In Uruguay, and more commonly in parts of Argentina, you will hear people, men and women alike, refer to each other as "Che". I have been curious where this comes from, and assumed that it derived from "Che Guevara", but I was wrong. I asked my teacher and the explanation I received was that "Che" came from the verb or action "chistar" which is a word to describe the sound "cha" that one would use to get someone's attention. It is similar to when we say "hey" to get someone's attention. ( My teacher also mentioned that 10 years ago there was a period that the buses didn't have any bells to notify the bus driver when you wanted to get off the bus. One had to "chistar" to get the driver's attention.)
Anyway, from "ch" came "Che" and instead of it being only a way to call out to someone, it also became a way to refer to someone, such as when we say "Man" or "Dude" (if you are so inclined) or "Girl". In fact there are a ton of names that refer to men here in Uruguay. To name a few...Hombre, Senor, Caballero, Tio, Loco, Tipo, and of course, Che. The reason that Ernesto Guevara came to be referred to as "Che" was through his year of travel through South America. People outside of Argentina hadn't heard "Che" before, and thus began to associate it with him.
For what ever it is worth, that is the story I got! Any other explanations out there?
01 December 2006
De Donde Viene "Che"?
28 November 2006
(90+95)/2=93%!!!
Hello everyone! I had my second (and last) examen this Monday and I received a 95% percent on my oral exam. 10% increase since my last test! My classes end this Friday. I appreciate all the time I have had to learn my grammar and a large amount of vocabulary. Now it is up to me to buy the morning paper, start watching a little more local TV, and continue chatting with as many people as I can.
"Tu" versus "Vos"
It is amazing the difference in Spanish between the Latin American countries. Thank goodness for my Spanish classes. For those of you who had high school Spanish in the states, do you remember how the teachers never taught "vosotros" (the familiar form of ustedes) because they said we would never use it? Well, I went to Spain a few years back and indeed needed it! Here the Uruguayos do not use "vosotros" but they do use "vos" which is the familiar form of "tu." I know what you are thinking...I thought "tu" was the familiar form. It is, but the Argentines and Uruguayos decided to complicate matters for us extranjeros and use an even More familiar way of speaking called "vos". It sounds similiar. For example, instead of saying "como estas" one would say "como estes" (perdon my lack of accents...there is an accent over the "a" and the second "e". Also accents in the first "o" in como)
I have learned to recognize it and use it. However, I prefer to use the "tu" form. It is not that I am trying to be stubborn. It is just that if I go Mexico or Spain and say "como estes".....they might not understand me!
Lucky for me everyone understands the "tu" form perfectly. They way it has been explained to me, and they way I have observed it, is the "tu" form is somewhere between "vos" and "Ud" or is mixed in with speaking with "tu". Are there any Uruguayos have some comments on that? I thought at first I was being too formal, as the Uruguayos are very causal and familiar in general and use "vos" with just about anybody apart from a older person or maybe in a job interview. But I was assured, that it was fine to use "tu".
So there you have it. =)
Ahhh the adventures of learning a language!!!
25 November 2006
HAPPY BIRTHDAY ET!!!
It is El Torero's Bday today!!! Feliz Cumpleanos!!
-GG
Update: Dessert-themed birthday parties are excellent! You should try it!
Picture 1: The Spread!
Picture 2: Make yourself a sundae. Inspired by a food magazine article.
Picture 3: Clerico, or white sangria... make sure to add 7-Up or clear, sweet soda.
23 November 2006
Happy Thanksgiving!!!
My contribution to Turkey Day....Peach and berry Cobbler
Thank you to all our new friends here in Uruguay that made our Thanksgiving fun and memorable this evening! We are very grateful for our community that is growing here and the new friendships that we are making.
To our friends and family back home...We miss you so much! We are so grateful for your love and support. It was great to talk to you all today. Next year we look forward to green jello, gravy, cheesecake, and a great game of "spoons!"
Love, GG
Why we love Uruguay
8:15 am Tuesday morning.
We go to our favorite cafe with internet access and attempt the search one final time. As ET is scanning the Frommer's guide, I am flipping through the pages of the guide book...again.
"Hotel Uruguay? Did we try that one?"
I received a ambiguous shrug and I was off to the nearest pay phone. "Jose" at Hotel Uruguay quickly became my new best friend after he told me he had one room left complete with a bathroom. One hour later were there. I was thrilled, you would have thought I was entering the Four Seasons. Clean towels, the shower was separate from the tub, and our keys worked. Bliss. Truth be told we did get a lot of street noise, but nothing some ear plugs couldn't handle. Furthermore, we were out of San Telmo and now located in the "micro center" of town which is central to many attractions and some important locations ET needed to visit. Now we could settle in and enjoy the rest of our time in La Capital.
