Fewer degrees of separation

Yes, I now have just what, three degrees of separation from Kevin Bacon? It turns out that he and wife Kyra Sedgwick who are spending the holidays in Punta del Este decided to stop by my brother´s shop in La Barra and bought a hat. So can I claim 2 degrees then?

Thing is we are being flooded with celebrities. Well, it´s just a trickle actually, but we´re all very excited. "Bruce Willis is coming?!?!?!?!? I will go to see him!!!!!!" That´s my mom speaking. On the babe-front there´s Uma, Naomi, a couple with Russian names, and of course, Miss Shakeyourbooty Shakira. And on the camp front, Siegfried from Sigfried and Roy!

Not to mention the entire constellations of Argentine celebrities, most of whom I have no idea who they are.

Three cheers for Judge Graziuso

As every year around this time, Punta del Este receives an influx of undesireables who flock here with ill intention. I used to go to the cops on Gorlero or the Rambla and tell them "Lookie there, a thief" only to be told that as long as they weren´t committing a crime and being caught in the act, we could do nothing about it.

Well, it turns out something can indeed be done. Since yesterday there are reports in the press of Judge Adriana Graziuso refloating the old vagrancy laws to request identification from sketchy-looking fellows or from those asking for money or playing fake "car attetndant" on the streets of Punta del Este. Upon confirmation that the individuals in question are not residents and don´t hold a job in the area, law enforcement is authorized to buy them a ticket, literally, back to their place of official domicile.

Further, when noticing that the crooks are on parole and violating the terms of their releases by being away from their stated domicile, the respective judges are informed. Likewise if there are arrest warrants pending.

Just a few days ago I noticed a very scary individual loitering in front of our store. I crossed the street to ask the attendants of the gas station whether they knew him and was told he had shown up that day, pretending to be a car attendant. I was relieved to read in the paper that he had been shipped back to Montevideo. And I am happier still to know that if any other such person bothers me by "aggressive begging" he can be reported to the cops who now have the tools to send him away.

A note on the legal system in Uruguay. Law enforcement is driven by judges, not by district attorneys or prosecutors. A judge receives complaints and initiates prosecutions or investigations at his or her discretion, and therefore sets the tone for enforcement. Maldonado recently lost Judge Alvarez Petraglia, who is focused on white collar crime. But Graziuso´s actions go to the essence of quality of life for everyone living, traveling or working in our area. So kudos to her.

A high-season bonanza of events

OK, for Punta del Este year-rounders the added traffic, the crazy crowds and having "our" beach and "our Tienda Inglesa" run over by tourists has few compensations beyond the monetary benefits of renting out our homes. So we need to acknowledge the one clear plus, the wealth of events of every color and stripe that comes with "them tourists."

Sports-wise, a January classic is the Rugby Seven-a-Side, a tournament that is on its 21st edition. The matches will be played at the Maldonado Municipal Stadium and the dates appear differently in every media report, somewhere between January 3 and 5.

For motor-sports fans, there´s the F1 Power Boat race, apparently on January 1st, although again, it´s hard to pin down a date from press reports, which speak only of "the initial hours of the new year".

If you're a sail-sports fan, Jan. 3 is the date of the ADES regatta, a multiclass race with more than 80 competitors, from respectable yachts to windsurf boards.

On January 6 there´s polo at the Estancia Vik, with the Polo Art Tournament sponsored by Estancia Vik and Godiva Polo Management, which seem to have wrestled the sport from the traditional Medellin venue. There will be an exhibition and auction of works of art, polo paraphernalia, etc. to benefit public schools in Maldonado and Rocha.

Also on Jan. 6 you can gather along the road to cheer the thousands of runners on the Corrida de San Fernando, a marathon growing in number of competitors year after year. Don't try to drive on the waterfront on that day in the afternoon, you might end up who knows where with the traffic diverted ever farther from your destination...

For those who consider real-estate a sport, the Salon Inmobiliario de Punta del Este (SIPE) is held at the Conrad Hotel starting from January 7 through 10. That's where developers showcase their ongoing or planned projects, a good way to do comparison shopping without having to drive miles and miles from one place to the next.

