END OF YEAR IN PUNTA DEL ESTE.A HAPPY ENDING,
END OF YEAR IN PUNTA DEL ESTE. HAPPY ENDING.
We approach in the car to the rambla of the Mansa beach in Punta del Este. The car parks were already occupied by luxurious cars and others more discreet.
A crowd had taken over along the entire path.Some families had even brought small tables with their respective chairs and ate the refreshments and drank the drinks they brought in small frigo bars.
We sit on the grass behind a small palm tree. It was already about 11 o'clock and at 12 o'clock they were launching the fireworks, a tradition that the Hotel Casino Conrad Hilton inaugurated. I worked in Punta del Este when they hotel was opened. I was in my first two years in Uruguay.
Now a crowd was crowding along the long path very near to the beach. There was a soft and fresh breeze that allowed to be with light clothes.
My son-in-law, my daughter and my princess Juli we sit down calmly. Ale opened the small frigo bar we were bringing. He took out bags of fried chips, cider bottles, beers and an orangeade without sugar for me.
Juli was happy and danced in her mother's lap on the verge of excitement.
I started watching the audience around. I saw a large group of girls and boys dressed all in white and I asked my son-in-law:
- Those are members of some religious sect?
-Do not. They are brasucas or Brazilians who want to appear to have a lot of silver "cache".
- And those fashionable dresses with Nike shoes and Adidas shirts?
-These are "Fats" of Maldonado that arrive on their motorcycles and claim to be of superior class.
- And the women dressed in white in transparent coats?
-They are "Argentas" tourists who want to differentiate themselves from the Uruguayans, who wear closed black to differentiate themselves from the Argentines.
- And the millionaires where are they?
-In the balconies of those luxurious buildings.
- I looked and observed that all the buildings were illuminated and several people looked at the panorama at their feet, also waiting for the twelve o'clock and the sky to be lit with colored fire.
Suddenly it was midnight. Explosions of fireworks filled the air. The sea reflected the multiple colors. It was a beautiful show.People, without distinction of social barriers, began to embrace and kiss each other, strangers with strangers, an immense happiness united us all.
For a few moments this reminded me of some of the final verses of the Rock Group song "Led Zeppelin" "Stairway to Heaven"
"When all are one and one is all"
I carried my granddaughter in my arms, I squeezed her in my arms and I began to cry with emotion.For all the people who were now one.
For my little family. And for those who had left in Cuba.
I embraced a Cuban-his accent betrayed him-He said:
-If I had known before that in Uruguay they were like that, I would have come a while ago.
I wanted to tell him that things were not so simple, but I abstained.
There was so much rejoicing in everything in the whole crowd. It was not time to talk about the issue of an emigrant, far from his beloved island.
Dr Orlando Vicente Alvarez: end of 2018.
cuban uruguayan ,genius
Thursday, December 6, 2018
THE CHIQUI: AN EXTRAORDINARY URUGUAYAN
THE CHIQUI: AN EXTRAORDINARY URUGUAYAN.
I met La Chiqui when she lived alone in a villa not far from Montevideo. She is the mother of my sister-in-law A ... already married to my brother W ... in Punta del Este. They invited me to her birthday.
The villa was extensive and there was a lot of cultivation land and a large house with 4 rooms with two bathrooms where the Chiqui lived alone with its precious antique furniture, cabinets full of glasses of all colors and for different drinks and a large fireplace-fireplace marble where they fit like three men and that she lit with wood when it was very cold.
Also on the farm there was something else, a little apart, which she rented to some very silent elderly people who did not get involved in her life.
La Chiqui inherited all the land from her parents and, being very young, she married an emigrant from Italy, very masculine and serious but sweet with the children they had. When she talks about the husband she says "the deceased" and how loving he was.
Between the two they planted vineyards they built small pieces where they stored the wine. There was a well connected to a spring from which they drew water for personal consumption and to irrigate all kinds of crops that grew strongly in that fertile land. They did not have to go to the market to buy vegetables.
Everyone works the land and the mutual work, while the three children went to school.
When the children came from school she forced them to take off their shoes at the entrance and put on some kind of flip flops so they would not dirty the nice floor. That was how obsessive the Chiqui was with cleaning.
Thus they lived as happy in those times where the family was everything.The husband died still young of a heart attack. La Chiqui, after mourning him, devoted herself more zealously to the cultivation of the land, selling eggs from a large chicken coop that was next to the wine cellar. Not content with that, she dedicated herself to giving sewing classes-at that time there was not as now all kinds of factory clothes-teaching how to design bridal and dress of 15 years
.When my mother and my brother came we took them to the Chiqui. She was already a person over 82 years old but erect and hardworking as if he were still young.
