Stuff that should have been in the previous post:
1. Several of the sidewalks in Montevideo are paved in square concrete tiles molded into nine little squares. This make me deliriously happy. Sometimes, though, the tiles are of four sqaures of nine. This upsets me and makes me not sure where to step.
2. I guess it depends on what you´d call a ¨block¨ and what day of the week it is and what the weather is like when you count how many street vendors there are. At least one per block at all times, though. 3-6 of them per block on a non-rainy weekday. As many as 10 on larger blocks.
3. The city of Montevideo is brought to you by Johnny Walker Whisky. Seriously. I mean, I´ve been told that Montevideo is more of a bar town than, say, Buenos Aires, but still. Johnny Walker runs this town, and it frightens me. When Peter and I were at that nice Italian restaurant a while ago, the first apertif they offered us was whisky. And then there are the places done in Johnny Walker decor...
Now onto a post about our trip to Iguazu.
8/19/2006
8/12/2006
More Verbosity
Today is a really nice day. You may not be able to tell it from inside this dark-ish cybercafe, but the sky is a brilliant blue and it´s maybe as warm as 16 degrees. Warm enough for me to only need my jean jacket, and not my flece hoodie and jean jacket.
I have realized that, despite describing what I´ve been doing, I have been describing little of the things that characterize this place. So here´s a list:
The candied peanut vendors on the street make the place smell oddly nice. They candy the peanuts in these little pots, and the process makes a lot of smoke, which is usually dispersed through a long pipe, maybe four inches wide and five feet tall. There are a whole bunch of these guys--one on every block, pretty much. The peanuts are yummy. :-)
There´s a Plaza every few blocks in the downtown area along Av 18 de Julio. They all have at least one statue and a bunch of trees. Some have a fountain. Peter and I sat in one just today that had a really pretty fountain with a statue depicting early independance fighters in the middle. The Plaza Independencia, which is the biggest we´ve come across, has a huge statue of Artigas in the middle, complete with his body underneath it. You can go view it between 9am and 5pm on Weekdays. We haven´t been yet, but I hope to.
There are about 5-10 street vendors per block, in addition to the peanut guys, and almost all of them sell socks. They also sell bags and magazines and cell phone cases and bombillas (more on those later) and lanyards and all kinds of trinkets. As far as I can tell, they´re not focused on tourists, since almost none of them are ¨barkers,¨ and it isn´t anywhere near tourist season. Striped socks in bright colours seem to be in fashion this year.
The government and private employers are working in synchronicity. A third group of people crowding the sidewalks is people who pass out little flyers and brochures to anyone who passes. The people who take them almost universally discard them with ten seconds, and rarely in a garbage can. At this point, the government-employed clean-up people come in and sweep them away. It´s a very simple, very effective sybiotic relationship that keeps people employed.
The palm trees look so very odd against the stone architecture and grey skies. One picture I want to take before I leave is one of the statue of Artigas, photographed at such an angle as to include a palm tree to the side and a domed tower like dozens I saw in Italy in the background, all against an overcast background. That is Montevideo in a nutshell, I´d say. Or, at least, downtown Montevideo.
There´s some really interesting graffitti around here. A surprising amount of it is stenciled. I saw a bit just today that was a stenciled sumo wrestler with Ronald McDonald´s head (also in stencil) painted over its head. I´ve also seen a few toasters with toast popping out of them. Of course, there´s plenty of political graffitti, too. Anarchy symbols here and there, messages about genocide and some general anti-Isreali sentiments. In the old city area, there´s been a bunch of stone walls painted with latex paint in bright primary colours. It seems that a political party or some other kind of well-organized group is responsible for them. They have positive messages written on them (though I can´t remember what they say), and they all feature the number 1001.
Oh, and there are guys with semi-automatic weapons outside some of the banks.
As for what Peter and I have been doing, the answer is panicking some, but not doing much else. We were up early yesterday morning (we had to buy an alarm clock first) so that we could get to the travel agent and pick up our ticket so that we could then get to the Brazillian Embassey to submit our Visa applications. Our Visas will be ready Monday at 11. We have to be at the bus station at 12:30. We already have our schedule for the morning settled.
Today we mostly wandered around, looking at stuff. We made hotel reservations at a different hotel for when we get back from Iguazu. This was the hotel we originally wanted to stay at, but the number Peter had was out of service. It´s a block away from where we´re staying now, but it looks a lot nicer, and it´s at more or less the same price point.
