First of the year feria, peace, tranquility, and ideal weather

I went to the "feria" (similar to a mobile outdoor mall consisting of about 500 farmer's markets, jewelry stores, clothes stores, toy stores, craft stores, and just about anything you can think of) on the second day of this new year. The feria is set up and taken down in a nearby plaza every Saturday. The day was as absolutely gorgeous as the first day of the year was.

Everywhere I go I detect a totally different atmosphere. It can only be due to the fact that the vast majority of people (probably more than a million) are now on vacation for the next month. The feria was very crowded, as usual. The difference was that all of a sudden the vast majority of people looked like tourists to me. I see very few people I would be comfortable asking for directions because they do not look like they live here. Nearly every person who passes me I expect to be speaking a foreign language rather than Spanish.  I continue to be wrong in my expectations.

Kristie, Chris, and Kaori have walked these very aisles with us.

Play Station 2 games are quite inexpensive here and there are lots of kiosks, like this one, full of PS2 games to be had for $5 or less.

There is always someone selling puppies. At least this week they were in a cage rather than a box or running loose, so I didn't have to stop and pet them.  They are still very, very cute and they always make me miss our dog, Lancelot.

 These are a couple of the local recyclers which sort out the recyclables from the dumpsters. Their cart is registered with the city and you see these carts frequently every day as they make their routes checking all the dumpsters on their assigned route. Somehow it just seems wrong that people who make their living from dumpster-diving are licensed to do so by the city.  These boys were working with their father who just stepped away from the cart.

To match the weather, the ocean (river) was a timid body of water barely daring to lap at the shore, and when it did it seemed to apologize and not to stir for quite a while after each such "mishap".

Even more quiet were the streets, as you can see by looking at our street which rarely has more than one or two open parking spots.  Suddenly there are parking spots everywhere all over the city.  This is due to the fact that people are on vacation and are visiting family or have moved out for a month to a summer rented home near the beach or possibly in the interior. Every inch of beach is public property so it is accessible from anywhere. No fences, no homes, nothing bars the way between the coast highway/street and the soft, white sandy beaches, so if you can find a place to rent within a few blocks of the beach, you have guaranteed and unimpeded beach access.  I like that!

Saturday, Sunday, & Monday (Beaches & Food)

I remember when I was in Spain how most everyone took off for summer vacations and the streets and city basically emptied. 30 years later I am seeing the same phenomenon, but seemingly even more pronounced.

The Uruguayans have been complaining because the weather has been much cooler and wetter than what seems "normal" to them. For Bonnie and me, who only know what we are experiencing, we are quite satisfied. Especially since we were prepared for very hot and humid days. However, beginning with the new year, the weather has been outstanding. Saturday was low 80s with a mild breeze and beautiful sunshine.

Here's Bonnie headed to the beach on Saturday. You can even see the river is mostly ocean- blue and clearer (less sediment) than we have seen previously.

The quantity of people on the beach has suddenly ramped up as well.

We headed out to try a little Mexican restaurant in a nearby area that is kind of like an outdoors mall food court. There are about 8-10 restaurants that are side-by-side kiosks with tables and chairs on the sidewalk. Thankfully, the Mexican restaurant was one of the three restaurants that were not closed due to summer vacation. Since Mexican food is not well known here, the waitress went through her spiel of explaining what the nachos were and how to eat them with the sauces provided.

We walked down the beach afterwards and at the far end is a beach sports arena erected for the summer. We watched a boys soccer game before walking back home for the night.

Sunday was fast Sunday and the new Priesthood and Relief Society manuals were passed out, except there is only one per family and none for our family since they told Bonnie in Relief Society I would get one in Priesthood meeting and they told me, Bonnie would get one in her Relief Society meeting!

Thankfully, Aaron & Emily Campbell invited us over for crepes to break our fast. Or maybe it was the kids who invited us after they heard the parents saying they were going to have crepes (creeps) for dinner! In any case we took different brands of Dulce de Leche and had a blind taste test. Here's four of the Campbell kids (Emma, Elijah, Malachi, & Madelena) doing their jobs as taste panelists.
 
 
I snapped another picture that afternoon of our very busy beach and our very un-busy road (the cars you see are all parked cars).

Monday broke with a raging thunderstorm and serious rain for about an hour and later this afternoon the weather broke and the sun peeked out at times so we went down to the beach to read a little and I snapped this shot to show the contrast of how vacant it had become from yesterday and the day before.

Bonnie is making me eat healthier (New Year's improvements) so I snapped this shot of our afternoon merienda- cheese, membrillo, carrot sticks, red peppers, tomatoes, turkey, more cheese, bread, and mayonnaise.

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Tonight we saw the movie "Avatar" in 3D. We think this may be our first 3D movie at a theater. All I'll say is the special effects are what makes the movie- $300,000,000 worth of effects, in fact!


Since the movie is nearly three hours long and started at 11:00, it is now after 3:00 AM, so I think I shall retire for the day.  G'night and God bless.