04/01/2001
  Montevideo - URUGUAY
  S 34°52    W 56°03
  + 111

A long Uruguayan week-end !

The sun was shining in the Estancia Don Esteban. For lunch we eat guavas with fresh home-made cream. Guava is an excellent Brazilian fruit; the Team puts a few seeds in its luggages hoping to grow them in Southern Europe.

We say goodbye to the adorable family Souza de Secco, promising to see us again. We get in a 4x4 and head off to the little city of Young... where children are waiting for the Car@van !

The Team goes to St Catherine's School. The little school is upside down when we arrive. Read the Anecdotes and watch the Video !

Back on the road, full of adrenalin, to Montevideo. We meet Nicole again in the house: a big smile to tell everything's alright, two days of rest made her feel much better. Theo spends the day with her, as Aleko, Magda, Vale and Marco go out in the Montevideo News, the hippest nightclub downtown, and come back at dawn.

In the morning, Nicole and Theo go for a walk in the streets of the center, before having a lunch on the Plaza de Independencia. When they come back, the others have bought flowers for Malena and a huge 'dulce de leche' cake for tonight's party, at Alejandro's, Magda's sister's boyfriend.

We fill the car with meat, wine and wood and drive for 40 kilometers towards east close to the sea. Alejandro's house looks like a tower on the seaside, with a huge palm tree in front of it. Alejandro, mad about heavy metal, made a record a few years ago: as soon as they arrive, Aleko and Marco play with him, amplifiers at max. Later on, we have a match on video games... the night ends with a terrible water fight. But click and watch the video !

This week-end, we discovered the voting results. Read Other.

St. Catherine's School

From Cape Town's orphanage to the African townships, from the Indonesian to the Aboriginal children, in a Chilean school or now in Uruguay, the Car@van meets the children of the World.

St Catherine's School's children are between 6 and 13 years old. All dressed the same way, they leave their books when we arrive to sit in the little courtyard.

Vale shows a big world map, Theo switches the computer on as Aleko talks about the Car@van's stopovers, many anecdotes and briefly explains the new nomadism.

The children show a lot of interest and ask many questions :"How is the World" or "Can we come with you !"

Theo has fun and distracts the pupils acting like a clown. Until the point when the children don't listen anything more and the school's director has to say stop.

To thank us, as we are distributing stickers, she gives us the school's banner. When we get out, boys and girls ask us to sign autographs !

Meeting the children of the World is an great source of energy for us. They're our future !

Check the Video!

After the Jam session, our artists says:

"4 months without playing drums were too much: I played 2 hours yesterday and that was great. But it's not the only thing I missed..". Marco

"See you in Paris: I'll play a concert on the 21st of April for the Clamart Rugby Club. More news later..."  Aleko

 

Voting form n°16: the results

With some emotion, we discover Saturday morning the Virtual's People's decision. 

Across the voting form, on-line every week, the Car@van lived very strong experiences - from adventure to culture, ecology, humanitarian... After more than a 100 days of travel, we believe that the complementarity between the real and virtual travelers created a unique entity, with a body and a mind.

This week, you chose:

Explore: "Help Magda in the creation of the first center for Cerebral Palsy in Uruguay". Tomorrow, the proof on the Journal of the Car@van's contribution.

Continue: the Car@van has to land in Rome. The Virtual People made the Team succeeding in finishing the First Interactive Round the World Tour in 120 days.

Great Virtual !

It will be our last South American Journal.

Following the vote's results, we bought the tickets to land in Rome, where we should arrive on the 4th of April. But we'll talk to you about this tomorrow.

Have a great week before meeting you in Italy, if you can !

See you tomorrow.

The Team 

Guide our next steps,insert contacts & info on   IWorld