Montevideo - Day 1

Hola from Montevideo!

Yeah, and that's about all the Spanish I know, especially when put on the spot. It turns out it is much easier to understand someone a little when they are talking, but to have a conversation is a completely different thing. Luckily, people are very friendly and nice, and if you basically laugh and make it obvious that you are admitting you are a dumbass, things go rather well.

So we stayed at Punta Trouville for our first night here. It is more modest than the Sheraton I stayed at before, but still very nice and very clean. The breakfast this morning was great - varieties of bread to toast, several jams, yogurts, cereals, juices, pastries, and trays of meats and cheeses.

Punta Trouville crakced me up because of their special decorating touches. This is what greeted me on the shelf over the toilet in the bathroom:

Not everywhere you stay makes fans out of toilet paper and rolls towels nicely to display their hotel name.

The room was small and nice. I couldn't get the TV to work, and the AC was louder than anything else going on (including the street noise when I opened the sliding door to the balcony). Also, it took me about 10 minutes to realize that I had to put my key card into the "main switch" socket on the wall near the door to get any of the light switches and outlets to work.

Montevideo is a cool city, and I'm excited to have some time here at the end of the trip. We were able to explore a little, but we didn't see even a portion of the city. The weather was cool but sunny, and I bet after a month's time, they'll be in the full swing of summer and we'll be enjoying beach walks and wandering outdoors even more.

Stay tuned for details on La Corona, now known as the most awesome place EVER to stay. I can't believe how incredible it is, even after the nice things I heard about it from people at work. And we're having an Asado barbecue dinner tonight with a bunch of employees (who aren't working with us, but we'll help celebrate their budget completions all the same). Should be fun!

Laura: 2, Travel Nemeses: 0

After 24+ hours of travel, we're now safely landed in Montevideo. I forgot how beautiful the beaches are, and even though the weather is chilly, it's beautiful and clear. John told me that the weather forecast back home posted the first winter weather advisory of the season, and I just had a giggle at our luck in timing of this trip.

So far, it's going pretty well. I made it the entire way (3 separate flights) without puking (not even once), which is a first for me, and a major victory with an assist from my new flight friend, Dramamine. Also, our bags greeted us when we made it through customs at the airport, so this trip is already going well. That's two major battles won that hampered my trip last time, so I'm pretty happy.

It's been a long day; actually, it's been a long two days really since we overnighted on our international flight. Nothing like functioning after 3 hours of sleep on an airplane.

It's time for dinner and then hopefully a great night's sleep. The adventure really begins tomorrow...

Holy crap it's here!

Well after months of planning, intermixed with qualifying exams, a wedding, and time spent with family, the trip is actually here!



We'll land in Montevideo tomorrow afternoon, and then will head north for the majority of our stay in Tacuarembo in the central part of the country. While I love fall here in the northwest, one of the parts I'm most excited about is leaving our cold weather (it was 31 degrees here this morning) for the spring weather down there. The forecast calls for 70 degree temperatures in Montevideo and 80-90 degree temperatures in Tacuarembo. It will be awesome to do field work in tank tops and covered in sun block. Even in the summer here doing field work, usually we're clothed in plastic rain gear and still getting damp and cold. The hottest days of field work that I've spent were in clear cuts, and you definitely pay the price for warm days by the lack of scenery. :)



Here's to the start of a good trip, and the beginning of lots of posts and picture updates...