Sunday, August 24, 2008

Paseando...

Well, when we went on a walk the other day, I just happened to bring along the camera and decided to document a bit of our neighborhood...yes, yes...I can practically hear the gasps of delight. (Paseando = walking/strolling) Here goes: WARNING: This post is actually probably going to be slightly boring for you, really it's more for us...




Nuala: "What the...?? I thought we were safe from the camera on our walks!!" Actually, she was bummed because we left her blankie behind.


This is Dino. A German Shepherd guard dog that we've become buds with. Sometimes we feed him crackers. N&B are really good at presenting the backs of their hands for doggies to sniff, Nuala always looks like some hoity-toity queen allowing a subject to kiss her hand. Dino actually was roaming about the other day when I took the kiddos to the park and he followed us down the street till I gave him a cracker and sent him home.

This is not our street. It's the next street over, the German ambassador actually lives on this street, he has a nice doggy, too. A black lab named Frederick. Actually, I saw a big moving truck a couple of weeks ago, so maybe he's gone...Anyway, we like this street, this is looking down at the ocean, but you can't really tell.

Okay, these next few are just some of the houses we like...I felt weird taking their pictures, how suspicious does that look in the nicest neighborhood in Montevideo? Totally felt like I was casing them. A trick from my broadcasting classes: pretend to be filming or taking a picture of whoever is with you but really just shoot past them at whatever it is you don't really want to be seen taking a picture of. So that's what I did. Once. Then I got lazy.

There's such a wide range of house styles in our neighborhood. Some are downright ugly. My favorites are the Spanish style ones, and there's some very cute Bavarian houses here, too, but we didn't walk past any on this route. Seriously, you'd almost think you were in Germany! Incidentally, we get asked every now and then if we're German. Must be the bratwurst I'm always munching while going to the park...haha!

Almost all the houses have fences. You know the owners take security very seriously when they have a non-see-through fence with vicious sounding dogs jumping against it. That's my theory, anyway.

This is one of the humungous aloe vera plants that are everywhere. Now, I'd never seen such monstrosities! I'm used to the little potted ones, or the small things that grow in your backyard. Even in the Valley, where our friends had an aloe vera plantation? farm? they were still the normal sized variety. Even big, they were not THIS big. I shoulda put the stoller by it for comparison, but it's easily the same height as the stroller handlebar, if not a tad bit taller. And those red flowers! They bloom in the winter (these are not full blooms) and are just gorgeous when they're wide open! Anyway, this is our corner aloe, Raúl.

And our house. Boxy, but cute. That's Z, if you couldn't tell. It was dinnertime, that's why he's hightailing it back so fast.

This is our Virgin Mary that hangs outside next to the front door. Obviously, we're not Catholic (we're LDS, aka Mormon, if you didn't know), but our landlord, Rafael, is, and it's part of the house. I really, really like it! She's very peaceful, with the muted blue-gray shawl and her serene expression. The spiders like her, too, and I often have to clear their webs away. She's so beautiful in the late afternoon sun.

So there you have it! A little bit of our neighborhood. This was kinda fun for me. I think I'll try to get some more interesting pics. Oh, the excitement!

11 comments:

K said...

That's neato! It was fun to read about where you guys live. Although I just live in boring ol' Minnesota, I might have to go around and find interesting things to photograph for my blog (if there is anything - I might have to wait until winter to get good snow pictures). Hope the kids are feeling better now!

Sylvia said...

Hey stalker....i mean, photo documenter. ha ha ha!!! totally kidding!! that was so fun to see, not boring, Fiona, hello? your neighborhood looks like it rocks. how're the kiddies feeling? they look peppier in the pictures. me and kurt felt bad for them...and you. :)

Cara said...

Thanks for taking us along on your walk! It looks so cool there! I love the Spanish homes to, yours is cute! I can't belive the ocean is that close!

OwenEveryone said...

Thanks for showing us around your street! Totally NOT what I envisioned....Although I'm not sure what I expected! I guess it's like when people see that Texas is more than just a big dust bowl and that we actually have a hill country, forest,coast and many other great things, besides the west Texas dust bowl!I think they are surprised!

Rob and Erin said...

How fun! I remember some of your journalism endeavors :0) That's a beautiful Mary on your house. She is very peaceful. Your neighborhood looks really nice. I love the aloe plant, I also had no idea they could get so huge! Must come in handy in the summer when you get too much sun...

Rochelle said...

I've been dying to see your neighborhood...it looks a lot different than I expected...I've really wanted to see where you shop and see the milk wagon etc. This was a treat even though you think it boring! I'm glad the kids are alive. Did you and Z get any symptoms?

Justica said...

I love your neighborhood! The vast different styles are pretty! I do love your house though even though it's boxy it still has personality. Seems like a nice walk. I love the way you described nuala's way of letting a dog sniff her hand. Your giong to have trouble iwth her. LOL ! (:

Tara said...

Very cute! You're house is way nice, I like the Virgin Mary...that German Shepherd sounds like such a useful guard dog ;)

MarciaAnne said...

Beautiful South America! I am homesick now (really though it doesn't take much). And the Virgin Hutches.... Good job, the walk looked enjoyable.

Mike said...

What a great neighborhood. Not at all like I envisioned. Everything is so BIG. It is great!!!

Will you always get a house in a nicer neighborhood like this on future assignments?

zachariah said...

Usually the diplomatic housing is always in a nice neighborhood. Unless your somewhere that just doesn't have nice neighborhoods, like India.