We also went and bought bombillas today. Those are the gourd things for the Yerba Mate tea. I couldn´t remember how to spell them last time. They were kind of pricey--almost $50 Canadian for the cup and the filter-straw. But they´re pretty and will make great souvenirs and we can drink tea out of them. :-)
I´m not sure if I´ll be able to update before we leave for Iguazu, but, thinking about it, I don´t think I will. I´m not sure what internet availability will be like over there, but, at the very least, I´ll be back in Montevideo a week from today (Saturday). Keep blogging--I want to hear what you guys are up, to, too. :-)
I have realized that, despite describing what I´ve been doing, I have been describing little of the things that characterize this place. So here´s a list:
The candied peanut vendors on the street make the place smell oddly nice. They candy the peanuts in these little pots, and the process makes a lot of smoke, which is usually dispersed through a long pipe, maybe four inches wide and five feet tall. There are a whole bunch of these guys--one on every block, pretty much. The peanuts are yummy. :-)
There´s a Plaza every few blocks in the downtown area along Av 18 de Julio. They all have at least one statue and a bunch of trees. Some have a fountain. Peter and I sat in one just today that had a really pretty fountain with a statue depicting early independance fighters in the middle. The Plaza Independencia, which is the biggest we´ve come across, has a huge statue of Artigas in the middle, complete with his body underneath it. You can go view it between 9am and 5pm on Weekdays. We haven´t been yet, but I hope to.
There are about 5-10 street vendors per block, in addition to the peanut guys, and almost all of them sell socks. They also sell bags and magazines and cell phone cases and bombillas (more on those later) and lanyards and all kinds of trinkets. As far as I can tell, they´re not focused on tourists, since almost none of them are ¨barkers,¨ and it isn´t anywhere near tourist season. Striped socks in bright colours seem to be in fashion this year.
The government and private employers are working in synchronicity. A third group of people crowding the sidewalks is people who pass out little flyers and brochures to anyone who passes. The people who take them almost universally discard them with ten seconds, and rarely in a garbage can. At this point, the government-employed clean-up people come in and sweep them away. It´s a very simple, very effective sybiotic relationship that keeps people employed.
The palm trees look so very odd against the stone architecture and grey skies. One picture I want to take before I leave is one of the statue of Artigas, photographed at such an angle as to include a palm tree to the side and a domed tower like dozens I saw in Italy in the background, all against an overcast background. That is Montevideo in a nutshell, I´d say. Or, at least, downtown Montevideo.
There´s some really interesting graffitti around here. A surprising amount of it is stenciled. I saw a bit just today that was a stenciled sumo wrestler with Ronald McDonald´s head (also in stencil) painted over its head. I´ve also seen a few toasters with toast popping out of them. Of course, there´s plenty of political graffitti, too. Anarchy symbols here and there, messages about genocide and some general anti-Isreali sentiments. In the old city area, there´s been a bunch of stone walls painted with latex paint in bright primary colours. It seems that a political party or some other kind of well-organized group is responsible for them. They have positive messages written on them (though I can´t remember what they say), and they all feature the number 1001.
Oh, and there are guys with semi-automatic weapons outside some of the banks.
As for what Peter and I have been doing, the answer is panicking some, but not doing much else. We were up early yesterday morning (we had to buy an alarm clock first) so that we could get to the travel agent and pick up our ticket so that we could then get to the Brazillian Embassey to submit our Visa applications. Our Visas will be ready Monday at 11. We have to be at the bus station at 12:30. We already have our schedule for the morning settled.
Today we mostly wandered around, looking at stuff. We made hotel reservations at a different hotel for when we get back from Iguazu. This was the hotel we originally wanted to stay at, but the number Peter had was out of service. It´s a block away from where we´re staying now, but it looks a lot nicer, and it´s at more or less the same price point.
We also went and bought bombillas today. Those are the gourd things for the Yerba Mate tea. I couldn´t remember how to spell them last time. They were kind of pricey--almost $50 Canadian for the cup and the filter-straw. But they´re pretty and will make great souvenirs and we can drink tea out of them. :-)
I´m not sure if I´ll be able to update before we leave for Iguazu, but, thinking about it, I don´t think I will. I´m not sure what internet availability will be like over there, but, at the very least, I´ll be back in Montevideo a week from today (Saturday). Keep blogging--I want to hear what you guys are up, to, too. :-)
8/10/2006
Frankfurteria
That´s on a sign that I can see through the window of the cybercafe that I´m in. It makes me laugh. There are also a whole bunch of pigeons right outside the window, not all of them obese. Unusual.
So Peter and I are going to Iguazu falls next week. We leave on Monday and it´s a 6-day trip. It cost around $200 US each, which, considering it includes transportation, hotel and two meals a day, is pretty good. The hotel looks really nice, too, which will be a welcome change from Hotel Arapey, which only heats its rooms at night, despite the rainy 10-degree weather. But, to be fair, it´s nicer today, maybe as warm as 15 degrees, and it´s only partly cloudy.
