Last sunday there was a national election in Uruguay.  For weeks political parties and supporters had been vigorously campaigning with public rallies in key spots, lots of noise and flag waving particularly on weekends and evenings.  In addition to a 48 hour media blackout before voting day, (welcome but it didn’t have much effect on the noise and printed leaflets pollution) another feature was the ban on liquor sales from the evening before until after the close of polls.  Which was probably a good thing – things  were lively enough (but very orderly) without that complication.  I don’t know how all restaurants handled this but where we had lunch on sunday, when we asked about having wine, were were told we could buy a bottle but it could not be on the table and would have to stay out of sight in the bar,  and it would come served in coffee cups… which we found interesting and quite acceptable.  So this is us just finishing off our meal; we did not stay for coffee and dessert as there was some fresh icecream waiting at home… ;-p  Interestingly there was only a fraction of the usual number of sunday lunchers there, and I later heard a news report that most people voted as early as possible and then spent the rest of the day with family (sunday custom) at home having an asado/BBQ – and the weather was perfect for that.  The result?  no party gained the 50%+1 votes and so there has to be a runoff election at the end of november – all has been pretty quiet this week with behind the scenes alliances being formed, strategies planned and so on between the two front runners who will face off – but very soon the noise, colour and movement will accelerate again – wonderful news for the printers and admen who have been working overtime these past few months…Whoever said an election was good for the economy seems to have made a reasonable claim.