We haven't decided yet. I'd like to be in the Rocha area, not on the beach, but we probably won't live in Montevideo. Thanks so much for your response.

Here's an update on my six Beagles. I have been here for about two weeks now, and while a fence was in place, there was one small hole that my Beagles could get through, so I had a dog run built. Our landlord assisted us with getting the materials and a competent worker. He also came over and supervised the work. By the end of the day, the run (10' X 15' approx.)was completed. Materials were about $280 and labor $200. A chainlink fence dog run (slightly larger than this one) that I built in the US cost close to $900 for materials and I built it. I also placed timber around the outside perimeter, but the dogs haven't tried to dig out there. They did dig in front of the gate and two escaped for about an hour, but one of our neighbors pointed to where the dogs ran off, and Lucy and Tina returned. We've since laid down a piece of fencing and another log, and that has kept them in. We've taken them for walks and met another Beagle owner in the neighborhood who would like to breed with one of my studs.

Since we traveled with the dogs from Juarez, Mexico, we were able to check them as baggage all the way to Santiago de Chile for $120. Then, LAN insisted that we pay another $120 per dog for the short trip to Montevideo. Still, $240 isn't much to pay for an 8,000 mile trip. However, if Aeromexico had only been in charge of the flight from Juarez to Mexico City, the charge only would have been $45 per animal (cost of transport within the country); then, the $120 charge by LAN would have covered from Mexico City to Montevideo. Here's another plus with traveling from Juarez: I only needed a basic health certificate on the dogs.

I'M NOT POSITIVE ABOUT THIS, BUT I suspect that if they had traveled from an American airport I would have had to have gotten a USDA health certificate. When I got to the vet two days before our flight, he said that the certificates had to go to the state capital (Austin, in my case) to be certified by the USDA. That's a new snag from the last time I shipped dogs.

When I crossed the border into Mexico with the dogs, they were already in their crates. I told the Mexican border guard that I was going to the airport and offered to show the dogs' health certificates. He paused and thought for a moment, asked another guard how many dogs could travel per ticket, so since there were three of us with two dogs each, there was no problem. Aeromexico was very accommodating. LAN was reluctant. There were 7 dogs on that flight, more than on any other flight before, according to LAN.

FEEDING THE DOGS -- There was a 15-hour layover in Santiago, so the dogs needed to be fed. Aeromexico tried to get LAN to do it, but LAN was closed at midnight when we arrived, so a ticket agent from AERO had to escort me to Chilean immigration to allow me access to the dogs. To go to Baggage Claim (where the dogs were) is in Chilean territory and requires a visa fee of $135 . (It's reciprocal and retaliatory.) A Chilean immigration officer (very nice) took my passport and escorted me to my dogs where I gave them food and water and hugs. Then, the AERO ticket agent? retied the crate doors, and I left. In the morning, I checked in with the LAN kiosk. When I told them I had 6 dogs, the agents collectively dropped a pint of blood. When they recovered, they explained that I had only paid for passage to Santiago and I had to pay again. I told them they needed food and water again too. Again, the LAN agent escorted me with my passport to Chilean immigration; again, we went to baggage area where the dogs had been ticketed and prepared for the flight. However, I had to drop the food into the crate and just pour water through the gate into their trays. Just a side note. I had to put flat, absorbent, diaper like pad down in the crate. Well, I figured they would be a mess in no time; however, when we arrived in Santiago, they were still dry; the next morning, they were wet, but all the urine was absorbed, and the dogs had simply pushed them aside. The crates smelled a bit, but for a 30-hour odyssey, the dogs were fine. Finally, LAN told me ahead of the trip that the dogs would need to be sedated, so I picked up the pills, but nothing was said about it in Santiago, so I didn't sedate them.