But, good lord, did we have a hard time getting this trip booked. We went to the travel agent yesterday and talked to a really helpful woman who spoke English (yay!), and we were given an itinerary and quoted a price and shown a hotel brochure and all kinds of good stuff. She said that she could book our tickets when we came back with a tourist visa from the Brazilian Embassy. It was closed by that point, so we went there this morning. The guy gave us a form to fill out and told us to come back. We went for breakfast (Cafe Central is a wonderful place) and filled out the forms. Mostly. We had to stop back at the travel agency to get the address and telephone number of the hotel, which was just fine. So then we go back to the Embassy, wait around for a while (I don´t know why the people who work there aren´t at the windows. They just seem to come out every 20 minutes or so to see if there´s anybody there that needs their help). We wind up talking to the same guy as before, and he asks us for picutres. We show him our passports, and he tells us that no, we need seperate pictures taken. He directs us to the AGFA shop on the corner of the block. We go down there and get pictures taken. Both Peter and I look horrible in the pictures, of course. Peter looks stoned and I look ghostly. I decided that we need to doodle on them and attatch them to the postcards we send to people. (Sidebar: We´ll be sending you postcards from Iguazu Falls, so next week.) Anyway, we go back to the Embassy again, and wait around for about 45 minutes. Yawn, etc. This time we talk to a different guy, and everything goes well until he asks us for our tickets.
What?!?!
We tell him that the travel agent told us that we needed the visa to get the tickets. He tells us no and gives us a list of thing that we need in order to get a visa. We leave again. I really wish that we´d been given that list along with the forms to fill out. But we head bravely back to the travel agent and explain things to her. The Embassy closes in half an hour by this point. She tells us that she can´t give us our not-quite-tickets-but-something-similiar until tomorrow. That´s all right, because that way we can still pick up our visas on Monday morning. (The travel agent said we´d get them the same day, usually, but the list the Embassy gave us said it takes two buisness days.) The travel agent then tells us that they currently can´t accept credit cards. She does tell us, however, that we can pay in either Uruguayan pesos or US dollars, and (thank God) that we don´t have to pay it all now, that we can pay the rest when we pick up our `tickets` tomorrow. So after paying half each, we´re finally finished. For today. We have to buy an alarm clock before tonight, though, so we can make sure to wake up in time to get to the Travel Agent at 10am so that we can get to the Embassy ASAP.
In other news, I had another disgusting Uruguayan classic for dinner last night. It´s called a Parilla, and it consists of various parts of a cow cooked up and served to you. There were piece of steak, churizo sausages, kidneys, blood sausage and something deep-fried that looked like KFC chicken fries. I wasn´t adventurous enough to try anything but the churizo and the steak, especially since the steak was rather disgusting. It was like it had been soaked in oil before cooking--I´d never tasted steak that fatty and greasy before. But I´m glad I was around to have been part of it. Now I can say that I´ve done it, and I´ll (hopefully) never have to do it again.
Hmmm... What else? Peter and I are going to be buying Yerba Mate (a kind of tea) and the... I forget what they´re called, but they´re the cups you drink it out of, kind of carved gourds, and they start with a B. Bambedas? Something like that. I don´t want to ask Peter for fear of people looking at me funny. The only problem with this plan is that we have no way of boiling water. Oh, well, though. I don´t particularly feel like buying a thermos (where you keep the water to refill the rather small cup), either, so I guess maybe we´ll just bring the stuff home and drink it here.
My iPod is still frtizy, despite successfully resetting it. My camera is still dead, but I have bought a disposable one. It has one picture on it so far, but I plan to take many more. The power converter my mom gave me is now working; we put an elastic band around the components to hold it together properly so the connection doesn´t cut in and out. This was not before we accidentally bought a cable for Itialian laptops in South America, though. Oh, well. It cost roughly $3.50 Canadian, so it´s not a horrible waste. And, no, we can´t return it. We tried.
And today we bought more goodness from a Patisserie a couple blocks down from our hotel. That place is straight out of Paris. So, Colbert, I may not have eaten something deep-fried and yummy, but I´ve definately eaten something unhealthy and yummy. :-) They have the `macaroon` things that Peter brought me back from France a couple of years ago. I´m pretty I made just about everybody I could try on of those. They don´t have as many flavours as the place in France, but they´re still soooo yummy.
Anyway, I´ve been very verbose today. I´ve caught up on everyone´s blogs except Angela´s and Jenilee´s. And Fiz´s, I guess. I haven´t even been to that one, yet. But I´m glad to hear how everyone´s doing. Jo, you made me totally want to go to Las Vegas! Maybe I can take the debt I wind up with after this trip and put it towards a weekend there. If only things actually worked that way... ;-)
So Peter and I are going to Iguazu falls next week. We leave on Monday and it´s a 6-day trip. It cost around $200 US each, which, considering it includes transportation, hotel and two meals a day, is pretty good. The hotel looks really nice, too, which will be a welcome change from Hotel Arapey, which only heats its rooms at night, despite the rainy 10-degree weather. But, to be fair, it´s nicer today, maybe as warm as 15 degrees, and it´s only partly cloudy.