That's where I met M ..., a slightly overweight and fiftyish matron who talked non-stop with the voice of an angry lioness while not releasing the cigarette from her hand. A verbal incontinence, typical of the elderly Uruguayans. They talked about anything, except soccer and politics, because it could cut some heads and blood everywhere
.The banquet, as it were, a mixture of Italian and Uruguayan dishes and vegetables, tomatoes, ajís seasoned with a sauce that only the Chiqui knew the secret, devilishly delicious. And a hungry Mata-hambre-hungry kill- in churrasco with boiled eggs and roasted with milk, between two wooden plates tied with a rope to remove all the juices. Something only allowed to the Gods. And the cake, strawberry, apricot, peach and a lot of meringue that was the dish that completed the menu. All done days beforey by the Chiqui.
Then we brought her to Punta del Este. We went to the Playa La Mansa. Mama Gloria with a towel robe and Chiqui guiding her towards the water - Mama only said she was blind when she needed a special care or attention, so all the time she was on the beach the Chiqui took care of her in the water, guided her steps and Gloria swollen with pleasure.
Years passed and the Chiqui had problems of Hypertension and the beginning of Glaucoma. So the daughter got a buyer for the farm and rented a spacious apartment in Maldonado, where she would be closer to her daughter, my brother and me.
I visit her every week and even though I tell her not to prepare lunch for me, she makes a giant "meriendita" with beets and mushrooms and takes the sweet out of the beet with a way of washing in warm water and then cold and then hot and so on ... and I gobble it up like an exotic delicacy, then a spinach pie, no flour-how can you do that? What a delight. And nobody talks about diseases or death.
She is a widow of great faith, although without a rosary but with prayers when getting up and going to bed. And she loves red chorizos like my mother Gloria.
They call him Chiqui because she's 1:50 in height.
But it's pure sweetness and it gives me a lot of happiness.
A walking little heart.
Chiqui that you live many more years.
Orlando Vicente Álvarez.
Saturday, November 24, 2018
THE POPE FRANCISCO BERGOLIO AND THE EXCESS OF CONSUMISM
POPE BERGOLIO: EXCESS OF CONSUMISM.
In the radio and television of Punta del Este they put several announcements:
In the barracks Silsa we have received Uzbekistan tables ISO 342 HEL 659, waterproof- hydrophobic- cut with a horizontal saw-Spintel whirtol- that are ideal for covering your bedroom, living room or toilet.
Then a beautiful woman telephoned her neighbor:
-You saw how the Silsa barracks are selling some precious planks, from Uzbekistan, I was already -I think French or from Bulgaria-, and they gave me the bathroom of that kind of wood. It is green like fine linen and gives an elegant touch wherever you use it.
-And the price?
- More economical than I thought. My frend . I do think fabulous. Now the bathroom looks like a sauna.
- And the toilet closet, How did you manage to replace it?
_Very easy dear. You have to go to buy the boards ISO 342 HEL 659.
- I'm going in my truck right away. Any more indication?
-Good. Ehh The only drawback I found is that the ass... is left full of splinters.
- It does not matter, dear friend. If you bought those ISO boards ... I love them too, even if we have to shit in a crouch.
In Punta Shopping you have to see the ladies with skins, collars, gloves and fine shoes, stir in boxes of old-fashioned clothes and very cheap. I suppose they will give them to the poor or they will use it when they take off the costume of millionaires.
In a very famous Supermarket they announced that for a package of Frankfurter, in Creole hot dogs or as they say in Argentina, panchos, they gave you another for free. And there I went, encouraged by the propaganda. There was a crowd of all social classes in the Sausages section. I bought a frankfurter package and they gave me another extra. Then at home I saw that the next day they expired.
That night I ate all the hot dogs until I vomited them.
Clothing is going out of style every season. It is not like before a pair of pants lasted several years and you did not feel out of "wave" The elasticated jeans that narrowed at the ankles went out of style. Now the wide skirts appear below the knees and pants wide as legs of elephants. And people to buy, even the poor to feel fashionable. The sandals of huge platforms are "demodé"
And nothing. That excess consumption is bad for the mind and pocket. When will this end, Papa Bergolio although you condemn it?
orlando vicente álvarez
In the radio and television of Punta del Este they put several announcements:
In the barracks Silsa we have received Uzbekistan tables ISO 342 HEL 659, waterproof- hydrophobic- cut with a horizontal saw-Spintel whirtol- that are ideal for covering your bedroom, living room or toilet.
Then a beautiful woman telephoned her neighbor:
-You saw how the Silsa barracks are selling some precious planks, from Uzbekistan, I was already -I think French or from Bulgaria-, and they gave me the bathroom of that kind of wood. It is green like fine linen and gives an elegant touch wherever you use it.
-And the price?
- More economical than I thought. My frend . I do think fabulous. Now the bathroom looks like a sauna.
- And the toilet closet, How did you manage to replace it?
_Very easy dear. You have to go to buy the boards ISO 342 HEL 659.
- I'm going in my truck right away. Any more indication?
-Good. Ehh The only drawback I found is that the ass... is left full of splinters.
