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Usufruct and Inheritance

Posted on June 25, 2007
Filed Under Expat Tips, Culture, Taxes | 13 Comments

In an earlier article, I discussed the inheritance problems that could arise if you own properties in Uruguay and you or your spouse were to die. I wrote that there were no good alternatives to the problem and that therefore it might represent a significant financial risk for some couples.

After talking to a few friends, Urufish stumbled on a way to mitigate the problem. I did some research on the subject and here’s what I discovered. Please keep in mind that I am not a lawyer and what follows should be used only as a starting point for further exploration. Read more

Tipping

Posted on June 22, 2007
Filed Under Food and Drink, Expat Tips, Culture | 8 Comments

If you are coming from the US where tipping has gotten completely out of hand, you will be glad to know that tipping inflation has not yet arrived in Uruguay.

When I arrived in the US in the early eighties, tipping was beginning its upward creep from 10%. In a few short years it grew to around 15% where it stayed for many years. Now 15% is the absolutely minimum allowable value, rounding up from there, often way up. People I know tip 20% on a regular basis and even more when in groups. Read more

Things I Find Puzzling About Uruguay

Posted on June 19, 2007
Filed Under Economy, Culture | 20 Comments

In a previous article I discussed the ten things I love about Montevideo. And, taking the lead from the Uruguayan blogger Gabo, I had thought it would be logical to follow with my list of ten things I hate about Uruguay. But there’s nothing I hate about Uruguay. Besides, I think it would be impolite of me to make such a list about a country I want to make my home. So I decided instead to write about things I find puzzling about Uruguay. By puzzling I mean I don’t clearly understand the cause or how other countries have managed to overcome these issues. I am sure there are must be good explanations for these things, so feel free to write in to share your insight. Read more

Bribery

Posted on May 27, 2007
Filed Under Crime, Culture | 19 Comments

Uruguay is known as one of the least corrupt countries in Latin America, after Chile. This does not mean however that corruption does not exist there. In my travels in Uruguay, I’ve seen a number of instances of both solicitation and offers of bribes, most often in the context of highway patrols or border crossing.

The most recent of these was a run in with a corrupt trooper last December. We had been staying at a lovely cabaña in La Paloma, but after a few days we had explored all we could on bikes. When we inquired about renting a car, the owner of the cabaña, an Argentinean, offered to rent us his car at a very attractive price. The car of course had Argentinean license plates and was a bit old and run down, but all the papers seemed in order, so we agreed. Read more

Telenovelas

Posted on May 21, 2007
Filed Under Culture | 8 Comments

If you are moving to any place in Latin America, soon enough you’ll come to realize that telenovelas (soap operas) are an unavoidable part of the local culture. Telenovelas or novelas, as they are sometimes called, should not be confused with American daytime soap operas however. A typical prime time novela may have a long story line lasting 6 – 8 months, but it always has a beginning, middle and an end. And the overall plot is planned in detail well before shooting starts. The other crucial difference is that they use the best actors and the best scriptwriters available in the country in which it is produced. So it is more like having a daily (Mon-Sat) prime time TV show with tens of the best Hollywood actors, plus many more stars as supporting actors. Read more

Radio

Posted on April 24, 2007
Filed Under Expat Tips, Culture | 4 Comments

Learning a new language is tough. What nobody told me was that once I learned it I would need to keep using it in order to maintain fluency. I grew up speaking Portuguese as my only language until I was twenty-five. In spite of that, in less than five years living abroad my conversational abilities in my native language were already suffering. Granted, I was busy learning other languages and did not speak any Portuguese in my daily life. But still, I was quite annoyed to discover I had to struggle to find the mot juste in my own language. I had to face the fact that the “you only use ten percent of your brain” thing was a big, fat lie. Later in life, other languages, learned at great personal sacrifice, would also slowly shrink to “emergency-use-only” state after a period of disuse. I guess the lesson learned is: use it or lose it. Read more

Family Matters

Posted on April 22, 2007
Filed Under Culture | 4 Comments

Uruguay is a family-oriented country where family bonds extend much wider and deeper than what is common in North America. Even though most families have few children (2.04 on average), the extended family includes distant cousins and is augmented by neighbors and childhood friends that are often treated essentially as members of the immediate family. Read more

Life is a Beach

Posted on April 16, 2007
Filed Under Culture, Places | 5 Comments

Uruguay has over 500 km of beaches, 220 of which are on the Atlantic Ocean. When you look at a map, you’ll see that up to Punta del Este all beaches face an ever widening river, the Rio de la Plata. Because of this, towards the west the water has a brownish tinge from the silt carried by the Uruguay and Paraná rivers into the Plata basin. Montevideo itself is blessed with several good beaches, but at that longitude, the water has a river-like appearance most of the time. When the wind blows from the east, it gets bluer and saltier. The further east you go, the more ocean-like the beaches become. For all practical purposes, from Punta del Este onward all beaches face the Atlantic Ocean. At the balnearios close to Punta, such as Piriápolis, the water is blueish most of the time, but when the conditions are right, the water can be brownish all the way to Punta. Read more