In the cultural arena, the International Jazz Festival at Tambo El Sosiego (Lapataia behind Punta Ballena) is on its 14th edition, and will run from Jan. 7 through 10, with local, regional and international performers, and featuring with Paquito D'Rivera as music director.

In the visual arts field there are sooooo many art-show openings that it's impossible to keep track. In addition to individual events at the dozens of galleries, there's the by now traditional "Gallery Nights" when all the galleries in La Barra open up their doors on weekend evenings, and offer some bubbly and hors d'oeuvres if you're lucky.

There are classical music concerts in the gardens of Hotel L'Auberge, ballet at the Conrad, and also the more popular fare of international star and Punta del Este fan Julio Iglesias, who will sing at the Conrad three nights in a row, Jan. 13, 14 and 16.

I'm sure there's many more things going on, but this is plenty for now...

Merry Happy everything, and a meeting point for New Year´s

Well, it´s time to give in and enjoy the holidays, after so much and running and stressing.

Right before we close shop for the day, figuratively speaking, I wanted to go ahead with someone´s suggestion (was it Alicia?) and remind everyone of New Year´s Eve´s festivities at the harbor promenade across from Isidora and Lo de Tere.

It´s free if you have dinner elsewhere, just bring your own bottle(s) of champagne, dress in white if you can, scream at the count down, enjoy the fireworks and dance away afterwards.

If you want to meet other English speakers in the area, the meeting point is the sidewalk across the street from the restaurants Isidora and Lo de Tere. Party on!

Catering in Punta del Este

For personal and business reasons I often require catering services or have the chance to taste the fruits of their labors, so I thought it would be good to mention a few. Budgets vary widely, and so do style, quality of the food, staff, etc.


First off, among the Punta del Este English Speakers´ Club membership there is Vivian Tausk, who in addition to speaking many languages is also fluent in Middle Eastern food as well as international cuisine. 094 720054



Next I have to mention Portas, whom we have used over and over again for many years. Portas is a traditional "confiteria" from Maldonado, that is, a bakery with party service, as they say in Uruguay. In our experience what distinguishes Portas is its extremely reasonable prices (cheap) and the dependability of its service. The food tends to be old fashioned, unimaginative and not too high quality, so we use them for "infrastructure" as I say, and their freshly baked bread. They bring drinks "on consignment," meaning anything not consumed goes back with them. Because they are so reasonable we use them often, and provide the food ourselves or from a different caterer. 
221733 or 225660


Another favorite in the budget category is La Sandwichería, which to my surprise has gone upmarket with fancy schmanzy catering services and, as they themselves advertise, "eventing" which I refuse to accept as a word. As their name implies, their traditional fare is cocktail sandwiches, pretty delicious. 

But I had the chance of sampling their "eventing" a couple nights ago and was most impressed by their service as well as by some of the food. The pasta was tasty, the fried leeks rolls were weird, the "asian" chicken with vegetables looked unappetizing. Again, I would keep them in mind for service and sandwiches and I would request a sampling of other stuff, to stay on the safe side. No idea how their prices are because we always buy only sandwiches from them.
(042) 243993 or 094 298299


On a very homey note there´s the duo of Silvana and Simon, formerly of Piriapolis, formerly of Spain and formerly of Uruguay and England respectively. Silvana is a great cook and Simon is a very affable guy, so you feel like you have a couple of friends taking care of everything, rather than more formal waiters running around. Also very reasonable in cost. 099518662

On the higher end of the spectrum, we tried and hired View Point on several occasions last year and found it to be outstanding. View Point has a restaurant on Calle 20, and across the street a coffee shop with delicious pastries and sandwiches. The catering is as expensive as it gets in Uruguay, but the food is outstanding and the service is very professional. They are very meticulous with the preparations, including a tasting at the restaurant. 448015 or 448016



Another option is to resort to Montevideo caterers. Lo de Mechi is known for their delicious desserts, cakes and petit fours. We often have stuff brought from them for cocktail parties, for example. Their mousse de maracujá is awsome, as is their mousse de dulce de leche. The petit fours are incredible. The savory finger food is not so impressive. Price-wise it´s not cheap but great value and half the cost of anything comparable in Punta del Este.