But, good lord, did we have a hard time getting this trip booked. We went to the travel agent yesterday and talked to a really helpful woman who spoke English (yay!), and we were given an itinerary and quoted a price and shown a hotel brochure and all kinds of good stuff. She said that she could book our tickets when we came back with a tourist visa from the Brazilian Embassy. It was closed by that point, so we went there this morning. The guy gave us a form to fill out and told us to come back. We went for breakfast (Cafe Central is a wonderful place) and filled out the forms. Mostly. We had to stop back at the travel agency to get the address and telephone number of the hotel, which was just fine. So then we go back to the Embassy, wait around for a while (I don´t know why the people who work there aren´t at the windows. They just seem to come out every 20 minutes or so to see if there´s anybody there that needs their help). We wind up talking to the same guy as before, and he asks us for picutres. We show him our passports, and he tells us that no, we need seperate pictures taken. He directs us to the AGFA shop on the corner of the block. We go down there and get pictures taken. Both Peter and I look horrible in the pictures, of course. Peter looks stoned and I look ghostly. I decided that we need to doodle on them and attatch them to the postcards we send to people. (Sidebar: We´ll be sending you postcards from Iguazu Falls, so next week.) Anyway, we go back to the Embassy again, and wait around for about 45 minutes. Yawn, etc. This time we talk to a different guy, and everything goes well until he asks us for our tickets.
What?!?!
We tell him that the travel agent told us that we needed the visa to get the tickets. He tells us no and gives us a list of thing that we need in order to get a visa. We leave again. I really wish that we´d been given that list along with the forms to fill out. But we head bravely back to the travel agent and explain things to her. The Embassy closes in half an hour by this point. She tells us that she can´t give us our not-quite-tickets-but-something-similiar until tomorrow. That´s all right, because that way we can still pick up our visas on Monday morning. (The travel agent said we´d get them the same day, usually, but the list the Embassy gave us said it takes two buisness days.) The travel agent then tells us that they currently can´t accept credit cards. She does tell us, however, that we can pay in either Uruguayan pesos or US dollars, and (thank God) that we don´t have to pay it all now, that we can pay the rest when we pick up our `tickets` tomorrow. So after paying half each, we´re finally finished. For today. We have to buy an alarm clock before tonight, though, so we can make sure to wake up in time to get to the Travel Agent at 10am so that we can get to the Embassy ASAP.
In other news, I had another disgusting Uruguayan classic for dinner last night. It´s called a Parilla, and it consists of various parts of a cow cooked up and served to you. There were piece of steak, churizo sausages, kidneys, blood sausage and something deep-fried that looked like KFC chicken fries. I wasn´t adventurous enough to try anything but the churizo and the steak, especially since the steak was rather disgusting. It was like it had been soaked in oil before cooking--I´d never tasted steak that fatty and greasy before. But I´m glad I was around to have been part of it. Now I can say that I´ve done it, and I´ll (hopefully) never have to do it again.
Hmmm... What else? Peter and I are going to be buying Yerba Mate (a kind of tea) and the... I forget what they´re called, but they´re the cups you drink it out of, kind of carved gourds, and they start with a B. Bambedas? Something like that. I don´t want to ask Peter for fear of people looking at me funny. The only problem with this plan is that we have no way of boiling water. Oh, well, though. I don´t particularly feel like buying a thermos (where you keep the water to refill the rather small cup), either, so I guess maybe we´ll just bring the stuff home and drink it here.
My iPod is still frtizy, despite successfully resetting it. My camera is still dead, but I have bought a disposable one. It has one picture on it so far, but I plan to take many more. The power converter my mom gave me is now working; we put an elastic band around the components to hold it together properly so the connection doesn´t cut in and out. This was not before we accidentally bought a cable for Itialian laptops in South America, though. Oh, well. It cost roughly $3.50 Canadian, so it´s not a horrible waste. And, no, we can´t return it. We tried.
And today we bought more goodness from a Patisserie a couple blocks down from our hotel. That place is straight out of Paris. So, Colbert, I may not have eaten something deep-fried and yummy, but I´ve definately eaten something unhealthy and yummy. :-) They have the `macaroon` things that Peter brought me back from France a couple of years ago. I´m pretty I made just about everybody I could try on of those. They don´t have as many flavours as the place in France, but they´re still soooo yummy.
Anyway, I´ve been very verbose today. I´ve caught up on everyone´s blogs except Angela´s and Jenilee´s. And Fiz´s, I guess. I haven´t even been to that one, yet. But I´m glad to hear how everyone´s doing. Jo, you made me totally want to go to Las Vegas! Maybe I can take the debt I wind up with after this trip and put it towards a weekend there. If only things actually worked that way... ;-)
8/08/2006
Chilly, but Nifty
Hello, people! It is cold and very, very rainy here in Montevideo. My Spanish is improving somewhat. Check it out: Es muy frio en nuestra sala de hotel. We complained to the owner guy, but it doesn´t seem to have done much. We have to stay under the covers of the bed whenever we´re in teh room, and pause every 15 minutes or so to warm up our frozen hands. Muy frio. We`re gonna go check out another hotel today and ask if we can see a room to gague how warm it is, and then maybe switch on Friday, since that technically the end of our reservation at the place we´re at. Peter wisely put off book the entire three weeks at once in case we needed to change hotels.
We`re looking into taking a week-long trip to Iguazu falls on Monday. That would be nice. I´m just hoping that my suitcase that is of appropriate size for three weeks will also be okay to bring on the one-week bus trip.
