Casa Marane

Soil and charcoal. Sand and ash.
Eucalyptus and only eucalyptus.
Nails. No cement. True to Charra tradition.

Forty two hands. Attached to twenty one friends.
Ten hammers. Six saws.
Eight fresh blades.

Twelve walls. Nine windows.
No doors. Instead.
Two beautiful wooden shutters. Stolen from a forgotten building down the road.

One hundred empanadas.
One hand-sewn flag.
Six hand-built cabinets.
For fifty six pairs of shorts.

Nineteen colours.
Eight paintings.
Another hundred empanadas.
Thirty days. Thirty nights.
Then a party.

That’s how we built our home.
In twenty fifteen.
Two hundred and twenty one steps from the sea.

In Uruguay, every home has a name.
Ours is Casa Marane.
It unfurls in the summer. Disappears in the winter.
Part of the landscape. As it should be.

And whenever we’re here, you’re welcome here too.
Stop by for a swim.
We’ve got some really nice shorts you can borrow.

With eternal thanks to MT Arida, Pato Sánchez, María Gutierrez, Pablo Pi, James Hillman, Martín Pelenur, Claudio Pincas, José Pereyra Lucena, Marcos Alfonso, Alejandro Cruz, Adam Rogers and all at La Linda bakery, for your skills and kindness, hands and empanadas.