Relajando

I am not a natural at relaxing, as might be obvious to the blip community from the often fevered writing, which lapses into political ranting whenever there is a lull in activity.

I really tried to relax today, and it was moderately successful, despite the nagging feeling that I should be doing something else. I'm reading a book called Born Digital about young people who have always lived in a technological world and the impact of this on their lives. I had assumed this was referencing people born since the 1990s or those always surrounded by the latest gadgets, which would rule me out as I'm an 80s kid and our household wasn't fast on the uptake of the Internet. However many of the phenomena the book discusses such as information overload leading to loss of focus and feelings of restlessness strike a very large scary chord. The book calls people like me 'Digital Immigrants' as opposed to 'Digital Natives'.

Before the Argentinians had to leave, we had breakfast of delicious dulce de leche cake, then played a throwing game called tejo (similar concept to bowls) on the beach. I'm very much enjoying our rustic accommodation due to the atmosphere and excellent home-cooked food. I don't even mind the 16-person dorm, which was practically the only bed left in town, as it's the height of peak season.

I took a long walk up the coast, passing a wafting rotting seal carcass every few hundred metres, to a pine forest on the edge of the dunes. I didn't encounter another soul so passed a few solitary hours reading and listening to music.

As I returned from the pine forest to find somewhere serving the Uruguayan classic dish of chivitos I was again struck by the carnival atmosphere and sensation I was attending a beach music festival. There was a cornucopia of revellers up to all sorts: athletic Brazilians in handstand competitions, a ginger (and sunburned) man juggling, numerous hippies strumming guitars or blasting out multiple genres of music. I can see why people return here often, including Sofia from Buenos Aires, a singer we watched last night, who Diego was trying to woo, and who spends a month here each January.

The sun is blistering here at the moment, but is tempered by strong sea winds, so even trudging through the sand for hours hasn't made me sweaty. I was much better than usual at applying suncream, although I am reluctant to look in the mirror shortly during pre-bed ablutions as it's this time of night the full impact and panda-like sunglasses marks reveal themselves.