Good lord I can't believe that I haven't written an update for such a long time. Life has been passing so fast down here.
After the appendicitis situation, I was busying playing catchup for awhile but everything is back to normal now. I've actually been pretty busy between school and life in general. Since I don't think I can write about everything that has happened (nor would you want to read it all), the following are the highlights of the last two months.
Having been cooped up in a hospital room or my apartment for almost three weeks I was desparate for the outside world. Three days after I was released from my home away from home (Hospital Britanico), I was hopping a bus with about 200 other Uruguayan kids to spend a long weekend building shelters in a poor settlement on the outskirts of town. The group is called
Un Techo Para Mi País (roughly translated A Shelter for my Country) and they work in poor communities to provide shelters and much needed services. I was first introduced to this group when I was living in Cordoba, Argentina two years ago. I did a construction there and loved it , so I was very pleased to find this organization in Uruguay as well.
Working in groups of eight to ten we built 65 shelters over the course of four days. The first shelter we constructed was for a young couple, Mikahel and Maria, that had been living in a one bedroom shack. They were getting ready to start a family and they knew they needed more space.
At first I thought it was going to be impossible to build a house on the small piece of land they had. It was basically a muddy incline next to a four foot high pile of garbage with a small stream running through it. The ground was pure slop for the first foot then a layer of clay and rock making it almost impossible to dig the eighteen holes needed for the floor posts. After much labor we had the posts ready and the floor together, making the rest of the construction smooth sailing.
Working right alongside the family in the construction is probably the best part. You get to talk to them, learn about their lives and their dreams. Mikahel, being only 19 years old, was very responsible and respectable guy. I found out that he made a living by doing odd-jobs and by selling different things at a market. He showed me his bike and cart that he used to transport his stand. The bike had no brake so he had to use his foot on the back tire to stop it and on hills he would weave left and right to reduce speed.
I was amazed at his good humor despite his situation. When the house was finished we had a small ribbon cutting ceremony and presented the new owners with a certificate. Seeing the joy on the faces of the young couple was something very special. They were so excited that when we returned to visit the next day they had already moved all their furniture out of their old house into the new one and had connected the electricity. (This is no small task as all wiring is done off of pirate power lines that one has to connect themselves.)
The experience was great and I felt that there was real potential in this organization. They don't stop with a shelter but continue with a second stage of social empowerment. I am currently involved in the urban agriculture group which works to provide food security and a balanced diet to the communities through the development of private and community gardens. We travel each weekend to different communities to provide labor, tools and advice. I plan on continuing with this group throughout the year so you can look forward to hearing more.
My next great adventure was to the Eastern coast of Uruguay with some friends to test out my brand new-to-me surfboard that I got off of Uruguay's version of Ebay. Having only surfed a total of three times in my life I was ready to dominate the waves. Unfortunately, I was the only thing getting dominated. After about two hours of being pummeled by five feet walls of water I decided I had had enough and returned to the beach to rest a bit. I tried to go again but only lasted an hour this time. All in all I caught about three or four waves staying on one for about 20 to 30 seconds, not to shabby for a noob.
The next day was infinitely better with much less pummeling and much more surfing yet still far short of a good day surfing. My two friends, Vincent from France and Quique from Uruguay, were with me the whole way, drinking salt water like it was our job. I loved just being in the water on your board waiting for the next wave to come. It was so peaceful and relaxing that I can't wait to hit the surf once again.
In other news, I managed to make it back to Cordoba, Argentina to visit some friends. I studied abroad in this crazy city at the Universidad Catolica between July and December of 2007. Instead of staying at a hostel, this time I decided to try something different. I recently found an online community called
Couchsurfing.org which has listing of people who will offer you a couch, mattress or place on the floor for a few nights. I figured that I knew Cordoba well enough that if it didn't work out I could find another place to stay really easy, so I gave it a shot. I found Ludo and Naty on the site and they offered me a mattress in their living room for two nights.
I arrived at their place around 11am and by 1pm we were out the door headed for an asado (bbq) with other people from Couchsurfing. We spent the afternoon talking about traveling while eating delicious grass fed beef and drinking Malbec from Medoza. When night fell we sang old Beatles songs (with a funny South American accent) while sipping on
Fernetcolas. It reminded me of my days at the residencia, Casa Colon, where I lived while I was here.
The next two days I was able to met up with several friends but for too little time. After returning to Cordoba, I have much desire to visit again. I felt like every street I walked down reminded me of something from my past. I was shocked to recognize the same people in the streets selling cellphone holders and plastic toys. It was like nothing had changed in two years. Needless to say it was a great trip but way to short and I hope to be able to return soon and stay for much longer.
My most recent bit of roguery would be attending a soccer match (better known as fútbol down here) between two rival Uruguayan teams, Peñarol and Nacional. Let me just make the clear observation that the entrance to the game was nothing short of chaos. It consisted of a huddled mass of maybe 200 to 300 people pushing towards an open gate guarded by police outfitted in riot gear. There was no attempt to form a line, no clear direction as to which gate you should enter and clearly no forethought to crowd control. Once we made it into the herd it was like being at a rock concert. The smell of sweat was rising from all directions and the crowd swayed as if it were blowing in the wind.
When I was about twenty feet from the front of the crowd a big push came from behind. The crowd went flying towards the police who responded by beating them back with billy clubs and shields. They all went running to the back and quickly found myself in their position in the front of the crowd. Luckily I was able to get through the search area before another push came. My friend Gabe, another Ambassadorial scholar, wasn't so lucky receiving a couple blows to the ribs from a baton and a face full of shield (Don't worry, he's fine). Once we all got through the crowd debacle, we dodged the seats being thrown from the stadium at the cops and made it inside. We found or spots and enjoyed the rest of the game even though our team lost in what turned out to be a very ugly game of fútbol. It was a great time but I think they need to figure out a better system of crowd control before I'll go back again.
I suppose that's the jist of the last two month's. School is going good but nothing to exciting to talk about yet and Rotary activities are starting to line up so there will be some news on that front soon. This was already a long post so I will spare you any more words except to say that I am putting a note in my calendar to write here more often, say every two weeks. Hopefully I won't get attacked by another disease or illness that prevents me from doing so.
If you made it this far, thanks for taking the time to read about my life and I would love to hear about yours. So don't forget to be in touch and I'll do the same.
Peace,
-bd-
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