Things are much more lively here on weekdays. The first day we really went out exploring was Saturday, when very little was open, and then even less was open on Sunday. Of course, today and Monday it has been raining cats and dogs, so we haven´t been able to spend as much time ourside as we would like. We did go down to the old city and both coasts on Sunday, though. Very pretty. Well, not the port, really, but the old city was. We went to the Canadian Embassey and wrote our names in the big book, telling them who we are, where we´re staying and how long we´ll be here. And where we´re from, too, I guess.
I am so glad that I don`t have to drive down here. Busses and taxi have the run of the road, and they`re angry things. The buesses are angry huge things, and the taxis are angry little things, but you really don´t want to get in the way of either. Next on the totem pole is pedestrians. Traffic lights mean nothing to people here. Then, lastly, are regular cars. They´re small and cute and named things like Wind and Saxo, but they have no authority on the road.
We`re staying right in downtown Montevideo, quite close to the main drag, Ave 18 nde Julio. Apparantly there was a treaty (sp?) signed on July 18th, 1830. *shrugs* There`s a little plaque on one of the buildings explaining it.
The power converter my mom gave me doesn´t seem to want to work much. It kind of fritzes little bursts of electricity, but something´s not connecting properly. So we´re off to the electronics store in a bit to get another one.
Hmm, let´s see, what else to say...? Oh, mom, if you´re reading this, I sent you an e-mail, but I´m not sure that it went through, because the confirmation page wouldn´t load. It basically said to give Farley a tummy rub for me.
I think I´ll leave it at that for now. I´m trying to keep up with people´s blogs, but there are rather more entries than I expected. MorPRi, I´m looking at you. ;-p I´ll be stopping by an internet cafe every few days, though, providing I can find one. There´s a story and a great deal of walking behind that.
Oh, wait! I know what I was going to say! We stumbled across this insanely good Itialian restaurant last night. It was $70 for the two of us, all told, but that was with appetizer, mains, desserts, coffee and a drink. Peter was delighted. I was wishing I hadn´t been snacking on rice cakes that afternoon. And, the night before, I accidentally order a classic Uruguyan heart attack on a plate. Well, rather, I had almost no idea what I was ordering, except that it had chicken. It´s meat, usually a thin cut of steak or chicken, covered in cheese, then topped with an egg, served either on a bed of fries or on a bun. If you have the bun, the egg is hard-boiled, which is what I got, or, if it´s on fries, the egg is fried, which is what Peter got, but he requested no egg, because he´s Peter. It was basically all there was to order at this place we were at, becuse it was just after 7, but they didn´t start offering their whole menu untl 8pm. That´s when we realized that we might want to start going for dinner a little later. And learn how to get the cheque. You have to forcefully ask for it, otherwise people will just leave you to chat or whatever. *sigh*
Anyway, I should stop writing, because this internet session is going to cost me a whole $0.75 soon. *g*
We`re looking into taking a week-long trip to Iguazu falls on Monday. That would be nice. I´m just hoping that my suitcase that is of appropriate size for three weeks will also be okay to bring on the one-week bus trip.
Things are much more lively here on weekdays. The first day we really went out exploring was Saturday, when very little was open, and then even less was open on Sunday. Of course, today and Monday it has been raining cats and dogs, so we haven´t been able to spend as much time ourside as we would like. We did go down to the old city and both coasts on Sunday, though. Very pretty. Well, not the port, really, but the old city was. We went to the Canadian Embassey and wrote our names in the big book, telling them who we are, where we´re staying and how long we´ll be here. And where we´re from, too, I guess.
I am so glad that I don`t have to drive down here. Busses and taxi have the run of the road, and they`re angry things. The buesses are angry huge things, and the taxis are angry little things, but you really don´t want to get in the way of either. Next on the totem pole is pedestrians. Traffic lights mean nothing to people here. Then, lastly, are regular cars. They´re small and cute and named things like Wind and Saxo, but they have no authority on the road.
We`re staying right in downtown Montevideo, quite close to the main drag, Ave 18 nde Julio. Apparantly there was a treaty (sp?) signed on July 18th, 1830. *shrugs* There`s a little plaque on one of the buildings explaining it.
The power converter my mom gave me doesn´t seem to want to work much. It kind of fritzes little bursts of electricity, but something´s not connecting properly. So we´re off to the electronics store in a bit to get another one.
Hmm, let´s see, what else to say...? Oh, mom, if you´re reading this, I sent you an e-mail, but I´m not sure that it went through, because the confirmation page wouldn´t load. It basically said to give Farley a tummy rub for me.
I think I´ll leave it at that for now. I´m trying to keep up with people´s blogs, but there are rather more entries than I expected. MorPRi, I´m looking at you. ;-p I´ll be stopping by an internet cafe every few days, though, providing I can find one. There´s a story and a great deal of walking behind that.
