I'm woefully behind on posts, so I'm trying to conjure up the excitement I felt last December when we did actually get our van. :)

On December 1st we went with our landlord, Guillermo, and saw this little beauty on the floor of Montossi Motors in Maldonado. We really loved it at first sight and loved it even more when we found out the price! It was $14,500. It was going to be a tight squeeze for us, but we were thankful that we could afford it.

If you live in the departmento of Maldonado in Uruguay and you have not applied for residency yet, you are allowed a 90 day extension to the 90 day tourist visa you are given when you enter the country. Actually, you are allowed one extension whichever departmento you live in, but I live in Maldonado, so this post is about the Maldonado office.

Last night we went to the beach to watch the sun set. The sun has moved far enough now that we can see it set over the ocean from the beach in front of our house. Previously it would set over the peninsula that is Punta Ballena. We went down with our beach mats and some mate. It was a great experience and a great lead-in to Thanksgiving.

After we arrived here, we were told of the main 3 grocery stores to be found in Punta del Este. In descending order, they are Tienda Inglesa, Devoto, and Disco. Tienda Inglesa goes to a lot of trouble to make their store very appealing to the more well-off summertime visitors to Punta del Este. But, what is done for rich summer tourists, is also available to the rest of us full-timers through the off-season. :)

Anyone who knew me from my previous life in Nebraska knew how much I hated taking care of our lawn. Mowing was for Wednesdays. I had to mow every Wednesday throughout the spring, summer, and fall months, as well as other lawn and garden work. Oh, I hated it. It was so hot and such tedious work. Then I'd mow over the occasional walnut which would come shooting out and smack me in the shin. Or I would have to engage in terrifying acrobatics to try to avoid slipping and mowing my feet off when I was mowing the ditch.

Before we arrived in Uruguay I watched this funny show called Three Sheets. The episode we saw was in Argentina. At the time we had DishNetwork and I would search for any show that had to do with Uruguay, Argentina, or Chile, and set it to record on DVR. That's how I came to watch Three Sheets, which is about comedian Zane Lamprey checking out alcoholic beverages and drinking customs in different nations.

Not long after we arrived here and met Lucas, Lucas asked me if I would be a part of the video he and some classmates were supposed to make about Hitler. Bear in mind, I knew VERY little Spanish at that point! We had only been here about 2 weeks and I hadn't managed to impress very much Spanish upon my mind before we left. But, it was a unique opportunity, so I took it.

One afternoon Lucas suggested we visit Lapataia. It was a beautiful Saturday afternoon, so we squished up in the 2 seater Saveiro and took off. It's such a wonderful place, I wish we would have gone earlier in the day and spent more time. Oh well, at least it's close to our house!

This is the magnificent entrance. In the summer the place is buzzing, but we went in autumn, so it was quiet and fairly uncrowded.

I know these pictures don't really go together into a meaningful post. It's hard for me because I have some random shots I want to share, so here we go!

Wow! It's surreal to go back in time with these posts. I remember our trip to visit Wally and Denise in Marindia like it was yesterday. Wally and Denise moved to Uruguay in June of 2008. They bought a house in Marindia which they then remodeled. You can read everything about their adventures in Uruguay on their great blog.