For my first month in Montevideo, I lived with a host family. It’s safe to say that they brought me through my initial pangs of transition. Andrea, the mother, is a tango dancer, her son, Mateo, is two-years old and Nela, the grandma, promised to fatten me with her pasta. I let her try. The neighborhood was called Parque Rodó and while living there I discovered its U$S1 empanadas and a bookstore where I bought Mateo a book of puzzles for his 2nd birthday. I took Spanish classes 4 blocks from the house and between the morning and afternoon breaks I would walk home to eat with the family. I witnessed my first public demonstration near our home—that of the men and women (and their children) who with horse-drawn “carriages” “classify” the city’s trash by each taking (what I imagine to be) different items from its public dumpsters. (While living with Andrea there was such a dumpster outside my window and I would wake up to the slamming of its lid nightly, as people jumped in and out of it.) These men and women refer to themselves as Clasificadores de Residuos and have unionized. Most other people refer to them as hugadores (or scavengers). They were protesting the government’s proposition to privatize the trash collection system, which the city believes to be necessary and the clasificardores believe to be an attempt to further push them to the periphery.
April 17, 2008...1:27 pm
The first month. Host Family. Parque Rodo. 6 Febuero 2008-6 March 2008
Jump to Comments
1 Comment
May 14, 2008 at 12:09 pm
Hello Chris, conseguí un pequeño momento libre y visité nuevamente tu blog, muy disfrutable, me encantó tu experiencia con nuestro mate. Si te vuelves aficionada a él tienes el problema que no debe ser facil conseguir yerba en Las Vegas, se que en la costa este es bastante facil, pero no se del otro lado.
Besos
Nos vemos
Richard
Leave a Reply