Baby

Getting Health Insurance in Uruguay:
Asociación Española

October 15, 2009 by Brian

We mentioned on previous blog that we had decided to pursue private health insurance through Hospital Britanico in Montevideo. We went this route because we were told time and time again that it was the best health care in Uruguay, and the best place to have a baby in Uruguay.

While the care we received there was great, we decided to go another route. This decision was mostly due to the fact that every time we talked to the Hospital Britanico Scheme office, their price for delivering the baby kept changing. So much so, that the amount they wanted up front more than doubled from our original conversations! Yikes.

So, after doing some more research, we decided to pursue medical coverage through Asociación Española, one of Uruguay’s largest mutualistas. Asociación Española is named a "Baby Friendly Hospital" by the Ministry of Health, according to World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF initiatives. And, they have the most comprehensive Pediatric Department in Uruguay.

In addition, their health insurance rates are much lower than Hospital Britainco’s health insurance rates. Brian and I will each be paying UY$1446 per month (U$S 69.69 as of today’s exchange rate), which includes funeral coverage in addition to health care coverage (tax included). The rate for Zoë is UY$ 867 (U$S 41.78) per month, including health care coverage and funeral coverage (tax included).

There is an additional fee of UY$ 1085 (U$S 52.29) per month if you want a private room, but we decided to forgo that for now. You must pay 12 months of fees before you can actually have a private room (only 7 months for delivery of the baby). So, she said we can think about it and pay the full 7 months of fees later if I decide I want a private room.

Asociación Española has arrangements with SUAT for emergency services, so we also signed up with them. The rate is UY$ 290 (U$S 13.98) per month, and they currently have a special for 4 months free.

That brings us to a total of UY$ 4629 per month, or U$S 223 (if only the US dollar would stop losing value!) for all three of us to have health insurance, emergency service coverage and funeral coverage. This is UY$ 1302 (U$S 62.75) per month less than Hospital Britanico (and we did not have funeral coverage with them).

Getting health insurance with Asociación Española was very simple. We just went down to their Departmento de Socios office at Rivera 2341 and met with a woman who spoke English (we were told you must get there between 8 am and 1 pm to be able to meet with someone who speaks English; no appointment necessary).

We told her we wanted to sign up with the hospital, provided our passports and signed a couple of papers. They didn’t even ask us any medical questions like they did at Hospital Britanico.

She recommended that we get photo ID cards for the hospital since we don’t have our cedulas yet (Uruguayan ID cards). There is an extra fee of UY$ 17 (U$S 0.82) each for the cards, but they make them for you on the spot. We paid the cashier; they took our pictures and gave us our Asociación Española ID cards.

Then she walked us over to the SUAT representative and gave her our information. We signed a couple papers and she provided our SUAT ID cards. Our coverage was effective immediately and we don’t have to pay anything until next month.

It was a very easy process to get health insurance through Asociación Española. Now, the next step is to find a good English-speaking Obstetrician at Asociación Española. Any recommendations are welcome!

Playing at the Park in Pocitos

October 7, 2009 by Brian

We often write about how we take Zoë to the park, which is just over a block from our apartment. The park we go to most often is called Parque de Juan Zorrilla de San Martin. It’s located on Ellauri and Vazquez Ledesma (where the Villa Biarritz feria is held on Tuesdays and Saturdays).

Yesterday I realized that we have never posted pictures from our trips to the park in Pocitos. So, I snapped a few pictures to share with you today.

Here’s a broad view of the park. Now that Spring is here, all of the trees are turning green and the park is looking much prettier.

There are two slides at the park. I don’t yet feel comfortable letting Zoë go down them alone (notice the “side rails”). But she loves when Brian takes her on them.

There are a bunch of swings at the park and Zoë absolutely loves to swing. When she wants to swing she starts yelling, “Wee!” and running over to the swings.

Zoë also loves these teeter-totters. However, it takes both Brian and I to put her on them, so we only occasionally use these. They’re mostly for the bigger kids.

This is Zoë’s favorite activity of all – playing in the sand. It’s funny, if she falls down and gets grass or dirt on her hands while she’s playing, I have to dust it off immediately or she freaks out. But she loves getting dirty in the sand. She usually requires a shower after a trip to the park just to get the sand out of her hair.

