Plaza Sesamo

When we lived in the States, our kids had very limited boundaries for their roaming. In West Virginia, they pretty much were only able to walk down the street to Sissah Bookah's, and in Utah, their range was widened to about 2 blocks away from the house. Several times our oldest daughter, V, asked to walk to Target, which was about 4 blocks away and didn't require the crossing of any major streets. The answer was always a firm "NO." Here in Montevideo Uruguay, the story is much different.

Living in Uruguay means shopping differently, every day Uruguayans make their daily rounds to the almacen, panaderia , fruteria and carneceria . Our apartment had a small fridge and negligible storage space, so every day, we too, made the rounds. The elevator was slow, and I was always forgetting something, so we started sending the girls to get our supplies. Our portero would watch from ground level, and I would watch from the balcony as the girls would cross our single-lane, one-way street to go to the almacen, fruteria, or panaderia that was on our block.

The girls loved the freedom of running out for bananas or milk and paying for the items themselves, which they never got to do in the States. This also really developed their Spanish abilities. Pocitos is filled with people who have the same routines every day, and there is a familiarity and friendliness to seeing the same people. We got to know all of the workers in the stores, all of the dog walkers, and all of the porteros, if not by name, then by sight and habit. We quickly were adopted into the rhythm of the barrio, and I knew that we were known to all, being easily recognized as the gringo family with five light-haired kids, and cared about by many. If any one of the girls didn't happen to follow the usual routine, we'd hear about it.
The girls rapidly became more confident and farther-reaching in their travels. When they started summer camp at Club Bigua (pronounced cloobeegWAH) I walked with them the first few weeks, but they were soon able to do it on their own. V is a real mamasita (little mother) and ensures that they stick together, hold hands while crossing the street and get wherever they are going on time. When school started in March, it was a natural transition, as their school was only 3 blocks further down the road from Bigua. I walked them in the beginning, but they were just fine.

Moving 7 blocks away to a house in June had me a little worried that we'd miss our "regulars" from the other barrio, but we have become a part of a wonderful neighborhood. We have a real grocery store (Disco), an awesome bakery (Cassis), a ferreteria , cambio , farmacia, bookstore, gas station, and other little shops. We're greeted every day by the guy who works at the Cerrajeria and the kid who carries our groceries home from the store. The guard at Disco will give me instructions for home remedies for grippe if he hasn't seen one of the kids in a while. My kids get a free cookie every time we go to Cassis. I love that my kids can walk half of a block to the papeleria to get a snack, knowing that everyone around is watching out for them. We've become part of the rhythm of this neighborhood, and I love it. People care about each other. The other day I was in a hurry as I was taking my boys to preschool, and in my rush dropped I's backpack. Hours later, when a shop-keeper noticed that I had returned home, he came over to drop it off. I had never seen him before, but he knew our family, and cared enough to help us.

I love this sense of community. We've always built our communities with people who shared similar interests, beliefs, attended the same work or school; but this is different, and so fulfilling. We feel like we've got our own personal "Sesame Street" filled with people who live and work together. I feel confident with my girls walking a half of a block to the papeleria for a snack, knowing the checkout girl has a relationship with my daughters that the checkout girls at Target never had.