acacia bayleyana rubra

And talking of the devil, with Barbi in Turkey doing the BarbiTour2009, I couldn´t help but run to the nursery the second he left. We have identified a new species that is supposed to do well in our place, and that I find very beautiful: the acacia bayleyana rubra, a shrub-tree with greyish purplish foliage and huge yellow flowers. The rubra refers to the purple color of the new leaves. It´s hardy, we see it all over tough spots of Punta del Este, so we will give it a try.

To anyone who knows the coast of Maldonado, Uruguay, and knows anything about plants, it´s shocking to hear that my pitosporums have "underperformed," to put it nicely. So we´re addressing this with reverse psychology, adding some more pitosporum, to see if the ones we have are so lackluster because we did not plant enough of them to provide them with mutual support from the winds. That´s the theory now.

Pitosporum

Lastly, we have a drainage problem that we will address with plants. We have several drainage problems, but one area of water pooling is particularly ideal for an island of cattails, and knowing that a block away towards the sea there´s a whole corner covered in them, I´m 100% sure they will prosper. One less place for the dogs to wallow in mud.

And what about our landgrab? I made a half-hearted effort today to acquire one more adjacent quarter acre lot. I called the mean old lady, who at this point has warmed up so much she almost sounds happy to hear from me (this being my 10th call in a year and a half), and made an offer she flat out refused. It sounded like I hit on the right price, but she was not into giving me 18 months to finish paying the full amount. What in Uruguay is called "facilidades" or short-term vendor financing, which is the way most property is sold.

Then I called Hugo and told him this, and asked him to pass on the same offer to the guy who owns another lot back to back with our newest one. It´s not nearly as good for us, but if I get my terms, we´ll get it, and have frontage on three streets. Frankly, if I don´t commit to forced savings like this, the money just vanishes into thin air. So if it´s a no from my adjacent neighbors, I will look for someting else, something where the seller doesn´t know how much I want the property, preferrably :-)

One place my money is vanishing into is 20x200.com, the addictive "cool art for the masses" website I got tipped about by my friend Victoria. The premise is every week there is one, or several, launches of limited edition prints by up-and-coming artists, with the smaller 8x10 sizes going for $20. It's so of the moment that in a matter of two weeks one artist whose prints I bought did a New Yorker cover, and another whose print I've been staring at for weeks (Alex MacLean) was used as an illustration in the New York Times. But the bottom line is that the curator chooses lots of things I really like.

So this week I stepped up and ordered my first $50 print, after several $20 ones. I better buy some land soon or I can see this taking a dangerous turn.

Yes, more planting

2009-06-01T15:38:00.003-03:00

Tibouchina

I guess people who build their homes must become obsessed with different things once the main project is over. In my case it's clear to see it's the landscaping and anything to do with the yard.

We still require further "infrastructure" work. The sprinkler system has been expanded to its full potential (two expansions) and is about to get a new computer because we're out of "sectors" to assign. Not to mention the perimeter fence that needs to be moved out to enclose the lot we bought last year. Hope Barbi doesn't read this until he's gone to Turkey.

The ground has received multiple truckloads of top soil to make it more fertile and more even, easier to mow, eventually. But we're not done with that either, we need about 3 or 4 more truckloads, on top of the 7 we have used up since July last year.

And the planting continues apace. Some sections of the perimeter are dense enough already that I start thinking about "editing", taking something from here to move over there. Most sections still need a second or third layer of shrubs in order to fill them in or make them more interesting looking. But in certain areas we're still struggling to fill out the perimeter, if only with one layer of shrub/tree.

Against this backdrop, we just took delivery of a couple hundred new shrubs and trees, which were planted over the last week. New arrivals include the retama (a yellow flowered broom, which is endemic around our place) which will be lined up against certain segments of the border with some neighbors and on the sidewalk on the main road, hoping it will create a good barrier for winds blowing from the ocean side. Agustin from Proverde, our lovely neighborhood nursery, says the retama is very slow growing, but I'm stubborn and am willing to give it a try. I show him the huge mounds near the house, and he says "Those are 50 years old". We'll see, we planted a total of 30 or 40.

Retamas near our house a couple of springs ago

Another one making a debut is the melaleuca, which has a bottle-brush like white flower, and beautiful foliage, thin and tapered with a red tinge in new growth, plus the reputation for withstanding any rough weather we throw at it.

We went full on with the photinia, which did very well since we planted the 5 bushes on a trial basis a couple of months ago, so now we added 15 new bushes, these ones actually huge, tree sized almost, around 7 feet tall.

We also added 5 more dodonea bushes, which have fared excellently, only because they were too cramped against the fence and wanted to make them more visible and irregularly laid out.

We doubled the number of native guava trees to 10, a little grove, on the "new lot" near the road, and added a double layer of retama on the "sidewalk" of that lot, in front of the poplar trees. Perpendicular to the road, still in the "new lot", we planted a line of acacia trinervis trees about 35 feet long, intended to work as a hedge to protect the road-front corner of our yard from the ocean wind. We planted them very close together and we will prune them so they remain shortish, dense and bushy, protecting the guava, olive, araza and a couple other fruit trees already planted there, and also further block the view of the yard from the road.

Next to the vegetable patch we added five more tamarix (we had only 3 there) and another 10 against the fence following the agapanthus patch, and on the other side of the fence (read our neighbor's yard) we planted quite a few retamas. The plan is to continue planting more tamarix and agapanthus on a boomerang shape once we incorporate the new lot into the yard, following the angle of the lots' perimeter. That will require a couple hundred agapanthus and a few dozen tamarix, but that's for the next batch, probably in July after Omar the fencer has moved the fence.

But the most exciting recently has been the planting, in two stages, of 40 tibouchina bushes, with a backdrop of formios to both frame them and act as windbreakers, against the western fence, behind the pool and the palm trees. I don't feel like taking pictures right now when everything looks so bleak, especially after I pruned everything in the yard, but I will show them in their full glory if they make it to the summer. As the picture on top shows, they have a fat rabbit's ear like furry leaf, and lots of little purple flowers. And massed like that, unevenly planted over a length of about 45 feet, they look absolutely super cute. I will be praying that they survive the rough winter.

The vegetable patch has been sorely neglected for months and months. Yet, we found some time to till a considerable part and plant it with broccoli. We didn't even bother making seedlings firts, we just pushed the seed in, and there are tons of little broccoli sprouting now. Another "wait and see if they survive" thing. The leeks are fantastic, we've been eating them and there's lots left. The carrots have been harvested, and we always have ciboulette, garlic-ette and scallions to cut off, plus the year-round watercress, the celery and assorted herbs. The cherry tomatoes keep on producing fruit, but it doesn't taste good anymore...

Next I will plant spinach and a Brazilian collard green (couve) whose seeds were brought to me from Brazil and which probably won't survive the weather, but I will give it a try.

The lion's tail

2009-06-01T11:43:00.003-03:00

I keep running into people who seem to gloat about what they perceive as the impending collapse of Punta del Este. They even feel the need to discredit or question the validity of an independent report that shows that real estate prices have actually increased during the worst of the global crisis, and they insist on forecasting an imminent crash.

This line of thought has been cropping up for about 3 years already, and of course, nothing I can say can deter what at times sounds like plain ill-wishing. There are some who genuinely believe that an x% price increase means a bubble (although few of us can ever pinpoint the bursting of a bubble with any accuracy).

There are others who simply want to transpose their experiences in other markets to this one. What I learned in financial reporting was that you can't expect identical behaviors in different markets. It's just not that easy. Brazil is not Mexico, the U.S. is not Uruguay, that much I've learned.

But among the Punta bears there are many who simply appear resentful, intimidated by the proximity of wealthy people. This has got me thinking about the eternal lion's tail/mouse's head dilemma.

I was recently told of a social experiment whose results go something like this: pay a guy 300k and put him in a place where everyone makes $600k, and he will be miserable. Pay the same guy $100k and put him among neighbors making $30k, and he will be in heaven. So I guess it's human nature.

But I prefer to be the one living among people who make a lot more than me. It's very easy to save money by not eating out so often in the pricier location, or by buying produce at the farmer's market on a regular basis, rather than at the more expensive supermarket. And let's face it, there's always budget options for everything.

But at least in Uruguay - and to a certain extent this applies to most countries - in places where everyone makes barely enough to scrape by (I'm thinking of places like the Costa de Oro, Piriapolis, Atlantida, etc. where many expats are settling down these days) it's impossible to find a top quality restaurant meal, a multiplex movie-theater, or a variety of sports facilities or generally well maintained and clean public spaces, be them parks or beaches, not to mention roads that do not look like the result of a meteorite shower.

And when you have a similar facility, it's really not the same in the poorer place. A case in point is the Tienda Inglesa supermarket. Atlantida is their only money-losing store, and it shows. Conversely, Punta del Este's is the highest grossing store, and they work hard to keep it that way. In Piriapolis we are "blessed" with the Devoto, which saves on lighting so you don't really see what it is you're buying.

After a year and a half of exploring and ruling out every dining possibility in Piriapolis - which is half the distance from our place than Punta del Este actually is -- we're down to two establishments, one of which is an excellent pizza joint, and another whose meals are uniformly very good, although unimaginative and unoriginal, set in a drab space, and whose catalogue of side dishes features only POTATOES and mixed salad. The prices are the same as our favorite place in Punta del Este, which, to make it short, is in a completely different league.

Last but not least, many wealthy people are interesting! Financial success in itself is, often, a result of other traits that can make a person very engaging, so I don't personally feel the need to run away in the opposite direction. Further, Punta del Este offers the chance of attending social gatherings where topics go beyond Uruguayan soccer and politics because everyone is from wherever and those two subjects therefore fail to gain much purchase. That alone is worth living in (well, near) Punta del Este for me, but that's maybe because I'm Uruguayan :-)

Ode to March

2009-03-25T13:25:00.004-03:00

Ready, steady...

...Go!

It's easy to say "my favorite month is March" but even when I say that, in September, for example, I don't quite remember the full wonderfulness of March in Uruguay.

For one thing, you know it's March because THE WIND SUDDENLY STOPPED! The stillness sort of jolts you. The stillness and the beautiful blue skies, the star-filled night skies, the suddenly quiet streets, etc.

On a recent Saturday morning we were bathing at "our" beach as I like to call it, in clear, quiet green waters, looking up and down the coast at a completely deserted bay of approx 10 kilometers of gorgeous beaches. Not even the ever present fishermen. Which was ironic, because the fish were literally jumping right off the shore. Huge fish, in chase of small fish, all jumping like crazy. The sea is definitely at its best in March, clear, quiet and no jellyfish like you can get anywhere between December and February, and warmed up by a whole summer of sunlight. As my husband remarked, almost like the Mediterranean.

To complete the bucolic weekend we attended the regatta at El Puertito, where the spectacle of dozens of children seriously preparing their equipment for the race, while their parents lounged on beach chairs on the grass brought me back to childhood and the thrill of sports competition (track and field-hockey, back in the day) something I hadn't relived in quite a long time.

El Puertito is a private, very upscale development with its own small harbor, so while the parents of the competitors sat on the hills surrounding the harbor in their beach chairs in a sort of laid back tailgate party style, I enjoyed the airconditioned comfort and catering offered at the Club House by Paul and Natasha, the Swiss/Cuban developers.

Regatta held this past weekend at El Puertito, Laguna del Sauce, Ruta 12, view from the Club House

Frankly, for the price of a waterfront condo in Punta del Este, to have a one acre lot with a gorgeous huge house built on this place with incredible lake and landscape views, is a no brainer for me. The club house by the water is where you can send the husband after a fight, or where you can retire to read or work in peace while a contractor is installing something with a power drill (had a lot of that today).

Sailboats coming back on the second day of the regatta, seen from Club House

My mother, who at this point can only conceive of condo-in-town living says that's for a different stage in life (not hers), and that I want to "put her away," although I'm double more away than she would be off Punta Ballena on Ruta 12, that's for sure.

But let's stop coveting and get back to what we have. At home we've been enjoying the beach more than we did all summer long. And nothing like the swim in the ocean followed by an outdoor shower to wash off the sand and a dip into the solar-heated pool, which is considerably warmer than the sea, all before going to work. That's what I call privilege.
Friend of Rafa, Rafa, Leticia, Barbi, Aunt Myrtha, friends of Aunt Myrtha

Rafa and Leticia

Natasha, Mom Mirtha, Paul, Patricia and Omar

Some last minute planting before the winter arrives...

2009-03-17T11:22:00.006-03:00

OK, finally I got it, it´s the tibouchina, or glory plant, the one whose name I could not remember... they grow up to 8 feet, or 2.5 meters tall, so great for a hedge. We planted 15 of them along the fence behind the palm trees, so if and when they grow and become full bushes, they will be very visible from the pool and from the bedroom windows.

The tibouchina leaf.

Another new addition in this latest mini-planting binge was the photinia, which has a lustrous leaf that comes out burgundy and then turns green. We planted 5 on a trial basis, to see how it does here, but have room for another 10 or 15 of them if they work out. Also a tallish shrub. The are placed alongside the tamarix, which is fluffier and more fuzzy in general look, so a good contrast in foliage, while a ton sur ton look in terms of colors, with the pink blooms that appear all summer in the tamarix.

Photinia

It appears that burgundy, pink and purple are emerging as the color palette in my garden, both for foliage as well as flowers. I started out with just white flowers (all my dozens of oleanders are white) and pink (tamarix) and then some agapanthus that were supposed to be all white turned out to have some purple ones among them.

We later added some purple sugar cane which has a beautiful deep and dark color, as well as other shrubs whose names I never learn in the same tones, and the beautiful achira, a burgundy-leafed, deep orange flowered canna lily that came as a gift in tiny size and has thrived at the entrance next to the strelitzia. Yesterday we decided to repeat the purple cane along the corner of the bedroom walls that face the sea and the road, to soften that façade.

The purple sugarcane. As long as it has water, it grows like crazy, fast, tall and bushy in just weeks. You chop them off almost to the ground in winter and they come back again with a vengeance.

The canna lily, I want to get more of these...

In yesterday´s plantation we also put in a few little pine trees (5 of them) of the Japanese black pine (thunbergii) variety, which has proven to do just fine in our yard. We had two already, and they did great throughout the drought and wind-storms.

Thunbergii pines

Last but not least, on the "plaza" side, a public area next to the road I am aggressively landscaping, we added three araucaria excelsa, replacing one of the other variety that was dead. The excelsa has been a good performer already in our yard, better than the augustiforme which is not looking so hot (one dead, two ugly).

We also planted two different grasses to soften the view a bit. We chose the penisettum alopecuroides and the paspalum, which have contrasting color and general shape (as grasses go). One is bushier, rounder and grayer (paspalum) and the alopecuroides is yellower, and more upright. We planted 7 of each...

Penisettum alopecuroides

Paspalum

Now the thing I can´t wait for is pruning season. I want to chop off a third of all the poplars, and do serious pruning on all the shrubbery, so we can have thicker, stronger plants and trees next spring.

The Arrancopelito Pet Adoption Agency

2009-03-15T14:53:00.003-03:00

The March batch is here!

After adopting two unwanted dogs and one unwanted one-eyed kitten (which has since recovered the previously non-functioning eye), placing 4 puppies and their mother, and helping place another non-related puppy, all in the space of a couple of months, I feel I need to name this enterprise.

Especially since the new batch is in! They were at an undisclosed location for some time, but the Mom ended up succumbing to the charm of the cave at my neighbor´s yard, where the other Mom and puppies had found safety and happiness just weeks ago.

They growl and bark at me from the safety of their cave...

So we have 6 new beige puppies of approx 3 weeks now, which look more like otters than like dogs, but of course in a super adorable puppy way...

For this week only we are offering them for free! Click here if you want to reserve your cute little bundle of joy. Actually, I´m waiting for them to grow a bit with the mom, because they all look too young albeit very healthy and plump, unlike the previous batch that was more uneven.

Collie and Zeytin

Back at the ranch it would be all peace and harmony were it not for the psycho Lunes, whose anxiety pills have not kicked in yet (two weeks to go before the effects start to show). The dynamics are very cute, with Tulu in love with the cat, Collie in love with Oso who observes her like a bothersome bug, and both kitten and puppy playing and sleeping together.

Barbi keeps making no secret of his predilection for "Oso divino" as he calls him... causing more jealousy and "unacceptable behavior" from poor deranged Lunes...

