I took two separate day trips the last couple of days to el pinar, the montevideo suburb with white sandy beaches, and water of questionable clarity, and then again to Colonia, the oldest settlement of Europeans in Uruguay.
The first trip to El Pinar took place on an incredibly sunny day. We went out way too close to midday and the sun was high overhead and the UV index had to have been out of this world. A lot of the senior citizen set was out — you know the type — like the old gray haired, sun spotted, senior, tanning themselves with the aid of a silver reflective screen in order to intensify the color and size of their age spots and wrinkled, sagging sun damaged skin. Sun spot removal is one of the staples of the large plastic surgery and dermatologist business in both Argentina and Brazil — not as much here.
I hid myself under a sun umbrella and copious amounts of sunblock. My sunscreens were rated at 50 SPF, 60 SPF, and 80 SPF. Sunscreens and tanning oils, etc are incredibly expensive in Uruguay for some reason, but I had to have it. You see, apparently there is some ‘hole’ in the ozone layer here that makes the sun’s ultraviolet rays really, really, dangerous and the white skinned people of Uruguay have some of the highest incidences of skin cancer on the planet.
Since the outgoing president is an oncologist this has gotten a lot of play lately, with big public health campaigns to encourage the sun worshipping south americans to wear protective clothing, use sunblock and to stay out of the direct UV during the peak hours of the late morning to early afternoon.
To wit, just as we were leaving in sunburned shape for the shade and some rest, the beach started filling up with dozens of car loads of families and younger people arriving in time to enjoy the safer late-afternoon light.
A visitor I’m hosting in town wasn’t very impressed.
I think that a majority of the ‘beautiful people’ are probably in Punta del Este this time of year (the first half of January) as seemingly the entire country takes the month off to go sit on the beach, tan themselves in the sun, sleep in, and drink heavily and party until sunrise.
Uruguay Still Booming, Foreigners and Expats Abound
I was reading la nacion this morning in the Punta Carretas mall McChundley’s this a.m. — the McCafe actually and the reports for the year end 2009 are rolling in from the various ministries.
As much as I could understand what I was reading, things seem to still be booming down here.
If local tourist traffic is any indication, that part of the local economy doesn’t seem to be suffering any either.
I spent January in the city like I pretty much every summer since I arrived. I think I’m the only montevidean left in the city as the entire city empties and goes to their various summer retreats on the coastline. For those not wealthy enough to own a plot of land or apartment or condo or house along the coast, they simply rent from one of the few who is wealthy enough to own several
The model for the coastal landlord seems to be that they’d like to make the entire year’s expenses and profit on their investment back in the two months of January and February. If they are lucky enough to get some sucker in there over Christmas or semana santa then it’s a total ‘home run’ year.
This weekend as January comes to a close it’s really weird. It seems like all the people who opted to take January off aren’t back yet and the people who opted for February left early as the weekend bumps up against the beginning of the month. Even the brasilians and argies who should be here on the way to the coast seem to be absent.
When I went into the office that is responsible for national identity cards, there were signs everywhere that they were short handed due to personnel shortages. I imagine it was the unfortunate government employee who drew the short end of the straw and ended up in a beige government office in centro with no a/c, overhead fans spinning endlessly in an attempt to move around the heavy air, pregnant with 120% humidity.
The lines themselves, which as any line in Uruguay is paced by the distribution of the ubiquitous deli-counter (take a number and wait) method, seemed to be devoid of locals as well. A few guys and gals that had the “stink” of the interior (or Uruguay) about them. Some nuns and missionaries from peru or parts where ladies are expected to be 4′8” and of course the out of place expat or two, like myself, looking to secure residency or second passports in Uruguay.
Thankfully, the lines were relatively empty because even with the empty lines it took about 4 hours to go through the 8 lines that just got me to the point of setting an appointment, to be able to set an appointment to be able to start a process that would take a few more weeks.
I’ll be trying to get the rest of my residency issues together next week and the week thereafter, and I imagine by this time next week we’ll be back to ‘normal’ with the local joints filled with brazilians and the city completely devoid of uruguayans.