The Exploring Uruguay Forum is Now Live!

October 2, 2009 by Brian

Thank you to all of our blog readers for asking so many great questions about Uruguay. The number of questions we’ve been getting has increased significantly, so we decided it was time to create the Exploring Uruguay Forum.

We’ve been working hard on getting the forum ready over the past several days and we’re excited to announce that it’s finally live.

So, come by the Exploring Uruguay Forum today and post a question about Uruguay. Or, share your experiences with living in Uruguay, or visiting Uruguay.

Thanks in advance for contributing to the community!

Baby Update! We’re having…

August 14, 2009 by Brian

A girl!

We had our ultrasound yesterday afternoon at Hospital Britanico and the ultrasound technician said that she’s 99.99% sure it’s a girl!

Her name is Kaylee Joy – her middle name is for my Grandma Joyce who I’ve always been very close to. I think it’s going to be so much fun to have two little girls so close in age.

Our due date is either Feb. 5, 6 or 7… We’ve been told different dates at our last few appointments. Regardless, we are stoked. Hopefully Kaylee isn’t quite the size that Zoë was (10lbs 1oz) when she is born…

But if she is, we’ll love her just the same.

Having a Baby in Uruguay Follow Up: First Trimester Down!

August 5, 2009 by Brian

If you didn’t read our original blog about having a baby in Uruguay, you can find it here.

We’re happy to report that we’ve made it through the first trimester!

Everything is going well with my pregnancy and the care I’m receiving at Hospital Britanico has been great. I’ve found an obstetrician that speaks English, which has been very helpful, although I am a little nervous about the fact that not all of the labor and delivery staff will speak English.

If it were anything other than delivering a baby, I wouldn’t worry so much about the language barrier. I guess we need to brush up on Spanish medical terminology.

The latest discussion in our house is whether we’re having a baby boy or baby girl… I think we’re having a boy; Brian thinks we’re having a girl. We have another ultrasound next Thursday, so we’re hoping to find out if we’re having a boy or girl in just over a week (right before Brian embarks on a weekend journey to the States to pick up my maternity clothes and baby stuff). Of course we’ll keep you updated when we get the news.

Although I don’t think she quite understands yet, Zoë points to my belly every morning and says “baby.” I still think she’s going to be in for a bit of a shock when we bring an actual baby home in February. But she is a very loving little girl, so I think she’s adjust just fine with a little time.

I was just thinking today about how different it is going to be having baby #2. When Zoë was born, Brian was able to stay with us in the hospital.

This time around, he’ll have to stay with Zoë at night, so I’ll be at the hospital alone with the new baby. While it’ll be different and I’m sure Zoë will be wondering where mommy is, it’ll give me some private bonding time with the new baby before we bring him or her home and mommy is pulled in multiple directions.

That will have both its pros and cons. When I was still recovering after having Zoë, it was nice to have Brian there to change Zoë’s diaper (he actually changed her very first diaper) or bring her to me so I could feed her.

But, I guess the positive side is that I’ll get extra snuggle time with the new baby and can sleep knowing that Brian isn’t laying on an uncomfortable cot next to me ☺ We’ll see how I actually feel about it when the big day comes.

We’ll keep you posted on our blog in the coming months about how things are going. And of course, we’re still working on our ebook to help other expatriate families understand the process of having a baby in Uruguay.

We’re Having a Baby In Uruguay!

July 3, 2009 by Brian

Yep, we’re having a baby in Uruguay! Zoë is no longer going to be an only child… she’s going to make such a great big sister.

We officially got word from the doctor today that everything looks good and our little one is expected around February 6, 2010. That means I’m nine weeks along. We couldn’t be happier. We definitely planned on having another baby in the future, but it looks like the future is coming faster than expected.

So after we told our families, there was a common question among them… “Are you going to come back to San Diego to have your baby?”

Our answer: “Why would we do that? Uruguay has great hospitals and wonderful medical care. We live here… Uruguay is our home for now, so we plan to have our baby here.”

After talking with some friends that had a baby in Uruguay, we’ve decided to look into having it at Hospital Británico (the British Hospital in Uruguay). The technology and service level is top notch, and we’ve been referred to a Doctor that speaks excellent English.

