Way Down There

It's 100% going to take 2 posts to convey all there is to convey about an entire country I've never been to before, never mind a full week with 10 education and DCE students and three professors from Concordia University Nebraska (CUNE). Let me just say Uruguay is WAY down there - south of the entire African continent and about one degree of latitude shy of the furthest south I've ever been. There were no good options for getting there. Zero. The least of the evils had a 6:19 am departure, two layovers, and a middle of the night arrival. 

There are two LCMS missionary families in Uruguay: the Schieferdeckers, whom I regrettably wouldn't see since they live five hours from Montevideo, and the Sharps. James picked me up and got me settled in their guest room. I guess you could say I got almost a full night's sleep...albeit starting at about 2:30 am...before a 10:30 am church service. Lunch at the Sharps' favorite restaurant was a highlight, then it was time to get down to business. I picked up a few things for the team on a grocery run, and later that night, Angie & I tried our darndest to distill the schedule of Christian Education and English classes the CUNE students would be visiting into its simplest form. Verdict's still out on whether we succeeded. 

All day Monday, all I wanted to do was go for a walk and explore the Sharps' super walkable downtown neighborhood, but a steady drizzle meant I never left the house. Rather, I took in my new environs by way of a few treats NOT for the team that Angie had thrown into the cart the day before: dulce de leche milk (soooooo creamy and rich!) and fried egg potato chips (strange in a good way - like a bite of crunchy hash browns oozing with runny egg yolk).  

Angie was off on Tuesday and the weather cooperated, so we meandered to the Museo Andes 1972, a smallish museum commemorating Uruguayan Air Force flight 571 that crashed in the Andes carrying 45 passengers. Sixteen survived extreme conditions for 72 days and have an incredible story to tell. The museum's website says to estimate 60-90 minutes, but I'm fairly certain we spent at least two hours reading everything.  

Plaza Independencia (Independence Plaza): the statue in the middle is José Artigas, Uruguay's George Washington-esque figure. His mausoleum - guarded by two soldiers at all times - is beneath it. Bordering the square are the the president's office and a Radisson hotel, among other buildings.

The only remaining section of the walls that surrounded the Ciudad Vieja (Old City). 

Kilómetro Cero (Kilometer Zero) at the heart of Plaza Cagancha: all roads in Uruguay lead to this column, and distances are measured relative to it so the Sharps always know how far from home they are. 

I finally got my walk in Tuesday afternoon. After a solo errand, I scoped out the Rambla, a wide pedestrian walkway that parallels the Rio de la Plata. 

The team's redeye flight landed Wednesday morning. We stopped briefly at our hotel to freshen up and store our luggage before heading to Colegio San Pablo. Before we set up our HQ and everyone got their marching orders, Rev. Christian Hoffman, the school's chaplain, welcomed us and gave us some background on the only Lutheran school in the country, with a student population 1200 strong. I gladly ceded interpreting duties to Angie, given her prior knowledge of the material :)

Having gotten a second wind, the team jumped into prep mode. 

Their first round of classroom visits would follow, but you saw the schedule; check back in a few days for a separate post on that. We had meat for dinner. And more meat. There was bread, salad, French fries, and dessert, but mostly meat. I was not entertained by our server's antics: "auctioning" off Styrofoam containers of leftovers was funny the first time, not the fourth, and if all I wanted was my bed, I knew the team had to be right there with me. 

Until next time, blessings in Christ!