Where to Stay

Here's where I'm going to stay when I visit. This is the "Guard of the Forest" a hacienda from the 1800 which is now a working ranch. It sounds beautiful with bird watching, horseback riding, good cooking, little English, and a lot of relaxing.

Politics

Generally, I steer clear of politics on this blog--my vast ignorance coupled with an almost total lack of interest makes politics a difficult subject. However Uruguay had something interesting come out of its civil war in the early 20th century. The war led them to establish a "Collegiate Executive Office" which elected a new president every year. I like the sound of that! It worked so well that Uruguay was considered the Latin America Switzerland with terrific freedoms in banking and business. Yay Uruguay!  Too bad, a power hungry military coup called the Tupamores upset everything in the 60's. Now--and this is why I don't like politics---I'm confused. The civilians took the nation back in the 1960's and now, according to the internet,  Uruguay is among the most free of the latin countries. Great, except in the next sentence it says that in 2004 a coalition which INCLUDED the Tupamores won elections and they are now in control of both houses of congress, the presidency and most of the regional and city governments. Ouch.  The situation now is...? I don't know, and I'm probably going to be too lazy to find out, so going back to the only concept I really grasp---a new president every year. Sounds refreshing and it sounds like it worked.

Punta del Este

The picture for this month is of the beach at Punta del Este--this is where the glamourous people go--especially right after Christmas one can see the movie stars. Apparently Uruguay has been sort of overlooked as a travel destination despite the beaches and terrific beauty. Neighboring Brazil and Argentina have now figured out that it's a great place to go and some places like this or Montevideo can be touristy and crowded, but the internet assures me that there are many places where a person can still have the whole beach to themselves, or go shopping and be the only gringo there.

Meat!

Well! We had a very promising start to our adventures in Uruguay---sort of that is. Uruguay is located directly beneath Brazil. Dave and I decided to have a romantic night out on the town and just happened to pick a Brazilian restaraunt--the all you can eat kind where the waiters go around with meat on swords. Absolutley fantastic and even reasonably appropriate for Uruguay where the favorite thing is MEAT and MEAT and MEAT.

Barbecued meat is beloved and served up in the homes with huge potatoes. This is my kind of country.

The Benin Picture

These voodoo dancers are the picture I had up as the profile picture the month we were in Benin.

Attracting where your mind is

One of the interesting things about this travel blog I that I've noticed that frequently the things I write about here and experience in virtual reality often lead to real experiences. Whether that's just because I'm more apt to notice or more apt to take advantage or if it's genuinely that the universe somehow opens up to me in some cosmic way I'm not sure. One thing is certain--since beginning this blog I have suddenly been able to do more real traveling on a more regular basis than ever before. In the past two years, I've been to the real Cancun, Montana, Aruba, Hawaii, Disneyland and Denver. Coming up trips will be Nashville and Disneyworld in October, and Dave will be going to London this summer. I like this trend!

Benin-wise. We had long thought to finally thaw and fix the extra Christmas turkey around Valentines. We did and had my Mom up for a nice meal. But it WAS funny that I had just been reading about the chicken blood in voodoo rituals and the next thing I know, I've got poultry blood all over as I disembowled the turkey. Then, on almost the last day of the month, a friend invited me to come to a real African Dance Class. I went and had a blast! It was the perfect finish to my month in Benin (which, by the way, is pronouced Be--neen).

Beautiful Benin

After the slavery and voodoo, I was looking for some of the beauties of Benin. I didn't have to look far. here is one very cool pic from Google images:

I never think of Africa as having lush anything, but part of Benin is on the coast. I lifted the following paragraph and picture off of a tourist website.

                                           
                                            Lake Nakoue

If you’re heading to West Africa to unearth lost treasure, look no further than Benin. This club-shaped country, on the western edge of Nigeria, was once one of the most powerful empires in Africa– the Dahomey kingdom. The ruins of the Dahomeyans’ palaces and temples can be seen in Abomey, while Ouidah is a poignant reminder of where their riches came from: the slave trade. The Route d’Esclaves in Ouidah was the last walk on African soil for slaves bound for Brazil and the Caribbean. Museums here and in Porto Novo, Benin’s lagoon-side capital, examine the resultant Afro-Brazilian society and culture. Cotonou, on the other hand, is urban Africa at its most frazzling and polluted - but is not without its own charms, a lively nightlife and good shopping being a couple of them.