Carmelo & Calera de las Huérfanas

Carmelo is a small town around Arroyo de las Vacas. It is the only town founded by Artigas himself. He knew what he was doing - it is a wonderful site.

There is a unique rotary bridge over the creek, does not get much use these days.



Old dredges should be busy around nearby Martin Garcia island, but instead they just sit in the harbor, collecting rust.



The Carmen sanctuary in Carmelo is one of the oldest on our little country.



Near Carmelo (about 6 km) you can see Calera de las Huerfanas. This is a place where the Jesuits had a mission until mid 18th century, including a lye works and mining site and a large cattle site. It became a Estancia after the Jesuits' expulsion. Now, a NGO is reclaiming the historical site - good work that should be supported.



Jose de San Martin's family lived several years right here, although he was born later when they moved to Yapeyu, Corrientes province. Most of his siblings were born in this Estancia. They went on to fight for Spain in several theaters of war while Jose was liberating South America. Crazy times.

Wooden fruit boxes

Montevideo is full of fruit stalls which show off their products in open wooden boxes. The stall operators are not always keen about photography, but the colors and patterns are compelling.



The boxes are always scarce, they come and go from the main market to the stalls. Sometimes they break or get lost in transit. Market operators write their business names on the side, in an attempt to keep accounting and get their boxes back.



When piled to be loaded, sometimes the boxes make regular patterns, but not very much so. Nothing Uruguayan could be too regular.



Best part of this subject are the textures and tones. I like the following one because of the onions spilling out of the box.



Thanks for looking.