Friday, July 31, 2009

Group discount! We like that...

After our very pleasant high-tea cum-happy hour yesterday at Este Cafe, we were presented with a "preferred customer" card and offered 10% off for low season prices and 20% off during the high-season. I have a few cards to give away.

It was a pleasant surprise considering we didn´t really ask for anything, but that initiative from Carina, the owner, got us thinking, and Eddie suggested something we´d been considering recently: let's gather common interest groups for trips or activities where we can benefit not only from the mutual company but also from volume discounts.

Mirtha from Garden Ranch nurseries in La Barra immediately chimed in saying she would come up with something to offer the group. Travel is an obvious option too, whether for scuba-diving in Brazil, skiiing in Bariloche or just going to the thermal spa in Salto or a tour of Uruguay's emerging wineries.

So feel free to let us know of anything you would sign up for.

On a completely unrelated matter, I have a request for a one-hour English conversation class on Fridays, concentrating on business lingo. Anyone in Punta del Este interested let me know.

Thursday, July 30, 2009

Our mailing of July 29

Below is this weeks´ mailing. I have removed the item about our meetings at Lady Marion´s resuming in the spring because there appears to be some confusion on whether or not we can meet there this month. Will clarify further soon.

Hi everyone. Thanks for all the nice messages.

• Menu for this Thursday’s high-tea and directions to Este Cafe
• Monthly meetings at Lady Marion’s on winter recess
• Mozarteum Foundation benefit dinner concert
• Tricky concert at La Trastienda
• Help for Sra. Eva´s after-school program
• Donations for Maldonado animal shelter
• Beach-front house for rent on Parada 46
• Reminder for August gathering

Tomorrow’s gathering at Este Cafe has an official menu already. Our buffet will include the items below, plus one drink, for the 230 pesos ticket. Additional drinks will be 50% off as a special promotion. They will be ready for us at 4pm, closing at 8pm.

- Sesame bun sandwiches with prosciutto and ruccula
- Cheese bun sandwiches with ham and cheese
- Mini quiche Lorraine
- Cheese scones with poppy seeds
- Lemon pie
- Chocolate and dulce de leche mousse cake
- Ricotta cheese and peach cake
- Mini apple tarts
- Mini passion fruit tarts
- Orange cake

Mozarteum dinner & concert,
Friday August 7, 7PM, Hotel L´Auberge

María Laura del Pozzo (piano, Argentina) and Roberto Martínez del Puerto (cello, Uruguay) will be performing at the Mozarteum Foundation’s dinner concert at Hotel L’Auberge. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to the restoration work of the Maldonado Cathedral, which is included in the National Historic Monument registry. Tickets are US$ 50 or UYU1,200. For a full program or reservations call or write to Graciela Smink: 042- 247901or gracielasmink@adinet.com.uy

Tuesday, August 18, at 9 PM, Tricky in concert at La Trastienda (Montevideo)
Tickets available through Red UTS, 800 and 1,200 pesos
Location: La Trastienda, Fernández Crespo 1763, Montevideo
Phone:02 4026929
I am including this because a) I am a huge fan of Tricky, and b) La Trastienda is the venue in Uruguay for hipper, alternative music of various genres, so if you’re interested, look them up online, in Facebook, etc.


Sra. Eva is a lady of humble means who helps very poor children in Maldonado by hosting them in her home all day Saturdays. She used to have a daily after-school program where she would feed them the traditional after-school milk with bread, or “merienda,” but she can no longer afford to do so. We have plans to resuscitate the old after-school “merendero” as these programs are called in Spanish, but for the time being we are requesting donations for the roughly 30 to 40 children she helps out. She says right now blankets are sorely needed, but also clothes. The children she helps range in ages between 8 and 12, but she says they all have brothers and sisters who are older and younger and can use whatever clothes or school supplies or anything else we can donate. Because we would like to expand the program, we are also accepting other donations such as a second-hand TV, furniture, etc. or a pledge for the milk or bread supply that could be useful in bringing back the daily merendero.
Also, in addition to material donations, anyone wishing to volunteer time to help her out would be welcome. She is an elderly person, and at the moment gives the children a morning and an afternoon bible class. So if someone out there feels like teaching English, or just playing with the kids, that would be welcome. As we expand the number of days we will need volunteers on days other than Saturdays.
For the time being, you are welcome to drop off donations for Sra. Eva at Marabierto (calle 30 between 18 and 20) to the care of Sra. Mirtha or Barbi or Margarita, or email me to coordinate a pick-up if you absolutely can´t bring it over

Marcelo Da Silva informed us of the drive for donations for the Maldonado animal shelter and I forgot to publish it on time. Shame on me. If you wish to donate anything, call 099 155650 and they will pick it up if you can’t deliver it to them.

ESC member Dawn Malaker is finally concluding major renovation work – including brand new kitchen and bathrooms – at her house on Parada 46 and is putting it up for rent. The house, on an amazing beachfront lot, has a pool and a tennis court, and is fully furnished, with 5 bedrooms and 4 and a half bathrooms. However, the Malakers would prefer a family of no more than 5 to rent it. Dawn expects the house to be ready to move in by October or November. Available for US$1,800 per month. For further details contact Dawn ucdawn3@t6b.com, or her local realtor, Marina Risso, at 099690170 or malrisso@adinet.com.uy.

And finally, a reminder that on Sunday, August 23, we will be getting together for an “all you can eat” pasta and crepes lunch at the Sierra de las Cañas location of Pachamama, on the hills behind Punta del Este. It´s a rustic setting in the countryside run by a Hare Krishna couple, with a putting green available to ease digestion by putting (bring your clubs and balls) or puttering about. Come to think about it, it´s all very exotic, restaurant in the hills run by HKs and with a golf angle... :-) For this I do need RSVPs, so please reply if you are going. The cost is 700 per person including non-alcoholic beverages. Wine and other spirits are not sold, but are welcome to bring them ourselves. BTW, thanks to Marisol Nicoletti for suggesting the place.

Hi and welcome

Hi all. At the suggestion of Monica, a newish ESC member from California and avid surfer, I have set up this blog.

For now, a reminder of this afternoon´s high-tea at Este Cafe, from 4 to 8 pm, and of the Chicago Children´s Choir concert at the Conrad this Saturday.

I will post a couple of mailings I sent out in the past few days, and will welcome pictures from members from past gatherings. Just tell me the approximate dates, and if you have them and have permission to do so, the names of the people in the pictures.

Otherwise, check in regularly, I will be posting further news and comments of interest to the group.

If you are an not in Uruguay and are planning an exploratory trip to Punta del Este that does not coincide with any of our meetings, let us know and we can organize a lunch or dinner with a few members for you to exchange ideas.