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.

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!)

We’re so happy to have a strong Expat community in Uruguay to make our transition to life here easier. We have every intention of integrating into local culture here but in our months starting out, it is a great resource to have friends who speak your native language and have been through the same things that you are going through.

Through our network of fellow Expats, we’re received referrals for all of the people who work for us, as well as many of the services and resources we use on a daily basis. Our realtor, housekeeper, babysitter, Spanish tutor and daycare are all Uruguayos to whom we were connected  by other Expat families living here.

Our social events are a little heavy on the Expat side right now, but have a mix of Uruguayo and both native-Spanish and native-English Speaking Expat families attending.  We attended a beautiful Asado at a friends home last weekend and had a wonderful time speaking to an older Uruguayo gentleman for most of the evening. Yesterday we were at the home of a Re-pat (an Uruguaya who returned to Uruguay after many years in the United States) to share an outstanding Indian dinner. There were 10 couples attending with more food and drink than you could imagine and we all had s great time. Brad and I were so excited to be a part of the evenings festivities, partially due to the lack of Indian food since we’ve been here, but more so the opportunity to get out together and learn about a variety of people- including (but not limited to) Re-pats, Brazilian, Argentine and native-English speaking Expats from Canada, the USA and New Zealand in yesterday’s group.

Thanks to all of our network here in Uruguay that has helped us in this transition. Hope that we can do the same for all of you who may be interested in this great country.

Brian and Chrystal Johnson, along with daughter Zoë, currently live close to us in Montevideo. Zoë is just 5 months younger than G and the two girls love to play together whenever given the chance. The Johnson’s experiences in Uruguay are a little different than ours and you might want to check out exploringuruguay.com to see Uruguay through their eyes.

Some of the more notable differences about us/our blogs are:

1. They live in an apartment, we live in a house.
2. They are ultimately moving to the country, we’re staying in the city.
3. They are from San Diego, we’re from Minneapolis.
4. They’re foodies and meat eaters and report on the wonderful grass-fed beef in UY, we’re vegetarian (Brad) /semi-vegetarian (me).
5. And the most exciting part….They are having a baby in Uruguay!

Brian and Chrystal also have some great photo and video links on their site about Uruguay. Enjoy!

BTW: Thanks Brian and Chrystal for the write-up about us…and a good format, too!

We were invited by friends who frequent the place and in fact the husband plays guitar there every Friday night.  The food was great, service was extremely friendly and Geneva and her new friend were able to run around freely (with mommy being the only obstacle for Geneva).  I am looking forward to going back for a proper meal as this one was strictly apps and drinks.  Maybe on a Friday night so we can enjoy some great live music.  Just not too much GNR, please!

Rocco Resto, 21 de Setiembre 3098 esq. Francisco Vidal

tel: 710 70 07

www.roccobar.com

A new friend and Geneva playing on the step inside Rocco Resto

During our visit in 2008, we spent a lot of time just wandering the neighborhoods.  We explored Ciudad Vieja and areas around Pocitos, Punta Carretas, Parque Rodo and Palermo.  We also spent two Sunday afternoons at the English Speaking Meetup at Old Maz.  This was a great group to share tips and experiences, and just hear a familiar language.   On that visit, we stayed at the Punta Trouville Aparthotel, which has an excellent location and amenities, but we found their rooms a bit small with baby and their wireless Internet was unreliable at that time. We stayed at Marti Aparthotel this year and loved everything about it.

Back in MN, our research continued with the help of all the great people we met during our visit and one websites in particular: Uruguay Connection.  Uruguay Connection includes a blog, forum and Uruguay news in English.  David Finzer, the blogger and mastermind behind the Uruguay Connection site (among many other ventures) also has an ebook about everything Uruguay which I found invaluable, The Southron’s Guide to Living In Uruguay.  We also visited their Thursday Expat meeting, which was an eclectic mix of people in a comfortable scene.  This meeting has changed locations since our visit but we have not been able to attend at the new location yet.   Since coming back this year, we have also found Total Uruguay, which is an excellent Uruguay compilation website.

