Hello and welcome!

It's finally time! Tomorrow I'll be leaving for Uruguay, which will be my home for the next eight months. Thanks to a very generous grant from the Fulbright Program, I'm going to be heading down there to teach English, do research, travel, and learn how to tango.

I guess I should start by giving some background info...

Along with the other four grantees in the program, I'll be teaching English to two groups of Uruguayans--economically disadvantaged public school children, and adults who are training to become English teachers. Since the vast majority of English teachers in Uruguay are not native speakers, my purpose is to give these students a chance to learn from a native speaker through immersion activities such as language tables and various extracurricular activities.

As for my research, I'll be studying a guerrilla movement known as the Tupamaros:


Although this would have been a project fraught with danger and Communists thirty years ago, the Tupamaros are now part of Uruguay's largest leftist political party. That means I'll basically be interviewing politicians. My goal is to gain a clearer understanding of how the Tupamaros transformed into a political party, and also whether other countries plagued by violence (e.g. Colombia) can learn something from it.

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In case you're wondering what my schedule looks like, here's a rudimentary itinerary:

March 18th: Leave Orlando at 3:30pm
March 19th: Arrive in Montevideo at noon
March 19th - 22nd: Orientation in Montevideo
March 23rd - June 30th: Live, teach, and do research in Salto
July 1st - November 17th: Live, teach, and do research in Montevideo
November 18th: Leave Montevideo for the US

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Where are Salto and Montevideo? Here's a map of Uruguay I borrowed...


Montevideo is the capital city at the very bottom of the country. It has just under 2 million people, and is a short bus/ferry ride from Buenos Aires.

Salto is the city in the northwest corner of the country, on the Uruguay River and the border with Argentina. It has about 100,000 people, and is famous for its hot springs. There's an Argentine city called Concordia on the other side of the river, so really there are around 250,000 people in the area, total.

If you want a better map, click on the link I put in the sidebar. That map is from the PCL at the University of Texas (hook 'em horns!), and is the best one I could find on the Internet.

In addition to the map, I've included some useful websites in the sidebar that describe my program and where I'll be. They do a better job of explaining than I do, so be sure to check them out.

I've been told that Uruguay is well-connected to the Internet, so you can expect pretty regular updates, thoughts, and photos from me that I'll post on this website. Also, I'd love to hear from you, so please email me at dustin.saldarriaga@gmail.com, or post a comment here if you'd like.

Check back soon for an update, and don't forget to keep in touch! (dustin.saldarriaga@gmail.com)