02 6010720

Another excellent option in the "fancy" category is Elena Tejeira. We have hired her services in the past for an event with our most demanding clientele and got nothing but compliments throughout the day. The food was original and delicious and the service was top notch. The only thing is that once you add all the extra costs due to their "traveling" from Montevideo to Punta del Este, the refrigerated truck, etc., the cost is the same as View Point. But I will definitely hire them again at some point.

Our year-end bashes: a review

We watched this baby enter the Punta del Este bay on Monday at noon.

A review with few pictures because this pathetic blogger didn't manage to charge her camera! There must be pictures out there from Saturday night, and I have received a few from Silvia Haas taken Monday morning.

Saturday's dinner was epic in more ways than one. To begin with, Doris Hernandez, who was the hostess, had provided a Plan B location in case it rained. So it poured, and we proceeded to our indoor facility, graciously offered by David and Maria Malel, he a Uruguayan returnee, she, Australian, and both recent arrivals. The Malels and Doris were prepared for the confirmed list, but we were actually receiving confirmations until the very last minute, and some might even have showed up without one.

In the end, there were 75 of us, including a few children and teenagers. The place was bursting with people, and did I see Irv bring up a chair from his car or something? As usual, the food was plentiful, extremely diverse and delicious, and once again we got to meet some new people. I have to confess I am having a hard time keeping up with the new names all the time. For example, who was the American gentleman referring to his wife, Tammy, as "My Tamisita"? I can't remember his name, and I think it was the first time I met them, but I'm not too sure.

I met a couple from Romania via Canada (everyone from an exotic country is always "via Canada") who have bought a nice new condo and plan to spend time "in crescendo" in Punta del Este, culminating in retirement in a few years. There was also a lovely couple of visitors, he Uruguayan, she Polish, but long time residents in the U.S., currently in New Hampshire. They sound like they will be spending more time around us. 

By the way, there are a few items in "lost and found" held by Doris, so get in touch with her to claim them.

We hadn't had enough socializing, no. So yesterday morning we filed onto the terrace at Las Ostras to do some further chatting. As usual, there were some new people there, such as a Dutch artist who lives in Rocha town and who was happy to encounter Paul and Frances, two unrelated Dutch regulars in our group. Also the nice friend of Neal and Karen -- Neil is doing much better, btw, will be going home in a couple of days -- visiting from San Diego and apparently having no trouble at all finding his way around.

Las Ostras has the undisputed amazing location. Their terrace is huge, with 180 degree ocean, island and bay views, so despite our numbers -- somewhere around 40 of us, I would guess -- we took up just a fraction of the terrace. The day was unbelievably beautiful, which seems to be the case on our Monday meetings, so we spent a good 3 hours, and enjoyed a delicious lunch sandwich of chicken, zucchini and mozzarella on whole wheat pita bread, plus a complimentary basket of pao de queijo, the Brazilian cheese puffs. The prices were reasonable, and the service were very understanding, freaking out at the notion of individual checks, but smiling till the end. They say they will have us again, so we may come back in February. 

All around, a great way to bid farewell to 2009...

News in real-estate

Le Bleu, at the harbor

A couple of real-estate news items caught my eye today, thought they were worth sharing.

One is that Arnold Palmer is to design the golf course at the Las Piedras resort, according to Blogolfe, a Brazilian golf blog, which claims that Palmer has acquired a property on the much talked about Fasano development in rural La Barra.

