day 1 in piriapolis, uruguay

i went in the water today for the first time and it was warm, clean and salty. no sea weed! i even saw some small fish in the water the size of goldfish. the sun is a lot stronger in south america and they say the hole in the ozone layer is bigger so you have to avoid the beach at certain hours and always wear sun block. the apartment´s nice but when we walked in we found out that the beds don´t come with sheets so my dad got really upset and it felt like a scene from curb your enthusiasm. we had to walk 10 blocks to a supermarket that sold sheets.

 

yesterday i went to see the movie whiskey at the cinemateque and it was really good. i´m really impressed by the cinemateca uruguaya. the programming is a lot better than the one in vancouver. for a city a little larger than vancouver it´s really good. the cinemateque has 5 theatres in montevideo and the week after i leave montevideo they´re screening 3 jodorowsky films: el topo, holy mountain, and santa sangra. the week after i come back from piriapolis they´ll be screening godard´s eloge de l'amour that i think i´ll go see. i haven´t heard much about that movie. i wonder if it´s any good.  the 2nd half of whiskey was filmed here in piriapolis. a lot of it takes place in hotel argentino which is a hotel right next to where we are. population here is 15 000 permanent residents but in the summer there´s a lot more. most people come here in the summer for the beach. in the winter it´s dead. most of the people are uruguayans and argentinians but right next to me right now are french canadians.

 

people say whiskey here when they get their picture taken instead of saying cheese.

 

it´s my dad's b-day on saturday and i got him a book by mario benedetti. his favourite writer. he´s the most famous uruguayan writer. i´ve only read one book by him in spanish class and it was great. his books are translated in english as well and you can find them at the library.

 

this is a really nice place. lots of people on scooters and bicycles. there´s the mountains, the beach, and i even have fashion tv. since this is a resort town, everythinig here is slightly more expensive than in montevideo, even the internet so i have to cut this short.

 

love, ani

xo