What a View!

Until Monday, every time we open our front door, this is what we see - the tail end of our 20 foot shipping container. As if I could forget, it reminds me that the clock is ticking and our move is imminent. Whoo-hoo!

Just Pets Rocks

No, this post is not about that seventies phenomenon, Pet Rocks, it is about my favorite pet store, Just Pets in Reston, VA. Which does not sell Pet Rocks, by the way. However, the Pet Rock concept was cooked up in.... wait for it.... Los Gatos, California. So, there is a tie in to this post afterall.

Being paranoid about the well-being of our pets in Uruguay, we have stocked up on Newman's Own canned food and Wellness dry food to make sure our furry four legged kids will continue to get the healthful and nutritious food they eat here in the US.

Thanks to the guys at Just Pets for ordering it for me and being so cool about it. Remy, Noah and Snickers thank you too!

That New Car Smell

Our new car awaits us in Uruguay. In April, on our last trip to Uruguay, we went car shopping. Considering where we will be living, out in the campo, we need a car. And, considering a new car in Uruguay is not necessarily something you drive off the lot the same day you purchase it, we started shopping early. Good thing we did.

After narrowing our choices to Volkswagon, Honda and Peugot, we decided on the Volkswagon Parati. Para-wha? The Parati is assembled in Brazil. I am not sure, but I think it is named after a town in Brazil. It is comparable to a Jetta station wagon.

Shopping for a car in Uruguay is nothing like shopping for a car in the U.S. First, the price is what it is. We visited about six dealerships and the price quoted was exactly the same at each one. Second, this may be different for luxury cars, but in our price range, you get what you get. We did not have a menu of options from which to choose to customize our ride.

Cars are expensive in Uruguay. For example, MSRP for a basic, manual transmission Honda Civic in Uruguay is $28,900. A comparable Civic in the U.S. would cost $10,000 less. That, and the fact that the only Honda dealer in Montevideo would be getting one Honda Fit in two to three months later eliminated Honda from our short list. It is not a common car yet and we do not want to stand out.

So, after deciding on the make and model we wanted, and choosing the color - choices were grey, and grey - we put a deposit of $1000 down on our car and went home. A month later it still was not in. Then it came in, in black. We decided to wait for the next delivery since we now had extra time due to postponing our move once. Meanwhile, the price went up, but the dealer honored our original quote. When it did arrive - after a small delay because of a general strike at the port - we wired half of the money to the dealer. Our friend Gloria paid him a visit to get confirmation that he received the money and to get the VIN number. Only after she confirmed the car was in the showroom and was ours did we send the balance.

Another note about buying a car in Uruguay, forget the test drive. That is a luxury you simply don't get. Again, maybe it is different with the luxury brands, but with the average car, you can look at it in the showroom, sit in it, and that's it. Dealers simply do not have the resources to keep a bunch of cars around. In fact, it is customary to pay first for the car, then the dealer is able to get it out of the port, then you get your car. You really have to trust the dealer, and that is something we are trained not to do in the U.S.

The Time is Near

Very near. We and the tres gatos are scheduled to fly out of DC on November third. That is two weeks from today. Oh my god, why I am writing when I should be packing?! Okay, gathering composure and continuing... We are nearly packed. There are boxes stacked up in the living room and in the basement. The rest will be packed in the next four days. I have contracted with an NVO (short for Non Vessel Operating Common Carrier, like my new lingo?) to send our things by sea from the port of Baltimore to Montevideo. The vessel itself will get there after a trip to the Med. By the time our things arrive at the end of November (it's a 22 day journey) our household goods may be better traveled than we are. Nah, that's hard to do!

In an international move, a big moving company is kind of like a general contractor. Their guys show up at your house to pack and load your things, but after everything is packed and loaded into a shipping container, they work with partners to fulfill the rest of the move. In our case, we are the general contractor. We will work with at least three parties to get our things safely to our new home - the NVO who works with third parties (the trucker who hauls the container to and from our home, and the shipping line who owns the vessel), a customs broker in Uruguay who will get our things released from port, and a local mover to haul the container out of port and to the house for us.

The first part of the journey begins this weekend. On Friday, Bernard the trucker will drop off a 20 foot container at our house. Then on Saturday, a crew we hired will load the container. This is not an across town move, this container is going to be moved around by cranes and will be on a ship which will possibly encounter huge waves and maybe even storms, so how it is packed matters. Our crew will make sure it is packed tightly and balanced. After the container is all packed, we will put our own chain and locks on it. When the trucker comes on Monday to pick it up, he will apply a seal, which - touch wood - will be unbroken until the container is taken to our Uruguay home.

Well, back to packing. Stay tuned!

These are a few of my favorite things.

I could not resist the Sound of Music reference. We spent a week in Vermont recently at the Trapp Family Lodge, courtesy of my Aunt Helen and Uncle Jack, so the title seems apropos. We found Vermont to be pastoral and refreshing, with a relaxed easy pace and good quality of life. Kind of like Uruguay, except with bigger mountains and a brutal winter. We are a month away from our move. Between boxing things up and fretting about details, I am day dreaming about Uruguay. Here are few things I am looking forward to.

1. The night sky in the country.
When you turn off the lights, the night is black and the stars brilliant. Just like in Pennsylvania when I was a kid.

2. Quiet nights.
No car alarms, no neighbor's music. Just crickets. Oh, and the bats in the eaves of the house...but that's another blog post.

3. Learning Spanish.
Total immersion.

4. Taking visiting friends and family to the Mercado del Puerto.
In Anthony Bordain's words, a "glorious, joyous, miasma of meatness".

5. Exploring Uruguay and other countries in South America.
In addition to exploring the coast and interior of Uruguay, here are a few places on our must see list: Machu Picchu, Florianopolis, Iguazo Falls, Tierra del Fuego, Buenos Aires, Mendoza, Patagonia, the Amazon, the Bolivian Altiplano and Lake Titicaca, Santiago...

6. Gardening.
We'll see if I really do have the family green thumb.

7. Fresh unadultered food.
The Slow Food movement is quite at home in Uruguay.

8.Beautiful beaches.
The most isolated.
The trendiest.

9. Not having to be anywhere.
Nuff said.

10. Watching the horses from our front porch.
See number 9.

11. Keeping chickens.
See number 7.

12. Meeting new friends.