Why am I so excited about Las Piedras? The project operates in the upper echelons of the luxury category, with several brand names involved. Las Piedras is developed by the Fasano group, owners of the hottest boutique hotels in Sao Paulo and Rio, and of the best restaurants in Sao Paulo. Fasano was actually bought out recently by JHSF Participacoes, a leadng Brazilian real-estate developer. For Las Piedras the group has hired Brazilian architect Isay Weifeld, of the Havaianas store fame. So in addition to a top-notch restaurant and what will be a beautiful hotel, no doubt, Punta del Este will have a much needed new golf course, designed by a golf icon. Not too shabby. The project involves 205 villas set in a 400 hectare property on the Cerro Eguzquiza, of which only 30% will be developed.

A true believer in "trickle-down economics," I am confident I will be able to take advantage of some winter special promotion at the restaurant, for example, or of being invited to some event at the hotel´s bar. I will enjoy it one way or another, you´ll see...

The other interesting bit of news is that the condo building on the harbor promenade where Blue Cheese used to be appears to be on again, after a loooong hiatus that left neighbors fearing the excavation for the foundations was to be their view forever...

Le Bleu is designed by Carlos Ott, our number two star architect after superstar Viñoly, of the controversial Acqua. Maybe not to be outdone in the "super expensive condos with own pools," this one will have individual swimming-pools in every unit, visible from the street. Scary but nice looking... Prices start at either $1.5 or $1.9 million, depending on the various sources. Units go from 380 m2 to 580m2, and there´s only five units in the whole building, so hurry up and reserve yours!

New venue for Saturday´s dinner

And yes, it is Saturday the 19th...

Below is Doris´explanation and directions for the dinner

Dear friends, In view of the gloomy weather forecast for tomorrow evening (rain), we’ve had to resort to “plan B” and change the venue for our end-of-year pot-luck dinner party.

The alternative location has been graciously offered by David and Maria Malel (Uruguayan-Australian), who own a place called “Ta’ Salao” on Victor Hugo Avenue close to the corner of Shakespeare street, in the “Jardines de Córdoba” neighbourhood (see the attached plan, and the directions given below).

It’s the fourth house on the right before the corner of Shakespeare; a thatched-roof house up on a hillock. Date and time remain the same: Saturday, Dec. 19, at 8 p.m. Looking forward to seeing you all tomorrow! Doris Cel. 099 190 201

Directions to get to “Ta’Salao”:
a) If you are coming from La Barra,

• After passing the San Rafael Hotel, turn inland on Avenida del Mar and drive for about two miles until you get to Bulevar Artigas.
• Take Bulevar Artigas to your right (there’s no other choice) and turn right onto a two-way avenue called “Victor Hugo”.
• Drive for about 3 blocks and you will see “Ta Salao” on your right.

b) If you are coming from Punta del Este:

• Take Bulevar Artigas towards Maldonado.
• Go one block past the Avenida del Mar roundabout, and make a right onto a two-way avenue called “Victor Hugo”.
• Drive for about 3 blocks and you will see “Ta Salao” on your right.

c) If you are coming along the Mansa beach, or from Punta Ballena:

• Turn inland at the traffic lights on Parada 24 of the Mansa Beach, into Avenida España.
• At the first roundabout, turn right on Roosevelt Avenue.
• On the crossing with Bulevar Artigas (after passing the Devoto Supermarket) make a left at the round-about into Bulevar Artigas heading towards Maldonado.
• Go one block past the Avenida del Mar roundabout, and make a right onto a two-way avenue called “Victor Hugo”.
• Drive for about 3 blocks and you will see “Ta Salao” on your right.

Open skies for Punta del Este airport! Hip, hip, hurrah!

I have often ranted about the moronic decision by whomever takes those decisions to have Punta del Este airport reduced to a local landing strip. As a result, people travel here not when they would like to, but when they can find a seat, which is a rare occurrence that comes at a steep price (I recently flew to Buenos Aires round trip for USD400).

Well, this is about to improve, as national aviation authorities have approved operating Punta del Este airport in open skies mode during the high season, from Dec. 20 through March 15. It´s a start. According to press reports, any airline will be allowed to land in Punta del Este subject to a 24 hour application/notice process.