We’ve found that there isn’t much information available online about what to expect when having a baby in Uruguay. We were looking at into buying into a Uruguayan Hospital’s Insurance Plan. We still are… but being pregnant is considered a pre-existing condition. That means we’ll be paying all pregnancy related expenses from doctor’s visits to tests to the delivery out of pocket.

We’ll also be journaling about our experiences with pregnancy and having a baby in Uruguay. How that benefits you is… After our little one is born, we’ll be putting everything into an eBook that will hopefully make it easier for other expatriate families to navigate the process of having a baby in Uruguay. And of course, we’ll have updates here on our Uruguay blog!

Brian, Chrystal & Zoë

What Type of Stroller Works Best for Life in Montevideo?

June 12, 2009 by Brian

This is a question we asked ourselves when we made the decision to move to Uruguay. We had a Graco Quattro (that was part of our travel system), which was bulky and just wouldn’t work for city life. So, I started researching different strollers to find one that would be ideal for life in Montevideo.

After a lot of research and chatting with friends we found 2 modes of transportation for Zoë that would work best while living in Uruguay. One is our stroller and the other is our backpack carrier.

Kelty TC 3.0 Transit Child Carrier
Review: As I mentioned in our first post about our travels to Uruguay, the Kelty Carrier has been a lifesaver. It’s a backpack that allows Zoë to ride in it. Sometimes we just don’t want to haul the stroller around, or there just isn’t room to navigate it (like at the market). Zoë loves sitting up high where she can see everything and it must be comfortable because she has fallen asleep in it several times, head flopping and all. Brian says it’s comfortable to wear (after he figured out how to adjust it). The Kelty Carrier has made our life in Uruguay so much easier than if we only had a stroller.

Baby Jogger City Mini
Review: As far as our stroller goes, we decided on the Baby Jogger City Mini because it is lightweight, sturdy, easy to maneuver, reasonably priced and customizable. It also had a very large sun cover, which seemed to be hard to find on strollers in the same class. And, the one hand fold was something even I could handle on my own. I highly recommend watching the video review on Amazon.com (click link above and scroll down… it’s the first review listed). It gives an excellent overview of the stroller’s functionality and I always find visuals very helpful.

We initially bought just the City Mini stroller, but quickly decided that we’d need to add a few accessories before moving to Uruguay:

Baby Jogger Child’s Tray
Review: It has a holder for a sippy cup and room on the tray for snacks or a toy. It also snaps right out on one side to make it easier to get Zoë out.

Baby Jogger Parent Console
Review: It has one spot for a drink and two small cooler sections. Works great.

Baby Jogger City Mini Single Stroller Rain Canopy
Review: This thing is awesome. It fits nicely over the stroller and keeps Zoë dry and warm when it rains here. We’ve used it several times already and it works perfectly… absolutely essential in Uruguay.

Mommy Hooks
Review: Another great investment… we have two. We were actually out shopping while still in San Diego and I said that I wished there was some sort of hook you could get to put on your stroller to hang your shopping bags so you didn’t have to try to carry them and push the stroller at the same time. So, I went home, got on the Internet and discovered the Mommy Hook. We have one on each side of the stroller and it’s perfect for a trip to the Punta Carretas shopping center or grocery store (we usually take the Kelty Carrier to the market). You can load them up pretty full and the stroller still handles well, even on the uneven sidewalks here in Montevideo.

Baby Jogger Carry Bag
Review: This was great for traveling to Uruguay with the stroller. Before we got on the plane, we just popped the stroller in the bag and gate checked it. That way, we knew it would be protected from damage.

Baby Jogger Adjustable Belly Bar
Review: If you don’t want the full child tray, the belly bar is great because it gives your child something to hold onto. And, you can adjust the height, which is nice (the child tray obstructs Zoë’s view and there’s no way to adjust the height). Either way, you need to have either the belly bar or tray for folding the stroller up and having it stay in place (nice little feature for the smaller apartment size in Montevideo).

These are a few other accessories that look interesting, but we don’t own:

Baby Jogger Foot Muff
Review: I’ve thought about adding this one since the weather in Uruguay in cooling down for winter, but we probably won’t purchase this. What we tend to do now is just cover Zoë up with one of her blankets, the only downside to that is she likes to kick them off. One thing that we do when it’s on the cooler side is, we put the Rain Canopy on her stroller, which traps the warm air in and keeps her warm… and if she decides to kick her blanket off or throw a toy, it traps them as well.

