Getting to know my neighbourhood

Its pretty freaking hot so I don’t walk very far from the hotel.  In theory my room is air conditioned but I think the air conditioner can maintain maybe an 8 degree differential between inside temperature and outside.  So when its 38 outside its still pretty bloody hot inside.  Nonetheless I’ve managed to venture farther afield each day.  And Google seems to be learning more about my location too.

When I first got here I did some searches for “supermercado” (supermarket) but the closest one that came up was an hour away in Montevideo.  Today however, when I searched, Google came up with a supermercado just four blocks away from my hotel.  I had previously stumbled upon one that is only about two blocks away but calling it a “super” mercado seemed quite a stretch.  Our house in Buchanan has more square footage than that one.  And it was closed today anyway.

The one that Google found for me today was considerably larger but still not in the “super” category to my way of thinking.  It had a very eclectic collection of merchandise – everything from clothing to pots and pans to groceries.  It was more akin to a small town grocery store in rural Saskatchewan than a supermarket but beggars can’t be choosers. 

All I wanted was something to keep my belly happy tomorrow morning.  They serve a pretty decent breakfast here in the hotel but they don’t put it out until 7:00.  It gets so bloody hot that I would rather be at the farm before 6:00 and that’s a half an hour away so I need to leave at 5:30, not 7:30.  This morning I actually went to the farm early and then came back before they shut down the breakfast buffet.

You wouldn’t likely recognize the photo above as a Supermarket storefront – neither would I.  Actually all the storefronts here look pretty benign. 

These two are from the great little pedestrian mall that they have right next to the city square.  Again, the storefronts are almost deliberately understated.

There’s an area of at least 3 blocks on each side of the town square that is entirely pedestrian mall but since I’ve been here it has been almost deserted.  Maybe they come out much later than I have been out – they clearly don’t get up as early as I do.  Today is Sunday so I didn’t expect to see many people but I’ve been out at 8:00 PM the last two nights and the area was still pretty well deserted.