Labor Day Munchies

Happy Labor Day!!! Here in Uruguay, like most other countries around the world, Labor Day is celebrated on May 1st. Everything was closed today which resulted in a pretty quiet day in el hogar as most of my roommates were gone and it was rainy and cloudy most of the day. I was in my room reading when one of my friends invited me to take part in a Uruguayan tradition, eating torta frita or fried bread. Here in Uruguay, it is a tradition to eat torta frita on rainy days. I have asked lots of people why this tradition exists and have not yet gotten a conclusive answer. Apparently, nobody really knows why the tradition exists or began. Either way, like most street foods, torta frita is tasty, cheap and not at all healthy and since it was Labor Day and everything was closed, we ended making it ourselves. I have never deep fried anything in my life and was a little grossed out by the amount of grasa vacuna a.k.a. in English as "cow fat" or "lard", we used to fry but it was still a good learning experience. (Unlike mate, I don't think I'll bring this tradition back with me to the United States) Cow fat aside, making and eating torta frita with friends was a great way to pass a rainy, gloomy, Labor Day afternoon.

Mate & torta frita: Helping Uruguayans cope with rainy days since 1811

Today Was A Good Day

On Foot / A Pie

Last Friday I went on a site visit with some of the educators from La Obra. We started to walk. Past the field where kids play soccer in between horses grazing. Past the teenagers hanging out at the abandoned bus stop. We ask a man pushing his daughter in a stroller for directions. “A little bit farther that way” he says. We keep walking. We finally arrive. Two little girls are playing out front. They are painting each other’s fingernails. The older sister enters the house to fetch her mother. The house has a sheet hanging in the doorway instead of a front door. The mother, with a baby on her hip, comes out to greet us. Her daughter has not been showing up at La Obra lately. After a brief conversation, we continue to the next house on the list. At this house, a man and women are sorting bottles from a huge burlap sack. The woman, with sleeves rolled to the elbows, greets us. Her hands, dirty from work, hang at her sides. Her daughter has not been showing up at La Obra lately. After a short conversation we head back to La Obra the way we came.
After La Obra, I hop on the #328 bus for what seems the umpteenth time this year. I get home, change my clothes and head out the door for a run. I pass the people on the front steps of el hogar. Some are waiting for the Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. Others are waiting for a bus. I pass the corner store where I buy fruit and vegetables. I pass the man with one leg on the corner. I finally get to La Rambla and keep running. I run past the lifeguard station. Past the Buceo Yacht Club. It is windy and surfers are taking advantage of the waves at Playa Honda. I run past condominiums and apartment buildings that make me feel like I am on Miami Beach. I keep running until I get to Plaza Virgilio. I am a little surprised I made it this far. By now it is dark and the cargo ships on the Rio de la Plata are little dots of light on the horizon. I turn around and start to walk back home. I walk past a man sleeping on a bench. I walk past a group of friends sharing a mate. I walk back the way I came until I reach the steps of el hogar. I make myself some manzanilla tea and go to bed. It has been a long Friday on my feet. 

El Campo

At the invitation of some of my friends I live with, I've had the opportunity to spend two weekends at an organic farm and permaculture project in San Carlos, about two hours from Montevideo. At the farm  I have spent time doing the following things: hauling rocks, cutting everything within arms reach with a machete, learning about permaculture, sleeping in a tent, watching a thunderstorm, eating supper by candlelight, learning how to make adobe and drinking absurd amount of mate with a great group of Uruguayans. Here are some pictures from the farm.

Taller on permaculture

Relaxing after an amazing lunch

The group after completing the garden

The garden in all its glory

Buen provecho

On the way to the creek

Cutting firewood with a machete = fun

The house

Las sierras

A Friday Adventure

Last Friday I arrived at La Obra and was asked if I wanted to go for a walk. Every once in a while, the staff of La Obra makes house visits to teenagers that haven’t been coming. Although it sounds simple, these visits are actually pretty complicated because even though we had the address, actually locating the address is difficult. The address read 58 Diagonal 3, so house 58 on diagonal 3.  In Barrio Borro there are main paved streets that have names but then there are tons of pedestrian paths, alleyways and gravel roads leading away from the main avenues so the challenge was to figure out exactly where Diagonal #3 was.  Our first stop was at a kiosk near where we thought the address was. The owner of the kiosk didn’t really know and sent us farther up the street.  The second stop was at a random house, which proved to be fruitful because the woman at the house knew the family.  She gave us pretty good directions and we continued farther up the main street. Third stop was at a small corner store for more directions. We were getting warmer. From the corner store we crossed the main street and walked down a gravel path for a bit. After walking around asking neighbors for directions we finally arrived to the house, the numbers 58 were scrawled in white paint on the side of the house. We called out the teenager’s name for a bit without any response and then walked back to La Obra. 

This isn’t a typical morning at La Obra for me but I enjoy going on the visits because it gives me a chance to see more of the neighborhood than I usually do. Friday is fair day so the street was filled with vendors selling fruits and vegetables. I also got the chance to see one of the high schools that several of the teenagers from La Obra attend. We even passed the neighborhood’s supposed haunted house. A long time ago, where Barrio Borro is today was out in the country and two men from Argentina came to build a hotel. The hotel failed but the building remains to this day, it is an ornate building but has definitely seen its better days. The story goes that several grisly murders have taken place inside. Not sure if it’s true but the house looked creepy enough from the outside, I’ll take everyone’s word for it. Creepy haunted houses aside, it was an interesting way to spend my Friday morning at La Obra.

Learn About Uruguay

Don't know much about Uruguay? Here is a video you might enjoy, it's just a little dated.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NuQ-FxCgU3Q

Los Mellizos

There are two different sets of identical twins at La Obra. As if trying to learn names and getting to know everyone wasn’t hard enough already. However, this week I have finally figured it out.  Gonzalo and Guillermo, two brothers that are in second grade, are nearly indistinguishable from each other. They talk the same, act the same and look so much alike that they are usually not referred by name but are just called “los mellizos”, the twins.  The difference between the two is that Gonzalo has a mole on his left cheek and Guillermo doesn’t.

The other set of identical twins, Diego and Jose, are two teenage boys that come to Casa de Jóvenes.  They are much easier to tell apart because they both have their names tattooed on their forearms. That is what I call a great idea.