Baby Jogger Umbrella Holder and Baby Jogger Umbrella
Review: I almost bought these until I read they’re specifically for protection from the sun (not rain). It may be something we look at in the future, but right now we’re looking for a good rain umbrella attachment since Uruguay has rainy winters. The one good thing about the handle on the stroller is that it is rounded, so it makes it a lot easier to navigate with one hand and hold an umbrella than the square handled strollers.

Baby Jogger Cooler Bag
Review: This cooler holds a six-pack and will come in handy this summer for trips to Pocitos beach. We are definitely purchasing this in the next coming months.

Baby Jogger City Mini Single Stroller Bug Canopy
Review: We thought about purchasing this since we were coming to South America. If we had purchased it, we would not have used it to this point. But it is winter here. Depending on how many creepy crawlies come out when it starts warming up will be a big factor in determining if we purchase this or not.

The “city terrain” in Montevideo, Uruguay is a little rougher than in some other areas of the world. The sidewalks are made of tiles that are laid individually, by hand (you’ll see workers out laying new tiles pretty much every day). We have yet to see a level sidewalk, or one that doesn’t have a least a few missing tiles. We’ll probably have to replace the wheels once a year just from the wear and tear the sidewalks put on them. But other than that, the stroller is holding up great. Overall, I would say the Baby Jogger City Mini has been ideal for living in Montevideo, Uruguay.

Baby/ Toddler Items to Bring When Moving to Uruguay

June 9, 2009 by Brian

We got a lot of advice about baby items from other Uruguay blogs and websites. Most of it was very helpful, but there are a few things that, in hindsight, I wish we would have known to bring that would help greatly with Zoë in Uruguay.

You can find most baby items here in Uruguay, but many of them are priced much higher than the equivalent item in the US.

For example, we were in Petit Baby and they had the exact same “potty” that Zoë had in the US, the Safety 1st Comfy Cushy 3-in-1 Potty.

She loved sitting on her potty and would use it several times a day. It’s listed for $18.95 on Amazon.com. At Petit Baby, a baby store down the street from us in Montevideo, it was U$S 49.99! So, we ended up buying a less expensive one at Violetas, another baby store down the street. Zoë refuses to sit on it (it’s not so comfy and cushy), so it may have been a waste of money.

You can find most any baby item you could want here in Uruguay (there’s a baby store on almost every block in Montevideo and I’ve seen a few secondhand stores as well). It just depends on how much you want to pay… pretty much everything seems to cost about 50-100% more than it would in the United States.

These are a few of the items we should have picked up before traveling to Uruguay:

High Chair/Booster Seat
This is one baby item that is extremely costly in Uruguay. They’re double to triple the price that they are in the US. We’ve been looking around for a few weeks now and we’ve only seen one of the booster seat types. It was nothing fancy and it was $86! The same one is listed for $27.81 on amazon.com. So, we are having this one shipped down here.

Bedrail
We thought we would use Zoë’s travel crib for her to sleep in when she isn’t sleeping with us, but the apartment we’re renting in Pocitos has a twin size bed that isn’t too high off the ground. So, we decided to buy a bedrail and let her sleep there (she really likes her “big girl bed”). However, we paid about $20 more for it than we would’ve paid in the States (U$S 45). So, you can weigh your options when packing for Uruguay.

Child Safety Locks/ Latches
When we moved into our new apartment, there were several cabinets that needed to be secured from Zoë’s reach. Although we did find what we needed at an Uruguayan baby store, it would’ve made life easier if we brought some cabinet slide locks and cabinet/drawer locks with us.

Unscented Laundry Detergent
They love their heavy fragrances in Uruguay. Unfortunately, Zoë has eczema and very sensitive skin. So, she had a little trouble with the linens at the hotel. We had heard before traveling to Uruguay that you couldn’t find fragrance free laundry detergent, but neglected to bring any with us. For now, our search will continue. In hindsight, we should have brought some with us.

