Day 6 December 31st

Today was our last day in Melo. We stopped and saw one of his family’s oldest friends before we left. They kept asking if I dyed my hair, they just could not believe it was natural. They were awesome.

On the drive back we stopped in Minas to get my favorite cookies. {Alfajores} They are amazing. I was going to bring a ton of them back but I knew that if we bought them now they would not make it back to America!

When we arrived at Natalia’s, she was getting everything ready for the fiesta that night. All of Martins familia was coming over to eat and celebrate the New Year. Martin had told me that almost his whole family speaks English and I was excited/scared to talk to them. They were AMAZING!! We had a blast. Martin cooked so much meat that was actually very delicious. It was a lot like the Brazilian restaurants at home. I was not sure I would like anything so I marinated chicken to eat just in case. I shared my chicken {Martin kept calling it kitchen} with everybody and they liked it!

I talked to Martins family all night. It was fun to watch them figure out words for things and get out the dictionaries for me to explain things. We talked about movies that we all liked and they all said they were fans of Lord of the Rings, I called them nerds thinking they would not know that meant but they did. They laughed and told me that people that liked Harry Potter were nerds! So damn funny!

I did not think I was going to last until Midnight but Diego had told me how spectacular the fireworks were so I fought to stay up. He had not explained it right. It was pandemonium!! Everybody does illegal fireworks all over the city. It sounded like bombs going off for about an hour. Everyone is out in the streets kissing each other and wishing them Happy New Year. {Feliz Ano Nuevo} Then they popped open a bunch of Champagne bottles and everybody toasted each other and ate more food. It was the greatest New Years ever!

All the meat for the party!

Drinking Mate while cooking.

Mate everywhere!

Everybody eatin.

Getting ready for midnight!

I love this girl!

Fireworks everywhere!

In the street.

Midnight.

Day 5 December 30th

Last night we slept with the fan on us full blast and that helped out a ton! Every window in the house is open but there is barely any wind to help out. It is the first day that the sun had actually been shining! After trying to straighten my hair we decided to drive around Melo and do some shopping. I really want something that says Melo to hang on my wall at home but we did not find anything. We stopped at his Tio’s {uncle} old book keeping shop that is being run by his cousin. His cousin wasn’t there but the receptionist has been there since before Diego left so we talked to her for awhile. {Well I did not talk a lot but I did a lot of smiling.}

We went to Diego’s Abuela’s {grandmas} house and ran into a couple of his cousins there. They all call him fat. Everyone does. It’s hilarious! They all ask me when we are going to have kids. I am thinking they all just think I look prego but who knows!

His Abuela is so damn funny. She is 92 years old and is as spunky as they come. She told us that she wants to live ten more years so that she can get even shorter! I thought she was going to freak when she saw Diego. She talks a mile a minute.

After that we drove into the center of town and parked and just decided to walk through some of the shops. I got myself some ice cream and we set off. There was actually wind this afternoon so it wasn’t as bad to walk around. Diego ran into a couple old friends and I just people watched. {And people watched me!}  

Every year Uruguay does a lottery that ends at the end of the year. There are ten tickets of every number; you can buy all ten or just one or two, whichever you want. But if your number is picked you get that percentage of the money. Diego’s sister wanted us to go in on a ticket with them so we went to go pick one up. When we walk in all the people from two days ago smile at me and point at the scratch and win cards. I played two and didn’t win again!

We decided we better go visit all the rest of his cousins, Aunts, and Uncles before we leave tomorrow. His cousin Becke has a really cool job, the only way I can explain it is that he is a bounty hunter for animals. When somebody steals somebody’s livestock he hunts it down and returns it. He and his wife have 5 dogs, a sheep, and a horse at their house. One of the little dogs is named Angelina Jolie! I loved her. It made me miss Minnie so much!

It was crazy to see a lot of his family in one day. They ALL kept asking why we don’t have kids yet. And kept calling Diego fat!

Diego and his grandma.

Grandmas house.

Diegos cousin, grandma, and I.

Diego with his cousins and Aunt.

LDS church in Melo.

Obviously this is something that happens a lot!

Selvas Kitchen.

Diegos Cousins Family

Me and Angelina Jolie!

Two of his cousins families.

Day 4 January 29th

Today we went into Jaguaron Brazil to do a little shopping! Jaguaron is a little town that is separated from Uruguay by a river. Brazil was a little like Tijuana. The whole city is just a bunch of shops and vendors. We bought some towels from one of the guys for our week on the beach.

We stopped on the way back to see some more of Diegos Family. And of course I forgot to take a picture of them. I am pretty sure I was more dehydrated then I have ever been in my life. The sun here just sucks everything out of you! And its not even sunny! I have only seen the sun a couple of times so far.

On the way back from Brazil I slept the whole way to see if that would help me feel better but when we got home I still felt very yucky. I decided to drink a shit load of water bottles and eat some food and that helped a lot. And by the way I did find a water brand that I really like. We have bought all the gas stations and grocery stores out of them.

We stopped by Ta Tas last night to get some chicken to make dinner. Diego cooked!!! I almost dropped dead! It was very yummy too. They do not use a lot of seasonings on their food so I had to buy some black pepper for myself at the store. His mom does not have a pepper grinder so Diego just beat the crap out of it with a knife. It helped the food have lots of great flavor!