Oh, wait! I know what I was going to say! We stumbled across this insanely good Itialian restaurant last night. It was $70 for the two of us, all told, but that was with appetizer, mains, desserts, coffee and a drink. Peter was delighted. I was wishing I hadn´t been snacking on rice cakes that afternoon. And, the night before, I accidentally order a classic Uruguyan heart attack on a plate. Well, rather, I had almost no idea what I was ordering, except that it had chicken. It´s meat, usually a thin cut of steak or chicken, covered in cheese, then topped with an egg, served either on a bed of fries or on a bun. If you have the bun, the egg is hard-boiled, which is what I got, or, if it´s on fries, the egg is fried, which is what Peter got, but he requested no egg, because he´s Peter. It was basically all there was to order at this place we were at, becuse it was just after 7, but they didn´t start offering their whole menu untl 8pm. That´s when we realized that we might want to start going for dinner a little later. And learn how to get the cheque. You have to forcefully ask for it, otherwise people will just leave you to chat or whatever. *sigh*
Anyway, I should stop writing, because this internet session is going to cost me a whole $0.75 soon. *g*
8/05/2006
In Short, In Brief
We´re in Montevideo
Our hotel room is cold.
We found a good internet cafe and a good cafe-cafe.
The main flight attendant on our flight from Dallas to Buenos Aires sounded like the guy from family guy with the soft gay voice. Not the old guy, the other one. It was a highlight. ^_^
The Dallas airport is freakin´huge.
When I finish this post, I´m gonna go try to catch up on other people´s blogs.
The power converter my mom gave me only allows two-pronged plugs. My computer charger is three-pronged. I´m gonna have to go find a two-to-three interim plug.
My iPod has come back to life in fits and spurts, and I´m going to try to reformat it once I can charge my computer.
My camera, however, seems to be dead. Maybe the battery didn´t charge fully at Kaitlyn´s or something, but it´s currently doing nothing.
We haven´t really gotten a chance to do much, as this is our first day that doesn´t involve catching up on sleep. More exciting posts are to come.
ETA: This keyboard is just slightly different from the ones I´m used to. It is annoying.
Our hotel room is cold.
We found a good internet cafe and a good cafe-cafe.
The main flight attendant on our flight from Dallas to Buenos Aires sounded like the guy from family guy with the soft gay voice. Not the old guy, the other one. It was a highlight. ^_^
The Dallas airport is freakin´huge.
When I finish this post, I´m gonna go try to catch up on other people´s blogs.
The power converter my mom gave me only allows two-pronged plugs. My computer charger is three-pronged. I´m gonna have to go find a two-to-three interim plug.
My iPod has come back to life in fits and spurts, and I´m going to try to reformat it once I can charge my computer.
My camera, however, seems to be dead. Maybe the battery didn´t charge fully at Kaitlyn´s or something, but it´s currently doing nothing.
We haven´t really gotten a chance to do much, as this is our first day that doesn´t involve catching up on sleep. More exciting posts are to come.
ETA: This keyboard is just slightly different from the ones I´m used to. It is annoying.
7/31/2006
Victoria, etc.
So I got back home at 8:30 this evening and I haven't stopped moving since. Well, I guess I've kind of stopped moving now, since I'm in my pjs and in bed, but, even now, I was just paying my Confirmation Deposit for the coming school year, so that's still doing something.
Victoria was quite nice. We stayed at this "B&B," which was really just a cozy house we rented. It had yummy fruit-flavoured teas. I couldn't resist, and wrote in the back of the guest book "I sat and am forever at work here." Thank you, Joyce, for checking the line for me. I just wrote it out plainly, though, rather than starting with "Satanic forces are at work here."
The wedding was good. It was a cold-ish day, so a lot of people in their beach wear were kind of chilly, a fact which wasn't soothed by the wind coming off the ocean. My dad didn't wear what Lindsay asked him to, but, thankfully, that went all right. Peter looked awesome in his Value Village tacky blue palm-tree-themed Hawaiian shirt. ^_^ Lindsay and Treleana both wore white capris and pastel blouses (well, technically, Treleana wore tunic), and Lindsay giggled a few times during the ceremony. I got lots of good pictures, and so did a lot of other people. My brother collected most of them onto his computer and is going to put them onto a CD for us.
The food there was insane. There were less than thirty people at the wedding, but there were ten people staying at the house my sister and Treleana rented. A lavish trip to Costco in Victoria was made. Oh, yeah, by the way, I wasn't actually in Victoria--I was in Sooke, outside of Victoria, and the wedding was on French Beach. Lindsay and Treleana were staying about half a kilometre away from the beach, but I'm not sure if there is an actual town there or not...
