Cold in Brrrrruguay

 

Dont be too excited by the title.  It’s kind of tongue ‘n cheek.  It isn’t really cold here at all.  But everyone looks like it’s cold.  Today it was 11 degrees at 17:30 when I took these pictures.  The way many folks are dressed, you’d think it was 10 below in Duluth or Winnipeg, (which is kind of balmy to the locals there

Uruguayans really bundle up dont they.  Scarves everywhere, and not around the neck either.  Around the head and what is particularly interesting to a Toronto boy, around their faces.  I get this discombooberated feeling when I see that.  I expect to see frost on the scarves, but I dont. 

After living here through a winter and into this colder part of the year, I’m starting to understand why they do this.  I think it has to do with the time Uruguayans spend outside.  Unlike us northerners, they’re not running from the house to the car and from the car to the office or school and back again.  Here, they are walking, and walking and walking… and waiting for the bus.  I remember when I was a kid, we’d sneak out at lunch to have a smoke.  But we couldn’t go our lockers, so we’d stand out there in a shirt and sweater at 10 below zero, huddled together on a street corner.  The point is this:  you can take the cold if it’s for a short time.  If you had to spend an hour outside at 11 degrees, northerners would bundle up like this too… but probably not with a scarf wrapped around our head   I think that has something to do with the thing Uruguayans have about their lungs…  Many believe that inhaling cold air is bad for the lungs.  Gives you all kinds of terrible illnesses. 

Pocitos must be the home delivery capital of the world

  

McDonalds ‘free’ home delivery: 08002800

A couple of days ago, I was walking down 21 de Setiembre and for fun, started tracking all the stores that offered home delivery.  Long ago, when I first got here, I noticed delivery guys on bicycles and it tweaked an old memory of mine from when I was a kid.  My dad told me that was his first job.  Delivering groceries on a bicycle for a neighbourhood grocery store.  Even at that young, tender age, I thought that was pretty kul, because by then, that service had long ceased to exist in Toronto… or at least in the part that I lived in. 

So I decided to count them up and for fun, figure out what % of stores did it.  I walked a 6 block stretch of prime store locations and guess what.  I stopped counting when I realized it wasn’t a % at all.  It was all of them.  Every drugstore, supermarket and restaurant did home delivery… for free.  When I got to the end of my walk, there was the local Macdonalds, and guess what.  It had free home delivery too. 

Renting an apartment in Pocitos

We started a search for a one bedroom apartment on Sunday.  It had to be a one bedroom within 4 blocks of where we live and with 24 hour porteria.  We used the Gallito as our starting point.  Within minutes, we had 3 or 4 apartments circled. 

My wife and her friend did all the legwork.  They called and made appointments yesterday and this morning.  After they looked at the 4, they decided on one that was exactly what we were looking for.  It was one block away.  Perfect…

When they said they wanted it, the person representing the owner said there were 3 others in line ahead of them.  They believe him because when they were there, another 2 groups were waiting to see it.  It must be a popular block.  So we asked them what it would take to get to the front of the line.  After some negotiating, we agreed to present an offer to rent to the owner in which we paid the rent up front for the year.  We got that idea from someone who rented an apartment from us last year.  As an owner, it appealed to us.  No hassle collecting the rent. 

The next step was to prepare the offer.  You need to satisfy the owner on 4 points.  That you really exist (copies of your cedulas fulfill this requirement).  That you are a land baron, like the owner.  You pledge a property as a guarantee that you will fulfill the rental contract.  That you make enough money to pay the rent, (seems a bit silly when you pay the year up front – but this is Uruguay).  You have your escribano swear that your income is such and such.  What such and such should be is anyone’s guess.  We came up with a figure they should be happy with.  Not the U$S500l/month required for immigrants .   And lastly, you have to sign the ‘proposal to rent’ agreement they provide you with.  This lays out the details of what you’re proposing to rent.  It includes things like you’re going to pay for the electricity, telephone, gastos comunes.  It also describes what you get or dont get.  In our case, it was mostly no’s.  No garage.  No heat.  No air conditioning.  No stove.  No fridge.  No furniture.  In fact the only thing we did get was an electric water heater.  That was nice of them. 

Now we have given that to the owner’s agent and are patiently waiting to see if we’ve been approved.