Camilo, Uruguay

Today I was talked into buying a package to come here from Buenos Aires. susanna had done it and recommended it to me. So, I did. 858 peso for five nights hotel, round trip boat trip, transfers and breakfast. This all at the Hotel Casino, pool, view of the river and casino. I didn't fo further along the coast to the hostel in Piriopilis which looked good, w blocks from the sea etc. No, I was going to a, I thought, swanky hotel casino combo. My little bit of luxury before the my tour which would be a bit rough. In my mind I was to have that and some the of exciting energy that is found inside of casinos. Even though I don't play, I feel others excitement. After all, I had lived with a gambler in my mother in law, Ma ma Jo. Nice catamaran boat ride, nice clean van pick-up. I began to get a bit suspicious when I got inside the lobgby, looking a bit shabby, OK, don't prejudge. Up in the elevator I go with Miss Sourpuss. Down a long dark hall, she apparently can see in the dark, now enter my roo, oh, my God. Like the cheapest motel ever, small, smelly, dark. No, there was no other room with one larger bed, this I had paid extra for singel supplement. OK, fine. I unpack, have a shower as it is 34 c. Time for dinner in the restaurant. I order pasta with, what I think will be a delightful cream souce with mushrooms and parsley and ham. I happen to look at the window sill next to me and it is so diusty-even a token dead fly. My room is also crumbling and no way to keep shutters open except for shoving the drapes into the corners. Back to the dinner. Now I look around, as a former silver service waitress, I do notice things. The table cloths are inside out on some tables as the name of the place is woven on the edge. Mine has a bit of some other customers dinner. I got some bread with a bit of spread, I ask what it is and guess it is mayonaise, it tastes like Miracle Whip with chives. Not bad since I am really hungry. Now, I cannot stop laughing. Can't wait for my dinner. It is a joke on me. my fancy time before the grass roots tour. Here is my dinner, I especially got a style of pasta I did not know to try something different. They were circles of dough-heavy and white. The sauce was about the consistency of Mrs. Whites white sauce straight from the can. I put lots of cheese and salt, had to ask for pepper, not so popular here. It was like glue. I managed to eat the center where the circles were covered with sauce. This cost 30 Uruguyan dollars. On to the casino. Walked from the lobby thru an ante-room that smelled really mildew and lots of spot on the carpet. Into the Casino, which in the guide book said, huge. It was a room with two rows of slot machines, maybe 60 total and that was that. This is a casino people come from BA for the day. I have been laughing ever since I sat down and saw the dead fly. The topping is that I am told that Uruguay is dependent on tourism. Apparently on a different level, one can stay at the Four Seasons, I think the hostel may have been better. I went for a walk to see the sights on the first morning. After the breakfast, the fruit salad was divine. The rest was different sweets and really heavy bread bits. I tried, the best was the fruit cake. I ate a lot of that. On the walk, it got so hot, but I perservered to see the sights in the brochure. The fancy theatre was closed for reparation and the museum was closed, only open on weekends. That proved not to be true either. I made it back and had a swim. Then the storms came. If I thought I would go out, storm, if I thought I would go look at the magnificent sunset, clouds. I found an AA meeting I could go to on Sunday morning and be back in time for the van to return to BA. NOT, as soon as I was leaving, storm. The last joke on me was on the boat, I put my bag down on the floor by my seat and when I picked it up to put on my sweater cause the airconditioner was set on 'freeze', the bag was so wet it could be wrung out. No sweater for me, it was soaked, I had my scarf, that was it. It helped to put a map in front of me to deflect the blast of cold air.
All in all, it was not a place for me. My higher power told me all day every day.
A really good laugh that one.