Anyway, food was plentiful and then some. The fridge and cupboards in what is typically a vacation house were crammed to bursting. My dad trimmed meat and discussed marinades. Speaking of, if you ever want to try a really yummy shrimp marinade (and I don't tend to like shrimp), try this one: Trad with garlic and lime. Those of you not in the general Alberta area may have to substitute another beer, but it was really good. Anyways, lots of people were met during the trip, including people who, I guess, are now my brother- and sister-in-law, but whom I will probably never meet again, at least not until either Lindsay or Treleana dies. Knock on wood that that doesn't happen any time soon and such. Oh, that reminds me--we were each supposed to fill in a page of the guest book at the wedding, and my page included a stick figure drawing of Lindsay and Treleana (a really good one, if I do say so myself), which had an arrow pointing to it, beside which was written "happy and such." Yeah, I totally didn't know what to say... ^_^
We didn't really do much else except hang around the house where everyone else was staying. Oh, there was a trip into Langford to buy bathing suits so that we could go hot tubbing. It was about an hour from Lindsay's place, and it was the closest place that sold bathing suits. That said, it was a Winners, and selection was limited. I wound up with a slightly tacky red tankini. Chris wound up with shorts that didn't fit. Silly Chris, not trying them on. Bathing suit shopping requires trying on, no matter what. Regardless, it was reasonably cheap ($20 each for the suit and a pair of shorts), and I guess I needed a new bathing suit, anyways--the one I have I bought before my seventeenth birthday.
I have a list of things to pack, buy, organize, etc before I leave on Wednesday. And I'm glancing at my closet as I'm writing this and trying to tell myself that I do not need a dress. It will be winter in Uruguay, and a sundress will be rather useless. (Sidebar: When I called the bank this evening to tell them I was going abroad and to please not cancel my credit cards, the woman I was talking to tried to confirm the spelling of Uruguay as "Eregway." Seriously.) I guess I've been in summer too long up here in Canada. *sigh* I guess I'll miss most of the remainder of summer while I'm away. Oh, well. That just means that when I get back, I can go shopping fun fall clothes. I love fall clothes. The textures are wonderful...
Anyways, I should go to bed, seeing as how I have to be up in about eight hours to go to work. I considered finding someone to work for me, but the extra $60 dollars would be a nice little infusion. Then again, I did tell my mom that I had changed my mind about wanting a printer for my birthday and asked for cash instead, but... Bah. Maybe I'll see if I can leave early. I'm on cash, though, so "early" will probably be 5:15 instead of 6:00. Stupid only having once cashier at a time on weekdays...
But, yeah, just a (rather long) note to tell you guys what I've been up to. I haven't gotten a chance to read anybody else's blog, so if someone's died or gotten knocked up or had a bad night and woke up with an unusual and embarassing piercing, you'll have to e-mail me about it. I'm not sure if I'll be abke to update this thing before I leave on Wednesday, but, if not, I will try to update it often while I'm away. Oh, and I'm greatly looking forward to seeing you, Kaitlyn! You see, she has graciously agreed to allow Peter and I to stay at her place on Wednesday night so that we can make it to the Calgary airport for 5:15 Thursday morning. Hell, she's even agreed to drive us to the airport! You rock, Kaitlyn! ^_^
Victoria was quite nice. We stayed at this "B&B," which was really just a cozy house we rented. It had yummy fruit-flavoured teas. I couldn't resist, and wrote in the back of the guest book "I sat and am forever at work here." Thank you, Joyce, for checking the line for me. I just wrote it out plainly, though, rather than starting with "Satanic forces are at work here."
The wedding was good. It was a cold-ish day, so a lot of people in their beach wear were kind of chilly, a fact which wasn't soothed by the wind coming off the ocean. My dad didn't wear what Lindsay asked him to, but, thankfully, that went all right. Peter looked awesome in his Value Village tacky blue palm-tree-themed Hawaiian shirt. ^_^ Lindsay and Treleana both wore white capris and pastel blouses (well, technically, Treleana wore tunic), and Lindsay giggled a few times during the ceremony. I got lots of good pictures, and so did a lot of other people. My brother collected most of them onto his computer and is going to put them onto a CD for us.
The food there was insane. There were less than thirty people at the wedding, but there were ten people staying at the house my sister and Treleana rented. A lavish trip to Costco in Victoria was made. Oh, yeah, by the way, I wasn't actually in Victoria--I was in Sooke, outside of Victoria, and the wedding was on French Beach. Lindsay and Treleana were staying about half a kilometre away from the beach, but I'm not sure if there is an actual town there or not...
Anyway, food was plentiful and then some. The fridge and cupboards in what is typically a vacation house were crammed to bursting. My dad trimmed meat and discussed marinades. Speaking of, if you ever want to try a really yummy shrimp marinade (and I don't tend to like shrimp), try this one: Trad with garlic and lime. Those of you not in the general Alberta area may have to substitute another beer, but it was really good. Anyways, lots of people were met during the trip, including people who, I guess, are now my brother- and sister-in-law, but whom I will probably never meet again, at least not until either Lindsay or Treleana dies. Knock on wood that that doesn't happen any time soon and such. Oh, that reminds me--we were each supposed to fill in a page of the guest book at the wedding, and my page included a stick figure drawing of Lindsay and Treleana (a really good one, if I do say so myself), which had an arrow pointing to it, beside which was written "happy and such." Yeah, I totally didn't know what to say... ^_^
We didn't really do much else except hang around the house where everyone else was staying. Oh, there was a trip into Langford to buy bathing suits so that we could go hot tubbing. It was about an hour from Lindsay's place, and it was the closest place that sold bathing suits. That said, it was a Winners, and selection was limited. I wound up with a slightly tacky red tankini. Chris wound up with shorts that didn't fit. Silly Chris, not trying them on. Bathing suit shopping requires trying on, no matter what. Regardless, it was reasonably cheap ($20 each for the suit and a pair of shorts), and I guess I needed a new bathing suit, anyways--the one I have I bought before my seventeenth birthday.
