Kerraguay: Nostalgia, Drums, and a Hash

Hi all!

I am still a lame law student. School-wise there is nothing new to report besides the fact that I have now been] serenaded with"Hey now, Hey now." (Lizzie McGuire fans will know that classic). Professors are also surprised by the fact that I actually speak Spanish, and I'm hoping to keep surprising them all the way to a passing grade.

Otherwise, here are some activities that have happened:

Noche De Nostalgia

August 25th is Uruguay's Independence Day, but the big celebrations happen the night before on the "Noche de Nostalgia." This tradition began in the late 70s while Uruguay was under a military regime. At that time nearly 500,000 Uruguayans lived in exile (the current population is only 3 million). DJs created events in which people could go out and listen to music from the 60s and early 70s from the before the regime (which are also called "oldies" here...it took a few times hearing it for me to understand what people were saying), and it quickly became a yearly traidtion which continued after Uruguay returned to a democracy in the 80s.

Now, they still listen to "oldies," but the songs are from the 60s-90s and include some Ace of Base. Most of the original Noche de Nostalgia revelers do not go out all night to celebrate, and some Uruguayans expressed some guilt about using the holiday to have a big party. I just told them that Americans have no idea what that's like, and they should definitely feel guilty for corrupting the day's meaning. (que no! [not joke]).

I went to a friend's house for the night. Her family set up a dance floor in the front yard and kept the grill going in their patio from 11 pm - 6 am (and presumably after I left at 6 am). We ate "brochettes" (kebabs) all night while dancing to oldies and even fit in a game of a charades board game. We played in teams, and they did NOT go easy on the foreigner (even when I begged to put back a 7 word card). I did not successfully act out a single card in the minute timeframe, but we somehow won.

Charade Winners! No thanks to me!

"Brochettes" on the fire around 4 am

The man in the wig used to be paid to dance in clubs.

Candombe en la Calle

Candombe is a traditional dance that originated with African slaves (mainly Angolan I think) that is still practiced today. On any given day in Montevideo, you can hear someone playing a drum with a Candombe beat. Near my house here, a group of youths (late teens) plays every Friday and Sunday and dance through the street. Bus and cars be damned.

Traditional post-Candombe sushi

Getting ready to go

Hash House Harriers

This isn't quite Uruguay specific, but everyone should know about them. The Hash House Harriers were created by English serviceman in the late 30s to "promote physical fitness among our members, to get rid of weekend hangovers, to acquire a good thirst and to satisfy it in beer, and to persuade the older members that they are not as old as they feel." They are in a number of cities worldwide.

The runs are designed by two group members. The rest of the group shows up and must find arrows which indicate the route. There is a round "stop" every half mile or so for the runners to stop and regroup. After each stop, the runners have to go find the route again. The route can go in any direction and sometimes will go up and down a hill for the fun of it. Or, if you're lucky, there might even be a mid-route beer stop.

After the run, the newbies had to answer questions about ourselves in front of the entire group of 30 or so runners (name, age, home country, marital status). We then had to chug a beer by the time the runners sang a special Hash song. If we failed, we would get a beer thrown at us. Penalty beers were then handed out for various reasons, including being too competitive, attending too many runs, not coming to enough runs, being born within the last week, or any other reason they could think of. Luckily, Uruguayan beer is fairly light and Uruguayan cups are small. I did not get doused in beer. I hope you're proud dad!