When I moved to Nevis in 1998, I wrote a series of occasional pieces that was very well received. They recounted my adventures and misadventures in paradise. Now that I am in Montevideo, Uruguay, a place which few can find on a map, and to which even fewer have been, I thought I might enthrall you with missives from this Deep, Deep Southern country.
First, a few facts. (If you are among the cognoscenti, you can skip the next paragraphs.)
Uruguay is in South America. It is on the Atlantic Ocean south of Brazil and North of Argentina. It is not connected to Paraguay, which lies North of Uruguay with a big piece of Argentina in between.
Uruguay is about the size of Washington State, and a bit smaller than England and Scotland combined. It has a population of about 3.5 million, which is a bit smaller than Costa Rica. More than 2/3 of the people live in Montevideo and the Atlantic littoral. The rest are thinly scattered through the rest of the country, which is largely agricultural. The language here is Spanish, but with Portuguese and Italian influences. Both here and in Buenos Aires, Argentina (130 miles up the Rio de la Plata) they pronounce the Spanish double L, “ll” as “sh” — they do the same with the “y” when it is a consonant. For example, the word “I — Yo” would be pronounced “show” and the word “key — llave” is pronounced “shah-vay”. One interesting fact: Uruguay has the second greatest reserves of water, per capita, in the world, after Canada.
For the researchers among you, check out:
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/uy.html
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/uytoc.html
http://countrystudies.us/uruguay/
At the risk of repeating what I have already written to some of you… After living in the West Indies, former Yugoslavia and Costa Rica, Uruguay (UY) seems NORMAL. Montevideo is a city of about 1.5 million people. It is a combination of old and new, rather like Florida’s St. Augustine. It is at the same relative latitude as the North Carolina Capes. The climate is perfect for me. On average it goes below freezing about 2.5 days/year and above 90F/32C only 6 days per year.
(There is a detailed weather summary at: http://qwikcast.weatherbase.com/weather/weather.php3?s=058568&refer=.) As we all know, the Good Lord did not intend fat men in wheelchairs to live where it is hot!
The entire city of Montevideo (MVD) is bordered on the south by beautiful wide white beaches. The water color and waves remind me more of the Gulf of Mexico, than the Atlantic. Officially, the beaches are on the Rio de la Plata, or River of Silver, but don’t be fooled, the River here is more than 65 miles across–rather more like Delaware Bay than a river–and widens to officially transform into the Atlantic not too many miles from here.
Arriving:
We landed at Carrasco International Airport in Montevideo after an 8.5 hour nonstop flight from Miami. We left Miami at about 1AM (we were delayed two hours because of mechanical problems) and arrived here at about 1PM (10AM Miami time). As I understand it, almost all flights between this part of South America and the US start at night and arrive in the morning, going both directions. For those who can sleep on planes it is great. I did.
The airport was pretty modern, but with few bridges directly to planes. There was a mobile stairway for our plane. However, since there were people on the plane in wheelchairs, they brought up a special truck with a room on a scissors lift. It was raised to the airplane door opposite the stairway, we rolled onto it, the room lowered, the truck drove us to the terminal, and we were deposited at ground level via a special lift on the truck. I was impressed!
I was even more impressed when they had a big brawny man get behind my wheelchair and take me through immigration, baggage claim, customs and to a waiting van Chris Kohl had arranged for me. Usually they assign a 90 pound woman who can’t push their chair without me in it, much less the half-ton load I add.
Immigration didn’t ask me any questions, but did welcome me to Uruguay. The veterinary official look at the dogs health papers and cleared them both in less than 1 minutes. Customs opened one bag–with my desktop computer–and then waived me through. All of that was accomplished within 45 minutes of the plane touching down.
Contrary to my impressions from afar, a high percentage of people speak some English. Between their English and my limited Spanish, we do pretty well. If it gets intricate, Chris comes to the rescue. If he is not available, I break out my PDA with its Spanish-English dictionary and work my way through it.
Chris had two vans organized. One took Lucy the German Shepherd to a veterinarian for a few days, and the other took me, Harry, Chris and 5 big suitcases to the Pablo Figari Best Western Hotel on the beach in Carrasco. The trip only took 15 minutes, but it gave me my first view of MVD’s wide, well-kept and tree-lined streets.
The hotel room was $70/night including breakfast. The room was small, in the European style, but was well appointed and the bathroom was of a goodly size. A huge “Milanesa”, a steak breaded and covered with ham and cheese, was under U$S4.00 from room service.
Comment on currency symbols: Uruguayans use the $ sign for their Uruguayan Pesos (UYU), which are about 24 to the US Dollar. Consequently, when you see $ on UY websites, it means Pesos, not Dollars. Dollars are usually denominated as U$S. Argentina is similar, but the exchange rate there is 3 Argentine Pesos per U$S1.
