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i'll be posting more pictures very soon along with the answers to this survey.

homeless dogs

these photos were taken in piriapolis. i'm assuming they're abandoned because i used to see them almost everyday on their own. it's scary watching them cross the street. it's sad but they seem happy here.

listen to the argentinian yé-yé girls!

thanks to ryan for finding this http://foxbase.livejournal.com/500478.html
baby batiz is my favourite.

other blogs you might be interested in

i added a couple of links to some english language uruguay blogs that i've found. they're part of my montevideo links on the left side. "the montevideo diaries" is from a british expat living in montevideo. i'm really excited about finding it and i'll be spending 8 hours tomorrow reading it at work! and "from uruguay" is from someone who just wants to "share the experience of living in Uruguay." if you know of other ones, send me an email or respond to this entry and i'll add them.

the view from my aunt's place in aguada, montevideo

these shots were taken with different exposures. they look like they were taken at different times of the day but that's not the case. it was right after it stopped raining. you can see the rainbow on the 3rd photo. if you look at the last photo, you'll see the parliament building (el palacio legislativo) at the very end.

mario handler

mario handler is a documentary filmaker, teacher and founder of the third world cinemateque in uruguay. i heard about him through watching a tv documentary in montevideo on his work. watching him talk about his films and uruguayan cinema, made me want to know more about his documentaries, especially his latest one "aparte" (aside) which deals with the poverty in montevideo. here's an article about it.

and another interesting article on uruguayan cinema.

and here's something from that site that i didn't know:
"Since 1993, the Uruguayan cinema has produced more films than over the last hundred years."

kamchatka playing from March 31- April 9

kamchatka is an argentinian film that came out in 2003 but next week is going to be the exclusive first run screening at the vancouver international film centre. a good excuse to check out that theatre if you haven't already. it's the best movie theatre in town. this film has som great reviews on imdb, but the reason that i'm most interested in seeing it, is because it deals with the military coup in 1976 and the people that were captured, tortured and "disappeared".

Seven killed in Uruguay TV stunt

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4819094.stm

carlos liscano

my mom sent me an email today with a link to an article in the french newspaper liberation about a man, carlos liscano, from montevideo who wrote a book about his life as a political prisoner in montevideo. it's called Truck of Fools: A Testimonio of Torture and Recovery. the article is here but it's in french. carlos liscano is from la teja, the neighbourhood that i grew up in which is also the neighbourhood where the current president, Tabare Vazquez, is from. the library doesn't have this book. did you know that you can suggest a purchase at the library through their site? and once they purchase it, they place it on hold for you. so far, they've purchased everything i've requested and hopefully they'll do the same for this book.

san telmo flea market, buenos aires

you can really find anything you want here. but the prices aren't that cheap. they know what things are worth especially if the place is filled with tourists. if they know they can make money from you, they will. the rest of that neighbourhood is known for its antique stores and flea markets. that's all there is! you really need to be in the mood for shopping or just spend lots of time looking around.


the accordeon is a popular instrument in tango music so you get to see it everywhere (along with the violin).
antique dolls scare me. i always find it strange when adults collect dolls. i wonder what that means? maybe they're compensating for a lost childhood?

lobster farming

this is what a lobster looks when they're a few weeks old. i checked the english/spanish dictionary for a translation of langosta which is what they're called in spanish and it says lobster but my mom says that it's a smaller version of a lobster. i'm not an expert on lobsters so i don't know. i don't even like the taste.

they get thrown into this water when they're bigger and that house you see in the back is where they spend their time when they're very small.


it takes a year for them to get this big. aren't the colours so pretty?

the lobsters enjoy the company of ostriches and cows.


i think i could spend a few months on a farm.

steven seagal and “submerged” irritate uruguay

"Uruguay is seriously considering legal actions against the producers of a Hollywood film “Submerged” with Steven Seagal which ridicules the South American country as a banana republic where a terrorist captured US nuclear submarine is taken."

read the rest of the article.

this happened last year but i didn't know about it until now. the movie went straight to video. don't rent it!

el rock nacional

here's the list my cousin hagop gave me of some montevideo bands that i should be listening to. i heard most of them and they all sound the same. mostly rock with some bands adding ska/reggae influences. nothing that i'm interested in but it gives you an idea what the music sounds like.

snake
3 of the members are armenian. they've toured the states, and they seem to be one of the more popular bands along with la trampa, buitres and no te va gustar.

hereford
go to downloads

la vela puerca
click on discos to stream their albums.

la trampa
guitar player is armenian.

buitres
you can hear 2 songs below the player (buitres and bienvenidos)

no te va gustar
go to musica on the right and press play

graffolitas
click on audio then click on escuchar

other bands, but i can't find their sites:
los traidores
vinilo
danger 4

they all make motosierra sound really good!

if you can't find a job, maybe your pet can?

you can make a lot of money during the carnival if you own a goat. this picture was taken in piriapolis. kids climbed on top of the carriage to go on rides. this goat came from the andes. they don't raise goats in uruguay. poor goat.


this was in the san telmo neighbourhood of buenos aires. i'm not sure what the dressed up dog's job is. to look cute maybe?

the famous fingers in punta del este

no matter how many pictures i have of this hand, whenever i go back to punta del este, i feel compelled to take another picture. it's actually really hard to have no one close to the fingers. it attracts a lot of people.



it would have looked cool if the finger nails had colourful designs on them.

that silly ben affleck commercial you'll never see on american tv

i mentioned in a previous post, that ben affleck commercial that played all the time on uruguayan and argentinian tv. i found it! it took me a while to understand it. i'm sure it plays everywhere else outside of north america. i'm surprised he comes across as the loser here.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=5aVAjSRbKFE

uruguayan murga

the montevideo carnival

download my cousin's music

i included some of my favourites here. his name is hagop, he's from montevideo, and the name of the album is "songs for garo". the files will expire in 7 days.