Collie unsuccessfully tries to catch Oso´s attention, while Oso only has eyes for the ball

On the vegetal kingdom front, a recent visit to the nearby Proverde nursery prompted by a visit to Arrancopelito from the nursery owner yielded a new planting campaign. We´re being moderate this time, what with the globaleconomiccrisis and all that, and my husband resenting the fact that virtually all his salary goes to landscaping and plants, but we´re adding new trees to the "plaza" area and the "sidewalk" outside the fence (3 araucarias and 5 pine trees), as well as some new bushes (photinia) with cool leaves that are bright red when they just come out.

We´re also planting a whole bunch of bushes against the fence behind the pool, whose name escapes me right now, but which have a very fuzzy oval, thick leave with a little purple flower. We´re going out on a limb and planting 15 of those together, to see if we make a good, visible patch of them. I´ve seen them in very wind-exposed places such as my brother´s in La Paloma, and the Hernán Taiana restaurant half a block from the sea in Montoya, so they should have a chance here. They will replace the two dead kiwi plants, which have a very similar leaf but with more reddish tones and which definitely can´t stand the winds.

Next to the house on the bedroom façade facing the ocean we´re planting 7 sugarcane bushes, which are gorgeously purple, lush and which require only water to grow huge. They did great outside the fence next to the entrance, and I want to have lots more of them. Love the rustling sound they make also. And the gratification of having something that grows super fast.

Lastly we´re planting a couple of different grasses on the "plaza" section, to soften the abundance of trees and formios which look a bit too severe. I am definitely not into the minimalist garden, and neither do I want a classic garden. I want lushness, exhuberance and big statements, large groupings of the same variety together, rather than single specimens of each plant (old ladies´ garden we call them) and I want to see lots of texture and pattern and greenery in general, very soon.

I am at the point where, despite lots more planting required, I can begin to edit what we already have. So out goes the lavender, which in addition to not working here (it´s been withering and dying since we planted them) feels out of place style-wise. We´re putting more white oleanders and rosemary where the lavender was, just expanding the existing groups to replace the outgoing bushes.

Now all I have to do is keep the cows away from my property and pretty soon I´ll have a real garden.

The 2009 season in coastal Uruguay

2009-03-06T15:26:00.003-02:00

Laguna Garzon, photo courtesy of Sibel the Tourist

Every conversation I have with people who are not directly involved in tourism or real-estate in the coastal region of Uruguay starts with a "So, was the season terribly bad?" or a variation thereof. It's become a bit tiresome to explain that no, for many businesses it was in fact the best ever in recorded history. Imagine the incredulous expression in people's faces, but anyone who stopped to look around can easily have noticed.

Ironically, many people appeared to want to see confirmation of their dark expectations. After spending 45 minutes traversing Punta del Este from one side of the peninsula to the other in mid January, normally a 5 minute drive, I would arrive at a dinner party to hear some fool declare "Punta del Este is empty! Very few cars this year..." It was hard to contain the chuckle.

In reality, the beach parking lots were packed solid even in previously considered "solitary" beaches, and the traffic jams driving into Punta del Este in the peak weeks started several miles before than in previous seasons. One particularly crazy night, while trying to reach the Peninsula, I ended up in El Jaguel, akin to saying you're going from Midtown to Wall Street on the West side and you end up in Queens, as traffic cops diverted the flow ever farther away from Punta del Este.

According to official figures, the numbers of tourist arrivals into Uruguay were flat from the year before (which was an excellent season) but the difference this year came from the heavy presence of prosperous Uruguayans (I'm laughing as I write this: prosperous Uruguayans, a modifier one can use about once in a generation), who came out en masse every weekend, in addition to those vacationing for longer terms. In the last week of January for my friends and relatives it was virtually impossible to find a house or a room anywhere between Solis and Jose Ignacio, and the same apparently happened in La Paloma, La Pedrera and further east.

"Ahhh, but the season now is sooo short, it lasts just a couple of weeks..." quip the undeterred naysayers. Well, you see, not really. Rather, it's quite the opposite. The month of December is now full blown high season, and February is a lot busier than it used to be (witness La Barra and points east, which use to board up in late January, and have continued to thrive through the end of February). Then in March we get all the adults with no school-age children, many "foreigners," as we call those who are not from Argentina or Brazil, but rather from Europe and the U.S. So the season is quite longer now, despite the fact that families from the region take shorter 2-week or one month holidays, rather than settling in for the entire summer as they did in the 70s.

"So this must have been a 'budget' vacation, in linewith the global melt-down, right?" Well, not really. From our immediate sources we know that it was a record season for anyone rightly positioned, but official figures are pretty eloquent: expenditure grew 40% in dollar terms over 2007. And no dollar devaluation this season to blame for the increase.

"OK, that may be, but surely many real-estate developments must have collapsed and sales must have frozen, causing a free-fall in the prices of houses, condos and land" is the next comment in this by now cliched conversation. Surprise surprise, wrong again! Sales not only continued apace throughout the summer (a time when transactions don't usually take place) but prices actually rose. We continue to see people looking to buy, some even looking for multiple purchases. The developers who did not raise their prices left them unchanged. And guess what, although there is one project that has been crashing ever since its launch 2 years ago (it appears to have more lives than a cat) over the last 3 months we have seen many projects break ground, and proceed with astounding speed.

So, no, not a terrible season in all. Now let's hope we can continue to refute naysayers this time around next year.

Barrancas de Arachania

2009-03-06T14:11:00.005-02:00

The view from our back yard at Barrancas de Arachania

It should be obvious by now that I like middle-of-nowhere places that happen to be relatively close to somewhere. I like being surrounded by greenery, within earshot of crashing waves and with some measure of sea views and wild life. I guess this preference runs in the family, because my elder brother Jorge and family have found a spot that fits all those requirements and then some, in Arachania, department of Rocha. In fact, they got there way ahead of me, about 20 years ago or so, when they purchased the first of several properties there.

"La Rosada," the first one

Arrancopelito and Barrancas de Arachania, the holiday compound they have created over there, are about 100 kilometers apart, but the similarities are manifold, starting with the "never heard of it before" name.

Barrancas de Arachania is a stone's throw away from a beach of similar characteristics to ours, from where you can see both La Pedrera and La Paloma. There is a vast expanse of green area to the East, much like in our place, which in the case of Arachania is an oceanfront ranch that has not yet succumbed to subdivision, extending all the way to La Pedrera. Both places are in fact at the end of a coastal road. Once you reach Barrancas de Arachania coming from La Paloma, the coastal lane turns inland, same as at our place with the road coming from Piriapolis. Which insures, at least for the foreseeable future, that our views of the sea won't include significant vehicular traffic.

Another house in the compound

OK, there are a few differences, mainly that where we have a single house, my brother has eight. But the common, key feature is an intangible, the sense of absolute peace and relaxation provided by these special settings. That, and my brother's and his family and friends' company is why we try to spend at least a weekend every year in whichever house they happen to be camping at. Because they have built quite the successful rental business there, every year we get to stay in a different house available at the time of our visit. We are usually one of 800 houseguests (typically including my nephews' friends, my brother's friends, their friends' children and their friends' childrens' friends).

View of the latest house, from our front porch

This time the gang was staying at the newest house, which, straddling a little brook, surrounded by lush vegetation that made me green with envy, feels more South-East Asia than Southern Atlantic. But we were given our own cabin, a tiny one bedroom we had never stayed in before, the smallest of the compound. The minute sky-blue house is perched on a narrow tongue of land that falls off several meters on both sides, with fantastic views of the fields ending in the ocean on one side, and of the gardens on the other. The deck chair out back was perfect for watching the sun rise over the sea.

And then I became Michael Jackson

2009-03-03T14:28:00.006-02:00

What a busy summer it has been. Arrancopelito was fully booked with houseguests since the last week of December until Carnaval, and it felt great to have the guest room occupied all that time.

First we had an early December overnight visit by Sara and the Croquette (a.k.a. Jessie, her curly dog), and then we had Ines and Juan Pablo, from Montevideo, followed by Sibel from Germany, Ben and Tom, from New York, and most recently Ines again, and Gustavo, Nikki and their daughter Luz, Uruguayan friends visiting from Barcelona.

Throughout the parched summer I developed tendinitis on my thumb from watering the yard with a hose to keep everything alive, although I'm much better now. Now the drought has abated, everything looks as green as what I imagine Ireland to look like, but one of the consequences of the drought has not yet let up, and that's the snake epidemic.

After a two year drought, coupled with huge fires in the area, the crucera, a venomous snake that was already abundant in the area, has benefited by the disappearance of her natural predator, the water/garden snakes which eat their eggs. Added to their greater numbers, the fires destroyed half their habitat in our area, so they "came down the hills" in droves, and in the months of December, January and February every house in our area had at least one visit, if not more. We responded by clearing more of the empty lots around our property, but that was not enough apparently.

During Sibel's stay, she was unfortunate enough to arrive one night we were out to find a one meter long crucera coiled on the entrance steps. Thanks to the warning barks from Lunes, Sibel did not get bit, and she heroically managed to collect all three dogs and keep them from harm's way until the snake was killed. I was hoping that would be the end of the snake events, seeing as the rain has been copious and there are lots of frogs to eat everywhere, but a week ago we freaked out when we woke up and saw half of Lunes' head swollen to balloon size. From the window upstairs I could tell it was a snake bite, so we raced to the vet in Maldonado. Her neck had already swollen as well, and she couldn't even bark, so I was terrified she would choke on me before we got to the vet, but all was fine, Dr. Sienra had the antidote (which nobody does in Uruguay for some reason) and she is now back to her feisty self.

But for a long time I have been told by many people that cats are the only defense against snakes. I didn't want to get cats because I feared they would hunt the birds, but now that I'm used to Lunes eating several birds a day, it's not such a strong consideration anymore, and the snake deterrent has become a priority. So yesterday finally we got our first one, Zeytin, and are about to get a couple more as soon as Zeytin is absorbed into the family and does not require any more medication.

Zeytin is very small and came in bad general health and with an eye infection, but she's making progress daily, and has not been eaten by Lunes yet, so things are looking good. Tulu licks her until she's soaked, Lunes hits her with her snout and makes a huge effort not to eat her, and Oso just follows her around.

The problem is that when we went to Sienra's to pick up Zeytin the cat, I just followed the sound of a shrieking puppy all the way to the back yard, where we found a ball of black and white fur going berserk. We picked it up, and by the time I turned around to my husband, Dr. Sienra was standing behind us asking "You like?" in his most persuasive tone... I passed her on to Barbi's arms, and that was it, sold! Collie is a 6-week old female Border Collie, who apparently was bought as a gift for a boy who refused to take care of it, and so we got her instead. I had been resisting many puppies offered to me and many strays for a long time, but this time Barbi, who always plays the ogre, was right there with me and could not say no himself...

It's hard to convey how perplexed our dogs were. We had been away for two days (we never go anywhere) and we returned with two new critters, one of them a cat, which they had never seen before. Collie established her presence forcefully right away, barks, growls and tries to play with all of them, so she's fully adapted from the start. I guess by showing no weakness she kind of scares them, they don't really know what to make of her.

The cat will take a more gradual approach, or else she will become a snack for Lunes.

Unsurprisingly, my mother reminded me that I am becoming one of those crazy old ladies who accumulate pets. My elder brother has offered to start looking for goats, sheep and llamas for me, and it doesn't sound like a bad idea at all. My own menagerie...

Mogli around the block

2009-01-20T13:09:00.008-02:00

The puppies

For several weeks our dogs have been driven mad by a couple of roaming dogs that wander around hunting and foraging. The bitch is an underfed German Sheperd descendant, while the male is light caramel colored and with the face of a fox.

For weeks I have wondered where the puppies were hiding, and a chat with my neighbors on the beach revealed that they have all set up home in the woods behind their house. So off we went on Sunday to visit the puppies.

Mom and Dad

There´s four of them, two solid black and two mixed brown and black. One of the black ones has very short ears that stand straight up. All are very perky, and when we found them huddled against a log, they immediately started barking at us. That drew the attention of the parents who were resting a few feet a away, and who after some barking came to us asking to be petted. The setting was straight out of National Geographic, but we do fear for the fate of the puppies...

Summer food

2009-01-19T18:32:00.006-02:00

Have I mentioned I love the farmer´s market in Piriapolis? Must be the only thing I love in the aforementioned town. One of the vendors at the feria goes all out every Saturday with the decoration, arranging the fruits and vegetables in funny patterns.

But back at the ranch, my own harvest has been increasing daily. We went from radishes, celery and submarine-sized cucumbers to a steady crop of mixed color tomatoes (cherry mostly), herbs, scallions, echalotes, and now we´re starting with the honeydew melons. The zapallito, a roundish variety of squash, looks like it will bury us in a couple of weeks.

Mixed cherry salad with fresh oregano and basil, all from the garden...

The harvest a few days ago.

While we are on food, and back in summer, when we are likely to go out more, I´d like to mention our two bad meals in a row at the same, wonderfully located La Corniche restaurant in Piriapolis. Why twice you may ask? Well, first time it was a group thing, second an invitation from a house guest who was as taken by the beautiful setting at the end of Playa Grande as I was. We gave it a second chance, only to find service worse than deplorable, and food as ineptly cooked as the first time. Stuffed chicken breast was so dry it made you choke, the milanesa was so chewey and dry it was fit for my dogs, etc. The service is hard to describe other than saying there was no service. However, the menu is almost as ambitious as last year´s at Trattoria da Piero, not a coincidence as it turns out the chef has migrated here.

On the positive front, we enjoyed a fantastic meal at El Abrazo, in Manantiales. El Abrazo is owned by two veteran chefs, Gabriela Sosa Díaz and Federico Gasparri who happen to be husband and wife. The location, a specially built house in the woods in Manantiales right off Ruta 104 is as usual very cool and low key. As usual because it was designed and built by Gabriela´s brother Fabian, our architect. There are a variety of possible settings, ranging from semi enclosed patios, a sofa outside in the garden, a table under a tent-like contraption, etc. I prefer inside, but all the outside areas and their lighting by candle give it a nice atmosphere...

The food was both gourmet-y, expertly rendered and delicious, as opposed to pretentious and bad. We had a great shreded, braised lamb served on a bed of mashed eggplant, a fantastic appetizer salad with cherry tomatoes, goat cheese and artichokes, and great seafod appetizer sampler, shrimp ravioli, etc. Desserts were also original and delicious, especially my guava concoction which included guavas in syrup, heavy cream and cookies. The service was great, professional and warm. I will go back soon before they close for the season.

The drought

2008-12-27T19:06:00.006-02:00

The cows are so hungry and thirsty they are eating my hedge

Forget about the international financial crisis, my crisis is the drought, and it has taken over my life. Uruguay has been experiencing below-normal rainfall since 2007, but this year things got bad. The usually rainy winter and spring were bone-dry, and now the ground is hard as rock, the grass makes a crunchy sound when stepped on, and cattle are dying all over the country.

At home, I was unaware that the sprinkler system was not up to the task of hydrating the couple hundred shrubs and trees we planted this winter and spring, and woke up one day to find a whole section of the yard the color of mayonnaise in addition to severe wilting affecting everything else (the sprinklers´ reach is one thing on paper, and another when fighting strong winds in the opposite direction of the stream).

That was about a month and a half ago, and my life since then has been devoted to manually watering every shrub and tree, not to mention my beloved vegetable garden. The obvious idea of just increasing the sprinkler cycle does not work, because the sprinklers are set up to spray a wide surface of lawn and plants so we would soak the lawn, waste lots of water and maybe still not provide enough for the shrubs. Also, there is the risk of just draining the well dry if we pump water too many hours a day. Although I was told that my well had an extremely abundant flow of water that would never run dry, after two years of drought things may be different.

The vegetable garden, with tomatoes duly staked... It´s obvious now that I´ve overplanted and overcrowded the tomato patch... beginner´s over-enthusiasm I guess.

And on to the real family crisis, Barbi´s hand, he´s due back on the 30th from one month of physical therapy in Turkey where he made lots of progress, He is now able to use silverware with his left hand, able to drive, etc. Still many months left of rehab but he will continue in Uruguay. Between the accident, the two operations, the 7 weeks spent in Turkey in two different stretches, etc., we´re ready for some uneventful time this summer, looking forward to returning to our routine. Also, Marabierto desperately needs Barbi back so Mirtha will be happy to have him and has declared that accident season is only between April and June.