Authorities also allowed BQB (Buquebus airline) to operate the Punta del Este-Cordoba and Punta del Este-Rosario routes with Argentina (the second and third largest sources of Argentine tourists after Buenos Aires), as well as Montevideo-Ezeiza (the international airport in Buenos Aires).

In addition, a third airline, Sol, which already operates in Argentina, was also allowed to fly the same Punta del Este-Córdoba and Rosario routes through March 15, in addition to Montevideo-Buenos Aires and Montevideo-Madrid.

And, uhhh, yes, the Montevideo airport´s new terminal´s opening date has been postponed again, this time without a new deadline to blow. Its inauguration is now "imminent" but not so imminent as Dec. 15, as previously planned. Originally the terminal was set to open in October, then November, then December. It´s hard to see how they could possibly accomplish the transfer from one terminal to the other in the middle of the holiday season, so my bet is mid to late January.

Corrected details of our December dinner

I don´t know what I was thinking, but all key details came out wrong... The right time of our potluck dinner at Doris´ on Saturday, the 18th, is 8 pm, not earlier. 

And the food contribution, which reads like it should be something for the grill exclusively, is actually anything you want, from snacks to side dishes, salads, desserts, etc....

December gatherings

As usual I mix up the date of the month and day of the week. So the right day and date of our third Monday meeting is the 21st of December.

That one will take place as usual at 11AM at Las Ostras, located on the waterfront, towards the tip of the Peninsula, about a block past the seafood vendor stalls at the harbor. The place used to be called El Mejillón, hence the sign of the photo below... It´s huge, with great views, and they can accommodate us rain or shine.

But our "special" year-end event is a potluck dinner party graciously hosted by Doris Hernández at her place. This will take place on Saturday, December 19, starting at 7 pm.

Please bring both a food contribution (can be meat or anything to be cooked on the bbq grill) and a beverage contribution.

The directions to get to her place are below, but if you have any questions, please contact her at dorisher at gmail dot com.

Directions:
 

a) If you are coming from La Barra or Punta del Este,

• take Roosevelt Avenue towards Maldonado, following the bus stop signs that say "Parada (number)"
• go one block past the sign for Parada 17 (corner of Mar Chiquita street), and
• turn right on Salt Lake street. Drive for one block and you will see the house in front of you

b) if you are coming along the Mansa beach,

• Turn inland at the traffic lights on Parada 24 of the Mansa Beach, into Avenida España.
• At the first roundabout, turn right on Roosevelt Avenue.
• After you cross Martiniano Chiossi street, turn left on the first entrance (Salt Lake street), and drive for one block. You will see the house in front of you.

This is what her house looks like.

A new member´s life journey to Punta

The stories of how people come to choose Punta del Este as their home are as diverse as the number of people we talk to. At our store a few days ago I had the pleasure of meeting Leslie (Raymond) who says that in several years coming here he never met an expat of the gringo variety.

He is now in our mailing list and will surely be attending one of our meetings in April, when he returns. In the meantime, here´s his story:

