While the waiting winds down and more doing approaches, what better way to burn some time than re-reading a TMSR endorsed classic in a new locale. It's amazing how much a change in local can change the reading.
The text also provides a pallet for examining the local people. What does a population that embraces endemic cannabis use become? Passive, muy tranqui. What doesn't phaze in Montevideo? Political agitprop, Graffiti, and the sound or smell of gunpowder.1 Agitation, provocation, action... those things don't really happen here. An then there's the part where the locals there are at war against foreigners in the book while here in irl there's deep love for the extranjeros.
The book's protagonist underwent cosmetic procedures to look like the locals. I am in no hurry to dispose of the supreme status symbols that are my tan lines. Anyways, still a good read, even though my intentions are to love Uruguay myself rather than turn the place over to others.2 In a battle of empire vs empire, why rush to save either?
- Not because shootings are common, they aren't. The city's main newspapers will give isolated shootings in far flung provinces front page treatment in a complete reversal from how the newspapers covered violence back home. The comfort comes from the ever ubiquitous fuegos artificiales. [↩]
- While the easy to find commentaries on the text suggest Alien empire was evil, what of the Protagonist's side? [↩]