On the festivities front, we had a lovely family brunch at Conrad, meant to be the last one of the year, although we may have a last-last one with Barbi... As usual, our bolero singing friends Los Románticos livened up the proceedings, with much help from our table and especially from Aunt Myrtha who now dances with baby grand-daughter Josefina who is scarily well trained to party at her tender 8 months.

Brunch with Mom Mirtha, Aunt Myrtha, Josefina and Rosina...

Christmas is never a big thing in our family, what with everyone working like crazy till late on Christmas Eve, but this year we had better logistics thanks to Aunt Myrtha, and ended up having a lovely dinner at Las Ostras, with the two Mirtha/Myrtha, plus brother Rafa and friend Coco. The location at Las Ostras is superb, the food was very good, the service too, and there were other friends in other tables as well, so we had a nice evening.

Mirtha on the terrace enjoying the fireworks

Coco and Rafael

Besides wielding the hose, my other new activity preventing me from blogging is Oso´s vocation, fetching the ball that requires throwing all day long. I fear I will develop whatever elbow injury baseball players get from so much ball throwing. While the others collapse in the shade, groggy with the heat, Oso is still up for a good run and will prod me (bring the ball to my hand, require that I wrestle it out of his mouth, or faced with complete indifference, drop it at my feet.) Every 10 or 15 fetches he goes for a swim in the pool and comes back refreshed and energized... Maybe if I had not cut his hair he would be a bit more lethargic, who knows...

Oso sporting his summer cropped hair style. Actually the hair is growing out fast... Tulu is all of a sudden getting bulkier.

Call the man, or how to grow your own $23 tomatoes

2008-11-13T10:36:00.008-02:00

It´s bring your granddaughter to work day at Marabierto

I first became aware of "call the man" as a Uruguayan cultural trait when my mother visited me in New York and insisted on coming to work with me, back in the day when I was working in the flea market at Spring and Wooster. After watching me pull a couple dozen loaded boxes from a basement into a truck, followed by a clothing rack that I "walked" along two cobble-stoned Soho blocks to our flea-market spot, whereupon I spent two hours retrieving the boxes, tables and other fixtures from the truck and setting up our "booth" for the day (you know, then undo everything 5 or 6 hours later), horrified, she demanded that I "Call the man." At that point I explained that anyone I had to call to do my job would have my job, and therefore, I was the man.

On a subsequent visit on occasion of my moving into my newly purchased condo in Jersey City a couple of years later, and after inspecting the yard and noting there was no tap anywhere to hook up a hose --hence my bringing the hose from the sink across kitchen and living-room into the yard-- my mother again decreed "Call the man. Get him to put a tap outside."My answer, in this case, was "There is no man."

Team Sousluaga, with Pelusa

In the first case "the man" was my own job description, while in the second example it was something I could not possibly do on my own (major plumbing) and that neither could I afford to hire someone to do for me. Hence the years of watering the yard from the kitchen sink.

But look at me now. I am certainly back to my roots, or becoming my mother, or both, probably. No two days in a row go by without some man or men coming over to work at our place. There´s the pool guy, who does the regular maintenance and is different from the solar panel guy. There´s the gardening crew (good thing I consolidated the two landscaping outfits I used to hire into a single one), and most recently there´s team Sousluaga, who first built a shed structure to place the solar panels, and this week is improving my vegetable patch making it into two very long wooden boxes with a sort of nylon wall behind it against the existing fence.

In between we have the guys from Telecom, the alarm company, who come to install new devices, fix a malfunctioning sensor or check the satellite TV or the weird cellular-based fixed phone on a pretty regular basis.

The vegetable patch encased in wood.

In a way, it´s a miracle. We work hard, earn money, and that money is enough to be able to afford all these people who are constantly doing things to improve our house. Considering we have neither the time nor physical condition, not to mention skills required, I am always in awe at the fact that we can afford to pay for these peoples´ services, considering we are not actually wealthy. We´re also in awe of the end product.

But then again, after factoring in the amount spent on landscapers, top soil, and team Sousluaga to set up my very fancy encased vegetable patch with windbreaker and all, we´re estimating a unit cost of $23 per tomato that comes out of that yard...

It works

2008-11-02T11:31:00.005-02:00

I finally swam in solar-panel warmed up water on November 1, at 6 pm, minutes after the installer had left, at a perfect 26 C, or 78.8 F.

We had turned on the system at noon, on a test basis, so not at 100% capacity because our cautious pool guy Alvaro (not the same person as the panel supplier-installer) wants to double check the pressure on the pump and other technical stuff.

When he turned it on, we measured the pool at 20 degrees (68 F), and the water coming into the pool at 23.3 C (74). This low reading at the pool is because although the water from the panels was coming out at about 40 degrees (104F) there was a long stretch of pipes to warm up.

From what I saw during the installation, only a fraction was insulated, and improperly at that, and then there´s the entire length of the filter circulation which is also not insulated. So initially all the pipes and earth surrounding it needs to be warmed up before the water coming out from the panels and the water arriving at the pool have a similar temperature.

All this will eventually be fixed by Alvaro, but right now I don´t feel like engaging in further works, just patching whatever leaks remained, and maybe in February when we have to travel to Asia the rest can be dug out and insulated.

When is Google Earth sweeping by my neck of the woods again?!?!?!?!?!

2008-10-30T23:16:00.005-02:00

Really, it´s pretty upsetting to keep checking for years and to see nothing more than the track my neighbor´s car made when using my lot as his drive-way earlier in the decade.

I have changed the template for this blog, and boy, what a relief. That previous one was suffocating, this new one is so airy and light, it´s great.

And another thing. I don´t know how to post without a photo. So here´s Lunes, Oso and Tulu ready to pounce on each other as they do all frigging day long... that is, when they are not chewing on pieces of halogen lamps, or on workers´ knives, or stealing and burying the workers´ stuff. They are something like 7 and a half and 5 and a half months now, so there´s still loads more fun to be had.

Just four more days for warm pool swimming

2008-10-29T22:54:00.003-02:00

Luis the engineer seen in the pictures installing the panels says he will be finished on Thursday and the water will need a couple of days of filtering to raise the temperature. The water feels like 20 C (68) to me right now, so I have decided I will be swimming on Saturday afternoon. I only need it to be 24 degrees (75F) in order to swim comfortably.

The next project once this is over will probably be to turn the structure into a working greenhouse, with some PVC. My tomato plants are so buffetted by the wind that I feel like a serial killer for exposing them to such inclement conditions. Plus, I really do want to eat home-grown tomatoes, if possible year round.

Captain Hook, Scarface and the greenhouse cum pool solar collector

2008-10-24T13:44:00.005-02:00

Captain Hook looking very fly with his home made sling...

It's been a tough month of October, what with Barbi taking his passion for DIY and bricolage to a bloody extreme two weeks ago, and Lunes showing up with an L-shape cut on her cheek yesterday.

Lunes aka Scarface at the store, tied to her granny's desk. She had a barking fit when confronted with a large Buddha statue, but otherwise behaved sort of OK, within Lunes standards...

Both are doing fine now, Lunes all stapled up, and Barbi ready to undergo second reconstructive surgery and starting physical therapy soon, although far away from me, in Istanbul. Good thing his brother and doctor is there to help, so we know he's in the best hands.

On the home front, the greenhouse cum solar collector for the pool is all ready and waiting for the solar panel installation. There's been a delay of a few days, but by the end of next week I will be swimming in warm water. We measured the water temperature today, and it was 19 centigrade. My guess is that if the heating system works as stated, the temperature will soon climb up to soup levels, but we can adjust the flow of hot water to our taste. After all, I want it for swimming, so too hot is not good.

The black rubber panels will cover the metal sheet rooftop. I like the rural look of the structure.

Yesterday Zuluoaga and son came over to put the roof sheets on, and of course they brought Pelusa, to the delight of my male puppies. I guess compared with the big psycho tom boy bitch that is Lunes, the only female they know, the tiny and dainty and feminine Pelusa must be quite a novelty for them

Pelusa in all her splendor by the pool.

And while we're on the subject of OPDs, below is a picture of Blitzen. Peter and Nadine's dogs for some reason sleep covered with fleece blankets, it's quite a sight.

Saint Blitzen

Trying solar on the pool

2008-10-21T20:16:00.004-02:00

So I could contain myself no longer when I came across what I have dubbed the "poor man´s solar collectors" and before I knew it I was on my way to a heated pool.

The "poor man´s" modifyer is because these etylene-propylene-polyetilene panels (don´t ask me the actual composition) cost about a third the cost of the other regular ones with glass and metal. Also they are made in the ROU - that´s the Oriental Republic of Uruguay...

Because panels have to be placed on some sort of inclined surface and I didn´t want to compromise my roof, we´ve been debating for months where we would place them, and what would serve as support. Container building was finally discarded in favor of possible future greenhouse, at savings of about 90%.

Finished structure pending metal sheet on roof and solar panel installation.

For the reasonable sum of $5,500 I now have the structure (wooden) for a greenhouse, measuring 12 meters by 3.5 meters and the solar panel installation for a heated pool. Not bad I think. The structure was erected by Zuluoaga and co. in one day. They didn´t finish the roof metal sheeting because I neglected to get the sheets on time. They also came along with Pelusa, a heartbreaker as Tulu and Oso can attest.

Zuluoaga and his gang, our dogs and guest star Pelusa (the tiny furry thing near the pool)

The panels are called Solarflex, by the way, and I´m heating a 3m x 14m pool with an area of solar collectors equal to 80% of the surface of the pool. I will buy a thermometer and report later on the water temperature...

Close-up of the collectors and pipes

Now let´s see how it works in the end. Thursday we will have the roof finished, and between Saturday and Monday the heating panels should be operating.

Spring!!! Gardening obsession!!!

2008-10-03T08:54:00.005-03:00

The view of our yard from the road on Oct. 2. Notice the many many many leaves on the poplars!

The birds made such a racket this morning that I found myself touring the grounds with my faithful entourage, leaving behind a husband who mumbled "King of the bed, I'm king of the bed," his expression of joy at my leaving the bed before him.

Never mind him. Spring has exploded, everything is chirping or budding, and the sun comes up at around 6 or 6:10 AM. If only I had already installed my pool heating solar panels... but I'm not lamenting too much, because I am obsessed with gardening. It's not the first time. Any of my friends during my Jersey City gardening phase may remember as I forced them to pay attention to every single blade of grass, every new leaf on every new shrub as toll when they visited me. Now I mostly torture my husband when he comes back from work.

"Did you see the trays with the seeds? No, I mean, did you really look at the purple basil? It's like one inch tall now!"

Mustard on the right, in the herbs box. The left one is peppers and tomatos...

How many times a day do I go on gardening breaks? Good thing that the spring makes me productive, because otherwise the 85k word edit job would not get done in 4 days... I spray my seedlings every couple of hours, go visit my seedlings outside, go visit the fledgling vegetable patch, with all of 10 plants (3 green peas doing swell, 3 red peppers borderline dead, one oregano, two thyme, one mint all doing just fine), I try to thin the trays of oversown seedlings, etc., etc., etc.

Tomatos! Peppers!

Every couple of days there's a new batch of cut-off plastic bottles, a new bag of fertilized topsoil, new tools (those baby tools for seedlings made me scream at the supermarket) and I now am the proud owner of a probably China-made gardening stool, fully loaded with a gazillion pouches and pockets to store all the tools and a very handy handle for carrying it around like a purse. All for about $15.

Lunes curses the electric fence that keeps her from destroying my veg patch.

The ants needless to say have discovered the changes going on here, and have taken aim at my yard. I couldn't suppress a scream yesterday when I saw them having one of my oleanders for lunch... Good thing there's William, from Greenes del Este (with the "e" in greenes) ready for my 911 call. Containing the ants is part of our contract.

As for the dogs, they watch me in wonderment but in general welcome my increased time outside around them. Lunes the Destructor still tries to have her way with my precious seedlings (she got to one this morning, dumped a pot with topsoil a few days ago) but in general there have been no casualties.

William was shocked today to see the stairway nursery, after just two weeks of showing me how to do it, and declared there will be no room in the patch for all those plants. "I guess I will have to give them away" I told him. So I have to start potting tomato and pepper plants. So I need pots and I should order another truckload of topsoil to have handy for the patch expansion, which I'm planning to triple in size.

The stairway nursery has expanded.

Yeah, I know, all a bit manic, but that's the good thing about having such a big yard after all, having tons of dogs and tons of shrubs and trees and tons of own-grown vegetables and fruits, right?

Which brings me to the new additions: we have planted 5 guava trees on the new lot, because they are indigenous and beautiful and I loooove guava in various forms. And also because the new lot has a tiny "monte criollo" or indigenous forest (with a bit of wishful thinking on my part). It has two indigenous trees (a tala and a canelon) and a lot of espina de la cruz (a thorny bush with cross-like foliage) and now, 5 guava trees.

In addition, I have planted two quince trees and two pomegranate trees in two different spots of our yard (hedging my investment). Greatest problem may be that the strong winds may blow off the blooms in the spring and I may have no fruit, according to William, but if so, I will wrap them in something to protect them from the wind next year... this year it's no use.

The lady at the nursery, Frida, smartly refuses to close my tab because she knows I will be adding on to it...

The fierce guardians

The dogs are getting big, and a little bit fat too. We neutered/spayed Lunes and Tulu, and experienced none of the "one week of convalescence" I had been warned about. They were back to their crazy selves the day after. Oso weighs as much as a cow, impossible to lift him now. They all bark in unison, very threateningly, at any car slowing down, motorcycle approaching or, the worst offenders, bicycle or horseback riders. Very impressive until you notice their tails wagging...

Happy hunting days, Lunes always dying to trespass into La Carolina

We did a lot of long walks into the fields around here in the past couple of months, but I'm afraid that will have to stop now as the nasty snakes are waking up all stressed out, and these dummies want to eat them. They have brought me a dead eel, a dead snake and a dead field mouse in the last two weeks, so their sniffing expeditions are off for a while. Only the beach, which involves less risky terrain and mostly dead seafood, which they chomp on with great gusto and later puke.

The will be house that Barbi built for Lunes and Tulu. Tulu doesn't allow Oso to sleep with them, he growls nastily and sends him away.

But they all nap together

Arrancopelito expands

2008-09-01T10:29:00.003-03:00

I can say that in a way we have renewed our commitment to Arrancopelito, with the purchase of one more lot adjacent to our house. In the image above, we have plots 2 and 3 (house and pool respectively, my original purchase way back in 2001) plus lot 1, which we bought in 2005, and now we have added lot 18, the long and narrow one below lot 1.

Although in itself it´s an ugly lot in our opinion (17.5x60 meters, too long and narrow for my taste) when added to the rest of the property it is a significant improvement, giving us greater flexibility in terms of siting if we ever decide to build on that side. Also, it brings our official total to 4600 m2 (unofficial 5000 with the plaza at the corner where the curve is which we have recently landscaped) which is a very respectable chunk of land to have with this proximity to the sea and the views we command.

In terms of investment, larger properties, at least in Punta del Este, carry increasing premiums, so there was no doubt that we "had" to buy it. Pricewise in relative terms it was no bargain. Let´s just say that it cost the same as the price we sold a much nicer lot closer to the sea a month ago. But because we made a huge profit on that one, I am satisfied that we just exchanged property of one for the other, after buying it for very little money in 2006.

Although we would love to continue expanding, we may be at the point where we are either priced out or no adjacent property is left for us to buy. Lots 4 and 5, which we coveted for a long time, are adamantly not for sale. Lot 6 already has a small house on it, which further raises the price and is not for sale. The others are for sale one day and not for sale the next, at rapidly increasing prices... But whatever the case, we are satisfied that our privacy is ensured, and so are our views and the possibility of one day building a B&B or restaurant or both. That's plan B for us.

Our dog life

2008-08-13T09:57:00.004-03:00

Winter bbq dinner in the fireplace. Barbi is becoming quite the accomplished "asador"

Good thing now we have plants to care for and worry about, because since April, our life has centered around the dogs.

Now, if you have dogs, eventually your life brings you to ponder the issue of poop collection. I never had a dog in my years as an apartment dweller, not so much because of the cruelty of having the dog locked up all day, but because of the prospect of going out twice a day to collect steaming poop with a plastic bag.

Oso´s favorite passtime, getting all muddied up

Puddle fun

And yet now, despite the generous play-pen we have provided for Lunes, Tulu and Oso, we find that in no time it becomes a minefield to be walked at one´s own risk. So Barbi has taken up the chore of collecting the growing production on a once-a-week schedule, something to look forward to on his single day off from work. Although I do take them out for a long walk once a day, and they do their thing in the fields around the house, it turns out that our yield is up to 15 kgs, or 30 pounds a week of the stuff. Hence, Barbi has developed a device that I have named CacaCaddy (patent pending).

