[Paisleychick-lj] title, we don't need no stinking title

[Beatrice M's blog]

[![][1]][2]   
[Pine cones on the ceiling][3]   
Originally uploaded by [blmurch][4]. 

We are still in La Paloma, Uruguay, staying at a different place, Hotel Embeleco, which is a great place run by Daniela and Aldo. The hotel has been in this family for two generations now. El Señor decided to string pine cones and hang them from the ceiling in the dining room. There are over 6,800 pine cones. I imagine it took a long time and was a labor of love. It adds a wonderful cozy atmosphere, even though it makes the room a bit dark. It is hard to capture in a photograph, but I tried.  
  
There are all sorts of other things hung on the walls as decorations: a dead large sea turtle, a lasso, tomahawks of various types, "gaucho" (cowboy) items, and braids of garlic among other things. There is an unused bar covered with pretty jugs, old pretty bottles of alcohol and other curios. [All of these touches][5] lend a tranquil and laid back feeling to the hotel. It is definitely not a sterile environment. The two dogs and the cat make this place feel like a home, rather than a place for tourists to sleep and the hotel employees to work. The kids hang out and help out as needed with chores. They also play with things and makes a mess. I love it.  
  


[![][6]][7]   
[Old Telephone system *in use*][8]   
Originally uploaded by [blmurch][4]. 

There is an old telephone system that is still **in use** to transfer calls to the different rooms. It is an old plug and play type. I have seen four of these in South America - all in hotels - but this is the first one I have seen that is still being used. Makes me smile and also helps me understand Kragen's love of old gadgets a bit more. The difference here is that it is not a project that has a small likelihood of being completed. This one is done and put to good use; not collecting dust on the workbench in someone's garage.  
  
An old school bus is parked out front. The owners converted it into an RV with beds, a bathroom and a kitchen. They took a two month road trip vacation through Brazil in the off-season here. Things may be old, but they work. It is a refreshing difference from the states where we are encouraged to buy new things as soon as the old breaks. People do with less here, but they make do. Life goes on and people's values are different here. Yes, work is important, but family is more so. So is a good long lunch. Spending time with friends sipping maté is a perfectly acceptable way to spend the afternoon. Saying "hello, how are you?" "¿hola, que tal?" is important as you walk down the street, meet people at the store, etc. This was not so much the case in Buenos Aires (at least for walking down the street) but even in Montevideo you nodded and smiled - pleasantries are very much exchanged. I know this is not a lost art in the states, but living in SF it was rare to have such exchanges and I think it was a shame. Life here is much more relaxed and enjoyed. A woman could get used to such things.  
  


[![][9]][10]   
[Stamps into Uruguay and Argentina][11]   
Originally uploaded by [blmurch][4]. 

This reminds me to let people know that we plan on being out of the country for the next 2-3 years. I don't know if I have made that clear. Some people think that once we have finished traveling around we will "come home". The traveling we are doing now is to find a place to live. We are not simply tripping around, there are goals here. We will settle down "fairly soon" I think, but we're not done traveling yet. As to where - for me the top candidates are Argentina and Uruguay and then Ecuador. Venezuela is really nice too, but Chavez makes me nervous and I don't know that it would be a wise move to settle there. Peru is struggling for money, so much so that it is hard to walk down the street unmolested. Shop keepers and taxi drivers all **clamor** for your attention and money so much that I had to wear earplugs just to walk down the street, it was that bad. We still want to visit Chile and check that that country out. We plan on going there next week for a week, but don't hold us to it until we're actually there as our plans change all the time. Just know that where ever we *do* end up, we will have a guest room and we hope that our friends and family will come and visit us. You are all in our thoughts.  


   [1]: http://farm1.static.flickr.com/157/384758012_cab7208c79_m.jpg
   [2]: http://www.flickr.com/photos/blmurch/384758012/ (Pine cones on the ceiling)
   [3]: http://www.flickr.com/photos/blmurch/384758012/
   [4]: http://www.flickr.com/people/blmurch/
   [5]: http://www.flickr.com/photos/blmurch/tags/hotelembeleco/
   [6]: http://farm1.static.flickr.com/161/384761779_1628cd97db_m.jpg
   [7]: http://www.flickr.com/photos/blmurch/384761779/ (Old Telephone system *in use*)
   [8]: http://www.flickr.com/photos/blmurch/384761779/
   [9]: http://farm1.static.flickr.com/159/377437622_65e5aa54a4_m.jpg
   [10]: http://www.flickr.com/photos/blmurch/377437622/ (Stamps into Uruguay and Argentina)
   [11]: http://www.flickr.com/photos/blmurch/377437622/

URL: http://paisleychick.livejournal.com/297754.html