We are ready for a new adventure, most likely temporary but we don’t know. All signs are pointing us toward San Carlos de Bariloche,  Argentina. We plan to be there for the low season of October through December. If you don’t know Bariloche, it is a very different type of place from Montevideo. Located in the mountainous area of northern Patagonia, spring is the low season there with skiing being the main draw in winter and hiking/water sports in the summer.  Since we have never lived in the mountains but would like to, this area really appeals to us.  There are other towns nearby such as San Martín de los Andes and El Bolsón that we plan to explore and the variety of outdoor activities in this mountain/lakes region is incredible.

One challenge with our plan is how to live in a more rural area without a car.  The Bariloche area has a great bus system that runs a loop from downtown to the main roads, with other buses running long distances from Bariloche. While we explored living within the city proper, we were told in no uncertain terms that while the city has all the modern conveniences, the city is not why people come to live in Bariloche. Now we are researching temporary rentals on the main bus loop or within a decent walking distance to the city center.

Our flight is booked for September 25th, our current landlord is notified of our lease termination and we are starting the purging process all over again.  There is no turning back now!

Our list of things to sell will be coming shortly. It is amazing how much you can acquire even when you live in a furnished  rental and never really purchased much.  Alas, we have plenty of housewares, toys, clothes, books and cloth diaper supplies that we will be selling.  The plan is to come back to Montevideo during/after high season 2011 but we don’t want to store all our extra stuff, so away it goes.

Wish us luck!  This extended vacation will hopefully be just the thing we’re looking for.  New things to learn and explore within a beautiful, restorative environment.  You can’t forget the great German architecture, handmade chocolates and artisan beers produced in the Bariloche region!  Sounds like my kind of place!!

You can read the whole article here.  A big thank you to Make It And Mend It for the fabulous site with so many amazing articles and resources. You can also follow them on their Facebook page for all the latest updates.

What a year!! We’ve had the opportunity to explore so many corners of this great city.  We’ve learned more Spanish and met lots of wonderful people- both Uruguayos and extranjeros.  As many Uruguayos don’t seem to understand, we like it here.  We have chosen to come here.  It was not a mandated move due to work or education, we chose Uruguay as our home and we really love this little country.

We’ve grown as a family over this past year and while we don’t have a baby on our hands anymore, she has grown into a very capable toddler. We still adore Jardín Caminito, our daycare, and how loving and supportive they have been for us.

The lease in our current house has been extended for another few months (was set to expire on April 20th).  So it is another winter in our cute but drafty home!  This time we won’t be so thrifty (jaja!) and we’ll be using our grocery store loyalty points to get a space heater.  This is a supplement the fireplace and bedroom electric units.

Come spring, who knows what we will do.  It’ll be a perfect time to travel a bit without the expense of an empty house. Maybe an extended stay travel with 3-6 months somewhere?  Maybe Bariloche, Argentina?  The world is our oyster and we are going to treasure every moment here!!

Artwork by Uruguayo Joaquin Torres-Garcia; Upside Down Map (1943).  Uruguay is located at the coordinates, near the top line.

On Friday evening, we rented a car from Thrifty.  When considering the name, ironically, it was the most expensive portion of our road trip.  Vital, though, as you can’t really have a road trip without a car.  It was a Hundai Sonata-type which was new, but without some of the features that I would consider standard- like airbags. Eeeek!  It did have a great Pioneer stereo system, though…

We took off early on Saturday morning. Geneva was thrilled to get the chance to sit in her car seat, so luckily we had a very eager traveler (She doesn’t get much of a chance to ride in her car seat here in UY since we have no car.)  After a quick stop at Montevideo Shopping’s McDonalds to get coffee and medialunas, we were on the open road

Without a set plan, but a few key places we wanted to see, we drove east along la Rambla to find where it would take us. Saturday was a beautiful, sunny morning and we felt a great sense of adventure for what was our first tip into rural Uruguay since August.

