Remember to Vote!!

View from the bottom

Bottom part of the picture is the Port of Montevideo, large tower in the center  is the Palacio Salvo. The Ciduad Vieja is off to the right

Another view from the top of the tower.  The water is the Rio de la Plata.

Right now I'm sitting in my room watching early poll results for the presidential election, which is interesting but at the same time makes me feel a little unpatriotic because I (gasp) did not vote in the election this year.  My absentee ballot never materialized so this year I do not get to participate in the great democratic process that is our election.  Earlier when I was watching the daily news with some of the people I live with, I was asked about the elections and when I told them I did not vote, they were a little concerned and asked me if I was going to be fined.  Apparently, here in Uruguay voting is obligatory so I quickly explained, that no US agents would be coming to the hogar to collect my fine.  On the bright side, I have to admit I have enjoyed being outside the United States during election time and haven't been subjected to endless political attack ads.  Then again, my patience might be a little low given the craziness that has been Wisconsin politics the last year or so.  Either way, it is unfortunate I did not get to vote but hopefully I will make up for this year's absence with a heightened respect for the right to vote.

Anyway, today was a fantastically beautiful day, a little on the warm side.  The weather here in Uruguay seemed to have skipped right over spring and launched right into summer.  A few weeks ago it was pretty cold and rainy and now I'm actually wearing shorts and a basketball jersey with my window open.  Today with El Club de Niños we had a paseo (think field trip)  These paseos are possible because in Montevideo, school kids can use public transportation during the week for free, provided they are wearing their school uniforms.  Their uniforms are white tunics with blue bowties.  Today's paseo was to El Torre Antel, which is the tallest building in Uruguay.  Antel is one of the most prominent telecommunications companies here in Uruguay.  However, the top floor is open to the public for tours and so today the kids got to see the skyscraper.  Today was a stoplight paseo, which indicates that not all the kids got to go.  Every week each child gets a stoplight green (good), yellow (ok) or red (not so good) that is based on how they behaved that week.  For paseos like today, only the kids with green stoplights got to go.  Fortunately, a good percentage of the kids had the opportunity to go on this paseo.