Uruguay blog redefines meaning of travel


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South America » Uruguay
March 12th 2011
Published: March 12th 2011
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You’re blogging about a country you’ve never been to. Why?
Yes, it doesn’t make sense to a lot of people. But I see it as a form of preparation. Background research. Uruguay is a blind spot, and I’m keen to learn as much as possible before we leave. About Uruguay – not Argentina.

Shouldn’t a Uruguay travel blog be about your travels there?
What you’re asking is whether a travel blog is the right format for background research about Uruguay. Well, to me all the stuff that I’m learning about Uruguay now is part of the trip. The journey to Uruguay has already started. It began two months ago. I’m already travelling in my head, sitting at home, in the town where we live. Sure, we haven’t bought our tickets yet, but that’s irrelevant. I’m in stage one of the trip; stage two is actually being there on the ground. Stage three is re-living the memories when we get back.

Why Uruguay?
Mainly because it’s a blind spot in this part of the world. No one seems to know much about Uruguay in Australia. While Guapo is at his school reunion and catching up with relatives, I’ll be learning about the day-to-day life, capturing some of it in our blog. The closest I’ve ever been to Uruguay is the Panama Canal, with a port of call in Cristobal. No joke! The more we know about how people live on other continents, the better.

What happens when you actually get there – how will you pace the blog entries?
I’m not sure how much access we’ll have to the internet in Uruguay. It’ll be a busy time with sensory overload a major problem. I might have to keep a diary and post blogs as we’re able to. I don’t have a digital camera yet, and need to learn how to upload photos to the computer – thanks for reminding me! I hope to post blog updates regularly, but they'll be different to the one-a-week entries going up in part one.

You seem to blog about such a variety of things in “part one" of your trip – what will you focus on in “part two”?
I couldn’t tell you. It’ll depend on where I find myself and that’ll be dictated by circumstances. But the sorts of things I’ll look for are everyday occurrences that say something about the Uruguayan people, culture, nation. It’ll probably be in the form of a series of vignettes and interviews.

Do you plan to turn your Destination Uruguay blog into a book?
Possibly. It’s too soon to say. We’ll see. I suppose we'll find out in part three of the trip.

If you do, I’d like to be the first one to buy a copy. Thanks for your time.



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