The parrilla is finally put to good work

This was an amazing double rainbow that we saw late Saturday in Punta del Este, from end to end. In seconds it was gone, but we were able to stop the car and take a quick snapshot.

Starting the parrilla. We have a leg of lamb slowly roasting ahead of the rest of the meat.

Barbi wrestles with the parrilla. We still don´t have the appropriate tools.

There was a lot of pressure on Barbi. Some of our most unforgiving friends demanded to know what a Turk was doing in charge of the barbeque, but in the end, they all shut up and enjoyed the results, which of course were aided by elder brother Jorge´s expert advice. Jorge´s sage advice is "Always have tons and tons of coals ready at your disposal. The rest will take care of itself."

And it did.

long time no post

The launch of some regatta from Punta del Este harbor, on its way to Buenos Aires on Saturday. We caught it by chance, did not even know it was going on, after a full week of the other regattas going on... When we arrived home, it was dark and we could see all the boat´s green lights from our house, very cute.

well, what with the crazy work on every front, the pre move, the move, the post move, the inauguration of the parrillero this Sunday, etc., I´ve been neglecting my blogging duties.

First things first. We moved on Saturday, December 1, after much tantrum throwing on my part (nobody could spare a truck or hands for our move, which made the little screaming fit necessary).

Picture of Fabiana and Barbi, on our first day at home...

This one is called "el Cabeza" and visits once every few days from a neighboring farm. He´s very distinguished and well mannered and actually barks for a living, unlike Fabiana who licks and demands to be loved and only barks at bugs.


So we moved, spent a crazy week unpacking and especially trying to finish up with all the "trades" plus the alarm system, the satellite Internet connection, trying to hunt down a pool guy, etc. We found out that the sale of gas bottles for the kitchen stove is now forbidden until further notice, so the options are to resort to the secondary market (thriving I hear) or fish one from someone´s winter heaters. We found a couple, luckily.

Now the sprinklers work on their own, the pool doesn´t, it looks a beautiful moss green again, after going through clear, then primordial soup, onto milk white and back to deeply alive green in just 10 days. I finally tracked down a guy who will take care of it, but today with the storm he could not make it over here.

We also found the local place in the woods of Punta Negra where we can buy emergency firewood, veggies and other sundry supplies. It´s a bizarre place, and the year-round residents of this area call themselves "los de arriba" meaning the ones living in the woods "above" the topographically lower area of coastal beach houses which is mostly for summer vacationers, not "real locals". I am now honorarily "de arriba" I think, as I plan to shop there and employ as many locals as I can, have to support their meager existence, as it seems everyone is pretty despondent and it´s in our best interest to have some convenience stores in the area...

Anyway, we had our opening asado on Sunday, and the weather cooperated, a relatively calm and sunny day in between two storms. We had a great time, with family, close friends and both architects, their wives and brood. Barbi made his debut, with invaluable assistance from "the angel" as he calls my brother Jorge, who provided ongoing technical advice and some physical help as well. I stuck to the salads.

Living in the house has been amazing so far. We hadn´t slept so well in ages, nor been willing to rise at 7 AM to go for walks... I find myself going for walks at least once a day, sometimes more, in the company of Fabiana who takes the opportunity to go hunting. Speaking of which, she tried to present me with her prey two days ago, an aperiá, which came seconds after I walked past the dead evil viper, after having 9 huge birds of prey (nobody agrees on what they are, little eagles, vultures, etc.) flying above me as I strolled down the completely deserted beach, etc... Lots of nature.

The house itself is noticeably different in its two sectors. The wooden side is considerably less insulated from the elements, and my suspicion is that the vulnerable part is the floor. In the masonry part, the insulation seems to be perfect, we never feel cold or hot or whatever it is like outside, and the sound insulation is also great.

more sunken costs and the joys of moving...

Who the hell knows what all those pipes are for, but in any case, we´re paying for them, so better keep a record....


The lawn is going to go all the way to the side of the pool until we have the deck made, at which point we can "harvest" the lawn and put it somehwere else.

Our new bed... the mattress was custom built to our specs, came out great.

Lovely chaos... and a table leg upside down. Virtually all the boxes were opened by customs, but nothing appears to have been stolen, something I feared for things such as silverware, or CDs. Also, we were lucky that they didn´t open the boxes containing the 20 liters of extra virgin olive oil from the famouos Maramara olive region in Turkey. I don´t know whether it would have passed through had they seen the cans.

Now the table is in its normal position, books on the shelves, kitchen stuff all stored away, and the box hell considerably tamed after a few hours of work with Barbi and my Mom.

Lights, camera...

Actually, the first time we see the lights at night. I didn´t see them in person, but Barbi went to oversee the unloading of the truck with our furniture. Tomorrow morning we get the container with our stuff from Turkey...

We got lawn!

The beginning of a lawn in any case. Something about this wide will surround the house. The greay cracked stone is our parking area.

Sunken costs

View from the main road. The worker´s house is now completely demolished. The more they clean the land, the bigger it looks. The landscaper is convinced we will not be able to handle it, he thinks i should leave the "jungle" we see in this picture as is, but I am terrified of snakes, and I saw all kinds of movement in the bushes today... We´ll destroy the habitat.

We now have power lines, if I were richer they would have gone underground, but that will have to wait...

The landscaping is proceeding at full speed. The grey pebbles spread out in front of the house will be the parking area. The other dark mound is lawn "cakes".

Well, there is Fabiana, our ferocious and loyal guard. She´s watching the entrance to the house. The pipe stuff are drainage channels to divert rain water away from the house. The little blue pipe inside I think is for the sprinklers. The worker in the back is laying the soil that goes under the lawn sections. There will be a lawn border around the house, to protect the drainage pipes and also to make things a bit neater. The rest will just have to become lawn on its own...


I have decided to go with the satellite internet access, which is very costly in terms of installation, but it would appear to be the only truly reliable option I have at this point. So we will pollute the house´s roof with a dish, plus a small one for DirectTv. Maybe I will put a kiosk by the road, sell internet access by the minute. I will be the only one in Punta Negra and Barra de Portezuelo with broadband I think.

The bobcat

Water in the pool! Our well was tested by the pool people, and apparently it´s good water, no iron, and very clear.

The bobcat starting the topography work, cleaning and smoothing the land surrounding the pool, while Victoria, very pregnant, enjoys the beautiful spring day.

TThe pool people were not too gentle with the land. Their machine left moat-deep tracks...

Spring. Everywhere yellow flowers, these daisy types and lots and lots and lots of yellow broom.



Frankie, our Frankensteinish stove...

We got the stairway railing, matching the one in the terrace.

As we were leaving today, we saw the UTE (power utility) truck bringing the wooden posts and the wire to the site. Fabian talked to them, they said they will start work on Monday, so in about a week from Monday we should have juice. That´s our cue to move in. There are many small details pending, but that´s the one thing preventing us from moving in, the electricity. The rest, we will finish once we´re there. Also, the container is arriving from Turkey in one week, so the timing seems to be OK.