A Bit Of Whimsy, A Bit Of Pride!

Well, the weather is starting to get a little nippy down here in Uruguay. Our autumn is turning into winter. While the days are still sunny and slightly warm, the nights have seen some of the first fireplace fires of the season throughout the neighborhoods.

Still, rather than pay my bills due, on line, (a benefit during cold weather), I enjoy walking down to the place to pay them in person at our local, "Abitad" bill paying center. The electric, phone, internet and even the water bill can all be paid there.

It was quite amusing when the new center opened up. It shares the same building with an Autoservicio store.
The amusing part is that for an entire year, Wally and I thought that, that meant a new Auto Mechanics shop had opened up! But now having 2¢ worth of Spanish under our belts instead of just 1, we now know that "auto" means "self " in Spanish, so really a self serve grocery store had opened up instead! No cars to be fixed there at all! Almacén is the word we were familiar with as it means grocery store but that phrase autoservicio is now popping up all over to describe a small Mom and Pop place.  

Taking advantage of the new closer location to my house of this bill paying center and of the warm day I decided to walk there. My neighborhood is quite lovely and many people appreciate it's natural beauty.
You may recall an earlier blog we did on trash and cleaning up the neighborhoods. A cry for special attention went out, to clean up a ravine, near a tiny neighborhood park called "Parque de los pájaros". I decided to walk the back roads and check out the area of this park on my way to the center.

A bit of whimsy greeted me. That beach beauty (pictured in the above title) "wearing" a blue pokkadot bikini, said my walk was worth the while.  This small area was reclaimed by the neighbors living there and is a source of pride for the entire group. Today, not only is the space trash free, something to be proud of, but also, what I enjoy is the obvious sense of delight and fun they took in creating this little park for the Niños (the children).

I hope you enjoy these little photos of the creative minds of these Uruguayos using found objects, pride and whimsy to accomplish something inspiring!

As a side note, most parks here have rather primitive playground equipment. Tunnels are made out of 55 gallon metal drums painted up in fun designs and believe it or not, most slides have wooden planks that you slide down on, not metal, OUCH!

Yet, the kids seem very happy here and are respectful to us elders. Huh, maybe simple things can work just fine.