Twelve Feet, Six Continents, One Year

The morning of our third full day at the resort: eat breakfast, do some schoolwork that got dropped earlier in the week, gear up for outing. The good news is that we have a rental car and, now that the episode is over, I will admit that we put four kids in the back of a compact (maybe midsize) tin can sedan and drove around Punta del Este with incomplete seat belts. The roundabouts made this especially maddening for the kids. With enough internet searching, I found a restaurant that had promise but without being so refined that it would be stressful to dine with kids. L'marangatu is on the beach (the calm, estuary side, if you're reading every post in order), has beachside seating under thatch umbrellas, has excellent service and outstanding food. And, for some lucky reason, our kids decided that this would be the moment to eat with courage and gusto. In several senses, it was the best meal of the trip so far. First, we ordered a bunch of appetizers. We had "fish ...

Except for dinner, which was an epic failure, we had an awesome day. Basically the morning at the pool and a good chunk of the afternoon at the beach. I want to explain that Punta del Este is considered to be the dividing line between the estuary (River Plate) and the ocean. To the west, on the estuary side, the water at the beach is calm. To the east, where we stayed, the surf pounds the sand. In both places the beaches are wide, gently sloping and very soft. It's an endless sandbox. Cate and her private pool(s) Serenity (noun, a fleeting state when your kids forget it's their job to torment you) Cannonball Cate I could get used to this Diggin' Goodbye, Atlantic! Lily and Henry mostly enjoy having each other

Let's begin with the end: here's a picture of Montevideo's famous letterhead, set against sunset. This is across the street from our hotel. Okay, we're starting to get our feet on the ground here. We eat breakfast in the hotel. Henry is keen on earning "protein points." We do school. The goal right now is to reach certain milestones so that we can ditch some big books before the flight to Australia (in about two weeks). We get taxis and head to the Old City of Montevideo to do some sightseeing. Stop one is Plaza Indepencia. I learned from a podcast that Uruguay was invaded during the colonial era by just about every power, sometimes more than once. I learned that Colonia and Montevideo, about two hours apart by bus, are competing attractions because they were the intended capitals according to separate invading/colonizing powers. The plaza celebrates General Artigas; his mausoleum is directly beneath his memorial statue. The plaza is surroun...

I woke up next to Ali, because she had woken up overnight with a particularly bad bloody nose (again). Elise woke up on a rock-hard bunk bed with a paper-thin pillow because Henry had terrible nightmares (again). By the time I got back from the convenience store with eggs, butter, bread and OJ, the toilet had clogged and overflowed and almost everybody was crying. A short while later, we had rooms booked at the nearby Hyatt. The apartment in question is the first floor of a townhouse and most of it used to be a garage. Even if the plumbing worked, the beds weren't reclaimed from a house of torture and the kitchen was bigger than the RV's, we wouldn't have lasted long here. I'm not sure there were actually six of each item in the kitchen. There were do shelves or drawers onto/into which to unpack our clothes. Fortunately, the cost was only $45/night and we were willing (and able) to walk away. Sometimes your time and your sanity is worth more than your money. Befor...

My kids will tell you that I am a "transportation expert" and so it has humbling to struggle with our means of getting from one place to another. Sunday required getting the six of us and our 14 pieces of luggage from our apartment in Buenos Aires to an apartment in Montevideo (Uruguay). We chose ferry over airplane and eventually succeeded in buying tickets online, not knowing (or having any hints) as to whether walk-up tickets could be available. As it turns out, the vessel was nearly empty. Another hall, another 14 pieces of luggage. We had to leave our apartment no later than 2pm but our ferry was not until 5. Because I haven't been able to decipher the transit system (rail, subway, a billion buses), we called the same shuttle company that brought us from the airport to the apartment upon arrival (at 1am, no less). But that time, our Spanish-speaking friend made the phone call when we failed to navigate their website for a reservation.  This time, taking a de...