On our walking tour of the old city on Wednesday, I neglected to mention that we also made a short visit to the Catedral Montevideo. It is located right in front of the Cabildo across Constitution Square, in the neighborhood of Ciudad Vieja.

Did you know what organists do when they walk into a large church or cathedral? They enter through the back door and immediately turn around and look for pipework in the rear gallery! So that’s what I did when we walked through the Catedral Metropolitana. And here’s their organ:

I was told, though, that the instrument needs work, so I didn’t attempt to try to see the console.

Nacho told me he had a special surprise for me, so yesterday morning he took me to a spot on the beach where pipes of different lengths are mounted on a wall.

I told Nacho we should call this “el órgano en la playa.” We do have plans to visit the organ at the Iglesia de la Punta Carretas later today. That meant that I had to pack my organ shoes and some music! I told Nacho and my friends from Cada Día Spanish not to expect too much, but I’m afraid they are thinking it will be an informal concert. But I guess for most people, an organist is a rarity and using all four limbs to play an instrument must seem pretty strange.

Yesterday, Nacho took us to the Cementerio de Buceo, established in 1872. It is the final resting place of some notable people, namely:

• Rafael Barradas (1890–1929) painter
• Esteban Echeverría (1805–1851) writer, poet and political figure
• Pedro Cubilla (1933–2007) professional football player and coach
• Juan José de Amézaga (1881–1956) President of Uruguay
• Juan Pablo Rebella (1974–2006) motion picture director
• Juan Alberto Schiaffino (1925–2002) footballer
• Luisel Ramos (1984–2006) model

Nacho joked that he won’t be buried there … but that he SHOULD be!

So, why take us to a cemetery? It is because my friend, Marsha Walker, comes from a multi-generational family which has owned a number of funeral homes in Utah, and she says that her favorite places to visit are cemeteries! Por supuesto (of course!) During Cada Día Spanish class, she has told us stories about the adventures of living in a mortuary.

Some policemen stopped us as we were leaving and told us we weren’t supposed to be taking pictures, probably because of privacy concerns. Nacho explained to them that Marsha’s family owned some mortuaries and she was doing a report on them! Hahaha! or as they say in Spanish, ¡jajaja!

Last night, Marsha gave all of us tubes of Chapstick with her family’s name imprinted on them! And on our first night here, she gave Nacho a Walker Mortuary shopping bag and even a keychain with a tiny coffin on it!