Waiting

 It is with some relief discover South America has managed to mess up even the German reputation for efficiency. We spent a rather pleasant day driving twenty minutes to the supermarket called Tienda Inglesa (“the English store”) where Layne managed to spend $120 on two modest bags of groceries.

Including a three dollar loaf of bread that tasted okay but looked interesting. The English call this “tear and share.”

I had a chat with a passing Uruguayan who was actually Colombian but resident here for 17 years. His English was excellent and he was delighted and surprised to discover we’d spent months in Colombia and greatly enjoyed it. We reminisced. But then I asked how do you afford to live here. He shrugged. We shrugged. There is no secret password that makes Uruguay more inline with the rest of the continent. He was in Miami recently and he agreed the US is cheaper. 

40 pesos to the dollar. You can ask Google: 307 UYP to USD for an exact exchange rate. 

When I walked Rusty found the block I passed a gas station and gasoline you will be delighted to know is $7:71 a US gallon while diesel is only $5:40. I guess pretty soon the shenanigans in the Strait of Hormuz will bring the prices in line.

While Rusty napped I watched the local looney shouting to himself as he sorted through the trash. Even Uruguay the paradigm of the welfare state isn’t immune I guess. 

He left behind the messiest corner of Uruguay I have seen. I was across a moat and a wall and he saw me watching him but we were too far separated to make anything of it. I saw so much destitution in northern Peru I knew I couldn’t take Africa on the ground any more. This stuff rips me up.

Uruguay has no stray dogs that I’ve seen so far. Just the one human being. 

A big old bus for sale by the side of the road. Your home on the road: 

We will end up visiting one of these one day. I’ve never heard of Uruguayan wine anymore than I had of Brazilian wine. 

We were supposed to meet the boss Tuesday but he was away. 

Windmills nearby. 

Maybe Wednesday so we can work out a repair schedule. We aren’t in a hurry so we shall see.

The concept is bizarre. Buy a field in the middle of nowhere and then decide to build and repair RVs there, far from any industrial zone where we might expect see such a business. 

We have a fridge problem, a second alternator problem, a drawer that won’t stay closed and a shore power charger we need to buy and install. Let’s see what happens.