Plaza of the 33

One of our tour stops was the Plaza of the 33.  It's on 18th of July and is right in front of the firehouse.  Up until the 1930's, firemen in Uruguay were part of the army.  They fought in some battles, including one right in this square.  There was a coup in the 1910's, and the outcome was fought out here - the ones the firemen supported won.  For some reason, they had a pretty clear field of fire from their (red brick) building covering all of one side of the square.  Lots of really nice architecture around it, too.

Sunburst Temari

I made this while practicing my chrysanthemum stitch for an exchange.  The threads are Watercolours, two of the new ones.  These are colors I would normally never pick, but I think they came out really well on this. The temari has already been gifted to someone, too.

Not Much More

With the move and everything, my stitching time has suffered.  It's pretty obvious when I see the lack of progress on this piece, which I try to work on daily.  I've got the flowers at the bottom done, but that's about it.  Maybe next week will be better, but I doubt it.

Fourth of July Party

Every year, US embassies all over the year hold an official Independence Day celebration.  Ours was on the 30th of June, and it was a beautiful, if chilly day.  Pictures here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/usembassy_montevideo/sets/72157627090915636/ .  It was much, much better than last year's.  The building and grounds are the chief of mission's residence, build in 1948.  This is the home of the ambassador when there's one stationed here.  Anyway, the mug.  Coca Cola gave the embassy the mugs to give away to all the guests.  When they're cold, they're what you see above.  Put a hot liquid in them, and they turn white with the Coca Cola logo on them.  Spiffy!!  Had a great time at the party, too, then at the after party at Kaitlin's.

Protests and Pretties

Still on the history tour, these pictures are around the headquarters of one of the older political parties in Uruguay.  Notice the protest banner and grafitti.  Also, isn't the building (in the next pictures) beautiful?  It was built during the Beaux Arts craze at the turn of the 20th century.

One More Step on the Walk

My diamonds have centers now.  One last step more and I'll be done with this log.

Some History

In April, Leonel, one of the embassy's local employees, took us on a local political history tour.  It mainly concentrated on the upheavals of the 1980's.  The ones where the current president ended up in jail a couple blocks away for 14 years before escaping.  Anyway... the butterfly was on the lawn at the embassy before we left.  Andreas got a pretty good shot of it, don't you think?

These three pictures were taken at the spot where one of the government's ministers was assassinated in the early '80s.  He was not military, but was rightist.  As you can see from the grafitti, some people remember.  Oh, and the building's in the same block as one Prince Edward stayed in while visiting Uruguay back in the day.

This last picture is of the window he was shot from.  The leftists had broken in and tied and gagged everyone a bit before the assassination.