22 November 2006
Are we camping?
Part 3: of our Buenos Aires adventure. (see below for previous stories)
Let me take this time to say that I consider El Torero a wiz at internet searching. Ask him anything and he can find it. We have enjoyed wonderful restaurants, exciting theater, and stayed at fab hotels and B&B's around the world through the convenience of the internet. For some reason, we just were not as lucky this time. *
*Internet novice suggests: One thing that I have learned from ET is to LOOK FOR REVIEWS FROM OTHER CONSUMERS when internet shopping. There was very little available the in BA the week we went, and in our desperation for an affordable place to stay, we neglected to look for reviews and took the info at face value.
That very same afternoon, after seeing deciding we did not want to stay at "frozen food" we went hotel hunting, and two doors down we found our second hotel. They had "no room at the inn" for that Sunday night, but we could check-in first thing Monday morning. The lady was lovely and assured us at that someone would be around 24/7, that our room was not next to the street, that we had hot water all day and night, etc. etc. The price was also half of the previous spot (this should have told us something) and no breakfast was included (not a problem...GG is a fan of cafe hopping) Tired, desperate, and (again) naive, we made a reservation without seeing the room. We said good bye until the following morning.
The rest of that evening we took a break from thinking about our hotel situation. We had already missed the large street market in our barrio of San Telmo, so we hopped on the Subte (Underground) and went to Belgrano, where we visited a lovely artesian fair. I enjoyed this arts and crafts fair more than any other I saw in Buenos Aires that week. There was beautiful jewelry, leather wallets and belts, wooden utensils for the kitchen, mates (below photo) hand made wind chimes, etc. Everything was very well made, and very affordable. After wandering around for a while we hopped back on the Subte to make our way back to our hotel.
Monday Morning 11:00 am
We arrive at our new "Hotel" a.k.a glorified camping. I call it glorified camping, because I am sure if you have all had that experience of entering your tent of a crowded campsite only to realize that those tent walls are not as thick as your bedroom walls back home. Which means, much to your dismay, that you can hear your "neighbors" chatting all night.
Second, I call it glorified camping b/c of the bathroom:
Do you see a space/shower curtain/or door between the toilet and the shower head? No. Why? B/C there is none.
I will spare you more details of the humidity of the room, the sheets, etc. Instead I will simply tell you, we stayed one night and left at 8:00 am the next morning.
I guess I am not a real gaucha after all!
I was wishin' I was a sailor...
Because according to the above picture they have a designated home! (click on picture to enlarge)
We will start with "frozen food" as my mom, after hearing our stories, has nicknamed our first hotel. In fact, it was not a hotel, nor was it even a hostal. It was an apartment in an old house, converted in to this guest house of sorts. We arrived at 3:30, only to find a note on the door with the owner's cell phone number. Great. It's boiling hot, we have walked a 1/2 mile to find our little guest home in San Telmo and the "duena" is out to lunch. Of course we have no cell phone, so we take refuge at the near by gas station. After our second attempt, the owner answers the phone. She apologizes, and tells us she is on her way. We naively think this means she be there in a couple of minutes and so we leave the aire conditioned mini mart and venture out into the baking sun again. Twenty minutes later she shows up. By now our faces are a nice rosy red. El Torero's from the sun, and mine from frustration.
The apartment was basically clean and comfortable. However, some things we were not told: Our room faced a very busy street with buses passing by every half hour or so. Second, she did not actually have wireless internet access like the website said, what she had was an old computer with a fuzzy screen located in her room upstairs. She wasn't actually there all day to give directions, advice on what to see, etc. And the breakfast that was included? Bread rolls from the freezer.
Ok fine, we thought we could deal. But after a night of buses passing under the window every 30 minutes, our room keys unable to lock our doors (is that asking too much?) and ET's discovery there was a CAT lingering around the apartment, we decided we could find better.
But could we?
20 November 2006
La Capital de la Argentina
Hello Buenos Aires! El Torero and I crossed the river in the Buquebus to visit La Capital of Argentina. El Torero needed to do some research for his thesis, and I went along to keep him company and play tourist! Buenos Aires is a huge city of about 6 million people. This is a crazy amount of people! I have to admit I spent a lot of time the first day or two staring at my map feeling lost, and a bit overwhelmed. But thankfully, the Argentine people were very friendly and helpful. I think the police in BA double as tour guides. Many people would stop and ask directions (myself included). They were always incredibly nice.
