If you're like me, it's hard to reconcile the above picture with the words "bus station". But since Uruguay has no real rail transportation, this is kind of their land transportation crown jewel. And they have done a beautiful job with it. This is what the ticket desk looks like:
Yep: The folks have uniforms. And that's just this particular bus line - there are at least a dozen others, each with their own station. Our bus departed at 7:15 on the nose, and I managed to take one picture - this one -
- before I fell asleep. The graffiti (it's not a great picture, I know) says "Each one of us, alone, is worth NOTHING". A really typical call for leftist-style organization and action. I could snap those all day.
Two hours later, we disembarked in Maldonado, off to the East. It's a very lovely town:
Regular folks, prosperous and tidy burg. With a Catholic high school in it - which was the reason for our visit. This is the main door:
Just like a Catholic high school in the US - the students pay, wear uniforms, and receive religious education in addition to their regular instruction. Here's the courtyard at passing time between classes:
Natalia's friend Maria Laura teaches English at the school, and I gave my usual "This Is Massachusetts" presentation twice, once for her group, and once for the group of a fellow teacher, whose name I unfortunately can't recall. But she was great, as were her students - all the students here, really, had a very high level of English comprehension, making the presentation all the more enjoyable. For me, anyway - the quicker I can talk, the more I can say, the dopier my little jokes can be, etc. It was a lot of fun.
Here are a couple of other pics of the school:
"Presence in Uruguay: Capuchin Sisters of Mother Rubatto, 1892 - 24 of May - 1992"
The chapel in the school...
...and Natalia and Maria Laura at the front.
They have no time for American English proficiency tests - they use the British system, and display very proudly this letter that certifies their...certification, I guess, in preparing students to take the British test.
Following the classes, the colleague of Maria Laura's whose name I'm forgetting took us in her car for a whirlwind tour of Punta del Este, just down the road from Maldonado. Maldonado is the last little vestige of the real world before Punta del Este begins. Punta del Este is the playground of the super-rich in South America, and for the super-rich from around the world. High-rise hotels, casinos, ridiculously expensive houses, apartment high-rises, mansions - There's really no describing it. We also zoomed about a little too quickly, and a little too frenetically, to take any pictures. Not for comfort - we were always quite comfortable in the car and never felt rushed. But we were a bit - she had to get back to teach a class at 12:30. But she was born in Maldonado and knew Punta del Este like the back of her hand, so we hit all the highlights - the bridges, the sculptures...I have to say, I was kind of excited by the fact that, this being winter, there were relatively few people about. Meaning that the apartments one could rent in the area are probably quite inexpensive. I had visions of the kids going to school (it's four hours a day, quit your whining) in the morning and going fishing or hiking or horseback riding in the afternoon. But they're just visions, in all likelihood.
She did tell us that the President of Argentina, Cristina Kirchner, has recently decreed that it will be much, much harder for Argentines to take the dollars they have saved in the banks to invest them outside of the country. Which has meant that a lot of construction projects in Punta del Este, funded by Argentines, are in doubt, and that the workers can be seen on them moving as slowly as possible, having received orders not to finish them any time soon. The whole place is apparently an Argentine colony in the summertime.
I took advantage, back in Maldonado, of being in a somewhat normal town, and went into a men's clothing store that Natalia recommended as being reasonable but having good quality stuff, and got me another sweater and a scarf. I'm telling you, future Fulbright participants: Take the whole "cold" thing seriously. It's not below freezing, but the thing is, nowhere is heated. They live in the cold all friggin' day long here - I've said it before, I think, but Natalia se pasa la vida swaddled in her winter coat and scarf. That's her workday: Winter coat and scarf, all day long. Gloves, often, when she isn't writing. So I feel nice and swaddled now in my new duds. That's it for me: No more souvenirs for Joe on this trip. I think I have enough, between the sweaters, the scarf, and the underwear.
Lunch at a local restaurant that had a downright affordable asado menu, which Natalia and I took advantage of. Check it:
In the late afternoon we hopped another bus home. Natalia almost immediately went to sleep, but I fought off the snoozies long enough to get a good luck at the countryside between here and there. Rolling hills, cows, patches of woods, quiet little rivers, well-cared-for horses, haybales (unheard of in winterless Ecuador), grittily prosperous little hard-working towns. A very pleasant couple of hours.
Back to the hotel, where I did some sink laundry (fresh duds arrive in an hour!), then walked down 18 de Julio and did some book-shopping. Found some good stuff for the kids and for Janneke - though I still owe the woman at the store 20 pesos. She was nice enough to let me pay her tomorrow. Which is today.
But it will have to wait, because (a) she's not open until later on, and (b) I'm going to Minas with Natalia, her daughter, and her parents. It should be fun. I'll keep you posted!
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