On a side note regarding prep: We also urge everyone that is bringing an extreme amount of luggage  and pets with them on an airplane to visit the airport ahead of time for a dry run.  We’ll give more details of why, who we talked to and what we accomplished in a later post.

It all boils down to this: Do your research, check your options, ask lots of questions (to us or others). There is always the good, bad and ugly with any place in the world.

But our social calendars have been getting a workout!  Between Brad going to a Futbol (soccer) match on Thursday between Argentina and Uruguay, me being being double booked for Friday lunch, emailing with another expat about upcoming yoga classes, entertaining at our house on Friday night, and going to the Rummage sale at the American School today (we had 3 expats offer to give us a ride), we’ve kept busy.  

It was also Geneva’s 17 month birthday this past week, which we always celebrate with a sign and lots of photos.  

I’ve also been doing tons of laundry since we have a few nice days again after three days of rain, I’m cooking a lot and just today started baking and crocheting a new project.  I am a domestic goddess after all!  Well, maybe not.  Read on:  

We also interviewed a lady to come in and clean the house 2x per week.  She came very highly recommended by an expat we know and we met with Alejandra on Thursday.  She’ll come on Tuesday and Thursday mornings for 80 pesos  ($3.33) an hour plus bus fare.  We do also pay taxes into the UY equivalent of the social security system as her employer.  Alejandra would also do some cooking and laundry, which we said we wouldn’t need that at this point. She will also help us get set up with any of the equipment/cleaning supplies that we need, including the great natural products at the Ecotiendas store.  We’ll try it with Alejandra for a few weeks and see how it goes. 

An update to other items: 

We have yet another lead for a possible daycare.  Caminito still may work out in a couple of weeks, but we don’t know for sure and want to keep the search going just in case.  

We still have a water issue that is going to be dealt with this week.  The plumber has been here several times and installed a new kitchen faucet, toilet mechanism, and adjusted/repaired the temperature control on the water heater and we still have 2-3 liters of water on the bathroom floor every morning if we don’t shut the water off every night. Jorge has been a huge advocate of ours and has been the one dealing with the landlord on this issue. I would rather they just break into the wall to see what’s going on and get it done with.  

Other than that, we’re getting into a routine. Weather is turning colder and the heat is on in the bedrooms at night. That is the only heat that we have in the house and the other rooms are chilly.  No wonder I’m cooking more, at least then the kitchen is toasty warm. 

Tomorrow we’ll probably go to the Expat lunch at Old Maz which happens every Sunday but we also have tentative plans for afternoon/evening for Brad to help a family with some technology/internet issues.  The girls can play and we’ll work for food and wine!

We’ve met lots of wonderful, interesting people so far and really value the information we’ve gleaned and the friends we’ve already made .

Great news that Pablo, our 8 year old male Pug, is on the mend.  We had a vet visit yesterday, along with medication delivered today and all should be better soon.  Brad can write more at some point about his vet adventures.  I also have to mention that Paloma, out female Pug turned 7 today.  Happy Birthday!! As you can tell by the photo above, the days festivities were exhausting and they found a comfy spot on a flattened box to rest. 

This afternoon we had a bittersweet lunch with friends who will be leaving UY today to head back to MN.  While they are planning to return here next year, we probably will not see them before then and miss them already.  Jim and Mariellen had a wonderful experience here and are definitely planning UY as their retirement destination! Yippee!!

At the tail end of our lunch, I had to leave a bit early because Ms. G was in dire need of a nap.  I took her back home (which was about a 1/2 block away) and put her to bed.  I then prepared coffee for everyone to come back and enjoy once they were done with the bill and the last bit of wine at the restaurant.  15 minutes had passed.  30 minutes had passed.  Still no sign of them.   40 minutes after I left the restaurant, they get back here.  Turns out that the bill was paid and then the waitress brought two BIG carafes of wine, on the house.   That was certainly unexpected and I was more than a bit envious that I missed out.  We talked some more and had a quick 20 minute coffee (Record time in UY!) in our back courtyard before the landlord and Jorge were scheduled to arrive.   

