Advertisement
Published: March 3rd 2008
Edit Blog Post
Strange Luck This past week taught me the meaning and idiosyncrasies of luck. On Thursday I got stuck in the middle of a downpour that flooded the city for 7 hours straight... suffice it to say.. it was raining very very hard and the rain on the top of my umbrella hit it so hard it spilt the seams of the fabric and created running holes! I made it to the office soaked and shivering and luck have it.. one of the host moms had dropped off clothes for donation and I was able to change into dry clothes for my project meeting. Then Friday, I was on my way to Montevideo to visit Silvia. Predicted rain high winds and thunderstorms... not the best time to be travelling on the high seas.. But luck have it again.. it rained all night and then stopped for the 5 hours I needed to travel.. and if you can believe it.. the downpour began 10 minutes after I got to Silvia’s house!!!! Silvia and her mom were fantastic hosts! They fed me great food and both gave me driving tours of the city! The first night Silvia introduced me to the "chivito"
which is a HUGE sandwich typically with lomo (tenderloin) and several other ingredients like bacon, ham, cheese, tomatoes, hard boiled egg, olives, onions, lettuce... It was really good.. we also had a chick pea bread called "faina" and a traditional pizza which usually has no sauce and uses a different style of bread.. I was full and ready for bed!
Saturday it continued to rain.. Silvia and I ran along the beach and as luck has it missed the rain again by 5 minutes and ran in pretty cool temps. After we ate and took showers.. Punta del Este seemed like a bad idea so Silvia suggested a bodgea (winery) and off we went to drink Tannat! We went to the Juanico bodega known for its Don Pascual lines! Which won an international best award in France in 2007!!! We got a private tour from a sommelier.. since it was raining no one else came to the winery.. Again as luck has it.. it stopped raining and out came the sun for our tour!! We went around and tasted grapes off of the vine.. Its a few weeks away from harvest so the vines were in full bloom! It
was amazing to hear the story of Tannat from a sommelier I really learned a lot! Don Pascual Harriague was the first to introduce the Tannat grape variety to the Uruguayan vineyards. It has an Intense color that is deep purple, with lighter violet tints. It has an aroma of figs enhanced when aged with various spices. The wines are full bodied and with concentrated fruit and strong tannins developing into chocolate and coffee flavors.. making Tannat wines great for aging! For me, the most astounding feature of this wine was its length or aftertaste that seemed to last forever and develop in your mouth long after it was swallowed. Since we were so interested in the wines and we were the last group of the day, our host brought out some spectacular white and reds similar to those that were in the French International competition a few costing over U$S 80 .
Later that night we went to a cute little tango place called “El Farolito” with a few of Silvia’s friends who happened to be tango instructors and her mom, who is the cutest and sweetest woman in the world! Suffice it to say everyone danced a
mean tango as I gracefully found every possible moment to step on the toes of each of the guys. Everyone was so inviting and nice asking me questions about my job and trying their best to explain Tango.. I even got a lesson from one of her friends on how to properly use my camera.. which for those of you who know me.. I always have issues with the camera settings that need to be used in the dark..
Montevideo itself is a beautiful city; it is very old and lines a beautiful beach. Walking around through old town and various areas of the city for markets you pass through cobblestone streets lined with beautiful peeling trees and with beautiful colonial style and other more modern style building popping up in between. The beach is lined with palm trees and running paths with the classic tiki bar popping up every few blocks for the tourists. Sunday before I left we got lucky once again and spent the morning taking pictures and getting the grand tour of Old Town. It’s really nice to have your own personal tour guide who not only has a vast knowledge of the city but
talked to me about the World Bank and international aid. A very interesting morning! That afternoon I hiked back to BsAs and then to La Plata on a boat and a bus. On the boat I found bad luck in sitting right under a FREEZING cold air conditioner and next to a million screaming kids! That not only screamed from afar they ran down the aisles kicking the people who were sleeping.. GRRRR bad little kids! But again give a little luck and get a little luck.. 30 minutes after I got off the bus walking home there were 2 tornados on the river I had just travelled on!!! The storms started back up in full force and I was safe at home under a solid roof!
What random luck I have, but I am so thankful for it and for the hospitality of great friends!!! Thank you so much Silivia!!!
Besos!
Jenn
Advertisement
Tot: 0.087s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 7; qc: 44; dbt: 0.0532s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb