Una semana loca

Well, lots has happened since I last wrote a blog. It’s a little overwhelming, actually. I’ll try to skim over everything, so this doesn’t get too long.

On Monday we went to the celebration of Iemanjá, the goddess of the sea who is, according to the religion based around her, the mother of all other gods. At sunset, we went down to the beach where they were having the big ceremony for her, and there were hundreds and hundreds of people dressed in white sticking little blue and white candles in hollows in the sand and lighting them, tossing blue and white flowers into the sea foam, and wading out into the ocean pushing little (or big) boats with dolls or flowers inside, decorated with blue and white ribbons – offerings for Iemanjá.

We also checked out her statue, where there were more white-robed people with candles praying for a fruitful year and laying flowers at her feet. The statue was interesting to me because Iemanjá didn’t look like the traditional beautiful, willowy goddess that you’d see from the Greeks; she was a strong-featured woman, built like an ox, who looked like she could probably take the Governator in a wrestling match, even if she was wearing a long, draping dress and had mermaid hair down to her waist.

Also this week was a trip to Museo Blanes, where I got the opportunity to see a lot of art by some of Uruguay’s most famous artists. I really liked Blanes, but I wasn’t a big fan of Figari. You can go check out the pictures on Facebook if you want; to me, Figari’s style is very simplistic and child-like, and I’m inclined to agree with the critics of his time and say that they’re just not up to par with the other Uruguayan artists. But that, of course, is only my opinion. Figari is now internationally famous, so someone must think he’s worth something.

The Japanese gardens were gorgeous, too, and I took tons of pictures. Facebook ’em.

Thursday night was Las Llamadas (literally, “the calls”), which was another parade much like the Carnaval parade, except much cooler. It was comparsa after comparsa, filling the night with a heavy beat that the crowd echoed with claps and rocking bodies. Remember how I said that the Carnaval parade was like a big playground for kids? Well, Las Llamadas is like a big playground for everyone. I’ve never seen so many people have so much fun at the same time. People are dancing in the stands to the music, yelling for their favorite comparsa, whistling at the prettiest dancers, clapping to the rhythm of the music when the drums are going, and calling for more with their claps when the drums break for a moment (clap, clap, clap, clap-clap…).

This parade was so much less commercialized than the Carnaval parade. It’s not on a main street, 18 de Julio, like Carnaval was, and there are no floats devoted to this or that sponsor, spewing their jingles from speakers. It’s just people who are really passionate about candombe, dancing, singing and playing their hearts out; they’ve all prepared all year for this moment. There are so many comparsas involved in Las Llamadas that the event actually has to be spread over two nights – which is crazy, because we got there the first night at 8 p.m., with the parade already beginning, and staying until midnight, and the thing was still going strong! We didn’t go back the second night.

And yesterday, we went back to Punta del Este, this time as a whole group. It was really cool: first, we went to Casapueblo, a house built entirely by the artist, Carlos Páez Vilaró, who clearly had a hatred of straight lines. The place is massive, and all covered in domes and swoops and little jutting-out places, like some sort of Dr. Seuss creation. Every part of it is covered in art; where there’s not a framed Vilaró painting, there’s a mural he painted on a wall, or one of his sculptures standing in a niche; and, of course, the entire house is his art. It’s now been turned into both a museum and a seaside resort. I didn’t take my camera with me on the trip this weekend (I know, shame on me) so I pulled some pictures off the internet so you could understand how cool this place was.

Then we went to the creepiest park in existence, covered in huge, off-color, misshapen statues of animals and people, like a kid’s nightmare. It was a cool place, though, because there was so much stuff to climb on and take pictures with; just don’t get caught there after dark! I’d love to go back there someday and film a horror movie there. We had sandwiches there, which were delicious, and then we set off for the beach.

We were supposed to get to boat out to this sweet tropical jungle island, but the guys who run the boats said that the weather was too bad to take us out (to which I have to reply, “what?” The weather was a perfect, breezy 75 degrees, partly cloudy and brilliant). Anyway, we ended up just going to the beach for the rest of the afternoon instead.

Just like last time, the waves were fantastic, and because we went to a different beach than before, the sand was a lot nicer, too (At the last beach, the sand was just crushed-up seashells, really hard on the feet). I got such a workout, fighting the waves for an hour or so, then getting out on the sand and running, jumping, and diving for the frisbee. I’m getting pretty good at frisbee, and at running in sand and waves! lol

A couple of people played sand soccer with some Uruguayans, and got their butts totally kicked. Even the oldest man playing had more endurance than any of us silly Americans, except maybe Ben, who was a cross-country runner.

It was a glorious weekend. And coming up next week, Buenos Aires! We leave for Argentina on Wednesday. I can’t wait!

~ by Sara McPherson on February 8, 2009.