Beach fun

All inventions are incremental improvements on previous inventions, some argue. Well, our CacaCaddy takes the market cart to the other end of the eating process. Just change liners, and you go from food gathering to poop disposal... We are accepting orders. 19.95 with two sets of liners, spade and broome extra. Excellent for people with back problems, eliminates the need to bend down.

The CacaCaddy in service

Let the games begin...

2008-08-12T18:15:00.003-03:00

About 25% of the stuff is on the ground here...

In a race against the clock, the weather and my almost exhausted patience, this Monday we finally saw the launch of the planting drive at Arrancopelito.

Sunday evening I freaked when Barbi said "Good news! Monday it will rain but the rest of the week will be fine." Well, not good news if we didn't get the topsoil in time, for example... Well, we did get the truckload of topsoil first thing in the morning, arriving minutes before the truck with the first load of trees and shrubs, and an "advance" team from the landscaper guy who was going to be doing the planting.

Our baby araucarias...

There was a bit of disappointment there, the guy, William, seemed to be shuttling back and forth all day between some other site and my place, the guys he left behind almost all day confessed they hated plants, they only liked lawns and they were actually in charge of tending to a private golf course. In short, they said they knew nothing about planting, but would make holes wherever we indicated and would place the plants in their planting location.

Since there are about 200 specimens to place (we ordered some more yesterday), my Mom decided to stay all day directing the proceedings, or I should say, helping me do the landscape design.

Then, at about 2pm, the pro team arrived, and proceeded to set a large number of plants in the ground before departing at 4 pm. A couple hours later all hell broke loose, but not before William showed up for the last time, and working in the dark, covered (as I had asked repeatedly) the topsoil mound and brought in the palm trees that the dogs were already chewing on because they were lying on the ground, still unplanted.

As seen from the road

Today it was a bit painful to watch all the baby trees and shrubs being pounded by the evil southern winds.

The waiting game

2008-08-03T11:19:00.004-03:00

Well, the shrubs and trees were all chosen, the guys to plant them hired, the deposit money paid, and for a couple of weeks already we have been waiting on the weather.

The problem is that we need at least one truckload of topsoil (the soil here is clay, meaning it hardens like marble when dry, and it does not allow water to go in or drain out, so all plantings require plenty of soil substitution in order to live and prosper. But because it´s been raining every 3 days, topsoil at the topsoilery never dries out and the suppliers refuse to deliver it.

It´s soooo anticlimactic, I thought after such a push on my part, it would all have been planted by now. It's also exhausting, because wherever I go I don't just travel but rather my eyes and mind register EVERY single shrub and tree planted EVERYWHERE along our way. I may be chatting with my husband but actually I'm computing number of shrubs in a certain house, or distance between them, or size relative to distance from the sea, or age of a particular palm tree, etc. I hope once I have planted my own I will be able switch off the greenery calculator, because it's really draining...

Well, I´ve waited many years, so I guess I will survive a couple more days. Right now the "polar weather" as they say in the news, has turned windy, but the rain yesterday was not that intense, so who knows, maybe this week :-) For polar it's not that bad, I even managed my walk to the beach with the "kids" who really love the windy weather.

On other news, it was my birthday this week and Barbi gave me the most gorgeous painting by some Polish artist. I have to find out more details about this painting, but I fell in love with it at first sight at Whitebox, the new shop in La Barra owned by Stan the Pole and Theresa the Hong Konger a few months ago. I actually loved so many things there that I instructed Barbi to use it as a source of all gifts to me. But I had forgotten and so was very pleasantly surprised.

I don't know what it is but dem Pollacks seem to be everywhere around now. And they're not like Lech Walessa, but on the contrary, so urbane, charming, sophisticated, etc., that they make us look like a bunch of peasants. It was both hilarious and depressing at the same time when last week our other new Polish friends Tad and Lydia declared Uruguay to be "Like Poland 20 years ago." I always knew we had a "behind the iron curtain elan" but this statement is still quite a shocker for us.

The same day we had Nadine and Peter, the dogophiles, over, and gracious Nadine complimented me on the dogs. She claims I do well with them. But then yesterday my best friend, a Uruguayan, was shocked at how we spoil our dogs and "treat them like humans" which is something I never intended to do. I don't agree with her pronouncement :-).

Landscaping, at last, or back to the vegetable kingdom

2008-07-22T19:31:00.009-03:00

Araucaria araucana, my dream tree, takes forever to grow

Way before I was dying to move into the house, I was dying to do the planting. But it was not to be. My theory that we should plant the trees before building the house was demolished with arguments involving ants, cows, drought.

By the time we moved, we were too broke, so we had to wait. Then when I started enquiring with our landscaping company, again I was dissuaded, "it was not the right time." But also, several times I was told that nothing would grow, that any tree would become a bonsai at best, etc. etc.

So, tired of all the naysaying, this past weekend I found myself a wonderful, huge nursery whose owner is a bit more positive about my chances at having trees and eventually a garden. She visited the site, made an appointment for us to go over all the species she thinks will work, toured us around her nurseries and some places she's landscaped (not our style, but all looking nice and healthy), and eventually agreed on a list of things that we like and that have a chance in our lot, punished as it is by salty sea winds.

Below is a visual list of all the stuff on my list. Ironically, although I said I want to keep the list short so our place doesn't end up looking like a nursery catalogue, the list is quite long. But we have a lot of perimeter to cover. Initially we will attempt to do the upper fence, about 130 yards of it, with as much inside the property as outside (the future sidewalk or whatever it becomes once they actually build the road.) We will also try to reinforce some sections of the bottom fence, although not all of it.

Also, we will plant the public space where a "traffic circle" or plaza that will never in a million years be built is, at the corner of our street and the main road. That is, we have a quarter of that circle to landscape as well, and if it ever becomes a circle, well, it will already have a quarter of it planted.

Jazmin
White oleander

Dracena
Strelitzia alba
Purple penisetum
White penisetum
Italian poplar, or alamo piramidal

Retama
Pink tamariz
Washingtonia palm

Yucca
Purple formio
Green formio
Pindo palm
Pitosporum
Poplar (alamo carolino)
Guayabo del pais (local guava)

The other araucaria
Butia, the 4x4, all terrain palm
Equisetum, a fashionable green stick-like plant

Casuarina

Formally and belatedly introducing Oso

2008-07-08T16:02:00.004-03:00

The bits and pieces around are cushion filler foam from various former "beds" that they like to eat and to spread all around the yard ...

I guess I was not only very busy but a bit embarrassed to announce we had acquired a third puppy in as many months. As a friend told me today, "I can't believe you went from zero to three so fast." She claims I would do well in Colorado, which apparently is the most dog friendly state in the U.S. Anyway, after having Lunes and Tulu for a few weeks, I had the uncontainable urge for a third puppy, so I did my search for a 2-month lab or golden retriever, and was happy to find one in a vet's shop in San Carlos. Off we went with Barbi to pick up yet another one, and when we got to San Carlos and stopped for directions we were corrected by the locals. Not a vet shop, but a seed shop. Hmmmm. We arrived at the place to confirm that indeed it looked nothing like a vet shop, and to have to wait half an hour for the guy who had claimed on the phone he was waiting for us there. He arrived with a tiny puppy that in my inexperienced eyes did not look one month old. Upon introduction, puppy barked at me, just when I noticed that his head was CRAWLING with fleas. Closer inspection revealed all kinds of scabs as well. This was a very tense moment. The guy was lying through his teeth, drawing up a fake vaccination record right before my very eyes ("He has all the shots") and defensively asking me if I knew anything about dogs in response to my comments about the puppy not being anywhere near 60 days, or about his forehead looking like a flea airport, as the fleas taxied around and took off and landed again...

We went with our gut and just took the puppy and ran to the real vet, Sienra, in Maldonado, who confirmed that Oso had fleas, staphilococcus, probably all kinds of parasites, no shots, and was no older than 24 days. In his words, he would be lucky if he made it, as he was a prime candidate to get sick and die. Off we went then with Oso, who lived for about 10 days in two boxes next to my bed (bathroom box and bedroom/livingroom box, a system I will trademark). The introduction to the other two was a bit tough, as they were scared silly of the little rat dog who was a tenth their size but who would bark at them and give chase and bite like a bear. By the time Barbi was gone, no more than two weeks later, Oso was sleeping with the other two and hanging out all day outside. Right now all the parasites and scabs and fleas are gone, and he's become a force to be reckoned with. Obviously the alpha, and learning everything way faster than the other two.

I have to say that I missed them soooo much while on vacation that in Paris Barbi had to pull me out of a pet shop where a similar aged golden retriever on sale brought me to tears. This week we have debuted the "family beach outing" with the three of them, as there is usually nobody at the beach save for a couple of fishermen and the weather is amazing...

Enough talking, now I'm off to play with them...

Composition: My winter holidays

2008-07-03T11:42:00.006-03:00

My winter holidays were actually spent in the Mediterranean summer. For two weeks we criss-crossed Turkey and the Cyclades islands in our own version of "The Amazing Race."

First, after a 20 hour eventless trip, I arrived in Istanbul where I was met by Barbi, who had been visiting his mother and his restaurant for a couple of weeks already, and looked quite tan. We spent one night at Zeynep and Jackie's beautiful apartment in Galata with its views of the Bosphorous and the cow-sized seagulls squawking away, walked a lot, had brunch with Ozgur, shopped for Uzbeq silk fabrics at the Grand Bazaar (at a smuggler's shop hidden on a second floor where you almost need a password to be let in), and at around midnight boarded a bus to Ankara that according to Barbi would take us in 5 hours and would be less tiring and less hassle than dealing with 2 airports, plus transfers, etc.

Wrong. We were on the bus for 8 hours, 3 of them spent trying to get out of Istanbul.

Ankara's famous hittite statue, removed by islamists and later reinstated after much popular demand

We arrived with our bruised asses in Ankara mid-morning, spent a day with Barbi's father, and the next day flew to Hatay, in Antakya province, so close to the Syrian border that most Turks call it "Arabistan". At least temperature-wise, it was indeed Arabistan. But also, our friends and incredibly gracious hosts Seval and Alpagut guided us through various eateries where we had THE BEST TURKISH FOOD EVER IN OUR LIVES. Really.
Alpagut and Barbi at the site of our first amazing meal in Hatay

The tahini, fresh mint, zahter salad (thyme leaves salad with millions of spices) the hummus, the salads with pommegranate dressing, the dozens of mezzes, the kunefe --a dessert served hot with melted cheese inside, deep fried angel hair dough on the outside, and soaked in syrup, the best I've ever had-- everything was incredibly fresh and full of flavor. Coupled with delicious sesame-covered, hot from the oven, flat bread, there was nothing we could do but eat non-stop the 22 hours we spent there.
Barbi matches the door in Hatay both in color and size

The shoe repair place
Cherries are in season and the cart is adorned with mosaic images

After a visit to the mosaic museum, and a delicious lunch, we flew to Ankara again where we rented a car at the airport, visited friends Baris, & family, who fed us yet again (tea time) and continued on to have dinner at Barbi's father's just before driving 12 hours to the Mediterranean coast. It was a bit mad to drive all night, so we made a couple of stops along big trucks to sleep for a bit, but were still in Cirali in time for breakfast at a beautiful lodge by the sea.

The garden in our Cirali inn, complete with all kinds of fruit trees and chickens...

The beach at Cirali off our inn's restaurant area

Cirali is a gorgeous, protected beach near Antalya, where lodging is not very good quality and is pretty high in price (nothing under 100USD) but where you pay happily anyway because of the gorgeous setting and peaceful atmosphere. We swam, we slept, and early the next morning we drove off again, this time to meet our ferry in Marmaris (via Dalaman airport to drop of our rental car, bus and taxi to the port).

Arriving in Rhodes in the late afternoon, we went for a long stroll in the old town, which never ceases to please me, had a fantastic dinner, as usual in Rhodes, and at 3 AM boarded a huge, old ferry towards our final destination (almost). The 13 hour trip promised by the travel agent turned out to be more like 18 hours. We camped on very comfy reclining chairs, pulled out our recently purchased bedspread and pareo collection, and slept for 90% of the trip. As we hit about 6 or 8 different islands, passengers embarked and disembarked, and we just watched it all go by until Santorini, where we were able to barely catch the last ferry to Ios, our final destination, arriving at 11 pm.

Traveling in style -- gypsy style.

From the moment we set foot in Ios it was clear that it was all worth it. We had a top-notch dinner by the pool, and retired happy to have a few days of rest ahead of us. For five days we swam at about a dozen different beaches that ranged from touristy but half empty to rural and peopled by goats, driving in our rented canary-yellow Fiat Panda, which Barbi mistook for a Land Rover Explorer and took on roads that more than dirt roads were coarsely chopped rock roads.

The view from our room in the early morning

One of a gazillion postcard-perfect chapels in Ios

Goat beach, my favorite

Our off-road adventure comes to an end

At Basilico, the Italian operated restaurant at the "party" beach

But the Panda performed stellarly, thanks in no small part to its amazing driver no doubt, and took us to some wonderful places. My two favorite Mediterranean features combined in the beach next to Ptalamos, where the crystal clear, turquoise sea was framed by a sandy beach covered by a herd of about 120 goats, all bleeting and ringing their huge bells in unison, providing quite a concert. Definitely the highlight of "my winter vacation."

Our return was through a 3 hour fast ferry to Athens (plus one hour bus ride to the airport in 500 degree heat through ugly Athens) and one hour flight to Istanbul, where we crashed at our friends Sema and Volkan's place. We were lucky that it was the weekend, so we were able to spend a lot of time with them, and with Ozgur and Naim. We did some more shopping in Istanbul's fancy new shopping mall, Istinya something (summer sales!) had a couple of lovely breakfasts, and were driven to the airport by Sema and Volkan, where our nightmare return journey began.

first wonderful breakfast at Sema and Volkan's

second, and our last breakfast in Turkey

Looking on the bright side, the countless hours of flight rescheduling at various counters yielded an all expenses paid night and day in Paris, the first time for Barbi. Still, we arrived home about 28 hours late and luggage-less, as one suitcase was left behind in Paris and the other in Sao Paulo --they say.

Barbi in Paris bistro

in Paris delicatessen

patisserie
yet another patisserie

our millefeuil and apricot tart at Paul's patisserie

They better arrive soon, as this was my once-a-year shopping event as well as my winter holiday, and everything from the bottles of tahini and pommegranate syrup to hundreds of yards of Uzbeq silk and my Uzbeq silk kaftan, new clothes for Barbi and me, olive-wood kitchen utensils, hand embroidered bed sheets, hand woven camel-hair and silk shawl, greek slippers, and who knows what other trinkets and goodies are all packed in those two suitcases...

Another highlight of our trip, beyond the swimming in insanely beautiful, deserted beaches, was the seasonal fruits we ate, which would taste great to anyone, but which were further appreciated by us as we were coming from apple-orange-bananas winter weather. Delicious watermellon, plus incredible apricots and cherries and peaches. As a summary of our vacation, they were all featured in our delicious going-away breakfast at Volkan and Sema's.

And then there were two... plus new heaters

2008-04-26T13:53:00.006-03:00

Recent pictures of Lunes the beast.

The cold snap a couple weeks ago sent me into a panic, as the living-room still had no source of heat other than the fireplace, which I don´t intend to live enslaved to as long as I don´t have to.

So we ran to Daniel Hogar and quickly purchased a couple of the famous Fagor accumulators, and had them installed at either ends of the place, one in the kitchen and the other in the living-room under the big picture window.

I say famous because they are sort of well known for allowing installation without any pipes (no water, they work with high density bricks that accumulate heat and release it for hours after they are turned off) and for their efficiency. Uruguay has split rates according to the time of day (you have to apply for this special rate regime) and so you have them on during the "cheap" hours of 11pm and 5 pm, and the timer turns them off during the expensive hours. This keeps the house warm at an affordable price.

Of course, immediately upon their installation, the weather turned warm again. Same as when I glassed in half the bbq area and the wind shifted west, after months of blowing from the east. I now know: winter it blows from the west, summer from the east.

But the difference with the heaters is huge, especially in the morning. They seem to be too much for the current weather in terms of capacity, but we still have not seen real cold. Another investment was the custom-made screen for the fireplace. I ordered it by phone from my old math teacher, Jack (the best math teacher in the world) and amazingly it fits like a glove. I had to describe the shape of the fireplace, then give him a bunch of measurements, design specs, and incredibly, a week later he brought over a perfect-fitting screen.

