My new home is in El Pinar Sur in Departamento Canelones.  (Have you ever noticed that a couple of the departamentos are named for food?  Canelones, Durazno (peach), and in San Jose the capital is San Jose de Mayo (hmm, maybe that’s the month and not the condiment).

El Pinar Sur is 15km East of Carrasco and is at the eastern end of the local municipality “Ciudad de la Costa”–that part of Canelones along the shore that is outside of Montevideo and inside the first peaje (toll-both) on the Interbalnearia (intercoastal highway).

There are three main roads that get come here from Montevideo:  1) the Rambla, which becomes the Costanera when you enter Canelones–this is my favorite as it parallels the beaches all the way here; 2) Avenida Italia (sometimes called Montevideo Main Street because of all its business districts) which become Avenida Giannattasio in Canelones (everything you might want to buy is on Giannattasio including Geant (sort of like a Walmart); and the Interbalnearia connector to Carrasco International Airport (which is usually the fastest way back to Montevideo from the Eastern Beach towns).

Unlike some of the small beach towns farther East, Pinar is alive all year round.  In US terms, you would call it a bedroom community.  City buses come out here within a few blocks of my new house 24/7, every half hour during weekdays until late at night.  As such, it is a great compromise between city and countryside.

Pinar has a small Centro Comercial (shopping district) with all the basics, and a goodly sized Disco supermarket on Giannattasio, 2.5km from my house and accessible by side streets.  Later this week I will venture there on my electric scooter and report back.

And, Pinar’s beaches are, in my not so humble opinion, among the prettiest in the country–pure sugar white fine sand with nice sand dunes.  The water may not be as nice as Punta del Este, but the beaches are better…

Best of all, rents are half or less than the going rates in Montevideo better districts.

I really am impressed with Pinar now–let’s see if I am still impressed in 6 months.  I will certainly let you know.

For those with Google Earth Pinar’s Latitude and Longitude are 34° 48.25′ S / 55° 54.5′ W.

===============

One of my readers was kind enough to send me the following information in an email:

Hi, I just happened to find your blog and found it really interesting. Just to let you know, ‘Canelones’ isn’t named after the food but after a sort of tree that’s very common there: the Canelón. At least that’s what my teachers used to tell us during our geography classes :)

Since I am Orthodox, my holy week comes a bit later and will probably be commemorated in a slightly different way.

Holy week, which is also known as Tourism Week (because everyone in the country tries to be a tourist this week), and by three or four other names I cannot remember, is the Uruguayan equivalent of US Labor Day weekend–it is the summer’s last hurrah and everyone tries to take a four-day holiday, if not the entire week. For the last time until Christmas Montevideo will become a virtual ghost town. Stores and restaurants will be closed and services will be hard to get.

This week is also only the second time since its inception in which our Thursday night Open House gatherings will be canceled. We will resume a week later on March 27.

To those of you Commemorating the Passion and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, I extend my prayers and best wishes.

Nevertheless, we have an opportunity to do it now. We don’t need to make a choice between going to the

• Southeastron Coastal Uruguay Living in Piriapolis Party (SCULPP) OR
• Noche de las Luces in Montevideo.

I know what a Southron is, but what the heck is a Southeastron? Sounds like someone from Miami (and real Southrons know it is pronounce My-am-ma, not the Yankee version, my-am-mee).

Anyway, the Piriaoplis gathering is starting in the afternoon, and the Noche e las Luces, by definition doesn’t start until the night.

So why not do both? I am… Details on the SCULPP are at: http://www.sociedadsouthron.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=1198.

See you there!

But I digress…

Since it was a holiday weekend (Columbus Day), we decided to stay in Piriápolis for three days. Accordingly, we loaded up the Land Rover and a rented car Friday afternoon in the drizzle, and headed east into a lowering sky and strengthening rainstorm. By the time we reached Atlantida, the rainstorm had turned into a monsoon—by the turnoff from the highway to Piriápolis, we were wondering if we could trade the four-wheel-drive for pontoons. Somehow, we made it to Piriápolis. Of course, as soon as we were no longer driving, the rain reverted to a safe and almost pleasant drizzle.

Since we had three dogs, a hotel was out of the question. (“Pet-friendly” accommodations are virtually unknown in Uruguay.) However, we were most graciously accommodated in a house near the beach, owned by Mikey’s father. It was a wonderful summer house with two parillas (inside and outside). It was also fenced, which made it nice for the three dogs.

After unpacking—it was only lightly sprinkling now—we huddled together to tackle the most pressing problem of the age, or perhaps at least of the moment: food. After some discussion, my suggestion that we “eat out” was adopted. Piriápolis being a beach community, and this not being “the season”, our options were somewhat limited. We opted to eat at La Pasiva on the Rambla (every street running alongside the water seems to be called Rambla). Despite the fact that La Passiva is as common in Uruguay as Kentucky Fried Chicken is in the South, I had never been to one—I had eaten some of their food via home delivery, but I had never set foot (or wheels) inside of one. The food was decent middle fare and the portions were huge. I had a small mixed salad, which came on a foot-long platter ringed by sliced tomatoes—it really is was enough for four.

