Being Here.

What is there to say about Uruguay so far?

Surprisingly not much. The shocks of getting accustomed to a new country are sometimes far more mundane than you might expect.  For example, everyone's soap and detergent smells different. And people here love mayonnaise more than most people in the states would consider reasonable, and hence, mayonnaise-based sauces are more popular than any other sauces.  If you've been to Europe, that's not all that shocking, but if you hate mayonnaise as much as Tim does, it requires some patience. (I on the other hand will eat mayo on just about anything and am glad about it.)

The biggest adjustment, by far, has been our living situation.  I don't like to complain but I also don't want to sugar-coat things. When we went to Panama, we raved and raved about it because we lived in a beautiful apartment in a great location, in a park, with a view of the Panama Canal.  We very literally had nothing to complain about.  This time we haven't been so lucky.

Montevideo's economy is, apparently, booming, and the housing market is, apparently, slim.  When Tim arrived he was temporarily placed in a hotel until better accommodations could be found.  I would agree that what we've got are "accommodations" though I'm not sure about the word "better."  Our apartment does have a nice little sun porch that, for a good part of the day is sunny and warm and has a view of the beach on the Rio de la Plata--the wide river that separates Uruguay and Argentina and eventually runs into the ocean.

Otherwise... the apartment has just enough quirks and inconveniences to drive a person quickly and dramatically insane.  But I don't really want to talk about it because a.) Tim had an adventure even trying to get us into this ridiculous place and b.) I'll admit it, it makes me homesick.

Although going on rotation with Tim means that I will eventually travel and have adventures (like seeing the Uruguayan trash-mules) it also mostly means that I sit around in the apartment a lot, planning the wedding, etc, which was the plan, but which is a lot more depressing as a prospect when the apartment is not a very homey place.

So. Uruguay so far has been two interesting meals: a three-hour one at a very expensive and fancy restaurant with iPad menus and no other customers (but delicious duck, oh yes), and one (unintentionally) in a restaurant where Anthony Bourdain ate. This is a few blocks from our apartment and we were hungry and wandered in. Another American was there and helped us order and told us what we were in for, which was this:

Beyond that it's just trying to deal with our not-so-great living arrangements and the shock of jumping from summer to winter all at once. Deep breaths. Cowboy up.