La Rambla turned into Route 1, which brought us to Atlántida and we couldn’t pass it by without at least driving though. What a sweet little beach town, and only about 30 minutes from Montevideo! It was obvious to me why this relaxed but upper-end town is a popular vacation spot for both Montevideo-ans as well as Argentines.  It was well groomed, cute houses and hotels, a nice mix of city and beach amenities and beautiful sandy beaches with rolling dunes.

We continued to drive for as long as we could along the coast while dodging dunes that had blown into the road.  It was becoming more rural as we drove and a we had a fantastic peek into these beach towns at the very end of summer, while the weather was still warm, but the crowds had already gone back home.

The road eventually brought us back to Highway 9, just outside or Pan de Azucar. We’d been to nearby Piriápolis twice, so we decided to stay on 9 and keep driving past Piriápolis.

Next on our list of things to do was a visit to a very under-appreciated beach with a unique claim to fame in UY, called Playa Chihuahua.  More on that in a later post.

Since we were on the road to Punta del Este, and we were craving Thai food, we drove into town to see what we could find. Our wireless modem was giving us a few options for food, so we drove but unfortunately found nothing. Punta was still surprisingly busy and was slow driving through the main shopping streets. I can’t imagine what it is like in January!

Back to the ocean drive, this time on Route 10 to La Barra.  I thought la Barra was a very cute little town, with a bit of the glitz and glamour of the upscale shops of Punta, with a beachy, small town feel.  It reminded me a lot of Santa Barbara and Montecito, CA.

Still driving and getting increasingly more hungry, we decided to stop for a late lunch in Jose Ignacio.  This was a very beach oriented city with very few restaurants or services.  A beautiful setting, as the whole town in on a hill away from the coast, it felt like the type of place you went to escape and be at the beach… with very few interruptions. But Jose Ignacio still had some inklings of Punta del Este, and not nearly as bohemian as day 2 of our adventures.

We found a good-sized restaurant that was open at 3 in the afternoon and had a great combination of a Waldorf Salad (Brad) an Chicken sandwich (me) and milk/random condiments for Geneva.  Being very much a 2-year-old, she decided that she didn’t want what we ordered for her so she ate the ketchup and mayonnaise.  The kid likes condiments.

On the road again with full bellies and somewhat happy to be leaving the beaten path a bit, we drove on.  We detoured into Rocha and after an initially poor view of the cemetery coming into town, we found a few cute tree-lined squares, beautiful cobble stone streets and some charming traditional Spanish-colonial architecture. We decided to press on and spend the night in la Paloma.

We stayed at a nearly empty hotel in La Paloma called Hotel Trocadero.   The hotel was nothing special but comfortable, two blocks from the beach and for UY$900/night, including breakfast, we couldn’t complain.  La Paloma is on a peninsula, so it’s very easy to find beach there.  Also due to its location, it has some AMAZING sunsets over the water. We just can’t get that in Montevideo, at least not on our side of the city where the sun slips behind the buildings and you can never see it hit water.

After getting ice cream, and before dinner, we walked down Av. N. Solari, which is the main road in La Paloma, directly to the rocky beach to see the sun go down.  There were others gathered, standing, in lawn chairs and even in their cars on the hills. We found a place to sit on a rock outcropping facing directly west with an excellent assortment of shells at our feet.  The sunset was an incredible display of red and orange and was worthy of applause by our fellow viewers when it finally slipped below the horizon.

The sunset was definitely the high point of our visit to La Paloma. After a disappointing seafood dinner and some window shopping (“What? That skirt is UY$ 2200??”), we returned to the modest hotel to get some sleep.

The next morning, we ate a beautiful, albeit bready, breakfast at the hotel, took a quick walk on Bahia Chica, the beach on the eastern side of the peninsula and packed the car for another day of adventure….

More to follow about day 2 in Cabo Polonio and Punta Del Diablo, along with our day 1 adventure at Playa Chihuahua.

Since we don’t have a car, we walk a minimum of 5 miles per day and about half of that with the stroller.  Our small umbrella stroller, which we loved, broke just before we left for the USA in December, so we brought another one here that we had in storage. Unfortunately with our daughter at the upper weight limit of this new stroller stroller, it is impossible to navigate these treacherous sidewalks and our daily travels are a pain, not to mention increasingly dangerous as the wheels like to get stuck.  Thankfully, we’ve found a great alternative and we’ve picked up a Mountain Buggy Urban Stroller holds kids up to 70 lbs (I will need serious help if I am trying to push a kid that big, bit it’s great for our 33 pound/15 kg 2 year old!). I am so excited!

