Rainbow Brunch
On Sunday, Mikey and I attended the Rainbow Brunch. It was held at a great restaurant called Lonely Star. Is the name intentional, you might ask? And the answer is yes. The owners are from Austin, Texas, and the food is Tex-Mex cuisine. Their dishes pack a lot of flavor—more than your average Uruguayan might be prepared for. And if the food still isn’t spicy enough for you, you can always add a little of their in-house hot sauce. That will definitely put some pep in your step.
Around 80 people showed up for the event. It was very informal and a great opportunity to meet new people. It was even nicer to see people we already knew. We have finally reached the point where we’re starting to recognize familiar faces. The crowd was mostly members of the LGBTQ expat community. Mikey and I sat across from a lovely lesbian couple from Tucson, Arizona, who arrived in Uruguay in December. Two other people we met were a gay couple from Delaware. They also arrived in December. Apparently December was a popular month to pack up and head south.
On our way out, a man in his late twenties came up and started talking to me. He spotted my Ruidoso shirt and wanted to say hello. He is Native American, and his tribe is from that part of New Mexico. Most recently he had been living in Fort Worth with his two partners. We ended up talking about Six Flags and how he used to get season passes every year. Ah yes, the magical power of roller coasters bringing complete strangers together.
When you meet another expat, there are a few basic questions that always seem to come up to start the conversation:
Why did you decide to move to Uruguay?
Why did you decide to leave the U.S.?
When did you arrive?
We’ve come to expect these questions. The answers are usually pretty similar.
Uruguay has placed LGBTQ rights firmly into law, where they cannot easily be taken away. Add to that political and financial stability, and a country that generally values its citizens’ well-being over profit, and you have a pretty appealing package.
Trump. Funny how one word can answer such a big question. Native Uruguayans immediately understand what you mean when you give that response. No follow-up explanation required.
After lunch we were treated to a show by Azaleia Bond, a local drag queen in Montevideo. Drag shows here usually don’t start until 2:00 or 3:00 a.m., which is well past the bedtime of anyone who enjoys brunch. So she kindly offered to host a performance during the event. She was fantastic. Her show featured music from Queen and ABBA. It was pretty wonderful sitting on a rooftop on a beautiful Sunday afternoon, watching one of the oldest and most joyful forms of art in the gay community.
If I had closed my eyes—between the weather, the food, and the entertainment—it might have felt like we were back in the States. The only difference was that instead of planning the next work week, everyone was talking about which beach they were going to next weekend.
Thank you for sticking with me until the end. Be kind to yourself and be kind to each other.