So we now can light the fireplace with no fear of setting fire to the house. I did so the other day when the house was invaded by crazy bees (they´ve been out of sorts because of the grassland fires in Argentina, invading several houses and killing a beekeeper last week.)

I don´t know if it´s puppy addiction, or fear that Lunes will be lonely and spoilt, or what, but I´ve been searching for another dog for a few days already. Yesterday we went to the Sienra veterinary clinic in Maldonado, and I remembered to enquire if they knew of any dogs needing adoption. "Tons" said the doc. One hour later I was holding Tulu, a ball of dark brown and black fur, funnily enough brought by the husband of an American friend of my mom´s. He said 9 were too many, so now he´s down to 8. Tulu is a type of Turkish rug that is very fluffy and long haired.

Lunes had such a crazy and eventful day yesterday (we were out and our cleaning lady decided she "looked hungry" so she fed her the equivalent of 6 of her rations, or a day and a half of food, which she gulfed down in seconds. When we came back minutes later, her stomach had ballooned, so our scheduled trip to the vet for the shots was quite timely. Then, after ballooning and the vet experience, she had to share her box in the car with the new guy. Immediately she identified bullying and biting opportunities, Tulu is a tiny furry thing, a bit of a baby, maybe 5 or 6 weeks, and he can barely walk, but he has a mighty, angry bark, something Lunes is not used to and makes her take a step back.

The only tricky thing is the feeding time, as she eats her meal in 23 to 29 seconds (I´ve timed it) and he takes about 20 minutes to go through his. That gives Lunes 20 minutes of agony trying to find her way to his dish... I could put him inside for the food, but I am hopeful that she will learn to respect his food... maybe naively so...

Pictures of Lunes with El Cabeza, the dog from the neighboring farm at La Carolina, who comes to visit us once or twice a week, and ALWAYS if we are having company (read bbq). He's beyond adorable, has a fantastic, gravelly bark, is a great guardian dog, and unfortunately is very poorly cared for (basically starved). He has been a bit shocked by the appearance of Lunes, which sent him peeing on every square inch of my patio. He is seen in the pictures withstanding her pestering while he mostly ignores her patiently...

OK, so we got the house, we got the dogs, what's next? The picket fence of course!

Introducing Lunes

2008-04-08T09:35:00.004-03:00

Her name is Lunes, she arrived yesterday, to try to bring some life into our home after someone took off with our beloved Fabiana on Easter Sunday.

What a change! We inherited Fabiana with the house, all grown up, and used to being on her own, living outside, and just demanding a lot of affection whenever we were outside the house.

This is a whole different ball game. Lunes is one month and a few days old, the last of her litter of Weimaraners from some guy who sells them out of Maldonado. I had been growing increasingly nervous at being at home alone, with no Fabiana, watching how our yard reverted to the birds (the uber territorial teros, the woodpeckers who are not content with the yard but actually want our house, etc.) and then yesterday a mean evil crucera snake showed up in our bbq area downstairs, proof that we needed a dog (or two, and a cat, and some chickens) ASAP. So I googled "Uruguay cachorros", meaning puppies, I clicked on the Mercado Libre link that showed up (our equivalent to Ebay), and within a couple of minutes I was congratulated on my purchase.

I called the guy on his cell phone. "Do you have transportation?" I asked. He said his motorbike was in the shop being repaired but that he had the car. "OK, can you drop whatever you are doing now and drive to Punta del Este right away with the dog? If you can, you got a deal," I said. "It´s an emergency."

Barbi was on standby, waiting for the word to go pick up the dog in Maldonado, but instead, he rushed to the ATM, withdrew the money to pay for the puppy and was home in what, maybe two hours tops since my initial googling. Not bad, this technology. Now Lunes is sleeping on my lap, and I´m wondering how the rest of the day will go. I already had to close the living-room door so she doesn´t drop into the abyss from the stairway landing that has very cool steel wire symbolic guard rails. In the living-room floor she has shown a predilection for my irreplaceable tribal rugs from Turkey, pulling at the wool yarn and trying to chew off the applique wool flowers.

The Ikea storage box was great for yesterday evening when she was exhausted and only wanted to sleep. Now she´s mastered the art of jumping out, with or without the pillow-towel mattress. The shower stall, which is not too confined, easy to clean, etc., feels lonely to her and prompts the high-pitch wailing... anyway, I can´t complain I guess, as long as Lunes is here it will never feel too lonely anymore.

Coming soon to a hill near you

2008-02-01T17:23:00.000-02:00

Cerro de las Espinas seen from Punta Negra, with some of the roadwork done.

So our little spec of world may not remain unknown or remote for much longer it would seem.

This is thanks in part to interest sparked by our house (multiple lots of land and houses have been sold in the past one month citing Arrancopelito as the reason of the purchase decision, believe it or not) but also in a much larger sense because of the massive Latitud Sur project just 2km behind us commanding the Cerro de las Espinas (Thorn Hill if you were to translate the name) with its breathtaking views of everything from Punta del Este to Punta Colorada and Laguna del Sauce, hugging a huge golf course, and topped by a 5 star hotel on the tip of the hill. www.latitudsur.com.uy

What can I say, I feel a bit nostalgic for the Barra de Portezuelo that never was for me. When I fell in love with this place the road was unpaved, hence zero traffic, only one or two houses built, absolutely nobody at the beach ever, etc. Now that we're finally living here, cars drive by, the beach parking lot has at least 2 cars every day and as many as 8 on weekends, and in the Latitud Sur project website, MY BEACH is marked as "Beach Club."

The Latitud Sur hill, with a working farm in the foreground.

Then again, my guess is that somewhere in the near future we will have a couple of restaurant options which don't exist at present (to begin with, at the hotel). My guess is also that the hotel will have an indoor swimming pool and spa that I may want to become a member of. And who knows what other conveniences will come our way. The plans call for a "shopping area" on the edge of the compound, for example. But also, I won't be coy about it, the rise in property value can be felt by the week right now. What I was happy to sell for 35k last week, today feels cheap at 45k.

Hence we are retrenching, selling the one lot in the obvious area half a block away from the beach and buying 3 lots further inland, with crappy access right now, but with amazing views, in a location more secluded from what I expect will be increasing traffic in years to come, and at "not yet discovered" prices.

The hill seen from Barra de Portezuelo

This decision comes after a bi-athlon review of the entire area which included a 3 hour bicycle tour of Punta Negra (which left me with a bit of sun stroke despite the rain, the sun here is very strong) and a one hour adventure hike yesterday with the realtor, which included climbing 12-foot ravines, getting lost in the thorny brush, and overcoming the terror of the crucera (the nasty viper). We didn't see any vipers, although the 2 feet high cushion of dead grass would hide them from view. I wore plaid design rain rubber boots to protect me. By the second or third ravine ascent or descent I stopped caring about the snakes and started fearing the realtor. He could have killed me and buried me in that spot and nobody would have ever found me. Luckily for me, he is into commissions, not killing clients...

A country road approaching the Cerro de las Espinas

What about my Punta Negra survey... well, I saw an area that I sort of liked, especially because of the views of the hills, including the Latitud Sur project, and I saw a lot of things I don't like. What I don't like is the close proximity of houses to each other. Lots are small, 600 m2, or 6,000 sq ft, often narrow and long, meaning all the houses are too close to each other, and in a place where being outdoors is much of the allure, it feels too "communal" for me.

In some areas some people have bought multiple lots, and those have built better houses, with nicely kept yards, and mostly with very nice views.

My least favorite part, ironically, is the part closest to the beach, within two blocks of the beach, let's say, which has been built in a sort of Mad Max shantytown style (the house that looks like a cross between a ship and a medieval watch-tower, for example), which coupled with the sandy, windswept terrain, makes it feel pretty depressing. There are quite a few extremely small and extremely inexpensively built shacks in wood that are absolutely beautiful, but there´s a lot that isn´t good looking at all.

These two houses I would call "transitional" in Punta Negra. Tidy, not a "found materials" shack, clean yards, but still ugly and tiny.

Further up the hill and before entering the forest there a couple of nicer houses, more desirable in my opinion. A realtor explained to me that when the subdivision went on sale originally, they started selling only the first couple of blocks by the sea, which was where there was electricity and roads had been made, and that they went on sale for USD3,600 payable in 96 installments. That's why the shanty feel on the beachside strip. As time went on, prices rose and new buyers had to buy further inland, and at higher prices, thus the better houses in the back, just before reaching the forest parts, where in general terms prices and construction quality drop again.

In sum, there are now quite a few cheap lots for sale for anyone less anti-social than me, which will trebble or quadruple in value in a couple of years. My prediction. The other option is to buy several lots and houses on a "keep buying up anything next to you that comes up" basis and then average out the price. Dollar averaging but for real estate rather than stocks. If I were not so in love with this place, Barra de Portezuelo, I would buy a bunch of lots there. But prices here are suddenly getting borderline out of my range, so I will get some more here before I turn my attention and money to Punta Negra. In any case, the whole area has a big boost coming.

Lego for grown-ups

2008-01-25T18:09:00.000-02:00

OK, so it´s all Randy´s fault who´s been pestering me asking for info on building with containers in Uruguay. I once happened to mention that my brother has a set up with two 40 footers for caretakers home and storage, laid out parallel to each other and with a detached roof covering both of them and generating a covered patio in between, which prompted Randy´s enquiry, and brought the subject up, where it has remained in the back of my mind for a couple of months already.

Now that we have empty land in Barra de Portezuelo (near Punta Negra) and Las Grutas (Punta Ballena), little money, and worst of all, NO ONGOING BUILDING PROJECT, when talking to a shipper this week I remembered to ask about the containers for Randy, and I seem to have opened a can of worms. It just so happened that this shipper was somehow connected to Multicontainer, the Uruguayan company that sells and customizes containers for other non-shipping uses.

The results of the initial enquiry were that a dry, non customized 40-footer costs USD2,600 plus delivery which all the way to Punta del Este is about USD500. Of course, this needs some sort of foundation, connection to utilities (water, sewage, electric), plus all the adaptation work and materials. Because they said that the prices for their finished products depend on the configuration, I have obtained an estimate for a standard 40-footer turned into a 2 bedroom dwelling, with a basic kitchenette (no appliances, this is Uruguay) and bathroom with no water heater.

The design, materials and finishes are pretty horrible if you are design-conscious, and very correct if all you need is inexpensive shelter. With vinyl walls and ceilings, awful kitchen and bathroom fixtures, small ugly windows and doors, and the most insteresting I think, the original wooden floors of the container refinished (more on this later), the price quoted, tax included with delivery and placement on the spot with a crane comes out to about USD12k.

These are pictures from the other company making the containers, Frimaral, but they are indicative of the depressing design that seems to rule in Uruguay container homes... nothing like the www.fabprefab.com fare...

Up to yesterday I was wondering how much I´m able to blow this price to smithereens... I always fantasize about being able to be thrifty-cool, but it happens on few occasions, such as with our kitchen cabinetry, which is thrifty cool, mostly, except for the expensive granite countertop. But then Randy on the Southron forum mentioned this other company, Frimaral, and their website would suggest that a) they manufacture the actual containers, and b) they are able to do with them whatever you want, unlike the other company that told me that joining vertically stacked containers was a problem, and c) my guess is that based on their size and manufacturing capacity, their prices may be lower.

I was further encouraged by the pictures on the site showing openside containers, which come with those sexy looking industrial doors. I had been thinking "too bad, those doors are so cool but they´re located at the end of the container. But no, they can be installed on any side! That means great views potential and full safety/weather protection.

Amazing doors! Am in love....

So now the challenge is to come up with something thrifty cool to dump on the lot where the pool is, to contain a storage room (Barbi´s tool room!), a bathroom and a large room that can be extra guest quarters, or gym/spa area. No, I´m not building a yoga room.

A most important function will also be to serve as wind barrier for the pool lot, which is so windswept that I have referred to it as "the steppes." If we somehow create a barrier that can give trees and plants a chance to grow, then slowly we will be able to expand a green barrier. Another potential use to this is to serve as the support for solar panels to heat the pool eventually. They would face North, which is where they have to face (in the southern hemisphere) and i would not be messing with the actual house´s roof, or just plunking them on the ground, which I´m not too excited about.

The Setai is alive!

2008-01-12T10:46:00.000-02:00

Well, I thought that after who knows how many years from the original noise, the whole project was dead. In fact, if I remember correctly, some investor(s) had pulled out. Maybe with things so bubbly now they decided to give it another go, or maybe they were dealing with licenses and such all along. Whatever. Welcome back Setai is what I say. All the more so if, like the WSJ says today,

"Between $110 million and $130 million will be spent on the development, with plans to build a luxury compound including a spa, 10 cabana hotel suites and 40 private houses on the La Juanita beach and in the nearby woods. About a mile up the road, the 300-acre Laguna Escondida project is planning a 70-room hotel and 240 housing lots."

On other matters, I have to say that after about 40 days of being in our new house, we feel soooo priviliged to be living where and how we're living. The house gets nicer by the day. The last pieces of furniture and missing curtains have arrived, we now have two couches, a nice LCD TV, DirecTV, a cleaning woman who comes three times a week which is as much as I can handle the interaction (plus pool and garden people), a lawn that is getting nicer every day, and expanding into the non-lawn areas quite fast, a sweet dog that makes a big fuss when we come back home, and friends who come and spend the weekend or a few days of their vacations with us.

Not being on vacation myself, it makes me feel luckier than if I were. I punctuate my work-day with walks on the beach or along country paths (watching cows graze, the dog chase the hares, it's too bucolic) or swimming at the beach or in the pool. And "my office", overlooking forest and sea, from where I stare out the windows and watch the falcons chased by the swallows, the ducks flying, or any other of the myriad National Geographic scenes that unfold on an hourly basis.

I credit ourselves for our conscious choice to make this happen, against blank stares or outright discouragement by many people, but I also credit the success of our business for allowing us to build this house, and last but definitely not least, our architects' genius in making this house the way it is. I know we made a million little choices along the way, but they were all informed by their gentle prodding, or simply us choosing from options produced by them that we had never imagined or contemplated. Also, some things I was just informed of, in a no-nonsense kind of way, as in "The living-room roof is now 1.5 meters lower. Anything higher is out of the question." Now I look at my ceiling and think, "how could we ever have lived with 5m high ceilings if 3.5 feels sooo high?" I remember one very funny exchange with Fabian where he emailed me a list of questions for us to decide on 10 issues, in the form of "multiple-choice quiz." I was really proud when he said I scored 9 out of 10.

I talk about this house as if it were a huge palace, but no, it's just very simple, comfortable and as big as I could afford when we made it (only 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms). Still, as simple as it is, it literally stops traffic. Every day we get people driving straight into our car park and getting out to take pictures. We go from proud to annoyed to proud to annoyed, but in the end it's good news I think.

Scary storm and potential good news

2008-01-10T12:19:00.000-02:00

It looked like a horizontal twister or something, and when it started pounding us I have to confess I got a bit scared. In the end, no damage, and a good chance to test the windows for leaks. I doubt that it can get much worst than the amount of rain that fell yesterday, or the wind-strength (Uruguay´s classic horizontal rain).

First we had the big scary twisting cloud come through...

Then all hell broke loose...

The poor garden guys had to seek cover in our barbeque area for about half an hour before they returned to work... Rather than declare it a "rained out day" they went back at it for hours after the worst part of the storm, even though it was still raining on and off...

Then, sun again, and even a couple of rainbows to end the day on a good note.

Onto the good news. After a very eventful day (semi-stalking of my friend Tamara by a local who approached her at the otherwise empty beach early in the morning, and mentioned he had "seen"us yesterday in our pool, later befriending by Tamara of 3 other cute guys at the beach of which she approved, heavy traffic at the house between garden people, pool people, cleaning lady, etc.), while I was trying to nap after the storm to rest a bit from so much excitement, I heard Tamara, ever the friendly one, welcoming a female voice to the house. I got up, went down and was introduced to a lady (American residing in Punta for the past 30 years or so, former owner of a restaurant I used to love) who came to introduce herself as "your new neighbor" and to inform us she had purchased four lots including 2 hideous houses to be demolished and replaced with a house in the style of ours. This is like winning the lotto for us, as the two existing houses on the lower end of our block are quite an eyesore to us, and the empty lots around them always a question mark, instilling fear of further ugly construction...

