Summer Holidays in Uruguay, in "Termas"!!!

Due to an aunt, that have never been in the "Termas" we planned an only women holidays.
The "Termas" area a wide area of west Uruguay where are Hot Springs and a great touristic infraestrucuture.
We went to the Daymán Hot Springs, but visited Salto Grande Hot Springs and Guaviyú Hot Springs at our return.
Although everybody though we were crazy going to hot waters in the hot season, we had a very good time there. During the day in that Region temperature could be 40ºC (104ºF), and the waters are at 40ºC too, but some pools are at 37ºC or lower.

In the Daymán area there is one municipal hot spring that you can see in the next pictures: the pools, the park, the barbacues, the open showers that are used for massage... its really a pleasure place, where in the afternoon you can enjoy an hydrogym lesson too :D

After a great day there, the next day we were to the aquatic park that is in Daymán: Acuamania. This is a familiar place with a lot of things for kids, teens and adults. It has a restaurant, a drugstore and a lot of pools, slides, bedshowers, even basketball rings in the pools.

We had a great time and I really recommend this place.

Carpincho

Last year I visited with my family a great zoo called Lecocq Park, in the rural area of Montevideo.
This Park has big areas for the animals, and almost no cages for them. They live on open spaces that are quite similar to their natural environment.
In this park thera are natives animals and foreign ones like lions, zebras, monkeys, and so on. A lot of these animals feel like in home, even breed in this zoo.

This post is about a native animal that we call Carpincho (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris) or as his cientific name sounds: capibara (capybara). It is the largest rodent in the world and is originary of South America. It could be as big as a pork, but it eats mainly vegetables, and usually lives near water.

Here are mi pics of a big familiy of carpinchos living peacefully in the Lecocq Park.

And, here in the wikipedia you can find more information about this lovely animals.

Coming Back to Uruguay!!!!

Afer two weeks it was really exciting to see my country from the plane... and when I saw my city and all that familiar places, I almost start to cry... with a really wide smile. It's not only my coutry, my city, my house... it's my home, and again, not only because of my home, but because of my familiy (that were waiting for me at the airport!!)



I want to share these views of my home: it´s almost flat surface, it's rivers... our big bay,the port, the "rambla" (big avenue that runs along the sea), our parks in the city, the football stadium (soccer really)... it´s a long list that I only can summarize in "my home".

Facts in South Dakota

I've been here, Sioux Falls,SD for a week... and after some activities here is what I've learned and done ("learn by doing" as someone said):
- we start our day at 6AM.
- we finish our activities at 7 PM.
- the last bus to the Mall is 6:50 PM.
- when you call a taxi, it's takes it 10 to 15 minutes to arrive.
- the food is too spicy here.
- it's difficult to get some rice for lunch.
- everything is closed by 9 PM... 10PM at most...
- NO ONE WALKS HERE!!!!

Weekend:
- wakeup at 6AM, got breakfast, run to the bus, get a sit and start taking pictures
- first stop: Missouri River (Lewis & Clark monument)
- second stop: BadLands... sveral spots.
- third stop: Rapid City - Mines School
- fourth stop: Mount Rushmore

- wake up at 5AM!!!
- have breakfast: twice!!
- big single stop: Sylvan Lake - Custer Park: buffalo!!!
- lunch at 2PM: Wall Mart
- 5 hours by the I-90!!!
- 900 pictures in 2 days!!!

All the trip: Bikers all around - Sturgis Motorcycle Rally (Sturgis Week 2007)


And the big lesson:
- keep your clock in your actual timezone!!!! It's really awful when after a later-talk-little-sleeping nigth you wakeup, dress, got all your things, rush downstairs to meet your group and a friend says in the lift door: "let´s go back, we wake up an hour earlier".

La Paloma

A few weeks ago I visited a beautiful place called La Paloma, a little town next to the Atlantic Ocean. I stayed during a week for a little (and intense) course about GIS. Being in the building of the lessons, with a beautiful view, I couldn't resist to take a lot of pictures, of the same view... a little footpath to the most quiet beach in this almost desert town (that is the center of summer life).

Ombú

The Ombú (Phytolacca dioica) is a native "tree" from Uruguay, Argentina and the area called "Pampa".
From the botanical point of view, the Ombú is an herb because of the characteristics of its wood: it can not be used for carpentry, to make furniture, or any kind of manufacturing.
On the other hand: it does not die after flowering as the usual herbs, and it grows for many years to become a big tree, year after year making a full cicle of reproduction serveral times. It can reach very big dimensions and live for centuries.
Even is larger than the famous Baobab that tried to take that little planet of our Little Prince.

Here is a picture taken a few weeks ago, of two Ombu in their natural place:


To really see some great ombues its a good idea to visit the "Monte de Ombúes" in Rocha, Uruguay. It is a protected forest, and is the bigger in the world of this specie.

Italy in December...

In December I travelled to Italy for studying. I spent a week in a Convention Center that is in an old castle, constructed in the tenth century. The place was in the hilltop of a little town called Bertinoro.

It was a really amazing place... the castle was inhabited by the Counts of Bertinoro and they constructed the Fortress. It was a brilliant time for the castle and the court... even it was as splendorous as so that Dante put some of their members in the Purgatory. Its said that Dante stayed in this castle, maybe he walked by the same balcony than me!!