Jorge  and the landlord get here.  We say our goodbyes to Jim and Mariellen (who have to get to their hotel and then off to the airport ) and we are off to talk about the water issues.   The landlord lived in this house for 4 years and is familiar with the systems.  He says that the water pressure can build up in the system overnight and that causes leaks where there are not normally leaks.  For the next few days, he is asking us to turn the water off at night until they can get the system repaired.  Not a big deal and we are happy to do so if that will prevent more water.  The kitchen cabinet need to be dried out (we have some stuff to absorb the moisture) and then bleached. I don’t like bleach, but if it can kill the nasties, I’m all for it.  The atmosphere was all very comfortable and they came prepared to hang up a clothes line while here (we already did that a few days ago) and silicone the shower fixture as we had requested.  We  also got the assurance that all was going to be made right and received the landlords phone number and address (he lives right around the corner) and then an invitation to come to his house to pick up a tricycle.    His daughter is 3 and had graduated to training wheels.  He thought that we might like it.  Geneva thinks it’s fun to push it and walk while straddling it, but hasn’t gotten the concept of riding get.  It’ll come.

All in all, a much better day than yesterday.  A vet visit (along with a husband who’s Spanish is good enough to handle a vet visit) great lunch with friends and a responsive and helpful landlord all make for a very happy Lisa!

Out next appointment at noon was meeting some visitors from MN. We had met a couple before leaving MN who are planning to purchase retirement property in Uruguay withing the next couple of years. It is a funny, random connection. The husband works with my cousin’s husband and really, how many people from MN are planning on moving to Uruguay? Well, at least a few of us and we were introduced. We met once for lunch in MN and have corresponded back and forth to plan a meeting while they are visiting Uruguay. Today was the day and it was great to see some familiar faces from home! I think we were a welcome sight for them as well because their first 24 hours in UY had been rough with missing luggage, a noisy hotel room leading to a sleepless night, etc. We talked and commiserated at Old Maz restaurant for a while before we were joined by many others there for the 1:00 Expat meetup.

Sunday at 1 PM there is a meeting of english speaking Expats at the Old Maz restaurant in the Pocitos neighborhood of Montevideo . They’ve been meeting every Sunday for three years, rain or shine, holiday or not (we were there on Easter Sunday). There are tourists, people investigating Uruguay for a future move, and those of us who are committed and are going to be here for a while. There is no formal meeting, it is just a group that gathers to socialize, share experiences and learn from each other. Today was absolutely packed! We stayed for a little while but with a baby that was growing more and more tired, we left at about 1:45.

Skip ahead through a late lunch, drama with a sleepy Geneva bumping her head and a long nap for all of us…. and 5 PM rolls around. We head out to see if the invitation to come by still sticks. It does and we apparently have perfect timing. Two little girls sit at the table, the older one who is 5 and is totally bilingual is doing homework (spelling and cursive) an in both languages. Let me say that again… 5 year old…. homework… both languages. I was stunned at the skill of this intelligent little girl. Very fun to watch. We all played and were invited for an impromptu meal. Wine was brought out, we talked, the girls played, the meal was amazing. It was really great to have a home cooked meal. It feels like it’s been so long! There are only a few people we know who can deliver such an incredible, non-scripted dinner and evening of entertainment. It was really a nice time. While we were there, the Mom of the family came home and joined us for dinner, and we made our exit not too long after, as all the girls needed to get to bed.

A long, busy, very fun day with friends. What a good day.

NOTE: I’m learning that I am really bad at planning photos for my posts. Sorry for the wordiness and nothing to look at. I can’t believe that a visual person like myself can’t seem to remember the to grab the camera. If I could only hook you up to my brain…no wait. Dangerous!