After three flights, a short meeting at the Weyerhaeuser office in Montevideo, and a short 5-hour bus ride later, we’ve made it to Tacuarembó, and are now getting comfortable again at La Corona. Sonia met us at our truck with hugs and hellos, which was a nice and low-key way to be welcomed back. Oddly, it feels like returning to a second home, or at least somewhere very familiar and very comfortable. We are even in the same rooms we stayed in before.
Our flights went very smoothly. We left SeaTac yesterday morning at 11:00, made it to Dallas in time to walk straight onto the next plane, landed smoothly in Miami, and had short layover there. We made use of the free time by grabbing some food before boarding the next plane. Our flight took off on time, and we enjoyed a non-descript dinner of weird chicken over rice and veggies slathered with a fairly tasteless sauce. My favorite part is always the cheese wedge that comes with crackers, and the salad tasted oddly refreshing and tasty, even for iceberg lettuce and dry shreds of carrot.
On a personal note, I have found my ultimate combination to survive plane flights without barfing. It turns out that plenty of Dramamine (and beginning by taking it the day before our departure) works wonders, as does the Benadryl I took after dinner. I didn’t even finish the movie we were watching, which was pretty good (Up in the Air; I’ll have to watch it back home to find out what I missed). I tested my Dramamine theory further by doing some crocheting in the afternoon (my old-lady hobby), and I still didn’t get sick. I did manage, however, to create a gigantic knot when I was unspooling the yarn, which was really annoying, but kept my mind occupied for a good extra hour trying to undo the mess.
Our bus ride from Montevideo to Tacuarembó was surprisingly comfortable. Ironically, there is almost double the leg room in the bus compared to the airplanes, and the bus seats are equipped with a footrest and fully reclining technology. Plus, one of the bus staff came by towards the end of our trip with snacks and Coca-cola. We didn’t even get pretzels with our drinks on the plane.
Our first dinner was a roast (for two people, no less) with potatoes and sweet potatoes. We also had roasted cauliflower with herbs, a salad of lettuce and tomatoes, and an open bottle of tannat wine that previous guests had graciously left behind. After Sonia scared Scott by saying she didn’t have dessert for us tonight, she brought out a homemade meringue and a thick sauce, made of egg yolks, wine, and sugar. Holy God, was that fantastic.
I'm impressed by how fancy the bus-drink-pourer appears to be. It would be even better if he had a little white towel over his arm. Oh, and I'm assuming he's not the driver....
ReplyDeleteI read this:) Oh, and I'm glad you made it down alright:)
ReplyDeleteNope, he's not the driver, although that would be interesting. He saw me whip out my camera, and so I think he did an extra fancy "drink pour" pose for me. I didn't notice that the other passengers got this treatment.
ReplyDeleteJohn - thanks for the giggle. :)