I have a list of things to pack, buy, organize, etc before I leave on Wednesday. And I'm glancing at my closet as I'm writing this and trying to tell myself that I do not need a dress. It will be winter in Uruguay, and a sundress will be rather useless. (Sidebar: When I called the bank this evening to tell them I was going abroad and to please not cancel my credit cards, the woman I was talking to tried to confirm the spelling of Uruguay as "Eregway." Seriously.) I guess I've been in summer too long up here in Canada. *sigh* I guess I'll miss most of the remainder of summer while I'm away. Oh, well. That just means that when I get back, I can go shopping fun fall clothes. I love fall clothes. The textures are wonderful...
Anyways, I should go to bed, seeing as how I have to be up in about eight hours to go to work. I considered finding someone to work for me, but the extra $60 dollars would be a nice little infusion. Then again, I did tell my mom that I had changed my mind about wanting a printer for my birthday and asked for cash instead, but... Bah. Maybe I'll see if I can leave early. I'm on cash, though, so "early" will probably be 5:15 instead of 6:00. Stupid only having once cashier at a time on weekdays...
But, yeah, just a (rather long) note to tell you guys what I've been up to. I haven't gotten a chance to read anybody else's blog, so if someone's died or gotten knocked up or had a bad night and woke up with an unusual and embarassing piercing, you'll have to e-mail me about it. I'm not sure if I'll be abke to update this thing before I leave on Wednesday, but, if not, I will try to update it often while I'm away. Oh, and I'm greatly looking forward to seeing you, Kaitlyn! You see, she has graciously agreed to allow Peter and I to stay at her place on Wednesday night so that we can make it to the Calgary airport for 5:15 Thursday morning. Hell, she's even agreed to drive us to the airport! You rock, Kaitlyn! ^_^
7/26/2006
Needles
Peter's worrying about vaccines today. We don 't need any for any of the places we'll be, but his dad has been concerned, and so much phoning and fretting has been done. I'm remarkably blaze, but, then again, I have my Hep A and Hep B vaccinations, as well as Tetnis-Diptheria, or however that's spelled.
I'm currently waiting for my mom to call me back. She's out for a long lunch, and therefore cannot tell me whatever it is she needs to tell me before I take the dog to the kennel. We don't leave until... oh, hey, tomorrow. I totally thought today was Tuesday. Damn. I should hop-to with the laundry and the packing and whatnot. That was my plan for today, but then I had to take the dog to the kennel. Oh, well. That shouldn't take more than a couple of hours. I can't actually remember where the kennel is, but I know it's out past the airport. Hmmm. Call, mom, call!
I am looking forward to Victoria. I haven't been there in many moons. The prospect of pretty is happy-ifying. Not to mention wedding goodness. Or, at least, I'm hoping it will be goodness. My dad's wardrobe is still unaccounted for. Bah.
I thought last night would be my last shift at work until I got back from Uruguay, but I get to work next Tuesday, as well. On cash. *sigh* Oh, well. It's extra money, which I have no problem with, but it kind of cuts into whatever I might need to be doing two days before leaving.
What the hell is taking my mom so long?????
In other news... uh... Good Mormon boys don't know that herion isn't harmful. Wait. No. Alternate reality. Or, rather, hypothetical reality postulated at work last night. Silly soon-to-be-angrified Logistics Manager. I have to miss all of that.
And, of course, my mom doesn't even have her cell phone on. Bah.
I'm currently waiting for my mom to call me back. She's out for a long lunch, and therefore cannot tell me whatever it is she needs to tell me before I take the dog to the kennel. We don't leave until... oh, hey, tomorrow. I totally thought today was Tuesday. Damn. I should hop-to with the laundry and the packing and whatnot. That was my plan for today, but then I had to take the dog to the kennel. Oh, well. That shouldn't take more than a couple of hours. I can't actually remember where the kennel is, but I know it's out past the airport. Hmmm. Call, mom, call!
I am looking forward to Victoria. I haven't been there in many moons. The prospect of pretty is happy-ifying. Not to mention wedding goodness. Or, at least, I'm hoping it will be goodness. My dad's wardrobe is still unaccounted for. Bah.
I thought last night would be my last shift at work until I got back from Uruguay, but I get to work next Tuesday, as well. On cash. *sigh* Oh, well. It's extra money, which I have no problem with, but it kind of cuts into whatever I might need to be doing two days before leaving.
What the hell is taking my mom so long?????
In other news... uh... Good Mormon boys don't know that herion isn't harmful. Wait. No. Alternate reality. Or, rather, hypothetical reality postulated at work last night. Silly soon-to-be-angrified Logistics Manager. I have to miss all of that.
And, of course, my mom doesn't even have her cell phone on. Bah.
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