The Russians are coming!

If like me, you are the daughter of a rabidly anticommunist soviet emigre, and you dislike black leather overcoats, you will receive news that Russian buyers are disembarking in Punta del Este with at least a bit of apprehension. And if you have read books on the recent history of Russia, or follow Putin's comings and goings, or worse, the global spread of the country's new staple export (mafia, rather than communism), aprehension will turn into flat out alarm.

Thus, my reaction at the Madrid airport lounge when waiting to board my flight to Montevideo. "Look!" I whispered to my husband, "KGB!" OK, my dad was a bit on the obsessed side, but in the end he was always right, no matter how much fun we made of his paranoid behaviour. The object of my comments were two slavic-looking gentlemen in their late 30s or early 40s, impeccably dressed in only slightly cheesy but very expensive looking clothes, with that stiff posture that only a couple of years of law enforcement or military training can impart, and displaying an evident master and servant relationship. "I mean, Russian mafia!", I corrected and updated myself. My heart sank as my husband confirmed he had heard them speaking in Russian. "Why are they going to Uruguay?!?!"

Until recently, in my mind the Russian mafia had seemed very distant, something for Eastern Europe or Brighton Beach to worry about, but since finding out they virtually took control of the Spanish coast, becoming heavily involved in real estate, and that they had penetrated our neighbour, Brazil, they became a much less remote threat in my mind. And now they were in my plane!

On cue, at the first dinner party at my Mom's since our arrival, I hear Kiki (not her real name), a star realtor in Punta del Este, boasting of her recent sale of million-dollar homes to two different Russians. "It's because in a past life I was Russian" she explains. "I was hanging with Tolstoy, doing the dacha and the samovar thing, and they can feel that connection so they gravitate to me." Well, do Boris and Sasha not know each other, I wonder out loud. "Yes! Can you believe it? They actually turned out to know each other! It's that connection I have with the dacha and Tolstoy and the samovar, they can feel it," she insisted.

The dacha and the samovar running joke was still warm when last night I notice it's pretty late and my Mom is not back home. She calls a while later, explaining "The Russian and the French guys just left." Oh, I ask, "Was it Boris or Sasha?" No, my mom says, "This one was Alexei, and he was very straight to the point, he knew exactly what he wanted and wasted no time."

"Of course" I responded, "they have no time to waste. And what (real estate) have they bought?" They each got a penthouse in a new development on the Mansa beach side, whose prices range between $750k and $1.3 million.

Finally arrived (updated)

It was a lot of travel, from Kusadasi to Istanbul, then after a couple of days, our flight Istanbul-Madrid-Montevideo, followed by the drive to Punta del Este on a rental car, stopping by on the way to check out our house.

We arrived on a gorgeous, summer like day, and were rewarded by the spectacle of a whale frolicking by the shore in the Pinares area of Punta del Este, visible from the car even. We went down, took some pictures, all very cute. The whale flapped a large tail, and an entourage of sea lions danced all excited around the whale, to the delight of dozens of onlookers at the beach and on the road. If the electrician you were expecting at your house was late, that's why, all the trades were there.


Can't see much in the picture, but that black dot there is the whale with the sea lions...

That same day was heavy on construction sites as well. We stopped by Arrancopelito, and could not wipe the smiles off our faces. The house feels fantastic. We knew we liked the way it looked from the pictures, but standing on the deck looking at the sea and the forest, and the tons of birds chirping on the yard below, it was great. The living room feels huge, and the way the windows frame the views is awsome.

Seems that we will be inheriting a dog. Apparently, many dogs were born at the site in our absence, but this one is the only one remaining right now.


One wall in the stairwell has been clad in wood, following the facade wood cladding.



Then, after lunch, quickly on to Brava 28, a building where marabierto has furnished the model unit, and where my Mom was contemplating buying an apartment. (More on that later) We had to go up and down dusty dark stairs and in screeching elevators (building is in the last stages of construction), checking out different units, their floor plans, views, exposure, etc. etc.

That over, my mother decided to show us the apartment she's renovating in the Peninsula building. The Peninsula is a landmark Punta del Este building, kitty-corner with the Plaza de los Artesanos square. She bought a 110 m2 2-bedroom apartment on the 8th floor, with amazing views of the harbor, the square, the Brava side, and through the end of the peninsula. A huge living-room as well. She's giving it the marabierto treatment (complete renovation, new floors, kitchen, bathrooms, and much more, followed by full furnishings from marabierto), and putting it back on sale.

So, a lot of real estate/construction site for a first day, just the way I like it :-)

On the move (updated)

Above is the picture taken from the 3rd floor of our Kusadasi, Turkey house, of the container loading operation. So the truck came 8 hours late, but the loading itself was very quick, and soon we were left in an echoey house, with strewn cardboard and bubblewrap and string everywhere, and virtually no furniture except for a few items.

We sold our AC units, our many propane gas bottles (for cooking, heating and hot water), our car, our TV, and we'll see if we can sell some of the stuff left behind. We also gave away to Gulnur, our cleaning woman, a lot of stuff, from furniture to kitchen wares, clothes, even all the food in our fridge and cabinets. That was good, she was delighted, as she got a cash severance payment (which she never expected) plus lots of stuff to take away, and a subsidized purchase of a large screen TV. It felt good to make her and her husband happy, as she has been so great to us. We will miss Gulnur.

