They tell us this is a sad country and maybe that's why nobody seems to care enough to keep up these beautiful old homes or clean the dog crap off the sidewalks. Of course you can find places that are well kept, but you have to go to the very rich areas for them. The middle and lower class barrios are pretty sad.It’s a very literate country with 60% of adults going to college, most wanting to be doctors or lawyers and most leaving the country to find wo...

The passion for soccer knows no limits in Latin America. And the supporters are always boisterous in support of their team and sometimes even violent. The very first World Cup soccer match was played in Montevideo, Uruguay, and with great pride the Uruguayans will always let you know that they won the first World Cup.Although we didn't attend the futbol game Friday night between the Nacionol and Penarol teams, we got a report from Ryan, one of our classmates...

We've learned a little of the country's history in the short time we've been here--history you won't read in schoolbooks. In 1858 the remaining indigenous people were rounded up into a valley and slaughtered by the Uruguayans, consequently there is no indigenous population in Uruguay--a dark piece of the country's conscience. In 1973 Uruguay was taken over by a military dictatorship and much like today’s Taliban the people were under str...

All night long we worried about it, not knowing the other one was awake worrying too. The bathroom sink wouldn't drain--or rather, drained verrrry slowly, like took 10 minutes or so. So, Bob, being Bob, put on his fixit hat and went to work. Translating badly, we figured we'd pour the sobre (envelope) down the pilota (pilot?), add water, leave for the night and repeat every 30 days--should the pilot live that long.There was no picture on the box so he wa...

We're getting a lot of walking in as we go to these ferias--three so far this weekend. After we got back from this morning's shopping we ate lunch, then walked down to the river--about 10 blocks.