Also, her and her Uruguayan husband were such nice people that it was great to know they´re our new neighbors, intending to live here year round, rather than having four small and ugly empty beach houses, having a single house with lots of landscaped land around it, and inhabited by cool people!

A further boost to my ego was her statement that they had always loved the area but had decided to go ahead with this project after they saw our house and the fact that we had almost one acre of land between the 3 plots. This is validation for all I had theorized but without any proof that my reasoning was right every time I went ahead and bought another plot. (Why do you need another plot? To raise the value of the land around me and ensure that other people are encouraged to build on more than one plot, keeping the density of the block low, preserving and improving the views with more greenery.)

Anyway, we have to wait and see what comes through in the end, but I have high hopes, as they even asked to contact our architect. Funny thing was that I was suggesting this same investment to other people until a couple of days ago, and someone I didn´t know went ahead and did it. Now I think I will try to buy more land on the block if it comes up for sale...

New Year´s Eve

2008-01-03T10:43:00.000-02:00

Our traditional program: a rushed dinner at my Mom's with family and friends, then a sprint down to the harbor for the countdown, and dancing until the knees gave in. New Year's Day in a coma after way too much champagne...

Mirtha and Coco

Cousin Nacho, Barbi and pretty pregnant Rosina
Lots of women in sexy dresses everywhere...

A very mixed crowd with lots of children and a few grannies as well

My brother Rafael commands the dance floor, well, the street

The Mirthas, Mom and Aunt

The count-down

My bubble

2007-12-31T10:25:00.000-02:00

A word of advice: Stay away from them!

I left Uruguay about two decades ago because even as a teenager uruguayanness made my blood boil, and in order to return I have had to come up with certain "techniques" to prevent stress from ruining my health. You know how it is, whereas in a foreign land good manners and a certain detachment mean you can or should be benignly tolerant of certain questionable customs or actions of the locals, when it's your own country that tolerance is quickly replaced by full-blown indignation.

So our natural choice was to move to "Punta del Este" as it´s less Uruguay than the rest of Uruguay. The second step was to actually be "away from Punta" in a tiny corner of the coast basically unknown by everyone by it´s real name, which is Barra de Portezuelo, because the absence of people makes it less Uruguay than even Punta.

Another self-removal strategy is to abstain from reading the local papers. I only glance at the "Cities" section of El País on Sundays, on occcasion. This morning, seeing as there were lots of headlines about the economy for 2008 in Sunday's paper, I opened the "A" section to find the column by Andrés Oppenheimer, the top journalist Latin America has produced in my lifetime. The voice of reason. The guy can write, but more than anything, he has forged a career (based in the U.S.) doing the unthinkable in Latin America: bringing some common sense to all the folly that surrounds us, calling a spade a spade, something afforded only by the physical distance from his subjects, as otherwise his writings would have been dropped, his paper or TV station bombed or his person eliminated multiple times over the course of his career.

I digress. Still, Oppenheimer and all, I stick by my regime of not reading the papers. I do scan my Google-assembled patchwork of headlines and an occasional item in full, but that's more like entertainment, I try to keep it light. The tiger-mauled brothers, the disappeared Indian girl who reappeard after abandoning her Chicago-area husband, the Canoe Man saga, etc. More to do with "humanity" than with "current events."

Resutls: pretty good so far. When I go to civilization I'm in Punta del Este, a fantasyworld where most people are on vacation and where most of the "issues" I will hear about pertain to Argentina, so no biggie. The rest of the time, I am almost unaware -- in a frame by frame sense I mean -- of all the ridiculous or unreasonable things that could make me angry, stressed or bitter like some people I know who insist on "knowing" and cannot stop ranting about this or that.

The Middle East is blissfully far away now. Whereas until a couple of months ago I experienced the Middle East in the flesh -- by Middle East I mean that confluence of Islamic culture and eternal spring of never ending violence of all sorts -- now I perceive it as something remote, that faraway place where streets crawl with leering men, where people can't even pinpoint anymore why they're so angry or bitter, where bombs and killings are language, where the air is always thick with conflict of many sorts. I now remember it maybe once a week at the most, and I feel a twang of guilt at my mental hygiene process on account of the friends I have there, and of all the good things that are drowned by the bad, unfairly, but -- to pile the cliches -- the bottom line is that life is short.

Altogether, I firmly believe our new life and my newly-implemented techniques will be seriously health-enhancing. And my resolution for 2008 is to keep fine-tuning my bubble, which always seems to leak "real world" from one end or the other. Happy New Year.

My recently-visited-for-the-first-time restaurant reviews

2007-12-30T09:28:00.000-02:00

Let me start the review with the happy ending to our pathetic Xmas eve. Christmas has never been a big thing in our home. My mom´s excuse is that since her mother died (in 1970!!!!!!!!) she lost the joy of it. However, truth is she never had her own Xmas, and neither did we. Then she opened a shop (in 1981) meaning Xmas Eve (in Uruguay you actually celebrate Xmas Eve and Xmas day is for recovering from the previous night´s excess) became the end of a very busy day. Then my brother opened his shops, and things got even worse. Couple that with my mom´s aversion to buying presents, ("Here, go spend $50 on each one" she would tell me on the 24th at 4pm pushing some money into my hands) and my refusal since last year to be the family last-second gift buyer, and things could hardly be worse.

But although in the end everything turned out OK, as pathetic Xmases go, this year we outdid ourselves. My mom´s insistence that I had to go to Punta for dinner "because at least we´ll all be together" overlooked the fact that a) there was no food at her house, and b) she had made no reservations. So at 10 PM we launched our tour of restaurants in Punta del Este, Barbi driving and cursing, Mom and I laughing at the ridiculous situtation. We started by the harbor, where there was not a single table to be had. The new Blue Cheese was closed, on Pedragosa Sierra, so I decided to try Floreal, a Punta classic that we never go to which was also packed, everyone looking so nice and well dressed and happy while we looked worn-out and hungry.

Finally, we decided to give a try to that restaurant we had passed that seemed to be half empty and which none of us had ever heard of. We were met at the door and explained the "system" which is pretty similar to a rodízio, the Brazilian steak houses where meat is brought in a never ending succession to the table. However, our host stressed the "very fresh variety of salads" and we were sold. Plus, it was 11 PM and had no other choice.

Well, the evening confirmed my brother´s comments when he arrived that "This is supposed to be the best meat place in all of Punta del Este." The salads were indeed fresh, and different from the usual fare in Uruguay. The home-made flavored breads were delicious, the meat was outstanding, and things had been done to it beyond slapping it against the parrilla (chicken with blah blah herbs, etc). The meats also came paired with bbqued fruits and vegetables, such as the pork matambre with bbqued pineapple and pears, which was outstanding. The french fries with scrambled egg on top were super crispy and delicious, and everything else, up to the desserts which included barbequed nectarines, was fantastic.

It cost something like USD100 per person, with wine and champagne, and although it was not cheap, it was worth it and I´m sure no more expensive than most places for that night or New Year´s Eve. We´ll go back and fast for the whole day, because at some point we had to send the waiter away without trying something that looked wonderful, some fried huge ravioli with ruccula and mozzarela...
Avenida Pedragosa Sierra yLa Paloma 480898-488260

We had another excellent dinner about a month ago in the hills over Las Flores, at Carumbé, which means turtle in some native language. It´s a little restaurant and tiny, 2 -room inn where chef Juan Pablo Capdepont cooks his high-end fare. I was a bit deceived, told by my friend Inés who was having a romantic weekend getaway at the inn that the food would be "criolla" or Uruguayan creole. Far from it, but the suprise was nonetheless positive. The food is of the fusion type, and all of it (we were four for dinner) was outstanding. I had curried rabbit something something, some cheeses, and the dessert I can´t even remember because we had two bottles of wine. Again, not cheap, probably USD50 per person, but well worth it. The place itself is very homey and cozy, with a view of the kitchen, and the chef´s wife and the chef himself do all of the table service. There are about 5 or 6 tables, so better make a reservation. According to my friend who had the brunch, it´s worth driving from Montevideo for. She said Capdepont claims to have opened the inn just to have an excuse to prepare brunch.

Carumbé, on the hills over Playa Verde, Ruta 73 at the Tarariras stream. No children allowed (043) 27093. Rooms are USD120 per night.
(Update, sadly chef Juan Pablo Capdepon died on Sunday, Jan. 13 in a car accident.)

And now to Piriapolis. We have been exploring the "neighborhood" quite a bit, trying out different places. The problem is many of the places in Piriapolis are of the everything on the menu variety, so you can´t get a feel for how good a place is until you´ve had both the parrilla and the pizza and the real food. We like Terranova, a corner in the same style of fare as La Pasiva, but which won us over with an excellent chivito al plato and olímpico sandwich. The pizza on another occasion was completely bland, not recommended.

At La Rotonda we had excellent cordero. Greasy and stinky and tender, the way I like it. A huge chunk. The salad was generous and had lots of ingredients, although in the classic Uruguayan style which is basically a pileup of vegetables and other food which then you have to turn into an edible salad yourself in another dish. Lots of work. Still, very reasonably priced, attentive if somewhat rough service, and we like it for what it is, a basic Uruguayan style eatery.

I´m a disaster as a reviewer because I don´t remember even the name of another place we went to on the rambla, not on a corner. We gave it points for being open on a Tuesday when most places were still closed. The decor was very Heidi style, with little wooden window-frames, checkered table-cloths, etc. It had a DVD playing of some really good Brazilian music show, which I loved, and the waiter was super. The food was OK, not great, and the price was a bit expensive we thought in relative terms, vs food quality, but still, sometimes ambience is a lot and that day it was the perfect place to be, watching the sunset after a storm. I´m sure we´ll go back.

The most recently visited place is Trattoria Da Piero, on the Punta Fria waterfront. It was jam packed last night, with large families (the three generation thing is big in the Piriapolis area, and lots of babies and toddlers screaming, a stroller gridlock, etc. Not my favorite kind of scene, but we were drunk from a caipiroska pre-dinner, so we dealt with it OK. The menu made us laugh, fusion gone mad, such as "entrecot con vegetales al wok con crema y tandoori" which had drunken me cracking throughout the dinner. I ordered a chicken "en reducción de bondiola con pure de papas y rucula" which was as tasty as it promised, but unfortunately the chicken came undercooked, and returned to me tough as a truck tire. Barbi´s plancha del mar, a fish and seafood medley looked cute and he says it tasted OK. My recommendation for this place is to go very early and sit on the terrace overlooking the sea, not inside where the big family action is. Prices were reasonable and staff and owners very eager to please, which gets points from me always.

On a decidedly negative note, last night, on our third attempt we finally found Tartaruga open. This place, in Punta Colorada, has an enviable location, on the tip of a point in the road overlooking a little lighthouse (not house, just a lantern on top of an iron structure) with sea views, etc. Cute wooden structure also. It used to have a great menu, about three years ago. However, they started reducing the menu season by season, to a point where now it is a plastic laminated single page of seafood and pasta, only two salads (they used to have a great selection of four or five) no beef or chicken dishes whatsoever, and the attittude of a 3-star Michelin rated place.

"Can you add carrot to the salad?" I once dared ask last year. "The chef does not allow anything off menu" was the answer, as I surveyed a completely empty restaurant, with us the only customers. I laughed last night when a lady in the table next to us dared ask for garlic and parsley on her fish. "The chef does not...." came the swift reply. In the end we chose to have a couple of capiroskas and drive to Punta Fria for dinner.

Closing the year with a couple of real estate deals

2007-12-28T11:34:00.000-03:00

I don't know why it is that we are always moving or closing on real estate in the month of December, but when we think back, we notice that's the way it is.

First, my mom finally signed the purchase agreement for her Brava 28 condo. It's been several months in the making (we started negotiations when I was still in Turkey), but after much coming and going, she's got the best unit in the second nicest new building on the Brava side of Punta del Este. (The nicest being of course Vignoly's Aqua, but that, starting at $3 million, is beyond our budget.)

Mom shows my aunt where the sea views will stop... On the left, the built in parrillero, or bbq, nice as an outdoor fire pit even without cooking. The green lawn seen on the right is the roof of the gym and party room, smart that they covered it in grass... the two covered circles on the ground deck are jacuzzis.

when they finish building across the street. The views will be fine up to the palm tree on the left of the white building. Luckily, the new building across the street will have gardens and swimming-pool on the street sides, adding more green and water to our views.

So why is it the best unit? Well, the building is an inverted L shape if you see it from the road, and she is on the leg that is pushed back into the lot, about 50 yards away from the road (less traffic noise), protected from the winds by the other section of the building, and bathed in sunlight all day long either in the front, side or back of the apartment. Three exposures. Also, we chose the floor very carefully: the 2nd floor won over the 3rd floor, surprisingly, because the views on the second include a lot of green in the field of vision (from garden as well as the beach dunes), over just sea views on the third. Also, the terraces on the 2nd floor are all covered in hard wood, both walls and floor, while on the 3rd it's ceramic tiles. Ironically, 2nd is cheaper than 3rd, as usually at least in Punta condos are priced in ascending floor order.

The living room/dining room is pretty big, but my mom being my mom, she will knock down the wall to the master suite (there are three other suites, so no problem), which happens to be the corner with wrap-around terrace, and make it all living room, adding about 175 sq ft to the existing 460 sq ft of living and dining area, and most importantly, guaranteeing afternoon sun in the winter.

view of the bedroom that will become living-room... lots of sun and views of the landscaped houses on the side of the building.

The living room is a bit too long and narrow now (for our pain in the neck demanding tastes), but when we open up the master suite at the right side against the terrace, it will have tons more view and light and a friendlier L shape, rather than the corridor propotions it has now.
Sea views all the way from the kitchen in the back...
View of the breakfast area in the back of the kitchen, overlooking the Rincon del Indio forest and gardens...

On our more modest news, beyond the momentous moving into our house on Dec. 1, we have decided to buy out my Mom's share of the lot we purchased together in Punta Ballena last year. It just so happens that lots in that corner have gone up 100% since last year, so we decided we want to keep it as our future backup lot (for building if we sell our house, or if we win the lotto) and will lock in the price now before my Mom's share becomes unaffordable to us. After having secured a verbal agreement with her, we have just now put up for sale the other lot we bought last year in Barra de Portezuelo. I feel sad about it, because it's beautiful and we love it, but we own 3 adjoining lots now where our house is, and we can even sell two with the house and have one spare to build if we want, so it makes more sense to sell that one and buy out Punta Ballena before it becomes too pricey for us. We had been even thinking about buying another lot in Las Grutas (the Punta Ballena corner we like) that was $50k last year but I was just informed that one is gone and others on the same block are up to $100k, so this is the catalyst for selling our newest lot in Barra de Portezuelo. At its $35k asking price for a quarter acre, it seems so modest now... but our area is yet to become trendy, so it's a fair market price.

Barbi collecting flowers last year right after we bought it, from the back of the lot looking towards the sea...

Arts and crafts, birds, sunrises, Mehmet the sailor...

2007-12-22T13:50:00.000-03:00

Well, our domestic life has become very bucolic. The absence of a TV (DirecTv to be installed next week) has sent us in other directions for evening entertainment. Also, after finally feeling we have a home worth going to the frame shop for, we brought out all those things we have been saving over the years to get them ready for the framer.

I am big on old textiles, so one of them is our treasured collection of Hmong hand-embroidered belts. Rather than belts they are decorative strips that are sewn on jacket sleeves, waists or collars... I fell in love with them first in northeast Vietnam, where I bought a couple, and last year in Thailand we hit the jack-pot in Chiang Mai and bought several dozen. They are embroidered in this incredibly tiny needlepoint, making very op-art type geometric designs in bright, happy colors, usually pink and green, like Mangueira samba school colors. That´s what they remind me of, but it´s a very cross-cultural reference...

This was the night before we received the carpets, which spent a whole month at the cleaners... The major thing still missing is the sofas, which are promised for the 30 or 31, we´ll see... for now we make do with our old sofa from the sale corner at Ikea in Izmir...

We will frame and keep about 24 of them in sets of 6 that are motif-related, and will frame and sell another couple of dozen individually.

We also have a couple embroidered pieces from Turkey, very old and super folk-cute, and our bugs on teak collection as well (all kinds of scarab-type bugs handpainted on little strips of old teak) , plus art from FAME (Fine Art Adoption Network) that I adopted from Nick Holliday and Sarah Nicole Phillips, plus watercolors of various Hmong and other tribes also from Vietnam, etc. etc. Now we need a new house with more walls, because this one is all glass everywhere...

