Ten days ago I was in tears saying goodbye to my friend. Yesterday the little runt went for a romp on the beach. I guess he fooled me and I’m delighted and he seems to be also.
What? Him worry? He is a little wobbly in the hind legs but at this point I attribute it to his lack of glucosamine as mandated by the vet who said he has to finish his stroke medication first before getting his joint pills, and I hope we can start him again after he gets his final check Thursday. You can see in the photos his hind legs are a little weak looking.
At the beach? Indeed we drove five miles to the shore of the River Plate and even in winter it looked quite pleasant.
Think of the Great Lakes, fresh water yet with small tides in this case but you can’t see the opposite shore of the River Plate. Argentina is over there 45 miles south of here.
It was a day of fissures in the overcast, much enjoyed slivers of blue in the persistent oppressive cloud cover of recent days. Next week the forecast promises endless days of cold crisp but sunny winter weather across Uruguay but yesterday we did get a taste of a little sunshine along with a reminder of the color of the sky when not covered in cloud.
We had bought a slightly bizarre looking picnic tray at the supermarket because we are suckers for cultural experimentation. It was I’ll admit not something we’d try again…a little dry and lacking flavor I’d say but it did the job with no clean up required.
And the Serrano ham chips tasted of…potato chip and nothing more. So much for cultural exploration but the beach was splendid. And while I’m in the confessional let me say I really liked this picture of my boy except I screwed up and put the focus on the tree. Nice work. Sigh.
Almost deserted…the eternal quest for fish captured by Layne and her camera:
We ignored the “no dogs” part of the sign figuring there wasn’t anyone to piss off as we were alone on our stretch and the summer homes lining the street were unoccupied. I mention the ban to Adrián back at the workshop and he looked surprised. “There are dogs all over the beach in summer” he said. Hmmm.
The seaside village of Playa Fomento was deserted but there was an ATM which as usual limited us to US$100 but was better than nothing. Most places take credit cards luckily. There was also a hardware store but all the eateries were closed. I’m guessing some few places might open on the weekend but the place was dead as you might imagine. 
The approach road drive straight through the usual rolling farmland, the patched and lumpy asphalt lined with shade trees as is often the case in Uruguay.
There are cottages to rent and second homes to buy here:
A retired old gringo could do nicely here pottering out with his dog to stare over the flat waters of the River Plate, listening to the sound of guns across the northern hemisphere:
No earthquakes, no hurricanes, no claims of election fraud in South Americas most stable (and boring) democracy.
Permanent residence is easy to obtain but we have a van and we’ve got places to go and tires to wear out:
And a dog to keep entertained.
Uruguay is a place to bear in mind if you want a retreat from the hurly burly of real life.