We arrived on Sunday, and after a little navigating with help from the local tourist kiosk, we headed to Hotel #1 (as we will call it for now) in San Telmo. San Telmo is the area that was developed during the colonial period. The first inhabitants of Buenos Aires lived in this barrio. It has a huge market on Sundays where supposedly thousands of people flock to find an assortment of antiques and collectibles. We missed the market, but in my wondering the next day I did stumble on this lovely plaza with the tango dancers. It was more quick step tango, which seemed more modern to me. Any tango aficionados out there? Congruent with the antique fair, this area also has dozens of antique shops. I'm not so into knick knacks, but it was fun to window shop. In the evening we discovered some great trendy restaurants in the area, that also doubled as wireless internet spots...which proved to be very, very needed....
Coming soon...
"Three hotels in three days...what gives?"
09 November 2006
45 Minutes in the Life of El Torero
Minute 0 (Zero). El Archivo General de la Nación (The National Archives)
Bet you didn't know that we take post requests! At the suggestion of commentator numero uno, Minamelos, I present to you a part of my daily life: my walk home from work.
This morning GG and I went to Punta Carretas Shopping to buy our Buquebus tickets to Buenos Aires.. As this was a little out of the ordinary, instead of walking to work, I took the bus to the Archivo General de la Nación, which I counted as the start.
Min 5: I pass the Plaza Cagancha. A 10K run starts here (Kilometer Zero) on 12 November.
Min 5: Here's a look down 18 de Julio at the Plaza Cagancha and the Columna de la Paz y la Concordia.
Min 10: That's the Monument to the Gaucho.
Min 15: The Municipal Building for the Department of Montevideo. Inside on the floor is an aerial photograph of the city.
Min 18: La Biblioteca Nacional (The National Library)--Where I spend most of my days reading and note-taking.
Min 18'30" In front of the Law School of the University of the Republic there is a Natural Foods Fair. Should I buy the Chocolate Liquor?
These are "Californian" rabbits and non-descript chickens.
Min 22: The Al Natural store where I buy raisins and other dried fruits. I'll buy some whole wheat bread from them when we run out because they are nicer than the people at the store GG goes to on occasion.
Min 26: Probably the nicest house I pass when I walk this way. I would have done the house more justice had I taken the picture from across the street.
Min 28: La Vienesa--panaderia and confiteria. This is where I buy little snacks like bizcochos, croissants, or other yum goodies.
Min 32: Florist. The flowers always look good here, but I ususally buy them for GG from street vendors like I did this morning.
Min 38: Disco--Supermarket. Today I bought some mozzarella to go with the flour tortillas I made yesterday. You guessed it, tonight's quesadilla night.
Min 40: Some people gathering to eat and then go drumming around their neighborhood. The type of music they play is called Candombé.
Min 42: The Spanish ambassador's house. They've been doing some work to the building and the sidewalk which is one reason I started a new route to downtown.
Min 44: El Novillo Alegre--Our local butcher. The guys inside are really friendly and the beef, chicken, and pork,(and other parts of each animal that I will not describe here) are excellent.
Min 44'30" Just a few seconds from home. The view down Avenida Brasil as I jaywalk across the street.
And there you have it, Minamelos... A little bit of 8 November 2006.
04 November 2006
In the Kitchen with Gaucha
Chicken and vegetable soup with homemade stock
Hello Friends! Hope everyone enjoyed their Halloween festivities! I did manage to have two of my old favourites, Snickers and Reese's. Over the last couple years I have acquired a taste for only good quality chocolate...Toblerone dark, Dagoba, and artisan truffles to name some favourites. But alas, it seems my "refined palate" still has a spot left for a chewy, sweet Snickers bar!
I love desserts, I have to admit! But on the other hand I love making us healthy, tasty dinners. I have been mentioning how fantastic the produce is here in Uruguay. In addition, the chicken and meat are very good quality. I can not quite remember the price of chicken breast in the states. But I can buy about one kilo (about 2 pounds) of juicy chicken breasts for about five US dollars. Someone back home...how does that price compare?
I am still trying to find some good cheese that I like, though I am sure it is just a matter of trial and error. Goat cheese seems to be a novelty here, and eight times out of ten the stores do not have it. This is disappointing! We are slowing building up our stock of spices and condiments and we have found a French whole grain mustard that we absolutely love.
Anyway, here are some pictures of my experiments in the kitchen. I'll follow up with some more later!
it all starts with a trip to the farmer's market.....
five US dollars for all the above! 
Spaghetti Pasta with fresh argula, tomatoes, and garlic
Stir-fried chicken & snap peas with avocado-apple salsa
Ratoutille (before cooking)
(left) fresh strawberries with (hand-whipped) whipped cream
(right) homemade arroz con leche topped with cinammon and raisins
WHICH to eat for dessert? No, no...which to eat FIRST is a better question.
and finally...the giant chocolate chip cookie....
Coming soon: In the kitchen with El Torero!