The bucolic life means we wake up usually very early, often early enough to notice the sun rise. One such morning I got inspired and got out to take some pictures.

The birds continue to impress me. This one was part of a pair singing on my terrace for a few minutes. When I got up to get the camera it relocated to the window sill... Don´t know what it´s called, but it looks like a miniature penguin, with yellow...

"Harry´s Bar Mehmet" (in Turkey every Mehmet comes with a modifier) used to tend bar at --you guessed it-- Harry´s Bar in Kas. Recently he did the a modern-day version of joining the merchant marine, which is to jump on a cruise ship to see the world and make some cash. He stopped by Punta del Este yesterday, and Barbi spent a couple of hours with him.

Luxury in rustic forms

2007-12-20T16:08:00.000-03:00

Entrance at Pinar del Faro

I find myself in constant need of explaining Punta del Este to audiences who seem to not get it.

One of the things that the growing number of expats colonizing Montevideo and Piriapolis seem to rail against is the “Miami” Punta, the stretch of gaudy high-rises abundant in wrought iron, crystal chandeliers, or Luis Whatever furniture in the lobby. Well, newsflash, that is not my Punta del Este, or the Punta del Este of most of my friends, acquaintances, and even of most of my clients. (I do have some customers in the Miami Punta though.)

The Punta del Este we think of as ours is a place of casual, low key esthetics, where luxury is expressed in terms of views (sea, dunes, forests, gardens) and sounds (waves crashing, birds singing) and where nature also informs design and decor. Hardwood versus shiny brass and crystal.

Pool at Pinar del Faro

In the interior design business in Punta del Este it is customary to have new development model units furnished by local design shops, and needless to say, the competition is fierce for the privilege of planting a conspicuous sign on the road that says “Decorated by...” Sometimes the building is not yet a hole in the ground, and the developers are pestered by furniture shops wanting to lock in the so called “showroom” (model unit in Spanish is “showroom”, go figure).

In that mad race, I always find myself saying “screw them, we don´t need the hassle” against my Mom´s view that “everything helps.” After many years of doing this, my conclusion is that it only helps when there is a true meeting of the minds with the developers and designers of the project in question, and that otherwise the costs outweigh the benefits of brand exposure.

Fountain at Pinar del Faro

However, when we do find these business “soul-mates,” the benefits keep piling up (I´m trying to avoid using the dreaded s....y word ). I have come to think of it this way, “If our shop were a building, would it look like this?” If the answer is “No way” or “That´s too small” or “Never in that exterior color,” then we should not be furnishing the model unit. But when we find a project where we would want to buy property, then the stars are fully aligned. In the past couple of years we have found a couple of those that are currently on the market, and a couple in earlier stages at this point.

One is Brava 28 (http://www.brava28.com), a low-key, sober looking condominium building in the Rincon del Indio area where –regardless of whether or not we end up buying a unit-- the entire project is something we are proud to be connected to. A two-block, L-shaped building with four-floors in each block, Brava is luxurious in its comfort (large floor plans where every room is generous in size and holds ample storage space), in its views and its finishes, without being cheesy or flashy. A huge pool protected from the winds by both blocks and by a grass-covered dune is surrounded by wooden decking. The landscaped grounds surround the building on every side, and the finishes include lots of slate, hardwood and white. The sea can be seen beyond the dunes with their characteristic native bush, and the forest and neighborhood landscaped yards are usually visible from bedrooms or kitchens. We´re already on our second model unit furnished in Brava, as the first one sold, and we have had several clients among the buyers.

Another, newer project where we are completing the model house furnishing is a gated community in José Ignacio called Pinar del Faro. For those with some understanding of the local scene, this is a very chic project, starting with its location, on the highway at the entrance of José Ignacio town, to the pedigree of its developers, Argentine heavyweights Nordelcor, and, as importantly, designed from the master plan to the decoration of the model house by locally renowned architect Mario Connio. If Connio signifies anything in Punta del Este, it is the polar opposite of the “Miami Punta” esthetic. His shack-on-the-dunes style invariably includes thatched roofs, a local classic that has been practically abandoned by the Uruguayan middle class and is being revived by the hipper-than-thou Connio.

Pinar del Faro is comprised of about 250 lots in 40 hectares, with lots of pines, palms, a lake, two huge pools (the one for children or families FAR AWAY from the one for grown-ups) two plazas, tennis courts, a restaurant, club house, etc., plus underground utility connections and Internet access (I have no idea how good or what system). Lots range from 1000m2 (quarter acre) to around a half acre for the largest ones. They are not third-world cheap, but hey, this is a place where I would not mind living year-round, or just having a lot “for the future.”

The multiple sets of regulations include a building plan approval requirement that involves an architectural firm engaged for policing the Connio shabby-chic-by-the-ocean style. Fine by me, as I would not want any cheesy McMansion ruining my morning walk or any fake “Colonial” (what in Spain they call “Romantic” and what in the U.S. they call “Spanish”) style home interrupting my digestion.

Lake at Pinar del Faro

So luxury for me, the height of material decadence, is a combination of comfort (from Internet access, to a bathroom roomy enough to avoid bruising, a real spa-grade Jacuzzi, vs. glorified bathtub), and a certain combination of materials and elements that include lots of wood, greenery and absence of man-made noises. A rustic sort of luxury. So we look for these kinds of developments that truly reflect the essence of Punta del Este´s style, that make us start thinking about purchasing property while we plan the decoration of the model unit, and where the general feeling is more laid back California than tarted up Miami.

Best and worst of our house-building experience

2007-12-18T17:34:00.001-03:00

Well, as the year draws to a close, and we are finally settled or settling in the house, it´s time for a review of best and worst of the vendors involved in this project.

Let´s start with the good ones first.

1. Fabián Sosa Díaz and Luis Bogliaccini, architects.

This is not a kind picture, but they always refused to provide me with a presentable one. From left to right, Barbi, Luis, Fabian, and 8-month pregnant Julia, all doing the twist at a party recently.

It´s impossible for me to fully thank Fabián and Luis for their devotion and commitment to this project, above and beyond the call of any professional duty. We started out in 2001, when I was planning to build a water tower, and evolved from there. Almost a full economic cycle later, we are living in our dream house thanks to both of them. Also, our dream house has evolved and improved thanks to their invaluable advice and ideas. After all, it was just a dream shack originally. Beyond the design stages, Fabian in particular has spent countless days, weeks and months making sure the evil contractors (more on them later) moved their asses and actually finished the house. No small feat, with 12 months of extra work.

2. Marabierto.

Marabierto, the home-furnishings business led by my mother and in which I am a partner and buyer, deserves full credit for the financial aspect of building this house. Marabierto, in its new incarnation, opened its doors on Jan. 5, 2002, excellently poised to dive head on into the biggest economic crisis seen in my lifetime in Uruguay and Argentina. Still, thanks to my amazing Mom, it forged ahead, avoided bankruptcy and went on to grow well beyond our dreams. While the funds for the original modest shack had to be diverted in 2002 to the survival of the business, Marabierto returned the favor by funding a project that is three times the size and price of the original. There would be a very small and simple shack in its place had it not been for our business --- and while I´m at it, let me send a shout-out to our fantastic customers. Let´s hope it continues to do well, as I have a lot of “expansion” plans and lots of land...

3. Punta Ballena Jardines. Even though they came in fully at the very end, after 18 months of dealing with the evil contractors, the professionalism and overall good attitude displayed by this landscaping firm has left us truly amazed. We keep thinking, and saying out loud “If the contractors had worked like these people do, we would have had the house ready in 4 months.” Martín and Diego Añón, father and son, respectively, are extremely knowledgeable and also wise. They will not try to sell you the sexy part (the planting) but rather insist on laying out the correct infrastructure, and while I ran out of budget for the aforementioned sexy part, I am delighted with my barren expanse of cleaned-out land, knowing all the drainage is in place, the sprinkler computer knows when to water the lawn, it can be expanded without extra cost when I add more lawn or plants, my pool and house won´t get flooded by the runoff from the sloping land during a rainstorm, etc.

ThTelecom Ingeniería, the alarm and DirecTv guys. Extremely nice, accomodating, professional, serious, etc. All good things. They are based in Piriápolis.

Carlos Traibel, the satellite internet and Ruralcel guy. Great service, great guy. He travels all around the country installing satellite internet access, the only means of accessing the Internet for most of his clients.

And now to the bad guys

1. The contractors. I will not name them because I´m still in negotiations with them over our last payment and I don´t want a lawsuit, but I can´t think of anything good to say about them other than that they grudgingly and belatedly accommodated Fabian´s demands, at least on second or third or fifth request, and thus the house is indeed the house we planned. However, in addition to their delays (the house was completed in 18 months, rather than 6 as promised) the last stages were basically abandoned, and thus to this day there is a pile of wood and corrugated metal blighting my yard (tomorrow is the last day before I donate it), every surface is stained by the paint used on other surfaces (windows, floors, walls, etc.) some walls have their edges all chipped, etc. etc. So in a way, they never really finished the job, I just moved in when I got tired of waiting for them.

2. The sofa guy. Big jerk. A supplier who does business with us year round, spent two months not making my sofas and saying “What, do you want me to make your sofas and leave behind the orders for the real customers?” meaning the orders for my customers... And what I am for godssake? Chopped liver?

3. The utilities guys. All of the utilities. Not only do they charge in advance and then come to install the service whenever they very well feel like, but they also lie (“I am standing in front of your house” while we stare at miles of empty road) and worse, much worse still, they NEGLIGENTLY START FIRES all over the place. There was one fire in August that reached across the street from our house. Another one last week, half a mile away, that consumed three houses. In both cases the fires were started because utility work crews MUST have their barbeque lunches every day, at any price. They are just assholes.

River of the Birds

2007-12-13T15:14:00.001-03:00

tero

I don´t know how many people remember the meaning of Uruguay, but in guaraní, or quechua, I forget which, it´s supposed to mean River of the Birds. Well, you can say that again.

I may have mentioned that I had never noticed the birds until my first trip to Uruguay with my now husband. He developed a crazy habit of slamming on the breaks and getting out of the car to look at whatever unusual bird was around. He has since toned it down a bit, now he doesn´t get off the car. I say we will be victims of death by birdwatching. Anyay, since moving into Arrancopelito, we have been basically living communally with a loooot of birds. There are four nests that I know of in the house itself. Every outside surface is seen by them as either a neighborhood, a good perch, a good drinking pond (including the pool, very popular) or a fun track for flying around and around and around.

carancho

The swallows are the funniest, the have two of the 4 nests, and especially in the late afternoons they start swooping in a flock of about 10, alternatively going around the house, or doing these weird approaches to the nest, with sharp turn away at the last second. They fly very fast too.

The falcons also spend all day overflying and doing their very elegant hunting dives, and a couple of days ago I even saw one of them being chased mid-air by a tero that was half it´s size and kept on attacking it.

garza blanca

The others just hang out more sedately, feed on the grass, perch on the terrace railing and sing at their heart´s content, etc. etc. Literally, there are dozens of birds hanging out at any given time around the house.

I have compiled a list of the birds we have seen either in our land, or in the neighborhood in the past, and it surprised me to see how many there are. Also surprising, as a recent British visitor living in Spain noticed, is how un-scared they are by humans in general. Except the teros I guess, which attach us every time we go to the beach, almost grazing us and then turning back, to come at us again... One of them makes a racket every day, then lands a few yards ahead of us, and proceeds to walk up the middle of the road, as if guiding us, while still screaming on... he thinks he´s a dog...

scissortail

So the list of what we´ve seen in the past 10 days is more or less the following, although our ignorance means that we have seen other varieties not identified and thus not listed...

parrots, scissortail, thrush, sparrow, pink heron, white heron, black heron, caracara plancus, falcon, swallow, duck (several kinds), tero, seagull, rail, guira cuckoo (venteveos), wood pidgeon, partridge (with two chicks crossing the road in tow), owls, and other unidentified winged critters.

The parrilla is finally put to good work

2007-12-11T09:36:00.000-03:00

This was an amazing double rainbow that we saw late Saturday in Punta del Este, from end to end. In seconds it was gone, but we were able to stop the car and take a quick snapshot.

Starting the parrilla. We have a leg of lamb slowly roasting ahead of the rest of the meat.

Barbi wrestles with the parrilla. We still don´t have the appropriate tools.

There was a lot of pressure on Barbi. Some of our most unforgiving friends demanded to know what a Turk was doing in charge of the barbeque, but in the end, they all shut up and enjoyed the results, which of course were aided by elder brother Jorge´s expert advice. Jorge´s sage advice is "Always have tons and tons of coals ready at your disposal. The rest will take care of itself."

And it did.

long time no post

2007-12-10T17:31:00.000-03:00

The launch of some regatta from Punta del Este harbor, on its way to Buenos Aires on Saturday. We caught it by chance, did not even know it was going on, after a full week of the other regattas going on... When we arrived home, it was dark and we could see all the boat´s green lights from our house, very cute.

well, what with the crazy work on every front, the pre move, the move, the post move, the inauguration of the parrillero this Sunday, etc., I´ve been neglecting my blogging duties.

First things first. We moved on Saturday, December 1, after much tantrum throwing on my part (nobody could spare a truck or hands for our move, which made the little screaming fit necessary).

Picture of Fabiana and Barbi, on our first day at home...

This one is called "el Cabeza" and visits once every few days from a neighboring farm. He´s very distinguished and well mannered and actually barks for a living, unlike Fabiana who licks and demands to be loved and only barks at bugs.

So we moved, spent a crazy week unpacking and especially trying to finish up with all the "trades" plus the alarm system, the satellite Internet connection, trying to hunt down a pool guy, etc. We found out that the sale of gas bottles for the kitchen stove is now forbidden until further notice, so the options are to resort to the secondary market (thriving I hear) or fish one from someone´s winter heaters. We found a couple, luckily.

Now the sprinklers work on their own, the pool doesn´t, it looks a beautiful moss green again, after going through clear, then primordial soup, onto milk white and back to deeply alive green in just 10 days. I finally tracked down a guy who will take care of it, but today with the storm he could not make it over here.

We also found the local place in the woods of Punta Negra where we can buy emergency firewood, veggies and other sundry supplies. It´s a bizarre place, and the year-round residents of this area call themselves "los de arriba" meaning the ones living in the woods "above" the topographically lower area of coastal beach houses which is mostly for summer vacationers, not "real locals". I am now honorarily "de arriba" I think, as I plan to shop there and employ as many locals as I can, have to support their meager existence, as it seems everyone is pretty despondent and it´s in our best interest to have some convenience stores in the area...

Anyway, we had our opening asado on Sunday, and the weather cooperated, a relatively calm and sunny day in between two storms. We had a great time, with family, close friends and both architects, their wives and brood. Barbi made his debut, with invaluable assistance from "the angel" as he calls my brother Jorge, who provided ongoing technical advice and some physical help as well. I stuck to the salads.

Living in the house has been amazing so far. We hadn´t slept so well in ages, nor been willing to rise at 7 AM to go for walks... I find myself going for walks at least once a day, sometimes more, in the company of Fabiana who takes the opportunity to go hunting. Speaking of which, she tried to present me with her prey two days ago, an aperiá, which came seconds after I walked past the dead evil viper, after having 9 huge birds of prey (nobody agrees on what they are, little eagles, vultures, etc.) flying above me as I strolled down the completely deserted beach, etc... Lots of nature.

The house itself is noticeably different in its two sectors. The wooden side is considerably less insulated from the elements, and my suspicion is that the vulnerable part is the floor. In the masonry part, the insulation seems to be perfect, we never feel cold or hot or whatever it is like outside, and the sound insulation is also great.

more sunken costs and the joys of moving...

2007-11-26T15:36:00.001-03:00

Who the hell knows what all those pipes are for, but in any case, we´re paying for them, so better keep a record....

The lawn is going to go all the way to the side of the pool until we have the deck made, at which point we can "harvest" the lawn and put it somehwere else.

Our new bed... the mattress was custom built to our specs, came out great.

Lovely chaos... and a table leg upside down. Virtually all the boxes were opened by customs, but nothing appears to have been stolen, something I feared for things such as silverware, or CDs. Also, we were lucky that they didn´t open the boxes containing the 20 liters of extra virgin olive oil from the famouos Maramara olive region in Turkey. I don´t know whether it would have passed through had they seen the cans.