Yes, it is true I am from the Rancho-- western Kansas. I assume that is why I like space, since I grew up with miles of vistas and great food from our own gardens, cattle, chickens, fish from our bordos and river, and dairy products. My family was European and maintained many of those values, including education. So, I had many educational advantages due to family efforts to seek out those venues... even if that mean driving miles. College was always assumed as the normal route and I proceed through the BA in Kansas and then to Colorado for my MS and PhD. This experience lead me away from the ranchlands and to New York and Washington where I had new experiences through private and governmental work, including the White House office of the first President Bush. During those years, especially when relocating to the west coast in California, there were many opportunites for travel to Europe and to Mexico. But, I had started keeping a file on Punta de Este since an article appeared about 15 years ago in Town and Country magazine. And acquaintances who were social friends spoke of this part of South America, including their bird shooting and fishing trips. And, a very close friend whose father represented General Motors in South American spoke of the number of days travel to fly on a DC3 from Buenos Aires to Boston where she attended Smith College. And, I reminisced about my flights on a DC3 to college from Kansas City to Denver with several Kansas rural stops where it seemed to me the navigation system was to align the plane with rows of corn that were planted in front of the approachs. However, since flights to Europe were always so cheap compared to South America, it was not until several years ago that I came to Buenos Aires and then to Uruguay. I was then living in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, where I have a real estate company which is associated with Sotheby´s International Realty --and had become a Mexican citizen (dual)-- but I immediately found Uruguay my new found home: it reminded me of my younger days when I was in Europe and admired the way of life. It is such a contrast to Mexico; the amenities here in Punta del Este would be difrficult to duplicate any other place in the world. To me, it has the best features of the best world options as a place to live. I always ask myself "why did I not come years earlier." My realtor called one day in January 2008 and said the new YOO building is open and selling out quickly: are you interested? I wrote to say, YES, and buy one for me-- which we did that day and now it is announced occupancy will be in April of 2010. It is a great location for all services with the Shopping Center and Devoto within a short walk. And the beach at Parada 8 with the dunes that remind me of our beach home we had in Carmel California. But, I have my eye on an old Pathfinder or Defender Range Rover for driving out to the beaches and to the campo. I don`t know many people here and I now live alone as I have no immediate surviving family members. I am looking forward to meeting others who have experienced the same attraction to the beauty, the culture, and the language of Punta del Este. My biggest regret of the moment is that it is difficult to travel with my dog who would truly love evening walks along the beach or the tree lined streets. I look forward to the coming years of residency. I return in May 2010 to take YOO occupancy. (Raymond) Leslie Dugan

Uruguay tourism up 9.5% in November, and the war of the Casinos rages on

Tourist arrivals in Uruguay jumped 9.5% in November against the same month last year, impervious apparently to the crisis so severely affecting other areas in the world. The total to date is about 2 million arrivals, according to the Tourism Ministry, as cited by El País.


Maybe part of it is fueled by the current "war of the casinos" raging in the Punta del Este Peninsula. This weekend, a momentous one marked by the start of the First Southamerican Beach Games, the usual motorcycle "convention" with several hundred bikes roaring around, and the national holidays in both Argentina and Brazil, saw the inauguration of the new Nogaró casino, now "by Mantra."

The occasion was celebrated with a Ruben Rada live show minutes after (or was it concurrently) with cranes putting the finishing touches on the revamped facade of the decades old establishment located at the beginning of Gorlero. Back at the farm, I mean, at the Conrad casino, a poker tournament dished out USD1.5 million in prizes, but management was really rankled when it found out its hotel guests had received in their rooms hand delivered invites to the rival´s opening party.


Opening night, with scaffolding still up...

Conrad has been fighting in and out of court to prevent Mantra from taking over the Nogaró casino on grounds that its license granted over a decade ago guaranteed it exclusivity foreverandeverandeverandever in the private casino field, and that Mantra is benefitting from Conrad´s advertising budget. The hotel claims it spends USD10 million in promotion overseas. Authorities say competition is healthy, and frankly, seeing the Nogaró clean up and join the 21st century seems to be "for the greater good," and that includes Conrad.

Ruben Rada live and free on Saturday at Nogaró re-opening

If you like or are even curious about Afro-Uruguayan music, Ruben Rada is as good as it gets. And this Saturday, Dec. 5 he´s playing for free at the opening party for the refurbished Nogaró Casino, now "by Mantra" at the corner of Gorlero and Calle 31.

"El Negro Rada", as he´s known to his fans, is expected to play sometime after 10 pm, as per the invite. How long after is anyone´s guess...

Let the games begin

The First Southamerican Beach Games kick off today, with double venues in Punta del Este and Montevideo. That´s the reason for all those people milling around who look like they stepped off a cruise ship although no cruise ship appears to be in sight.

The event will bring 1,500 competitors to the country, with Montevideo hosting all the ball-chasing activities and Punta del Este the sailing, surfin, triathlon, swimming and water skiing competitions. 

The games will run through December 13, so plenty of chances of catching something or other, weather permitting.

Here´s a shout-out to Monica and Brian: Surfing runs from the 9th through the 13th, in Montoya! Enjoy...