I tried to blow dry my hair yesterday and it took over an hour. It just will not dry. I straighten it as best as I can and just pull it into a ponytail but the ends start curling up. The front around my forehead is just a bunch of little curls!

Safety first in Uruguay!

Last city in Uruguay before Brazil!

Over the bridge!

I seriously hate this pic of me but its the only pic I had ofthe bridge.

Brazil.

Cobblestone steets of Brazil.

Bauru. Very yummy sandwich!

Day 3 December 28th

Today we drove to Melo. It took us about 5 hours to make the trip. We stopped at the grocery store to get groceries to last us until Thursday when we are going to head back to Montevideo to celebrate New Year’s. At the grocery store I was stared at like crazy. In Montevideo people would look but not to much. Oh not here though. I am being pointed out by little kids, and the worst is when I am speaking. People just gawk at me.  The people working at the Ta Ta {the local store} were so great. I would ask for something and 3 of them would help me find it. We ran into two missionaries at the store. One of them graduated from Alta two years after me! We did not know each other but wow, what a small world!

We went and drove around Melo and Diego showed me his old school and other interesting places. We went out to dinner and I had millanesas of course. We stopped and saw one of Diegos Aunts that I had met in America. It was nice to see her again.

I don’t know if I mentioned how hot Montevideo was, but Melo is ten times hotter. And I am not just talking hot, no no no, the humidity here is something I have never felt in my life. You sweat out of every pour of your body. You know when you put your head under the covers on your bed and all you can breathe is hot air? Well this is like that times ten. It is hard to get a cool breath of fresh air in. Yes I was warned that it would be hot. I did not know that they meant it would be this hot. I did not know this was even possible to tell you the truth.

Everybody in Melo drives motorcycles. Sometimes there will be a family of 4 just squished on the back of one. It’s crazy how fast they all drive through the intersections while barely slowing down!

We stopped at the local gambling place so that I could do some scratch off cards which are my favorite! The workers there just loved me. Everybody was laughing when I would ask Diego if I had won anything. I did not do very good but it was hella fun!

I got to call mi madre {mom} and mi hermana {sister} today. That was nice to hear their voices. Not to homesick yet. There is too much to look at to be bored!

If I lived in Urugauy this is the city I want to live in. They bottle my water here and they make the best cookies!

I just had to take the photo!

Pringles!!!

On the drive to Melo.

Welcome!

One of Diegos oldest friends!

Out to dinner in Melo with Diegos Mom.

My favorite food, Milanesas!

Its funny to see my clothes outside drying!

Diegos Moms House.

Day 2 December 27th

Holy cow. I slept so good last night. It was nice to sleep in a bed and not a small airplane seat. Diego’s Sister Natalia and our BIL were nice enough to let us use their bed while we are here. That’s good because if we had to sleep in a small bed I would have made Diego sleep on the floor! : ) We did not go to bed until about Midnight because we stayed up and ate the yummy pizza Martin made for us!

We slept for twelve hours! It has been years since I have done that. I woke up with mosquito bites all over one of my legs. I guess that’s what I get for using really good smelling lotion before I went to bed! I decided to try an experiment; I really wanted to know how my straight hair would survive. I turned on my straightener and blow dried my hair. There is so much damn humidity in the air that my straightner was steaming without even being near my hair! My hair looked good for about half an hour, until I ventured outside. I pulled it up in to a pony and freaking used a whole bottle of hairspray to make it slick back. The front started curling and I knew I was in trouble. There is no way my hair was going to stay straight for more than ten minutes in this place! That’s what hats are for right???

Natalia told me that they have a swap meet in the streets below her house and that is where they get all their fruit and veggies. I decided I just had to see this for myself. I got myself all covered in my SPF 60 and we headed out. It was just like a little Tijuana. Vendors everywhere! There was fruit, meat, cheese, knock off clothes, {Nike, Adidas, Fox, Puma, Ray Ban, you name it} hair accessories, Mate cups, jewelry, and tons of play station 2 video games. They even had original Nintendo games! {I did not take my camera because Diego says they would follow me home if they saw my nice camera!} I was in love. We walked the whole thing and found the answer to my hair dilemmas. Headbands! I bought 5 of them in a bunch of colors and hopefully that will hide my fly-away hair while we are here! We were gone so long that Diego was going to go look for us.

When we got back Martin taught me how to bake milenesas instead of deep fat fry them. They really do taste the same, but way less greasy than the alternative. Can’t wait to make them when I get home!

We then went to la playa {the beach} in Montevideo. Since it was Sunday it was packed but we found a place for our chairs and hung out for a couple hours. It was fun to people watch. It is very different here than in America. Nobody cares what anybody else thinks about then or what they are wearing, they are just trying to have a good time.

We cleaned up and headed to an ice cream shop in town, it was weird to not know many of the choices of ice cream. But they were all so yummy looking that I tried three different flavors. The big thing here is dulce de leche .{caramel} It is mixed with every flavor known to man. It was delish!

My new hairbands!

My man.

Luca likes to play in the car.

La Playa

Playing in the sand!

At La Playa.

I need to paint me toesies.

Yummy!

Best ice cream ever!

So good!