- It does not matter, dear friend. If you bought those ISO boards ... I love them too, even if we have to shit in a crouch.
In Punta Shopping you have to see the ladies with skins, collars, gloves and fine shoes, stir in boxes of old-fashioned clothes and very cheap. I suppose they will give them to the poor or they will use it when they take off the costume of millionaires.
In a very famous Supermarket they announced that for a package of Frankfurter, in Creole hot dogs or as they say in Argentina, panchos, they gave you another for free. And there I went, encouraged by the propaganda. There was a crowd of all social classes in the Sausages section. I bought a frankfurter package and they gave me another extra. Then at home I saw that the next day they expired.
That night I ate all the hot dogs until I vomited them.
Clothing is going out of style every season. It is not like before a pair of pants lasted several years and you did not feel out of "wave" The elasticated jeans that narrowed at the ankles went out of style. Now the wide skirts appear below the knees and pants wide as legs of elephants. And people to buy, even the poor to feel fashionable. The sandals of huge platforms are "demodé"
And nothing. That excess consumption is bad for the mind and pocket. When will this end, Papa Bergolio although you condemn it?
orlando vicente álvarez
Monday, February 6, 2017
#Uruguay #puntadeleste SUMMER PUNTAESTEÑO SEEN BY A GUANTANAMERO
SUMMER PUNTAESTEÑO SEEN BY A GUANTANAMERO
It is full summer in Punta del Este. The sun bites the skin and the sea is bluer. The atmosphere has changed. We are invaded by Argentinian and Brazilian tourists with their convertible Audi and Mercedes Benz. It is a delight to see them roam the streets at full speed.
The Cacho's Post has opened for the season. The sight rejoices between so much greenness and the color of the fruits, some exotic for me.
I go to the beach, to La Mansa which is more quiet and has a better view with the island of Gorriti and the cruises to the front. They have built a wooden walkway along the beach where tourists on foot can admire the view and stroll along the entire shore. I wear short , t-shirt and slippers and my digital photo camera.
No one is bathing despite the prevailing heat. I go down to the shore and put my feet in the water. This frost! How can it be? It seems that Antarctica is closer than the tropics.
There are umbrellas lined up everywhere where the richest classes sit down to sunbathe, especially in front of the Casino Conrad Hotel which has a hostel in front of the other side of the promenade, near the shore and two flags announcing the rum Havana Club to cool off with a Cuban daiquiri or mojito. This reminds me of my land.
I see the water skis lined up near the shore ready to be rented. In the sea, at a short distance, I see two motorcycles competing in a mad and humid race towards eternity if they do not slow down.
I stop to enjoy a mojito. They are not like those of Cuba, they lack the file as Hemingway liked in the Floridita of Habana. Anyway, ice and yerba Buena and sugar make the taste delicious. I take it by sips, so that it is eternal, so that it never ends.
The sun burns the skin, I do not have time to travel all the beach until arriving at the port where lined luxury yachts and other more discreet. I take some photos to remember that hot afternoon on the beach in the middle of Punta del Este when I am older, if God permits.
DR ORLANDO VICENTE ALVAREZ
CUBAN URUGUAYAN,GENIUS
Tuesday, May 17, 2016
COSTRUMBISM: A GUANTANAMERO IN PUNTA DEL ESTE. I keep walking and breathing the salty air. The sunset is stunning.
TRUMP SON,HIJO
A Guantanamero in Punta del Este
The summer is gone in the
Southern Hemisphere. We are in the Uruguayan fall but it seems that is the
Winter stepped forward. It was five days of constant rain. The wet sheets and
clothing that will not dry on the clothesline.
The empty streets. Empty restaurants. It had gone the wave of Argentine tourists and Brazilians who came to spend the summer in hotels or on its imposing mansions gabled roof. After being in Punta del Este free from that summer plague is a real pleasure to walk along its avenues by the sea.
There are two beaches on either side of the peninsula: that of the Mansa, with its calm waters and the Brava with its stormy sea. Of the Mansa is for most people, the older ones, it's more peaceful. In the remaining stragglers Brava surfers who defy the icy waters with their waterproof suits. I prefer the glow of the crashing waves at sunset, make me feel younger.
Sheltered from weather conditions with a thick coat, scarf and gloves I ride the Bravanear the imposing buildings. There is building it is Donald Trump, a roundedand striking like everything he does.
Who would say that a Guantanamero would feel like a Puntaesteño more? It's what I feel after so many years. My beloved tiny country is only a longed remember plunges into the mists like thisevening, and luxury yachts port, with the lights off, waiting to sail north, where it is still summer.
Meanwhile I walk alone along the promenade. My
daughter wait for me at the end of the day. My brother went to Guantanamo. He
will be enjoying the warm waters of the beaches of Cuba and a tasty roast pork.
I keep walking and breathing the salty air. The sunset is stunning.
DR ORLANDO VICENTE ALVAREZ
CUBAN URUGUAYAN,GENIUS
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