This post originated
as an invited article I wrote for the Fulbright (Uruguay) Newsletter in 2005. I've twice been a Fulbright Professor
in Montevideo (the second time as a shared award with half of the time spent in
Salta, Argentina), which has led me into a series of continuing collaborations
with scientists there and a rich store of people and places to use as
background for my novels. The
Newsletter asked for a 5-year retrospective on what my experiences during the tenure
of the prestigious Fulbright award there in 1999 were like, and what has
occurred since then.
Besides
acquiring an occasional taste for yerba mate and parrillada compleada, the
Fulbright award had several other influences on my life, then and now. Most important was the result of a
promise I made to myself that relationships made during this Fulbright award,
my second (the first was to Uruguay in 1982), would progress beyond the nominal
exchange of Christmas cards after I returned to California. Fortunately I was
at a time in my career when this commitment was possible to pursue.
