Thunderstorms in Uruguay

I like storms, always had, and if they are electrical storms even better. Right now there's a bit of a thunderstorm going on outside, with the nightsky going daylight bright every ten minutes. I just love the cracking sound of the thunders, don't you?

I don't know if this is a Uruguay thing, but I'm under the impression that electrical storm are pretty frequent here, or at least compared to some places I've been, where there would be lots of rain, but without thunder and lightnings.

Now the weather is hot, heavy, damp, rainy and it's been quite like this for days now, but it also got cold all of a sudden last week, so we are in those days you have to go outside early in the morning to taste the weather, you just can't assume anymore it'll be hot. Taking a sweater with me to work it's a gamble.

This awesome picture was taken by tali, in last week's big storm, in el puertito del buceo, in la rambla. I wish I take a picture as good as that someday in my life, when I saw it I couldn't believe it the timing is perfect.

Lightnings made in Uruguay...

Semana Criolla, Beerfest in Paysandu

Semana Criolla, aka Semana de Turismo, aka Semana Santa is the last big holiday stand before the year "really begins". January, and February is holiday season, and everybody takes vacations. March is kind of a lame month, classes start, kids go to school, and then again in Semana de Turismo everybody is on vacation again. This is specially true for those working for the state. Public offices usually take the whole week, while private companies, only take friday, but lots of people (like me :), take thursday off too.

The saying in Uruguay, is "the year begins after Semana de Turismo". So much for hardworking Uruguay.

Semana Santa is big in internal tourism, families go camping, to santa teresa for example, and a couple of cool events take place in Uruguay:

La fiesta de la cerveza in Paysandu

Uruguay's beerfest in Paysandu. This is a whole week party, where it gets crammed with (drunk?) teenagers. Never been to la fiesta de la cerveza myself, but they say it's fun, maybe worthy of E! Wild on... I wouldn't know, anyone?

On a sad note, this year's party will be shortened, since the bridges with Argentina are blocked, and the usual 20.000 young argentineans that come to party won't be present.

Semana Criolla en la Rural del Prado

La Semana Criolla en la Rural del Prado, a once in a year event, where country customs get celebrated, featuring jineteadas and payadas tournaments.This is Uruguay posted a nice article about Semana Criolla in Uruguay, including a jineteada video. (Chuck also blogs on the topic).

Felices pascuas to everyone! (happy eastern!)...

Milanesa, a typical dish in uruguay

When I travel I tend to miss uruguayan food, I think this happens more or less to everyone (your birthplace food, not uruguay's ;) Among the stuff I miss, there's...well, of course dulce de leche, but there's also Milanesa.

Milanesa is a typical dish in uruguayan's diet, it consists of a breaded filet, with beef or chicken meat, usually fried, but it can also be oven cooked. If you add on top of the milanesa, ham, cheese, and tomato sauce then it's a "Milanesa a la Napolitana".

It's usually served along with smashed potatoes, or french fries. You can have it on a dish, or between sliced bread, in which case is Milanesa al pan. It comes with tomato, lettuce, and sliced egg.

A typical, low budget, lunch, fast/junk food is Milanesa en dos panes, sold in lunch delivery places. This is a milanesa so big that needs two pieces of bread to eat it properly.

Every bar in uruguay, has milanesa, you can find it typically in the "minutas" section of the menu (minutas, used for stuff that can be served within few minutes, thus the name).

It's the type of food that's frequently homemade, and uruguayans tend to live under the impression that their mother's milanesas are unbeatable, well, mine are :p

It's actually Mr Bush's favorite uruguayan dish, or so they say, since he discovered it, in his visit to La Corte.

Is there something similar where you live?

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