Punta del Este

Posted on April 14, 2007
Filed Under Culture, Places | 11 Comments

I must start by warning that in one post one cannot possibly capture more than a fraction of what Punta del Este is. Punta del Este is the primary summer vacation destination of the jet set, wealthy people and wanna bes from Argentina, Brazil, and to a lesser extent, Europe and North America. The steady winter population of about 10,000 swells to 250,000 in January and February when the tourists take over. The transformation from a ghost town to a lively place is so sudden and so dramatic that it is hard to recognize it as the same place. If you were to arrive in early December and stay through Jan 5th, you would witness an amazing transformation. Shops, restaurants and night clubs that seemed closed for good, open for business and become busy in a few days. You begin to see throngs of people at all hours of day or night, supermarkets become crowded, parking at beaches becomes difficult and car minders appear out of the woodwork. Late February, the cycle reverts itself and the place begins to empty again. The rest of the year, Punta looks like a well-kept, deserted metropolis. Read more

Mate

Posted on April 12, 2007
Filed Under Food and Drink, Culture, Vocabulary | 11 Comments

Sooner of later, any blog about Uruguay must talk about mate. Although I am not Uruguayan, I grew up in Southern Brazil where the mate culture is strong and where mate drinkers abound. In spite of being very familiar with the custom, the extent of the mate culture in Uruguay surprises even Argentinian and Brazilian gauchos. The sight of people carrying a thermos bottle and a mate everywhere is almost uniquely Uruguayan. And it is common to see people drinking mate in public at all hours. To illustrate how prevalent the habit is I actually witnessed a homeless man drinking mate, a policeman in a moving cruiser drinking mate and a moped driver somehow carrying a thermos under one arm, mate in one hand and steering with the other. Read more

Mary Jane Says High

Posted on April 5, 2007
Filed Under Crime, Culture, Vocabulary | 5 Comments

Uruguay has an unusual position regarding marijuana: smoking it is not a crime, but buying, selling and growing is. The current law states that if an individual is caught with an amount deemed for personal consumption it is considered a fault, not a crime. The law is vague and leaves it to a judge to decide about the quantity, taking into consideration intent and the moral rectitude of the individual. If a person is found to be at fault, they must attend an anti-drug class or other such activity. Of course, in order to get called before a judge, one needs to get caught first. Read more

Mucamas, Cocineras, Niñeras y Limpiadoras

Posted on April 2, 2007
Filed Under Expat Tips, Culture, Vocabulary | 5 Comments

If you are planning to live in Uruguay, sooner or later you’ll yield to the temptation of hiring household help (empleadas domésticas). This is totally understandable, after all it is much more affordable than in Europe or North America. However this is not a thing to get into lightly and there are many factors to consider.

According to this article, 8.4% of homes in Uruguay have domésticas and they are paid 37 pesos per hour, on average. Some of those domésticas, are mucamas (maids), cocineras (cooks), niñeras (nannies) or limpiadoras (cleaning person). The limpiadora is a contractor hired to come to your home a few times a week and charges by the hour (usually less than 60 pesos/hour, often far less). The mucamas, niñeras and cocineras are normally full time employees and usually costs less than 200 dollars per month (the minimum is 3150 pesos). Employers are supposed to contribute to the empleada’s social security, but shamelessly more than 50% of employers do not. Live-in mucamas and/or niñeras are not uncommon. In Punta del Este, many apartment buildings have a servicio de mucama as part of the building services. Read more

El Afilador

Posted on March 29, 2007
Filed Under Culture, Vocabulary | 3 Comments

Last January, I was strolling down Avenida Arocena in Carrasco when I heard a whistle tune that sounded very familiar. I thought it reminded me of the melody knife sharpeners played in Brazil when I was little. However, I was certain this craft had disappeared decades ago. I turned around and to my pleasant surprise there he was, a walking relic, el afilador.

As a kid, I had always been fascinated by the knife sharpeners and how quickly they could fix a knife, a pair scissors, saws, pliers, chisels, barber shears, hoes or anything else with a blade. Whenever they came by our neighborhood, I would get close and watch them work. I remember they did much more than just sharpen blades. They would also fix loose handles, polish rusty knives, un-dent pans, among other things. Read more

Dulce de Leche

Posted on March 25, 2007
Filed Under Food and Drink, Culture | 4 Comments

Dulce de leche is to Uruguay what peanut butter is to the US and vegemite is to Australia. That is, foods people find hard to do without, yet not well known outside their local regions. In Uruguay, dulce de leche is found in so many things and in so many places that it would be hard to avoid it. Warning, if you’re not accustomed to sweets, you’ll probably not care for it. No matter, because if you live in Uruguay resistance to dulce de leche is futile and assimilation inevitable! So you might as well get started on the right foot. Here’s what you need to know. Read more

Crime and No Punishment

Posted on March 16, 2007
Filed Under Montevideo, Crime, Culture | 6 Comments

For a long time, Uruguay has been known as one of the safest destinations in South America. Not too long ago, one could go just about anywhere in Uruguay without ever seeing bars on windows. Violent crimes were extremely rare. The low crime statistics then were perhaps a reflection of small disparity between the poor and the rich, as well as the relative wealth of Uruguayans compared to neighboring countries.

Throughout the nineties, the myth of the middle class country started to show signs of strain with the fast and continued development of Punta del Este as a destination of the rich and the super rich. Some resort towns became unaffordable and out of bounds for most Uruguayans. Read more

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