La Pedrera, Uruguay
I´m sitting in a rustic hostel in La Pedrara, Uruguay right now, typing away at the communal computer while they play Brothers in Arms by Dire Straits, which happens to be one one of my favorite songs. I arrived in La Pedrera this afternoon, which is a tiny beach town about 4 hours away from Montivideo. There were a couple of paragraphs in the Lonely Planet about it, but what caught my eye was the sentence, ¨There are few tourist facilities here.¨ Sounds perfect to me! I imagine that this is perhaps what Santa Cruz looked like many, many years ago. There's one main road that's paved and then the one along the coast is paved too, but all the rest are dirt. It´s quiet, mellow, and the beaches remind me of home, except a lot warmer.
I was supposed to arrive yesterday, but this is what happened. Yesterday morning, I on a bus from my hostel in Montevideo heading to the bus station. I had just made a reservation for my hostel in La Pedrera for the next three nights and had planned on heading out there even though I had recently found out that there was going to be the inaugural Carnaval parade in Montevideo tonight. As the bus sped down Avenida 18 de Julio, I saw rows of chairs stacked along the street and workers setting up bleachers. All of of a sudden, I decided to hop out at the next stop and stay for the Carnaval parade. The parade started at around 8.30 pm and ended at 1.30 am. Dancing, flags, music. I'm glad I stayed.
On the bus ride to La Perdera (above is the view out the bus window), I was listening to a series of talks on mindful living by Thich Naht Hanh, a Vietnamese Buddhist monk, that I had downloaded onto my ipod. I am so glad that I downloaded these talks becasue not only do they put me to sleep on buses, but I can listen to them over and over again and hear something new in what he´s saying. Anyway, he was talking about how to live in the present. And I thought about this trip. I think the whole thing is an exercise in living in the present. Nothing truly planned. I am where I am.
PHOTO NOTE- I'm hoping when Kris comes to visit, he can bring me a card reader so I can post some photos too! I don´t think my writing is quite good enough to convey what I´m seeing!
I was supposed to arrive yesterday, but this is what happened. Yesterday morning, I on a bus from my hostel in Montevideo heading to the bus station. I had just made a reservation for my hostel in La Pedrera for the next three nights and had planned on heading out there even though I had recently found out that there was going to be the inaugural Carnaval parade in Montevideo tonight. As the bus sped down Avenida 18 de Julio, I saw rows of chairs stacked along the street and workers setting up bleachers. All of of a sudden, I decided to hop out at the next stop and stay for the Carnaval parade. The parade started at around 8.30 pm and ended at 1.30 am. Dancing, flags, music. I'm glad I stayed.
On the bus ride to La Perdera (above is the view out the bus window), I was listening to a series of talks on mindful living by Thich Naht Hanh, a Vietnamese Buddhist monk, that I had downloaded onto my ipod. I am so glad that I downloaded these talks becasue not only do they put me to sleep on buses, but I can listen to them over and over again and hear something new in what he´s saying. Anyway, he was talking about how to live in the present. And I thought about this trip. I think the whole thing is an exercise in living in the present. Nothing truly planned. I am where I am.
PHOTO NOTE- I'm hoping when Kris comes to visit, he can bring me a card reader so I can post some photos too! I don´t think my writing is quite good enough to convey what I´m seeing!
It is amazing to me that you have experienced so much when I just finished returning the calls made to you before you left.... Your clients and community partners miss you, but seem to be accepting of me as a temporary but poor substitute.
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