Barbi spent all day in Izmir the day after we sent our stuff, handling customs. Now, we had hired (as required by law) a customs broker, who didn't do much at all. Barbi spent 10 hours in the Izmir harbor, which he said was pretty scary, and ended up having to pay bribes to 4 different customs officers in order to allow our container to leave. Very annoying because a) everything we were doing was completely legal, and b) we had engaged the services of a customs broker to handle the proceeding.

On Monday we flew to Istanbul, said goodbye to our friends there and left on Wednesday. The schlepping of the luggage (5 suitcases, plus 2 laptop backpacks, plus other "hand" luggage) was not something we were looking forward to, so we left all but the hand luggage in the airport. We stayed in the Tunel section of Istanbul, in a beautiful old, renovated apartment with our friends Jackie and Zeynep, who as always, were the most generous and gracious hosts.

Tuesday night we had dinner with a bunch of friends, it was great. Some of them I hadn't seen for years.

Me, Nahim, Umut, Sinan, Barbi, Haldun, Serai, Sema and Volkan. I know, Turkish names are so different...

Leaving Istanbul we were made to pay 374 euros in excess luggage, which sparked a fight and nasty outbursts from me. Actually they only charged us for 10 of the 50 excess kilos we were carrying... The trip was a bit longer than I expected, because of a 5+ hour layover in Madrid, which I thought was going to be shorter. There was nowhere to lie down, my back and feet hurt, so I ended up lying on the cold marble floor. The new Barajas airport is OK I guess, not pretty but better than the depressing shabby old one. The problem is they have those rows of seats with the individual arm-rests to prevent lying across several seats...



We loaded on interior design magazines, as usual, to the delight of my Mom. The flight Madrid-Montevideo was fine actually, we slept for about 9 hours, skipping dinner.

Thursday, we arrived at 8 AM in Montevideo, rented a small car, drove straight to see our new house, hang out for a few minutes with the whale in Pinares, Punta del Este, and finally arrived in the store at around noon.

Penguins

A rescued penguin release in Punta del Este a few years ago...

September 23, Playa Mansa, pic published in El País...

Nadine´s babies, Blitzen and Dash, with penguin. They are supposed to winter in Brazil, so I guess this one is on a layover.

I've developed a thing for penguins. It all started with the March of the Penguins, and really took on a life of its own after I visited SOS Fauna Marina in Punta Colorada last year. Why I had never visited before I don't know. We've driven past tons of times, but I guess it doesn't look too inviting. It was so amazing how they responded to people like dogs. The director of SOS does not encourage it, because he says they become domesticated too quickly and then they are "spoilt." So he keeps only a few critters on the "public" area of the rescue center, the ones he "pimps" for donations because he has to make money to feed them SOMEHOW.

Then Nadine shared a photo of her dogs playing with a penguin in Montoya, and I became very jealous. I want to go play with the penguins! I want a pet penguin and a pet sea lion! (It's illegal possession of endangered species, so out of the question.)

I just came across a picture in El Pais about a return of rescued penguins to the sea that SOS Fauna Marina just staged in la Mansa beach, in Punta del Este. I guess I've missed all the penguin action this year, but hopefully will arrive in time to catch the whales...

More kid -- or drunken friend -- friendly...

If it were up to me, I probably would not have the wire running along the deck railing, but apparently it's a legal requirement or something... anyway, we are now more kid-friendly, or better equipped for inebriated company...

The scaffolding I guess means we are applying the varnish or whatever the protective product is called, on the wood cladding.

Punta del Este and marabierto in Forbes Life

The September 17 issue of Forbes Life has the following article on Punta del Este, mentioning marabierto.

Uruguay

José Ignacio: Colonized in the '50s by Euro pacesetters like Yves Montand, Jeanne Moreau and Anita Ekberg, the Uruguayan peninsula of Punta del Este was recast as the South American Riviera. Fifty years later, as arguably the continent's toniest resort, this jet-set playground makes

South Beach feel about as chic as Jacksonville, its glittering December to February high season drawing such boldface names as Naomi Campbell, Mario Testino and Ralph Lauren.

But chic being inverse to popularity, the boldface names have now drifted east of the town of Punta del Este itself. Proceed up the two-lane coastal highway strung with glass-walled palazzi and such jaw-dropping luxe as architect Rafael Viñoly's futuristic $6-million-a-condo Acqua (check it out at www.acqua.com.uy). The haute habitués now sip their clerico -- a splendid regional concoction of white wine, Champagne and fresh berries--on the stretch of shore about 30 minutes away known as Brava Beach in the town of José Ignacio. Anchored by a landmark lighthouse, this wealthy enclave of private villas is where novelist Martin Amis and chic hotelier Alan Faena keep their holiday homes.

