The Gentle Giant

Korea gave our city a gentle giant. It is a sculpture by Young-ho Yoo, apparently first in the world of a project to include many other cities. For some reason, which I hope was not caution, they started in the place farthest away from Seoul that they could find.

The Greeting Man is 20 ft tall and has a sky-blue skin, maybe a homage to our soccer team uniform. It cuts a striking image. The Giant is greeting with his corteous bow all of the traffic in the Rambla, close to where Propios boulevard ends.

Kids play merrily with the Giant. Locals have already reinterpreted the sculpture; there are videos showing him doing Gangnam style.

Trees were planted to define a small garden around the scultpure. I do not know which types, they have Korean language tabs and exotic names. Hope to see them tall and flowering.

It is definitely a change from our classical bronze homages to historical figures. I appreciate the naked Giant's gesture of humanity, even if most drivers in the busy Rambla won't even look up to acknowledge his corteous bow.

Thanks, Korea! We should reciprocate in this cross-cultural exchange. Maybe a monument of Obdulio holding the ball under his arm would be adequate.

Carrasco hotel is restored!

In previous posts I showed different stages of the hotel restoration.  Now it is finished at last. Inauguration happened last March 7th. I got some pictures a few days before inauguration.

The roulette wheels are already turning to pay for the restoration. The transit around the hotel has been rerouted, and I sure hope it works. A host of small business around the hotel gave a bigh sigh of relief.

Compare the building in October 2010, and just before inauguration.

The building was surrounded by security guards, but they kindly left me fool around with my old cameras. There was still some construction debris around.

Now, to plan for a good night shot.

Beach, sunsets and fishing rods

Most of the country seems to be on vacations. Even those who have to work do it at reduced speed, if they can. Weather is warm - high time for a post about vacations.

Down here, vacations mean those beaches along the River Plate and the Atlantic coast.

I just learned that Rosita Forbes, a British journalist and explorer, visited Uruguay in 1932. She wrote that our beaches were so large that people used them to sleep, eat, work and play for 16 hours a day. Maybe she exaggerated a bit; but 81 years later, people still go to the beach as often as they can.



However, families seem to have less free time now than in 1932. Most hit the sand in the afternoon. If weather allows, they stay until the sunset - and sometimes even applaud the sun's performance, provided it is a good one.

Another very popular activity in vacations is fishing with a rod and reel; there is hardly a middle class family without a fisherman. Heck, our previous president was a rod fisherman. There are few fisherwomen - it looks more like a masculine trait. Or maybe women are just more intelligent?

Fish may be sparse, small and ignorant of the lures, but these issues have never bothered any real fishermen.

Piriapolis harbor is a Mecca of rod fishing. Here is the amateur and rookie fishing section. Pros usually throw long lines into the open sea, at the end of the docks.



In the middle left you can see the row of moored fishing boats. Yachts moor to the right and in the bay itself. Priapolis city and the cerros are in the background. Not a bad seascape to contemplate.