After dinner, I exercised my usual good sense (brought on by age and exhaustion) and opted for bed instead of partying. My colleagues being younger, stronger, and with much less mileage opted for partying. Each being content with his choice, I curled up in bed by myself, unless of course you count Harry, the West Highland White Terrier sleeping on the pillow next to me, Lucy the now pregnant German Shepherd, at my feet, and Santiago’s yellow Lab puppy Luna, who threw herself against my left side—at least I wouldn’t be cold.

The next morning broke bright and sunny and warm. I was thrilled. So were the dogs because the backyard was covered with mud at least 6 inches (15cm) deep.

As Harry and Lucy were both mature dogs, they were both fairly fastidious. Luna, on the other hand, with the wild abandon of a college freshman on spring break, dove into the mud with gusto. She spent 30 minutes digging out a muddy pond so she could get really soaked. The best part was when she decided to go wake up Santiago, and jumped up in bed with him: now she was a yellow, black and brown mud covered retriever. Fortunately, Santiago is an amiable guy, so no blood was shed. As he came staggering into the kitchen, it was however immediately obvious that he had been the recipient of Luna’s mudd slathered affections.

What a way to start the day!

In a very short time (as Uruguay counts time) everyone was up, the mud had been washed from the bodies of canines and humans alike, and Harry and the humans left for lunch on the way to Ken’s house. (Harry had been specifically invited to attend—The Southron was only invited as a courtesy to Harry!) Prudently the two big dogs were locked in the house before we left in order to prevent their re-mudification.

After a wonderful lunch at the port, we headed towards Ken’s house, but only after our previously mentioned tour of possible ice sightings on the east side of Piriápolis.

Ken, Marlyn and the children were perfect hosts: the ambience was friendly and informal, and both the potables and comestibles were ample and excellent (of course it was Asado). It was a real joy to see so many of our eastern “family”, that I had not seen, in many cases, for months. The gathering was everything Sociedad Southron could hope for; it included Uruguayos, Europeans, Canadians, Aussies, Southrons and even even some polite Yankees. People had come from as far away as East of Punta Del Este, Atlantida, and Montevideo in the West.

There was some discussion of trying to keep these gatherings going on, at the least, on a monthly basis until the fall. This would certainly be a great idea! I understand, from the people at www.CoastalUruguay.com, that they are going to host a similar event in Piriápolis in December. My hope is that these gatherings will grow where ever there are groups of immigrants in order to help foster their integration into Uruguayo society. My plan is to visit as many of these gatherings as I can (o r to which Harry can get me invited.).

Thank you Ken, Marlyn, Lia, and Ethan from The Southron, Harry and the Gang! Borko was sorry he could not be there, but it is a long commute from Montenegro—but he’ll be back for the next one!

(By the way: the warmth here in NOT from global warming, it is from the Uruguayos themselves—but that is something I don’t think Mr. Gore would recognize, even if it jumped up and bit him in the butt…)

NOTE, FOR THOSE WHO READ THIS RIGHT AFTER THE INITIAL POSTING: I have not gone senile–I wrote this with voice recognition (???) software–I think it needs some work…

]]> http://www.uruguayliving.com/2007/10/21/maybe-al-gore-was-right-%c2%bftal-vez-al-gore-tiene-razon/feed/ 2 http://www.uruguayliving.com/2007/10/09/go-east-young-man-to-a-party-in-piriapolis/ http://www.uruguayliving.com/2007/10/09/go-east-young-man-to-a-party-in-piriapolis/#comments Tue, 09 Oct 2007 13:37:03 +0000 The Southron http://www.uruguayliving.com/2007/10/09/go-east-young-man-to-a-party-in-piriapolis/ This Saturday Ken and his Family will be hosting an open house in Piriapolis.

This will be a wonderful chance for members of our online community in Piriapolis, Punta del Este and points east, both Uruguayos and extranjeros alike, to get together. (Somebody please get on the conch shell express and let the Aussie colony east of Punta know about this—can’t have a fun party without the gang from Oz!)

Ken has graciously invited me and the UL gang (including Harry the West Highland White Terrier) to attend.

I will be bringing a supply of my books which I will give away and sign, for as long as they last.

Full details can be found at: http://www.sociedadsouthron.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=1073

The Southron, Jimbo, Mikey, Harry and the gang look forward to seeing you there.

The gentleman who sponsors that website, Steve Bowman, was kind enough to write me and tell me about.  I took a look at it and realized that it has some useful information in an area where our own it information is pretty light, the eastern coastal region of Uruguay. 

While I am confident of the quality of the work we’ve done regarding Montevideo, we have certainly given Colonia in the West and all the beach communities in the East less than their due.  I plan to correct that in the second edition of “The Southron’s Guide to Living in Uruguay”, but in the meantime this information needs to be available.

I commend Steve Bowman for his great work and I commend his website, www.coastaluruguay.com to all of you.