Ode to March

Ready, steady...



...Go!

It's easy to say "my favorite month is March" but even when I say that, in September, for example, I don't quite remember the full wonderfulness of March in Uruguay.

For one thing, you know it's March because THE WIND SUDDENLY STOPPED! The stillness sort of jolts you. The stillness and the beautiful blue skies, the star-filled night skies, the suddenly quiet streets, etc.

On a recent Saturday morning we were bathing at "our" beach as I like to call it, in clear, quiet green waters, looking up and down the coast at a completely deserted bay of approx 10 kilometers of gorgeous beaches. Not even the ever present fishermen. Which was ironic, because the fish were literally jumping right off the shore. Huge fish, in chase of small fish, all jumping like crazy. The sea is definitely at its best in March, clear, quiet and no jellyfish like you can get anywhere between December and February, and warmed up by a whole summer of sunlight. As my husband remarked, almost like the Mediterranean.

To complete the bucolic weekend we attended the regatta at El Puertito, where the spectacle of dozens of children seriously preparing their equipment for the race, while their parents lounged on beach chairs on the grass brought me back to childhood and the thrill of sports competition (track and field-hockey, back in the day) something I hadn't relived in quite a long time.

El Puertito is a private, very upscale development with its own small harbor, so while the parents of the competitors sat on the hills surrounding the harbor in their beach chairs in a sort of laid back tailgate party style, I enjoyed the airconditioned comfort and catering offered at the Club House by Paul and Natasha, the Swiss/Cuban developers.

Regatta held this past weekend at El Puertito, Laguna del Sauce, Ruta 12, view from the Club House

Frankly, for the price of a waterfront condo in Punta del Este, to have a one acre lot with a gorgeous huge house built on this place with incredible lake and landscape views, is a no brainer for me. The club house by the water is where you can send the husband after a fight, or where you can retire to read or work in peace while a contractor is installing something with a power drill (had a lot of that today).

Sailboats coming back on the second day of the regatta, seen from Club House

My mother, who at this point can only conceive of condo-in-town living says that's for a different stage in life (not hers), and that I want to "put her away," although I'm double more away than she would be off Punta Ballena on Ruta 12, that's for sure.


But let's stop coveting and get back to what we have. At home we've been enjoying the beach more than we did all summer long. And nothing like the swim in the ocean followed by an outdoor shower to wash off the sand and a dip into the solar-heated pool, which is considerably warmer than the sea, all before going to work. That's what I call privilege.
Friend of Rafa, Rafa, Leticia, Barbi, Aunt Myrtha, friends of Aunt Myrtha

Rafa and Leticia

Natasha, Mom Mirtha, Paul, Patricia and Omar