One thing that we planned for perfectly is a car seat (~that unfortunately doesn’t get much use here). When Geneva grew out of her sweet little baby seat at 9 months, we graduated directly to the Sunshine Kids Radian80 Convertible Car Seat which FAA approved for airline use, the only foldable car seat, and the only one with a steel (rather than plastic) frame. This amazing seat fits kids up to 80 lbs.  No need for a larger seat or a booster, which new studies are finding are not much help in a crash, anyway.

Yes, we bring this car seat through airports and on the plane with us. It’s heavy, but it makes for a well-behaved kid in her own, familiar seat.  When not in use, we fold it and store it in a suitcase.  Can’t do that with any other car seat!

Surprising as it may seem, the Radian 80 also fit rear-facing into the back seat of our Mini Cooper when we were living in the USA.  I wasn’t sure that the combination of a tall car seat and a small car would work, but it did and at 5′-10″ tall,  I could still squeeze into the front passenger seat.

We learned our lesson with the stroller.  Montevideo sidewalks are a beast to navigate and very hard on strollers. Our first stroller had a good run of 9 hard months here.  Kids equipment to purchase new in Montevideo is expensive and many times not the best quality. Plan ahead and purchase in advance (before you get to MVD) when looking for the big items necessary to travel with babies, toddlers and even older kids.

Where To Go For a Weekend Getaway?

(polls)

Truth is, with inflation and the falling exchange rate of the dollar, it has become more expensive to live in Uruguay than it was when we arrived here 10 months ago and certainly when others arrived a few years previously.  Oh, why does the UY economy have to be so stable ?? (Unlike the Argentinian economy, which remains less stable  and as a result- a more favorable exchange rate from the US dollar). Great for Uruguay, not so favorable for expats!

We had been warned about the very common Expat Turnover and how it can go in waves.  We were just not prepared for quite the rush of people we know leaving Montevideo within such a short time.

We are very excited for the new friends arriving here on a regular basis, and more are sure to follow.  While it’s hard to build relationships and then have people scatter to all ends of the world, (or rather Toronto which is strangely where many are going, but also to Thailand and the USA) we look forward to welcoming the new people coming to Uruguay, and staying in touch with those friends leaving.

To those of you leaving: We love you all and will miss you terribly. We’ll keep up on facebook! Thank you for all the fun times, the support when we needed it and for helping us feel at home here in Uruguay.

With our Expat friends in UY, we have experienced: Piriapolis, numerous asados and pizza parties, birthdays, Friday lunches, Expo Prado, yoga, the beach and pool parties, zoos, movies, fubol matches, the parks, many exchanged notes, stories and recipes and so many other wonderful memories.  Thank you!

(Please note: While one rarely hears the word “Adios” here in Uruguay, it is universally understood, and well, I didn’t have a photo of “Chau” written in the sand!)

While away, Brad got more thumbnail photos loaded to “dress up” this new site a bit.  We hope you like it!  We’ll continue to work on updating the older posts.  There are a lot of them!

We’re also working on two new business ventures and we’ll be adding those shortly to our information here.  This is such a productive time in our lives!

As always, if you have questions, comments, or just want to say hello, comment here or send a note on the “Contact” page. We’d love to hear from you.

(click to hear “Going To The Zoo” song by Raffi)
We visited the Zoo in Montevideo in June (and again last weekend) and the Zoo in Piriápolis in August.  Both are great options but I highly advise that you visit now that we are in the warmer months!