These are items we brought that have been tremendously helpful with Zoë so far:

BabyBjörn Travel Crib Light
Review: Although Zoë is sleeping in a twin bed now, this Travel Crib has come in handy. We used it for naps while we were still staying in the hotel and we plan on taking several weekend trips to visit other parts of Uruguay, so we’ll use it then. It packs down much smaller than the Graco Pack N Play we had. We were able to fit it in a suitcase and fill the other half up with other items (the Pack N Play would’ve had to go on its own and take up a full piece of our luggage allowance). If I had known about this travel crib earlier, I would’ve purchased it instead of the Pack N Play.

BabyBjörn Travel Crib Light Fitted Sheet
Review: We did not invest in the special sheet for the bed, but there is one available. We are using a standard crib mattress pad and sheet. They don’t fit perfectly, but they do the job.

Portable Changing Pad
Review: If you don’t already have one, get one before you come. In the States, you can almost always be sure that there will be a changing table in the ladies restroom (at least in San Diego). I have yet to see one in Montevideo, Uruguay. For being such a baby-friendly country, that has been a surprise. So, I just bring along the changing pad and change her on the bathroom counter or floor… whatever is available.

Summer Infant Video Baby Monitor
Review: Zoë’s room is on the opposite side of the apartment from the living room. This video monitor allows us to check on her without going into her room. Also, living in an apartment building in Montevideo can be quite noisy. It’s nice being able to see on the monitor if the noise was Zoë getting out of bed, or just one of the neighbors in the building.

Angel Baby Products
Review: We only use Angel Baby products on Zoë since she has such sensitive skin. We brought a stash of Angel Baby lotion, shampoo/ body wash, and bottom balm. But, we’re starting to run low. I’ll have to order more from amazon.com because I haven’t seen anything similar in Uruguay.

Eddie Bauer Harness Buddy
Review: This cute little backpack came in handy during our layover in Panama City. When Zoë needed to burn up some energy, we just put her little backpack on her and went for a walk. If she was running around she had no problem wearing it, but did not want to wear it if we were just sitting around. Another great thing about it is that when she’s a little older, we can detach the leash and she can use it as a small backpack to carry her sippy cup or favorite toy.

Huggies Diapers
Review: We’d heard that the diapers in Uruguay weren’t great, so we brought enough diapers to last us about the first month. I’ve seen diapers several places including Huggies, Pampers and Baby Sec brands. I’ve tried the Huggies and they are different from the US version (long and skinny), but seem to work fine. We’ve also tried the Baby Sec diapers because they are a little wider, but don’t seem to be as absorbent. We’ll probably stick with the Huggies.

Huggies Wipes
Review: We brought enough wipes to last the first 3 weeks or so. We picked up some Huggies Unscented wipes… they’re awful. They leave lint behind and they’ve given Zoë a slight rash (luckily the Boudreaux Butt Paste cleared it up). I bought some active fresh scented ones and they seem to be working a little better on her (not so much lint and no rash so far). But they still aren’t as thick as the ones from the US.

Portable DVD Player with iPod Docking Station
Review: This was great for distracting Zoë during our long wait and layover at the airport. We could either pop in her favorite DVD, or dock one of our iPods in it and select a movie from there.

Sony Children’s Headphones
Review: Although Zoë wasn’t very happy about keeping these on her head for very long, they’re great because the sound is kept much lower so it won’t damage her hearing.

Shushybye DVD
Review: This is Zoë’s absolute favorite show. She sings and dances and squeals with joy every time it comes on. We had the BabyFirst TV channel back in the States and this is one of the shows featured on the channel. We knew we wouldn’t get it on Uruguay television… luckily it’s available on DVD!

Miscellaneous

The next two clothing sizes up, stored in Space Bags (we packed all of our clothes in space bags)
The next size or two up in shoes
Sippy Cups
Extra Binkies (if you use them)
Snacks (to last the first couple weeks until you get the lay of the land)
Cheerios (I haven’t seen them here yet)

A side note:
If you’re planning to buy or rent a car in Uruguay, bring your child’s car seat. But, don’t expect to use it other than that. The only law in Uruguay is that children must be in the back seat, so it’s not unusual to see kids standing up in the back seat.

Also, the taxis here are much smaller than in the States, so if you have a bulky car seat, it may not even fit in the back seat (if you can even access the seat belt). Just another reason to enjoy walking everywhere!