Now the table is in its normal position, books on the shelves, kitchen stuff all stored away, and the box hell considerably tamed after a few hours of work with Barbi and my Mom.

Lights, camera...

2007-11-22T21:48:00.000-03:00

Actually, the first time we see the lights at night. I didn´t see them in person, but Barbi went to oversee the unloading of the truck with our furniture. Tomorrow morning we get the container with our stuff from Turkey...

We got lawn!

2007-11-17T09:43:00.001-03:00

The beginning of a lawn in any case. Something about this wide will surround the house. The greay cracked stone is our parking area.

Sunken costs

2007-11-15T21:57:00.001-03:00

View from the main road. The worker´s house is now completely demolished. The more they clean the land, the bigger it looks. The landscaper is convinced we will not be able to handle it, he thinks i should leave the "jungle" we see in this picture as is, but I am terrified of snakes, and I saw all kinds of movement in the bushes today... We´ll destroy the habitat.

We now have power lines, if I were richer they would have gone underground, but that will have to wait...

The landscaping is proceeding at full speed. The grey pebbles spread out in front of the house will be the parking area. The other dark mound is lawn "cakes".

Well, there is Fabiana, our ferocious and loyal guard. She´s watching the entrance to the house. The pipe stuff are drainage channels to divert rain water away from the house. The little blue pipe inside I think is for the sprinklers. The worker in the back is laying the soil that goes under the lawn sections. There will be a lawn border around the house, to protect the drainage pipes and also to make things a bit neater. The rest will just have to become lawn on its own...

I have decided to go with the satellite internet access, which is very costly in terms of installation, but it would appear to be the only truly reliable option I have at this point. So we will pollute the house´s roof with a dish, plus a small one for DirectTv. Maybe I will put a kiosk by the road, sell internet access by the minute. I will be the only one in Punta Negra and Barra de Portezuelo with broadband I think.

The bobcat

2007-11-01T16:22:00.001-03:00

Water in the pool! Our well was tested by the pool people, and apparently it´s good water, no iron, and very clear.

The bobcat starting the topography work, cleaning and smoothing the land surrounding the pool, while Victoria, very pregnant, enjoys the beautiful spring day.

TThe pool people were not too gentle with the land. Their machine left moat-deep tracks...

Spring. Everywhere yellow flowers, these daisy types and lots and lots and lots of yellow broom.

Frankie, our Frankensteinish stove...

We got the stairway railing, matching the one in the terrace.

As we were leaving today, we saw the UTE (power utility) truck bringing the wooden posts and the wire to the site. Fabian talked to them, they said they will start work on Monday, so in about a week from Monday we should have juice. That´s our cue to move in. There are many small details pending, but that´s the one thing preventing us from moving in, the electricity. The rest, we will finish once we´re there. Also, the container is arriving from Turkey in one week, so the timing seems to be OK.

White and blue

2007-10-30T08:42:00.001-03:00

The whiter it is inside, the more the landscape stands out. Love it.

Kitchen cabinets are all white already. The new sturdy industrial stove is in place already, but I forgot to take a picture yesterday. It looks quite Frankensteinish, but super cute. They promised to replace the oven handle, which in stark contrast with the very squarish boxy appliance, they decided to make in turned wood, with curlicue shape. We laughed when we saw it, the guy did not see the joke, said it was like that because it was for "domestic" not commercial use. His "homey" touch.

Against the black granite counter top, the white wooden cabinets look very sharp. It will all be softened with some nice hardwood dining table (probably teak, I have a beautiful, huge one in mind) and with some leather (a couple of Barcelona chairs upholstered in distressed, light-brown leather, comfy and classy) and some rustic-looking linen upholstery for the two sofas. I think all the furniture will stand out nicely, but for the same reason everything has to be very carefully chosen, no so-so anything because it will stick out like a sore thumb...

The pool covered in the blue glass mini tiles.

We are now entering the final part, for good. The pool is almost finished, pending the landscape engineer´s drainage works. Because the plot is on a slight slope, with the land falling off in two different directions, we have to be careful with the drainage so as not to end up with a flooded pool, a clogged pool filter or dampness in the downstairs area of the house.

Therefore, the landscapers (Punta Ballena Jardines I think they´re called) will take care of all major structural re-arranging of the land, smoothing out the entire area, that now looks like a lunar surface, installing underground drainage channels in order to avoid water/dampness problems, and also adding layers of sand, good soil and lawn on some portions of the plot.

Last, and and very importantly, they will install the sprinkler system wherever there is a lawn (immediately around the house and between the house and the pool) and also on the perimeter of the 3 plots, so as to be able to start planting trees and shrubs to create a green barrier closing off the main road and hiding some of the neighboring houses from our direct view.

This is all quite costly for us. It may be peanuts compared to U.S. or European costs, I´m sure, but at this point it´s quite a financial effort, so that´s why we are so late in starting with it. Also, it´s the kind of thing that we failed to budget when planning the house (good thing, otherwise I may have ended with a smaller house) so at the end of the construction it feels like a big ticket item that we didn´t bargain for. Good to know for next time.

With regards to the actual gardening, I have decided to engage the services of my cousin and her partner, who, even at regular non-cousin rates are considerably cheaper than similar-quality landscaping firms or designers operating from Punta del Este.

I liked it when she told me that for each type of plant or shrub or tree she has a favorite supplier, rated in terms of value as quality of the specimen vs. price. "I have a palm-tree guy" she said by way of example, "that plants the palm trees himself." It sounds pretty obvious, but from what I know around here, landscape designers mostly work with a single purveyor, that is, with a single nursery per project. Maybe they alternate between two or three nurseries, but that´s about it, and locally, the good nurseries are pretty expensive, and so are the landscape designers´ services. I´m thrilled to finally be able to start thinking about trees and such. I have to temper my enthusiasm because of the natural constraints of the land (winds, soil) but I´m optimistic that I can grow quite the jungle out there eventually...

Barbi goes for a swim

2007-10-21T23:57:00.001-03:00

The tiles are actually dark blue glass, the tiny kind, what we see here is the paper that glues together a bunch of them.

Today was a beautiful, warm sunny day, and we went to the house with Barbi and our friend Jorge, to meet the kitchen guy. The pool has been tiled, finally, after a very rainy period. They actually had to pump out the water accumulated on the bottom of the pool in order to do the tiling.

Going industrial in the kitchen

2007-10-20T18:17:00.001-03:00

Picture of a cousin of the kitchen stove we will have custom made

Through no fault of my own or of my architect, I find myself with kitchen cabinetry built around a stove that has been discontinued in Uruguay. We´re down to the finishing touches, the painter is painting the kitchen and living-room already, and the thought of having to chop my drawer-unit in order to accomodate a stove that is not even the one chose originally really threw us and Fabian into a funk. Worse yet, the ventilator is already installed, and a new, larger stove would ruin the alignment between the cabinets, stove and ventilator. All very depressing.

Enter Mr. Juan Carlos Martirena, from Mercado Libre and Deremate auction sites. He specializes in restaurant equipment which he makes from scratch. So after posting a fake order for one of his listed stoves (see above) we got in touch and agreed he will make me one to fit the space. I am so thrilled. I always liked industrial, and in fact the stove we had chosen was a "fake industrial" one, so now we will get the real thing. They are pretty rough looking, sort of so ugly they are cute. Tomorrow he will drive to the house to measure the space and bring some catalogue for us to choose from, discuss specs, etc. It feels like a real luxury, custom appliances, and it costs the same as the one we were planning to get. Low tech, but built to our specifications, with gratin burners in the oven.

Let´s hope it turns out OK. I´m insisting on supersizing the oven insulation, on account of the wooden house and the fire risk. We once purchased a custom-made oven in Turkey that almost ignited my husband´s restaurant... it was glowing re-hot, zero insulation.

The Russians are coming!

2007-10-17T07:06:00.002-03:00

If like me, you are the daughter of a rabidly anticommunist soviet emigre, and you dislike black leather overcoats, you will receive news that Russian buyers are disembarking in Punta del Este with at least a bit of apprehension. And if you have read books on the recent history of Russia, or follow Putin's comings and goings, or worse, the global spread of the country's new staple export (mafia, rather than communism), aprehension will turn into flat out alarm.

Thus, my reaction at the Madrid airport lounge when waiting to board my flight to Montevideo. "Look!" I whispered to my husband, "KGB!" OK, my dad was a bit on the obsessed side, but in the end he was always right, no matter how much fun we made of his paranoid behaviour. The object of my comments were two slavic-looking gentlemen in their late 30s or early 40s, impeccably dressed in only slightly cheesy but very expensive looking clothes, with that stiff posture that only a couple of years of law enforcement or military training can impart, and displaying an evident master and servant relationship. "I mean, Russian mafia!", I corrected and updated myself. My heart sank as my husband confirmed he had heard them speaking in Russian. "Why are they going to Uruguay?!?!"

Until recently, in my mind the Russian mafia had seemed very distant, something for Eastern Europe or Brighton Beach to worry about, but since finding out they virtually took control of the Spanish coast, becoming heavily involved in real estate, and that they had penetrated our neighbour, Brazil, they became a much less remote threat in my mind. And now they were in my plane!

On cue, at the first dinner party at my Mom's since our arrival, I hear Kiki (not her real name), a star realtor in Punta del Este, boasting of her recent sale of million-dollar homes to two different Russians. "It's because in a past life I was Russian" she explains. "I was hanging with Tolstoy, doing the dacha and the samovar thing, and they can feel that connection so they gravitate to me." Well, do Boris and Sasha not know each other, I wonder out loud. "Yes! Can you believe it? They actually turned out to know each other! It's that connection I have with the dacha and Tolstoy and the samovar, they can feel it," she insisted.

The dacha and the samovar running joke was still warm when last night I notice it's pretty late and my Mom is not back home. She calls a while later, explaining "The Russian and the French guys just left." Oh, I ask, "Was it Boris or Sasha?" No, my mom says, "This one was Alexei, and he was very straight to the point, he knew exactly what he wanted and wasted no time."

"Of course" I responded, "they have no time to waste. And what (real estate) have they bought?" They each got a penthouse in a new development on the Mansa beach side, whose prices range between $750k and $1.3 million.

Finally arrived (updated)

2007-10-06T09:41:00.000-03:00

It was a lot of travel, from Kusadasi to Istanbul, then after a couple of days, our flight Istanbul-Madrid-Montevideo, followed by the drive to Punta del Este on a rental car, stopping by on the way to check out our house.

We arrived on a gorgeous, summer like day, and were rewarded by the spectacle of a whale frolicking by the shore in the Pinares area of Punta del Este, visible from the car even. We went down, took some pictures, all very cute. The whale flapped a large tail, and an entourage of sea lions danced all excited around the whale, to the delight of dozens of onlookers at the beach and on the road. If the electrician you were expecting at your house was late, that's why, all the trades were there.

Can't see much in the picture, but that black dot there is the whale with the sea lions...

That same day was heavy on construction sites as well. We stopped by Arrancopelito, and could not wipe the smiles off our faces. The house feels fantastic. We knew we liked the way it looked from the pictures, but standing on the deck looking at the sea and the forest, and the tons of birds chirping on the yard below, it was great. The living room feels huge, and the way the windows frame the views is awsome.

Seems that we will be inheriting a dog. Apparently, many dogs were born at the site in our absence, but this one is the only one remaining right now.

One wall in the stairwell has been clad in wood, following the facade wood cladding.

Then, after lunch, quickly on to Brava 28, a building where marabierto has furnished the model unit, and where my Mom was contemplating buying an apartment. (More on that later) We had to go up and down dusty dark stairs and in screeching elevators (building is in the last stages of construction), checking out different units, their floor plans, views, exposure, etc. etc.

That over, my mother decided to show us the apartment she's renovating in the Peninsula building. The Peninsula is a landmark Punta del Este building, kitty-corner with the Plaza de los Artesanos square. She bought a 110 m2 2-bedroom apartment on the 8th floor, with amazing views of the harbor, the square, the Brava side, and through the end of the peninsula. A huge living-room as well. She's giving it the marabierto treatment (complete renovation, new floors, kitchen, bathrooms, and much more, followed by full furnishings from marabierto), and putting it back on sale.

So, a lot of real estate/construction site for a first day, just the way I like it :-)

On the move (updated)

2007-09-28T07:26:00.000-03:00

Above is the picture taken from the 3rd floor of our Kusadasi, Turkey house, of the container loading operation. So the truck came 8 hours late, but the loading itself was very quick, and soon we were left in an echoey house, with strewn cardboard and bubblewrap and string everywhere, and virtually no furniture except for a few items.

We sold our AC units, our many propane gas bottles (for cooking, heating and hot water), our car, our TV, and we'll see if we can sell some of the stuff left behind. We also gave away to Gulnur, our cleaning woman, a lot of stuff, from furniture to kitchen wares, clothes, even all the food in our fridge and cabinets. That was good, she was delighted, as she got a cash severance payment (which she never expected) plus lots of stuff to take away, and a subsidized purchase of a large screen TV. It felt good to make her and her husband happy, as she has been so great to us. We will miss Gulnur.

Barbi spent all day in Izmir the day after we sent our stuff, handling customs. Now, we had hired (as required by law) a customs broker, who didn't do much at all. Barbi spent 10 hours in the Izmir harbor, which he said was pretty scary, and ended up having to pay bribes to 4 different customs officers in order to allow our container to leave. Very annoying because a) everything we were doing was completely legal, and b) we had engaged the services of a customs broker to handle the proceeding.

On Monday we flew to Istanbul, said goodbye to our friends there and left on Wednesday. The schlepping of the luggage (5 suitcases, plus 2 laptop backpacks, plus other "hand" luggage) was not something we were looking forward to, so we left all but the hand luggage in the airport. We stayed in the Tunel section of Istanbul, in a beautiful old, renovated apartment with our friends Jackie and Zeynep, who as always, were the most generous and gracious hosts.

Tuesday night we had dinner with a bunch of friends, it was great. Some of them I hadn't seen for years.

Me, Nahim, Umut, Sinan, Barbi, Haldun, Serai, Sema and Volkan. I know, Turkish names are so different...

Leaving Istanbul we were made to pay 374 euros in excess luggage, which sparked a fight and nasty outbursts from me. Actually they only charged us for 10 of the 50 excess kilos we were carrying... The trip was a bit longer than I expected, because of a 5+ hour layover in Madrid, which I thought was going to be shorter. There was nowhere to lie down, my back and feet hurt, so I ended up lying on the cold marble floor. The new Barajas airport is OK I guess, not pretty but better than the depressing shabby old one. The problem is they have those rows of seats with the individual arm-rests to prevent lying across several seats...

We loaded on interior design magazines, as usual, to the delight of my Mom. The flight Madrid-Montevideo was fine actually, we slept for about 9 hours, skipping dinner.

Thursday, we arrived at 8 AM in Montevideo, rented a small car, drove straight to see our new house, hang out for a few minutes with the whale in Pinares, Punta del Este, and finally arrived in the store at around noon.

Penguins

2007-09-25T05:17:00.001-03:00

A rescued penguin release in Punta del Este a few years ago...

September 23, Playa Mansa, pic published in El País...

Nadine´s babies, Blitzen and Dash, with penguin. They are supposed to winter in Brazil, so I guess this one is on a layover.

I've developed a thing for penguins. It all started with the March of the Penguins, and really took on a life of its own after I visited SOS Fauna Marina in Punta Colorada last year. Why I had never visited before I don't know. We've driven past tons of times, but I guess it doesn't look too inviting. It was so amazing how they responded to people like dogs. The director of SOS does not encourage it, because he says they become domesticated too quickly and then they are "spoilt." So he keeps only a few critters on the "public" area of the rescue center, the ones he "pimps" for donations because he has to make money to feed them SOMEHOW.

Then Nadine shared a photo of her dogs playing with a penguin in Montoya, and I became very jealous. I want to go play with the penguins! I want a pet penguin and a pet sea lion! (It's illegal possession of endangered species, so out of the question.)

I just came across a picture in El Pais about a return of rescued penguins to the sea that SOS Fauna Marina just staged in la Mansa beach, in Punta del Este. I guess I've missed all the penguin action this year, but hopefully will arrive in time to catch the whales...

More kid -- or drunken friend -- friendly...

2007-09-22T08:20:00.001-03:00

If it were up to me, I probably would not have the wire running along the deck railing, but apparently it's a legal requirement or something... anyway, we are now more kid-friendly, or better equipped for inebriated company...

The scaffolding I guess means we are applying the varnish or whatever the protective product is called, on the wood cladding.