Dear Caminoheads,
Cris again reporting today on a foggy day from one of the sides of the Rio de la Plata. If I would have gone to my office, where I used to go to work before the pandemic hit, today I wouldn’t have been able to see Uruguay, which is our neighbor country on other side of the river… And I have been missing that view, which I haven’t been able to see since early March 2020, when we were all sent to work from home due to the pandemic.
If you do not know a lot about Uruguay, I would say that it is like Argentina but way more reasonable! Argentinian and Uruguayan people identify themselves as “rioplatenses”, which means we are all born in “the Rio de la Plata”. We speak the same Spanish, we drink mate, we are fond of the music and the dancing of the tango and the milonga, and we share so much that it is crazy that we are divided by the widest river in the world (it is 220 km, equal to 136,7 miles width).
Maybe this is the reason why both Argentinian and Uruguayan people are described as “friendly” and “easy going”, in part I believe, it is because for us, different is seen as a gift of our ancestors as the vast majority of us come from a “melting pot” of Aboriginal people from the different regions of the continent, European immigrants, Africans, and the locals. “Criollo” is a word that describes our true nature, and a “criollo” was the term to describe the mix of a <local> with someone who <wasn’t local>.
Anyway, I could go on and on and on trying to explain more about this, but instead, I would like to suggest to you to spend 15 minutes (yes, I know, it is a lot, but believe me: you will not regret it) and watch to this TED-talk. The one talking is Jorge Drexler, who is a very famous and talented musician (and happens to be also a medical doctor -ENT specialist-) from Uruguay.
*****There are subtitles in English available, just click the “Wheel” icon and select “English subtitles”*****
Loves from the Rio de la Plata,
Cris
I’ve always been interested in Uruguay but have never been as Brasil is the only country in South America I’ve set foot in.People often mix up Uruguay with Paraguay!
Kevan,
That’s exciting! Where in Brazil have you been? And tell me more… why has Uruguay interested you? That is interesting itself!
Hugs across the pond!
Kindly
Cris
Only Rio de Janeiro in Brazil.I don’t know why Uruguay is of interest to me perhaps because it’s a bit out of the way.Those 3 up the top of South America ; Guyana, French Guyana and Suriname are curious ones too.I mustn’t forget Paraguay as well!
Rio is beautiful… full of contrast! I lived in Sao Paulo for a while, in 2004, and as you may know, Sao Paulo is like the “New York” of Brazil, full of businessmen and busy people… while in Rio de Janeiro, people (called Cariocas) wake up and head to the beach for a walk and a swim in the sea, and show up to work at 10 AM… Some of our Sao Paulo friends asked us if we knew why the Christ in the Corcovado hill was with his arms open…? He said it was because he was waiting for the Cariocas to go to work by 8 AM to clap! (obviously, he said full of envy!!! I would love to be a Carioca and have “the samba in my feet” and that beautiful walk (“Orla”) to walk in every morning!!!
Hugs to you!
Cris
Oh! I have always been curious about “Suriname”… When I was a child I used to call it “Surname”!!!!
🙂
Cris
Thanks, Cris! I watched the TED talk which was very good. . I learned a lot. And the closing song tied everything together reminding us that we are all connected.
Thank you, Susan! I love Jorge Drexler music… he owns a very gentle way of seeing the world which I identify a lot with!
Thank you for coming by!
Much love!
Cris
No I didn’t know that San Paulo was the New York City of Brazil.I knew that there was a rivalry between San Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.Another great southern hemisphere, although some of Brazil is north of the Equator, rivalry is Sydney and Melbourne.I wish that I’d gone to the Igazu Falls when I was down there but the price of the flight was very pricey and the bus took 20 hours.I could have walked from Brazil into Argentina and for the slightly braver into Paraguay a bit further up the river.
The Iguazu Falls are just marvelous… I have been there many times during my life, as a child, and then as an adult as my ex-husband was from that province. And I have been in Paraguay a couple times too… it is a fun experience… Crossing a street and being in 3 different countries in less than a minute!
😀
Cris
There’s a place not too far from here,but with coronavirus it might as well be a light year away!, called Baarle Nassau and Baarle Hertog which is in the Netherlands (Nassau) and Belgium (Hertog) and the town is split into lots of little bits some are the Netherlands and some Belgium.So you can be in a pub where the bar is in the Netherlands but where you sit outside, mainly in the summer in Europe as it’s too cold most of the year,in the garden you are in Belgium!A bit like crossing the street but a bit more mundane finding yourself in Belgium rather than Paraguay or Brasil!
I will check that out!!!!
You are like my friend, Luis, he is a brilliant hemato-oncologist, but he is actually knowledgeable at everything and we have baptized him “Dr. Wikipedia”!
😃🍺
Cris
Ah but I’m not an oncologist just an omnivore of information! Since being diagnosed with Stage 2b of the very rare lymphoma Mycosis Fungoides I had explored cancer and it is very interesting but I suppose best explored from outside rather than from within,or rather it within you.I didn’t realize all the different types of cancer.Among the non Hodgkin’s Lymphomas there are hundreds of types but only one Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.Even Mycosis Fungoides is subsplit into about 8 different types.They type I have appears to be Classic Mycosis Fungoides.