Our stroller and child carrier have both been absolutely essential in Uruguay. I’ll review them in another post because there are so many options that go into the stroller and this post has already run so long.

I’ve been to many of the baby stores in Uruguay, so if you have a question about the cost or availability of anything specific, please post a comment and I’ll be happy to help if I can.

Traveling to Uruguay: What a Journey!

May 15, 2009 by Brian

We’re happy to say that we made it safely to Montevide! It was a long journey down, but we’re excited to start exploring our new home of Uruguay.

Our journey started Sunday, May 10 at 5:00 pm when our shuttle picked us up at our home in San Diego to drive us to LAX (Los Angeles Airport) for our 2:12 am flight on Copa Airlines.

It took us 45 minutes to load the shuttle… we had 13 large suitcases, 2 small suitcases, 2 guitar cases, 2 backpacks, a stroller, car seat and the 3 of us! Luckily we hired a private 15-passenger van so everything fit neatly.

My Dad (Rick) made a surprise last minute visit to see us off and helped us get everything out the door and packed onto the shuttle van.

Our driver wasn’t informed that we had so much luggage (even though we let them know when we booked the shuttle and again when we confirmed it). Our driver was a little (5’3” 120lb) Filipino woman. She was great, but thank goodness Brian had Dad there to help him get the van packed.

The drive up to LAX was pleasant; our driver was very friendly and we chatted with her a quite a bit. We had to be there by 8:30 pm when the Copa Airlines counter opens, because we had so much luggage with us.

We got there with about 30 minutes to spare, so after Brian and our driver got everything off of the shuttle, we got in line and waited (see picture below).

We experienced a slight glitch when checking in for our flight to Uruguay…

The conveyor belt behind Copa’s check-in counter was out of service… So after Brian carted the luggage to be weighed, he then had to haul each suitcase (average weight of 68lbs each) to the TSA security checkpoint about 30 meters away.

When we had only four bags left for Brian to haul down, the conveyor belt behind Copa started working. So the bright side is, at least he didn’t have to cart down the last 250lbs+ of luggage ☺

Although the line was quite short, going through the security gate was a bit of a fiasco since we carried most of our electronics on board with us. But, the TSA agents were very accommodating once their Sergeant came over. They wanted us to open up and look through and x-ray everything.

Their Sergeant began asking what things were. Brian started piping out, “This is the router for this… the adapter for that… this wireless gizmo for this… these are our personal papers… blah blah blah…”

The Sergeant smiled and asked, “You guys are moving, aren’t you?” When we looked up and said yes, he smiled and just waived us on through. For a minute, we thought we were going to have to get a TSA cavity search.

Once we were through security, we headed over to our gate to camp out for the next 4 hours until our plane boarded. We found a little corner we could section off so Zoë had room to play.

The 4 hours passed relatively quickly and we boarded our plane, the first of two flights to get to Uruguay. There was no family boarding so it was a bit of a struggle lugging Zoë, her car seat, 2 roller bags and 2 backpacks on board.

We gate checked her stroller so we could use it in Panama City since we had an 8 ½ hour layover there.

The flight went smoothly. It was about 6 ½ hours long and Zoë slept most of the time. We were able to use her car seat so I think that may have helped. However, next time we’ll be leaving the car seat behind… it was a pain to lug around, even with the Traveling Toddler (a simple strap that lets you connect the car seat to your roller bag), which made it much easier than the trip we took to Texas without it.

We had also bought the CARES Child Aviation Restraint System to use on this trip, but decided at the last minute to go with the car seat onboard. We will definitely be using it instead of the car seat next time.

Zoë spent the little time she was awake charming the other passengers, as usual. We brought some new toys along with us so that we could give her a new one whenever she got restless.

Luckily that didn’t happen on this flight. We got many complements on what a good traveler she is. Of course we already knew that ☺

We arrived in Panama City on time. After waiting for all of the other passengers to deplane and a huge struggle to get the car seat unstrapped, we got off the plane and went to look for Zoë’s stroller… it was no where to be found! Neither was my other Ugg Boot. I wore both on the plane and took a pair of flips in my carry-on… Somehow I left one onboard.