Buenos Aires (BA) in next door Argentina (AR) is the big city with about 13 million people in the metropolitan area. It is 45 minutes by commuter plane, or 3 hours by fast Ferry, the Buquebus, from MVD. As far as I can tell, the relationship between BA and MVD is roughly similar to that of New York City and New Jersey, respectively.
After 4 nights in the hotel, we moved into the new house only two blocks away and just across the road from the beach.
On a closing note, I want to mention my observation that the people with whom I have come into contact thus far are friendly and courteous in a manner reminiscent of Florida 30 years ago. Several neighbors have already introduced themselves and offered any assistance needed–I have a bigger collection of home phone numbers already here than after 27 months in Costa Rica.
Hi again.
I am wondering what you might know or recommendations you might have for bringing my dog with me to Uruguay when I move there. We would be travelling from Vancouver and I do imagine that I would have to make two legs of the trip with an overnight or two somewhere. My dog is too big to travel in the cabin. I have a proper travel cage for him. We have travelled from Montreal to Vancouver but that is as long and far.
Is there a problem of wild dogs in Monte? Do you know if there is a higher risk of rabies or things like parvo, worms, etc?
My dog is a year and half old and has all his shots. Does he need to be fixed?
Thanks for any help you can provide!
Gloria
Left by Gloria on August 28th, 2006
I suspect the safest thing is to get to Miami in as many hops as required and then finish Miami to Montevideo in one overnight jump, either nonstop, through A or perhaps through Sao Paulo. The laternative is a new nonstop from Panama on Copa. But I think transiting the dog though the US might be easier.
Make sure the cage is of a size allowed by the airline on which you are traveling.
Make sure you book the dog when you book the flight. The airlines limited to total number of animals on any flight.
To bring the dog into uruguay you will need a recent health certificate and vaccination cetificate. Usually these have to be less than 10 days old. I would check with the UY Consulate on this and perhaps reconfirm it at a second Consulate.
Uruguay is justly proud of its disease free cattle and goes to great lengths to protect them! As such I know of no wild dog problem nor any rampant diseases. Theer are veterinarians a plenty here with whom to consult.
Your dog does NOT need to be neutered. One thing I have found in my travels is that most countries, outside the US consider neutering to be barbaric and will NOT sell you a dog if you plan to neuter it. They see neutering less as the prevention of unwanted dogs as a conspiracy by breeders to prevent competition, which eventually debases the breed. With all of the ruind breeds in the US suffering from hip displacia and other genetic problems, I am begining to think the non-US opion may be well founded.
Left by The Southron on August 28th, 2006
Yes,I was thinking Miami might be best. I am going to have him “chipped” as I think airlines can track the microchip if he ends up in some other city, God forbid! Also, I will reconsider neutering him then. I would really prefer not to, not for breeding but just for humaneness. Good to hear about plentiful vets. I will keep you updated as to my experiences bringing my dog to Uruguay. Thanks very much!
Left by Gloria on August 29th, 2006
Hello,
We live in BC very near Gloria. We are also planning on moving to Uruguay and we also have a dog. We would like to talk directly with Gloria about her experiences so far. Is this possible?
Left by Syd Blackwell on August 30th, 2006
Please do not have the misconception that it’s “inhumane” to neuter or spay a dog/cat IF the surgery is done by a competent vet. And when performed at an early age (as soon as six to eight weeks) the operation is very simple. When the dog/cat is this young, they don’t know anything has been done to them after they awake from the anesthesia. Naturally the operation is more complex with an older, fatter female, but for a male it remains relatively simple. For a competent vet, it involves a half-inch incision ABOVE the testicles followed by a couple of stitches. Stitches aren’t even necessary for the “youngsters.”
Whether or not neutering/spaying is necessary or advisable depends on circumstances, many of which have nothing to do with whether or not one wants to breed the animal. However, a spayed/neutered animal makes for a better pet, and (contrary to some beliefs) spaying/neutering does not change the dog’s personality - or their commitment to protect your person and your property.
Many people (and especially Latin American machos regarding their MALE dogs) shudder at the idea of neutering. They think it is “cruel” to deprive the animal of the ability (i.e. the desire) to have sex. Nothing could be further from the truth. Sex among dogs and cats is strictly for procreation, often a brutal act.
Important statistics: in 7 years an unsterilized female cat and her off springs can be the source of 420,000 kittens. In 6 years an unsterilized female dog and her off springs can be the source of 67,000 puppies. Unless your dog/cat is totally confined and unable to continue the population increase of homeless animals, please do the humane thing of having them sterilized!
Left by Dottie on September 19th, 2006