In Montevideo, the Zoo Villa Dolores has a great location, close to the heart of the city. Many of the animals were in hiding when we first visited on a cold Sunday morning- but were out enjoying the sun on our second visit. The displays and animal enclosures were actually quite nice compared to what I remember in the USA as a kid.  Zoo Villa Dolores has all the usual suspects: elephant,  hippo,  lion, giraffe, zebra, along with tons of monkeys,  birds (including flamingo and peacock), goats and sheep.  There was a separate reptile/spider building, a kid’s play area and plenty of other diversions in the park.  We had a lot of fun with the standing scenes that you put your head through… whatever they are called…

Location: Avenida Gral. Rivera 3245

Hours: Wednesday through Sunday, 9 AM- 7 PM

Cost: $20 pesos.  Free for under 12 and over 70.

Free for everyone on Wednesdays.

The Zoo in Piriápolis is in a different league completely.  It is relatively new and I have heard that it is partially a zoo and partially a local fauna breeding center.  It’s built into the hillside of Pan de Azúcar (Sugar Loaf Mountain), a  400 meter high granite hill with a 35 meter high cross on top that you can climb up into the arms (after another 100 steps). All of the animals at this zoo are housed in “natural” settings and it is a fun maze to wind though to find the animal enclosures among the trees and flora.

This zoo was free to enter and had some beautiful and unusual animals, mostly on the small side and many native to this region of South America.  The largest of the animals was a single tiger who was maybe a bit too vocal, and in fact, a little scary.  There was also a reptile/spider building here and a true variety of settings as you walked from lake/marshland to heavy tree cover, to prairie setting. It was beautiful.  My favorite, the capybara.  There is a restaurant nearby and a huge play area and park for picnics.  Pack a lunch, as our wonderful friends did for us, and take a hike up the Sugar Loaf “mountain” when you’re done.  The path leads up from the zoo.

Location: 6 km north of Piriápolis on Route 37, at the foothill of Pan de Azúcar

Hours: Daylight

Cost: Free

Buquebus: We took the Buquebus shuttle from Tres Cruces bus Terminal in Montevideo to Colonia, then the ferry from Colonia to Buenos Aires.  This is more economical than the direct ferry from MVD to BsAs (and had a departure on Saturday AM instead of PM), but the journey takes longer. Because of the weather on Friday and into Saturday, I’m happy we did it this way.  The winds were strong and as a result, the waters choppy.

Note: Do not expect to be able to get Argentine pesos at the Buquebus terminal in Buenos Aires.  The Cambio was closed on Saturday morning and the ATM’s were not working. Exchange your money in Montevideo so you don’t have to waste time in Buenos Aires- because there are no banks, cambios or cajeros near the Buquebus terminal.

Hotel: We stayed at a gorgeous little hotel in an out of the way area. The Lola House is rated 6 on tripadvisor.com out of 341 hotels in Buenos Aires and I can’t say enough good things about it. The rates were excellent and we were treated like royalty.  The Subte  (subway) stop is just a few blocks away and you can be in downtown near Calle Florida within about 10 minutes.  Taxis are also very inexpensive, but it will take longer to get across town than via the subway.

Starbucks: You knew this was coming, right? We stopped not once, but twice in 24 hours. The baristas were wonderfully personable, remembering our names from the day before and even giving us free milk for Geneva.  Not that I like the wastefulness of take-away cups, but man, this was really good.

Feria San Telmo:  A fantastic mix of antique vendors and artisans with food and beverage peddlers, street performers and tango demonstrations mixed in. It’s a little touristy, but stay, eat and wait for the tourists to leave, there is samba drumming and tango dancing all evening long.  Takes place every Sunday south of downtown, on Calle Defensa between Av San Juan and Plaza de Mayo. We had a great time wandering and people watching.

We also dropped in to see a FABULOUS boutique hotel that Brad has been booking for his clients on the opposite side of town from where we stayed. We’ll definitely try this place out on one of our next trips to BsAs- and I’ll write about it then.  Contact us if you want to learn more right now.

After living simply for the past 6 months- and loving it- we were both surprised how our consumerism nature came rushing back when faced with all the material things not available in Montevideo.  Other than coffee and food, we bought a few personal care items and an inexpensive handmade bag at the San Telmo market, but thankfully we were strong and that was it for the purchases.

24 hours in Buenos Aires is not nearly enough time. I can’t wait to get back.  With a metro area of 13 million people, there is so much to explore!!