Gevasio Edgardo Sena standing at the head of the grave of his good friend from the United States, Manuel Lopez, who died in Colonia Del Sacramento, Uruguay on 18 July 2007. They were friends of more than 30 years. Manuel loved to visit Uruguay, so his family decided to have him buried here. I let the lanyard of the camera get in the way, which is the apparent rope in the foreground. Sorry.

The inscription on the headstone. The Sena's will always remember him. He was an important part of their family. He was a veteran of the Korean war, and was a good singer of operatic music.

Another view of the headstone with a wider view of the cemetary.

Gervasio Edgardo Sena standing at the foot of the grave of Manuel Lopez, his good friend from the United States.

Edgardo Sena and I at the head of the grave of Manuel Lopez.

Another view of the cemetary. Edgardo Sena is standing next to the grave of Manuel Lopez in the background.

Another view of the cemetary. Manuel's grave is in the middle background of this picture. Quite a nice setting.

THE PARTY

Alejandro Vasquez (left), Federico Villagran (center), and Alejandro Chineppe (right with gloves) at our last big branch party. They are standing in front of the fire where we were cooking a stew in a huge pot that we borrowed from the army. It was so windy that we had to cover the fire area with sheets of tin roofing material. It worked like a charm. Alejandro Chineppe did most of the work.


Some pictures of the dinner and activity. We had a karaoke. Everyone loved it. We had to give people numbers to create some order. The singing varied from good to awful, but everyone had fun. They would have stayed all night. I did my best Frank Sinatra impression, but noone was asking for my autograph.

CoyAnn is in blue at this end of the table. Gissel De Los Santos at this end of the table. Rosanna Mendez next to CoyAnn. The mother of Alejandro Vasquez next to her in the pink, and Deborah Villagran next to her.



Edgardo Sena in the white shirt with his back to us. Brother and sister Villagran next to him. Brother Villagran is leaving for New Zealand soon to find work. The elder standing in the background is elder Larsen. He is from our home town of Colorado Springs. We know his parents. Small world.

THE HORSE RACE

Horse races are normally on Sunday here, but one Saturday each year they have a big national competition. There are lots of races over a two day period, but there is one really important race held on Saturday. We were lucky enough to be at the track when it was run. It was fun to watch. Unfortunaley our picture of the horses going past didn't turn out. It was a mile and a quarter race, and was won by a nose. I believe the track is a mile and a half. I have Lucas Barrotti on my shoulders. Sister Barrotti has her daughter Ophelia on her shoulders. CoyAnn is taking the picture. The horses had just turned for home.






Some of the horses in the race. The horse shown was third. I couldn't get a good picture of the winner, which was on the other side of this show area. This picture was taken before the race, so we had no idea what the outcome would be.

Some years ago the city fathers decided to turn the area of the race track into a tourist attraction centered on a bull ring. The building in the bacground with the fancy facade is a fronton for jai lai. Unfortunately, just after they built the bull ring and this fronton, the country outlawed bull fighting. As a result the expected growth never occured, and the structures have fallen into disrepair.

The "Plaza de Toros" bull ring is in the background. CoyAnn, sister Barrotti, and two of sister Barrotti's five children in the foreground. It was a fun hour and a half at the horse races.