At the end of the day, photos are sifted and sorted, evaluated, approved, or deleted.
You take as many photos as possible on trips because you know not all things you shoot are going to work. It takes only a quick point, shoot, then you put the camera back into your pocket, as you walk.There is nothing complicated about snapping a photo.
Sometimes, you look at the camera roll and find something serendipitous. You either see something in a photo you didn’t see when you first shot it, or, you see a mistake that interests you. It wasn’t planned, but it tweaks interest. This photo is one of these second types.
This odd photo is of me and my shadow.
Sometimes I don’t know where my shadow is, but most bright days, when I turn, just so, Mr. Shadow is right with me.
There used to be an old vaudeville song called “Me and My Shadow.” The entertainer would strut across the stage, looking over his shoulder, trying to catch his shadow catching him. It was a catchy Tin Pan Alley song and a catchy show stopper. People loved it. The only reason I remember is the performer played clarinet, and I play clarinet.
The vaudeville entertainer was Ted Lewis. You can Google ” Me and My Shadow ” and catch his thing on You Tube.
A reviewer of the Ted Lewis clarinet playing called it, ” The last anguish of a dying dog. ”
He might have been too kind.
As man’s best friend, and women’s cuddle master, dogs are in Punta Del Este too.
I have seen no dog whisperers here as I did in Ciudad Vieja, but dogs go where their masters are. Dog lovers know that their dogs are worth buying a steak for, grilling it, and cutting it up in nice little bites for them, just the way they like it. There is just something special about having an associate that doesn’t question, doesn’t fight, doesn’t judge, and barks at the people you don’t like either.
This poodle is comfortable and doesn’t snap as I snap a quick picture. Self assured, she maintains her regal composure and gives me only the slightest notice. Up on her comfortable throne, she has a wide open view of the street below.
To be treated in the manner to which you are entitled is every dog’s mission in life, but the first rule, in any dog’s Bible, is get a good owner.
Once you have that you can fix your master the way you like them.
Steve is my age.
He is standing on a ladder in work clothes scrubbing graffiti off pieces of slate glued to a concrete wall. We both agree it is a stupid place to put slate – stucco, or plaster painted, would make more sense. Still, vandals have marked the wall and the manager has to have it removed and Steve is the man hired to do it.
He tells me he is from Uruguay but migrated to the U.S., lived and worked there twenty five years. He came back to Uruguay because he still has a daughter here. For now, he works as a maintenance man for this apartment building but back in the states maintains large resort hotels and keeps commercial kitchens running.
“My wife went back last month,” he tells me, as he washes off graffiti. “I want to go back and drive my truck. I love it. I like Miami. My son has a construction business and a big house I can stay in .”
The conversation confirms that Uruguayans know all about the United States . A young man at the bus station , who spent five years trying to become a legal U.S. citizen, but couldn’t get accepted, expressed his belief that getting ahead is tough in Uruguay and immigration is a way to move up economic ladders.
“In the U.S.,” he said, “it is different. People think ahead.” Here, if your family is not important, you have difficulties.”
Graffiti is on the move around the world and is Punta Del Este’s a canary in a coal mine.
If they catch the culprits, Steve is pretty sure they won’t do a thing to them.
The cost of keeping people locked up has killed more than one government budget.
Lunch is hours away but a foreman is already buying food for his troops before it rolls around
A sale unfolds as I stand on the sidewalk in front of a construction site and watch sandwiches and sweets go into a five gallon bucket. A stooped figure is retrieving orders from shelves in the back of a little van and the subs he pulls out look big to me.
“What you got in there? ”
The young man, bearded, points at two front rows of sub sandwiches, and a back row of desserts.
“Did you make them,” I ask?
“No, I have a supplier.”
“How much for the big subs?”
“In U.S. dollars, six.”
“What’s your name?”
“Edgardo.”
We shake and make a sandwich deal for tomorrow morning same time, same place since I didn’t bring any money on this stroll. He wants to give me a sandwich now and I pay tomorrow but I don’t want to do that because there is lots of static that can get between now and tomorrow. It is nice that he trusts me enough to make such an offer.
I don’t see a permit but I don’t need one because his business is popular, and, for that reason alone, advertises itself.
Helping local small business guys is high on my list of things to do, even when I’m traveling. .
When I work construction I eat out of concession trucks when they are close by at home.
I can’t make this sandwich for what he sell’s them for, and, even if I bought from his supplier, I’d have to walk there and convince them to sell to me.
Paying people for their time and money is never a bad idea.
I appreciate being paid for my knowledge, skills, and service too.
The crane must be fifty feet tall.
” She comes from Europe,” the man in the hard hat tells me as he walks over.
“Que donde esta?”
“Estados Unitos, Nuevo Mexico …”.
He holds a small orange box in his hand with buttons. As he pushes buttons the crane lifts a load of cement in a metal bucket. The bucket was attached moments ago by men who have since disappeared into the building to work on plumbing, wiring, plastering, clean up. The building is seventy percent done and then the real job of filling it with paying tenants begins.
“Is constuction bueno aqui?” I ask.
“Medio,” he says, and, in English, tells me that Uruguay is doing well from immigration.
“You are playing video games,” I joke.
“Si,” he smiles, “but I need to be careful. Mucho responsibilidad.”
He wishes me a good day and returns to his job.
New buildings are a good economic sign.
Uruguay is one of the more prosperous countries in South America and Punta Del Este is a playground for people of means.
With cheap money, the mantra becomes, ” Build it, and they will come. ”
I’m thankful for people who still know how to build things.
I like to watch buildings go up, one floor at a time, and hum along with the tangos playing on construction worker’s radios
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