What to Bring to Uruguay

I know this post won't apply to most of you, but for my faithful readers who are coming down here, I thought I'd share my advice and I thought the rest of you might find this interesting.

Clothes
OK... No matter what people tell you that folks always or never wear here, you can find an example of the opposite. We live in an older more conservative neighborhood, so you are not going to see many women in shorts, short skirts, or low cut shirts. But you will see some, esp. when you move out of the neighborhood. (Most of the women don't even wear shorts at the gym, but we've given up blending in there anyway. And it is too hot for long pants there now.) Bring a pair or two of longer shorts, because if nothing else you'll need them when you go to Brazil. Most people tend to wear darker clothes, but not always. You mainly see both men and women wear pants, either black pants or blue jeans, but I've been here in late winter and spring, summer and fall might be completely different. One trick is that you'll be here over a couple of seasons, and so you need clothes for all sorts of weather. The other trick is that no matter what the "usual" temperature is... it only matters what it actually is when you are here so it could be unusually hot or cold. So here's a little advice about what to bring:

A week's worth of warm weather and cold weather clothes, a nice jacket for when its cold, some work out clothes because you have to go to Fabricio and Dario's gym, a couple of nicer outfits (I brought too many because I thought I might have to dress like a prof more than I do.) And a swim suit. But basically bring stuff you are going to enjoy wearing. (If you really need something you can probably buy it here anyway.) Oh and bring extra socks... they seem to disappear at the laundry.

Shoes
Bring comfortable shoes, you will walk a lot. The first day we walked a half mile to and from Tres Cruces and that seemed a long way away. (It didn't help that we were exhausted.) That mile round trip is nothing now. And we don't think anything about walking 2 miles to la Ciudad Vieja (the Old City). I mostly wear my black Sketchers that can pass as dressy or casual. I wear my tennis shoes some. Bring some sandals for when it is hot. I brought my hiking boots but have only worn them once or twice. The time I could have used them most on Spring Break, I left them behind because I didn't want to bring giant boots with me.

Toiletries
Don't bring much. You can buy shampoo, conditioner, deodorant, toothpaste, nail polish remover, etc. at the grocery store or at little shops around the corner. I would say bring enough to get you through the first couple weeks until you are comfortable finding and buying stuff, but save the room for other stuff you'll miss.

Medicine
Bring at least some of your own. I successfully bought some cold medicine and cough syrup in Chile, so you can buy it here. But you have to ask at the pharmacy, you can't just go in and pick it up. You can find pretty much everything here, its just figuring out what it is. I or my students have used pretty much everything I brought at some point including cold medicine, allergy medicine, pain killers (Ibuprofen is my best friend), anti-nausea, and anti-diarrhea. The only one that we never opened was Ex-lax, but I'd still bring that too. (I know waaaay too much info.)

Food
If you rely on peanut butter BRING IT! You might bring spices you want like McCormick's spaghetti mix and black pepper. You can actually find taco seasoning in packets in the exotic food section at the Disco (the fancy grocery store.) If you need green bean casserole at some point during the semester, you'll need the onions and cream of mushroom soup from home (although a cream sauce substitutes pretty well.) About the only other thing I kind of missed was Quaker granola bars. You can get them here but they aren't quite the same.

Books
Its tough to find books in English here. So if you want something to read for fun, bring a couple of books. You can always trade with other people in your group. I brought two slow read books so I'm not actually going to finish them before I leave. I haven't read as much as I thought I would this semester.

School supplies
If you are particular about your paper and notebooks bring them. Otherwise you can get everything here. The paper is different sized though and they seem to only put two holes in loose leaf paper. Pens, markers, etc. are no problem. (I'll leave my overhead projector pens, but if you are a teacher and want some you might bring them. While you can get dry erase markers, I couldn't find the Vis-a-Vis erasable overhead pens here.)

Random Stuff
You might want to bring a smaller duffel bag or backpacking backpack for spring break and other short trips. I ended up buying one here. If there are knick-knacks or pictures you will really miss, bring them... you will be gone for 3 and half months or so. Your laptop. USB drive/ pen drive/ whatever you want to call it. Multiple memory cards. A purse with a sturdy strap. Oh and bag for carrying around stuff with you are shopping. I've already written about the mommy bag, but I also like it because it looks beat up so you wouldn't expect a nice camera be in there. I also can put things I buy in there, so I'm not obviously carrying new purchases. DVD's. Febreeze would have come in handy. An iPod/ MP3 player is nice for bus trips. OH... gifts for people you meet here. I wish I had brought some... I've been thinking through the stuff I have that I'm going to give away.

Warning Discussion of Feminine Products is about to Commence
Ok... I could not fully feel like I have prepared you if I didn't talk about this. Sorry, guys if you are still reading, but I did give you a warning. Stop reading now if you are going to be embarrassed/ grossed out when I talk about periods starting in the next sentence. I would advise bringing enough tampons and/ or pads for your whole trip. (In fact I learned the hard way that you might want to plan for one extra time in case your body hates you... mine hates me.) You can buy both here, but we have only been able to find O.B. which don't use applicators. (Ew!... I know... better for the enviroment, less waste... but EW!) So if you want to use an applicator, bring your own tampons. I haven't bought pads here, but apparently they are smaller than the ones in North America. I don't really use them... but that's what Rhonda told me. I hadn't planned on bringing any tampons, but at the last minute I asked Rhonda about it and was glad I did.