So, Brian asked one of the attendants to take him back to the plane just as the cleaning crew was deboarding… The attendant asked if anyone had seen the boot. One of the cleaning ladies piped up and started digging through the trash and produced it in perfect condition. That was almost an expensive mistake…

Next we had to find the stroller. The woman at the information desk directed us to baggage claim, which is outside of security and the customs checkpoint.

Brian and Zoë waited upstairs while I went through what we thought would be a crazy long ordeal. But, apparently security is much less stringent there than in the US, so I was able to walk right through, check with the airline’s baggage claim counter (the stroller was nowhere to be found) and walk right back up the stairs to the terminal without someone so much as checking my passport. I was told that we couldn’t file a claim until we reached our final destination.

The funny thing is I was fully prepared to practice my Spanish (Necesito saber dónde está mi trolley (I had heard the airline staff use “trolley” when referring to the stroller).

However, the man that approached me to help spoke English. At least I know that he understood what I needed. I’d have plenty of time to practice my Español later.

So, back up the stairs I went and we were off to find the gate our next flight would depart out of. Thankfully we had also invested in the Kelty Carrier (a backpack/child carrier). Otherwise I’m not quite sure how we would have gotten all of our baggage and Zoë across the airport.

We found the gate and again sectioned off a little area for Zoë to play safely since we would be there for another 7 hours before boarding for our final flight to Uruguay. Brian got us some food (some very interesting sandwiches) and we sat down to wait.

We talked about how it was actually kind of nice that we had such a long layover because we were forced to just sit and relax (there was no way we were going to walk around with how much baggage we had to carry around).

It seemed like months since we had just been able to relax (with all of the preparation to move), and it would probably be about a month after we got to Uruguay before we would be able to relax again. So, as usual, everything happens for a reason.

Finally the time came to board our flight. This flight went relatively smoothly as well, and Zoë slept most of the flight again (thank goodness for night flights!). I got to sleep quite a bit, but a few people snoring behind us kept up Brian most of the flight.

Although we arrived in Montevideo, Uruguay about 20 minutes earlier than scheduled, the landing was one of the roughest either of us has ever experienced (the plane bounced 2 times before grabbing traction to slow down). But, we made it safely to the gate.

Again, we were the last ones off the plane, but the staff was very courteous and helped us get our luggage off the plane. We hopped on the shuttle (after maneuvering our luggage down a very tricky staircase… well that was mostly Brian) and headed to customs.

We were the last ones off the plane, so we were the last ones in line… or so we thought. We were quickly ushered into the “priority” clearance lane (for families and flight staff).

After less than 10 minutes, we were through customs. Uruguay customs is the easiest we have ever had to clear.

So, we headed over to baggage claim where we were informed that only 8 of our bags made it on that flight. Luckily, one of them was our stroller! We were so happy as we had gotten that stroller especially with this move in mind.

The staff from Copa at the airport was amazing with how nice, polite and professional they were with our luggage. Our flight had been to capacity, so because we had so much excess luggage, we were told the rest of our bags were still in Panama City and that they would be on the next flight arriving in Uruguay in about 24 hours.

(Quick side note: When our luggage arrived, everything was there. Brian tucked the laptop with the 17” screen in a suitcase, plus a lot of small electronics… Nothing missing, nothing disturbed. The ONLY thing that happened to our luggage was a moron at TSA at LAX couldn’t figure out to open Brian’s unlocked guitar case and broke the lock on it… Yes, the TSA is an equal opportunity employer, they will equally employ anyone who couldn’t quite pass the entrance exam to Mickey D’s…)

We headed outside to meet the relocation specialist we were working with***, and he had a van ready to pick up our bags and transport them to Punta Trouville Apart Hotel, where we will be staying for the first three weeks while we searched for an apartment.

We had initially planned on renting a van and driving ourselves to the hotel. We are sure glad we didn’t. After getting the van loaded (and realizing that both the relocation specialist and Brian tipped the porters, which made the porters’ night), we hopped in the car and got our first experience of Uruguayan driving. There will be more on the topic of driving in Uruguay to come…

It was around 5:30 am (1:30 am San Diego time) on Tuesday, May 12 when we got to the hotel, checked in and headed upstairs to get a little sleep before the consultant picked us back up for lunch that afternoon.

Overall, the trip to Uruguay went very well. I hope that’s a sign we’ll enjoy living in Uruguay as much as we anticipate.