A seaside crescent of low, rolling dunes, rustling beach grass and whitecapped surf, José Ignacio is centered on an eccentric assortment of villas. Its pastiche of architectural styles, brightly painted modernist clapboard, whitewashed adobe, even classic Tudor, is a testament to the locale's capricious sequence of design vogues.

Just a few years ago a stay here meant being invited as a guest to one of the recherché beach community's private villas. Luckily for today's stylish interlopers, a handful of small, modish guesthouses have recently cropped up. The 12-room adobe-style La Posada del Faro, with its antique-scattered rooms, is Gisele Bündchen's choice. Nearby, Posada Azul Marino offers nine rooms in a modernist building overlooking a sand dune, while the airy Arbol is centered on a lush courtyard. At Posada de Piedra, six well-appointed suites are run by a former Buenos Aires fashionista.

"Foreign money is pouring in," says Margarita Palatnik, sitting pretty in her international design emporium, Marabierto, in nearby La Barra. "We've been 'discovered'...." Foreign buyers are snapping up property and villas at such a clip up and down the peninsula that Europeans and Americans now comprise 15 to 20 percent of Marabierto's business, and Sotheby's International has opened a realty office in Punta. Four years ago, the clientele was almost exclusively the wealthy South Americans who traditionally summer here. "Needless to say," adds Palatnik, "we're delighted."

In José Ignacio, which a few years ago offered only a single fashionable restaurant, international discovery is partially fueling the launch of such hot spots as La Huella. An alfresco bar-restaurant on the Playa Brava, La Huella is a place where two o'clock luncheons erupt into a blur of bikinis and bottle service. Likewise, Marismo, another fashiony boîte a few minutes inland, sees models--and the inevitable paparazzi--crowding the dirt road out front during high season.

The place that started it all, the restaurant Los Negros, is a wonderfully romantic spot perched on a low cliff above the Atlantic. It has become as familiar a fixture in José Ignacio as the lighthouse it overlooks. Yet Francis Mallman, the prescient Argentine restaurateur who opened its tomato-red doors in 1992, arches a reflective eyebrow at the bustling, celebrity-splashed wave that has engulfed his once-solitary gourmet outpost. He is already moving on.

An elegant, silver-maned gentleman in his 50s, Mallman has auxiliary addresses including 1884, the most charming restaurant in Mendoza, gateway to Argentina's wine country, as well as the intimate 12-seat Buenos Aires dining room Patagonia Sur. His particular élan is demonstrated in his having stocked Los Negros with a poetry library.

At lunch, as Mallman and I spoke, I made a valiant attempt at a cast-iron pan of beautifully roasted snapper and vegetables--a dish that might easily serve four--fired up in the mammoth kiln Mallman calls an oven. At the next table, a lithe young South American girl made quick, effortless work of a 12-ounce steak.

Awash in late-afternoon sun, the sea crashing beneath us, Mallman explained that his next project will be to head the restaurant at the newest incarnation of the Aman Resorts--owned Setai, due for a seaside 2008 debut here. But he is putting the picture-postcard Los Negros behind him. Work at the Setai aside, he is swapping José Ignacio's see-and-be-scene for the quiet charms of tiny Garzón, 40 minutes inland, a once bustling railway town with 2,000 residents that dwindled to its current 200 inhabitants when the train stopped coming. Is Mallman ahead of the curve yet again?

Thanks at least partly to him, the area surrounding Laguna Garzón is shaping up as Uruguay's nascent "Next Spot." Having remodeled Garzón's general store into an extremely chic five-room hotel called El Garzón, Mallman has equipped its restaurant with stoves that prepare dishes in an Andean style called "infiernillo"--"little Hell"--meaning cooked on iron griddles between two wood fires and brought to the table sizzling. He has now opened a café off the square, refinished another building into a charming concert hall and bought up surrounding pueblos to refashion as private villas. While still under the radar, it's a cinch bet that by 2010 you'll be reading about the "glittering guests of Garzón...." --Viia Beaumanis

The Setup

Punta del Este is about a 50-minute flight from Buenos Aires via Aerolineas Argentina (www.aero lineas.com.ar) for around $200, or $2,500 by private jet from Blue Star Jets (www.bluestarjets.com).

Fire in Barra de Portezuelo and Punta Negra

According to Fabian the fire was large, maybe 20 hectares or so. He said the firefighters took one full hour to show up with a little pump truck good for a "shower", a motorcycle and a pick-up truck.

He says "Now it truly is Punta Negra" (Black Point). Apparently a couple of houses were saved in the nick of time, because the fire was upon them when the firefighters arrived. Mostly a big brush fire he said, not forest like I feared, but he said it was still going on in the inland areas, further away from the sea. It is very depressing. I´ve spent all summer in Turkey were fires are dime a dozen and it never ceases to depress me for days...



Now, on to cheerier subjects: finally a view from the living-room towards the sea. For some reason I wasn't getting pictures taken from the inside looking towards the ocean, and it was making me claustrophobic...


Blankets decor by the construction workers I guess...

The kitchen cabinetry takes shape... they look tiny because the ceiling is so high, they are actually quite big, almost 5 meters across (about 20 feet) and pretty deep also, but high ceiling throws off the scale...