hagop_02.mp3

hagop_06.mp3

hagop_07.mp3

hagop_08.mp3 (my favourite)

employment in uruguay

i was looking through one of montevideo's daily newspapers, el pais, in the jobs wanted section today and i was shocked to discover that the jobs were divided between male and female jobs! and not only that, but once you get into the female jobs, they specify their preferred age group and ask for photos with their resume. of course, most of the female jobs are sales and administration related (i.e: secretary and preferably young and pretty ones) and the male jobs are more computer related. that made me so angry! i can't believe nothing is done about that. i told this to a co-worker from mexico and he said that it's like that in mexico as well.

so i was curious to find out if the person who uploaded all those uruguayan videos on youtube was from uruguay and he is. his name is denis and he's from canelones which is right above montevideo. and i included a map of all the departamentos. if you look east of montevideo, you'll see maldonado and that's where i spent most of my time last month.



denis lives in new jersey now. he moved there 3 years ago after he got in touch with an american guy through one of his websites who helped him get a job fixing computers. he has a couple of music sites:

70's uruguayan rock
http://ururock.com/

Classic Rock, Acid Rock, Psychedelic, Blues & Progressive Rock
http://sesentas.ururock.com/

watch me on youtube.com!

so far, i only have uruguay footage up but i'll be eventually adding some short videos. so if you want to keep up to date, add me as a friend. i'm also always looking for people to collaborate with. mainly writers, animators, d.p's and musicians.

now watch some very exciting footage of me lying in bed!

http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=calamityani

and while you're on youtube you can check out videos from 60's uruguayan bands los mockers and los shackers.

los mockers
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9m0q7D53vY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fo8-ta0DjOk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3lep9VZfqU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYp8h2kOylw

and los shakers (they reunited and i saw them play in a restaurant while i was in punta del este. it wasn't that great. they had a camera crew there and almost the whole show made it on tv the next day with the band interviewed as well)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hhJqV58wMo

and a documentary on uruguay in 1930

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bluMDrr4CoA

la boca in vogue magazine, recipes from uruguay

looks like the tango look is in fashion these days. i was looking through the march issue of american vogue and from pages 484-500, there's a whole tango themed fashion spread shot in la boca, in buenos aires. that tango sign in the picture below is featured too! it's not too hard to take a great picture there with all the colourful buildings. tango is such a sexy, passionate dance.



i've been wanting to post links to uruguayan recipes but they're hard to find in english. my mom sent me a link to a site that has the recipe for faina that i've been wanting. faina is as popular as pizza in uruguay. and if you scroll to the bottom, that german pastry, pasta frola is there too. i should attempt to make some of this and have a uruguayan party. who wants to come?

wow, i just found out that faina is a typical dish from genova! and i need chick pea flour to make it. where do i find chick pea flour in vancouver?

http://www.traveltouruguay.com/recepies.html

more photos

on flickr. and i still have so much more. i'll upload those soon too.

tango

when people think of tango, they always say argentinian tango but it's also from uruguay.

dancers in downtown montevideo


if you want to see dancers in buenos aires, you would have to go to la boca. it's a very touristy place during the day and they're very aggressive about taking your money if they see you taking pictures of them.


la boca


tango music in the san telmo neighbourhood in buenos aires.

my old house, a young busker and school uniforms

uruguayan school uniforms. this is for boys and the next picture is for girls. on my last day there, it was the first day of school and i saw a boy in that uniform and it looked like a dress! they wear their clothing underneath and the white tunic looks like something you would wear if you were painting and the big bow looks ridiculous!





in buenos aires



i spent the first 5 years of my life in this house. businesses rent the downstairs and we lived upstairs. on the left is my uncle's and cousin's dental clinic and on the right window, it used to be my dad's office. in the back there's a bedroom, kitchen and bathroom.



a very young sad looking busker in buenos aires



growing mushrooms out of a plastic bag in piriapolis



in la ciudad vieja, montevideo



i've been waking up every morning at 4-5am because of the 6 hour time difference. when is it going to end!?

the man with the speakers on his bike, piriapolis uruguay

he's paid to ride his bike and play annoying ads. i think there's a tape deck on top of the seat.

pastries, sandwiches and drinks

here's all the yummy food and pastries i've been writing about.


chajá. it always comes in a paper wrapper with the logo chajá de paysandu, even when you order it in a restaurant, so you know it's the authentic chajá.



dulce the leche



pasta frola. a german desert that you can also buy in any Confitería but this one was homemade.



grappamiel



un cortado. a stronger version of a macchiato. the 2 best places for a cortado are at oro del rhin and cafe facal on 18 de julio. they always bring you a glass of mineral water with your coffee and in buenos aires they serve you either cookies, chocolates, orange juice or mineral water with your coffee. and starbucks hasn't made it to either uruguay or argentina yet.



pastries and sandwiches from Confitería carrera. the oldest and best Confitería in montevideo.





confiteria carrera



tortas fritas (fried cakes)



pomelo (grapefruit). paso de los toros (the steps of the bulls). the best brand of pomelo! unfortunately most restaurants only have the quatro brand which is owned by coca cola and isn't as good.



parilla. parilla is a way you cook the meat. with the grill on a diagonal angle. some restaurants have it but not all of them. in canada, most brazilian restaurants would have that. i don't think i've seen an argentinian or uruguayan restaurant here yet.



un sandwiche olympico y una coca from la pasiva.