Other interesting things about Uruguay:
*A lot of dilapidated but gorgeous buildings
*they really like dogs
*everything is closed on Sunday too
*people were really nice once you started talking to them
*they have some of the most beautiful handcrafted knit items I've ever seen
*there are entire stores that sell nothing but caramel.

The longer we were in Uruguay the better my Spanish got. (Thanks Senora McDowell!!!)I could talk to people on a minimal level and order food and ask directions and tell the taxi driver where to take us. Everyone was very patient with us since Spanish is a fast language, I don't care who says otherwise!

The rest of our trip we kind of decided not to bother with the creepy Old City and spent Sunday wandering around the Tres Cruces area and the Sunday market that sold everything I could ever imagine. The market itself was on a shady street lined with antique shops so if you didn't like the wares of the vendors you could look at the antiques in the surrounding shops. We tried to take an English tour ofthe beautiful Teatro Solis but were informed that there was no such Monster on Sundays. We were disappointed since earlier in the day we had understood that there would be an English speaking tour. Fortunately they took pity on us and showed us the interior of the theatre. It looks like something out of Europe but much smaller than we expected.

On Monday we took a walk to the Pocitos neighborhood. It was a long walk but we had a delicious meal and got see several diverse neighborhoods, the Russian embassy and oodles of doggies. Some of these dogs were obviously for protection or to guard against robbery but a lot of them were beagles. Can beagles protect your house? I'm not sure. Most looked like they would lick you to death!

This morning, I have been moving like a speeding train. We are getting ready for a trip and this usually entails me getting a bunch of stuff together, double checking that we have said stuff and returning numerous times to the house to retrieve said stuff. This morning I had to go back upstairs four times to get: passports, bank deposit slip, watch, toiletries, toothbrush, sweater and dry cleaning. After all of that was brought downstairs I had to take all that to the car. Then I had to return to the house for: a banana (mid-morning snack), cell phone, magazine for M. to read, and to deposit extraneous credit cards that don't need to be going to S.A. Then I double checked the doors to make sure they were locked and secure.

Actually the whole adventure started at about 6:22AM this morning when I decided to run around my yard chasing a huge rabbit away from my tomato plants. I have no idea if bunnies like tomatoes. And I can't quite remember if it's bunnies or deer that don't like marigolds. So I ran around the yard in my nightgown clapping my hands and yelling at a rabbit who thought that if it just sat really still I wouldn't see it. I might be big, but I'm not a T Rex. It eventually disappeared through the hole in the fence. A hole I have been vowing to cover with chicken wire of something similar for about 2 years now. M. watched the whole thing from the upstairs window. I think he enjoyed the show of me looking like a fool.

So a lot of nervous energy that now has to sit at her desk and write emails to people who probably shouldn't even be in college. What else might I be doing today, you ask? I will go to the bank to get some cash, get some light sandwichesque lunch, teach a class, drive to the parking lot where my car will be for the weekend, take a taxi to the airport with hopefully everything one might need for a long weekend in Uruguay and hopefully get on a plane to Dulles to get on a plane to Buenes Aires that continues on to Montevideo. Whew!