Buenos Aires, Argentina

The first day we arrived, we walked around and saw the Recoleta Cemetery. It is full of these immense tombs which are filled with coffins, vases of flowers, boxes of momentos i assume, framed photos, and scuptures of the deceased. The outside often is decorated by statues. They were beautiful in a sad kind of way. The time we spent there was accompanied by rain, of course a soon as we exit the cemetery the rain ceases. We had dinner at a well known pizza place. The walls were covered in old posters from movies and sports teams. The pizza was delicious, so much that i went to eat there the next day as well. I ordered a chica pizza the first day which i later found out was for 3 people but i was so hungry at the time that i ate it all. We only spent two nights in Buenos Aires unfortunately but the last day we took a train to Tigre to meet with a friend. Tigre is a delta town and rivers run all through the city. There were rowing clubs on every corner and a busy artisan market. Gaston, who we met through a mutual friend, was an amazing tour guide. He told us about the city as well as about anything else we were interested in. He took us to lunch at a place along the river to have Asado. A popular dish in Argentina. We were lucky enough to get to enjoy a jazz band during lunch as well. He then treated us to a dulce de leche dessert with chocolate which i instantly fell in love with. I wish we could have spent more time with Gaston but we had to leave to catch a bus to Mendoza, Argentina

Punta del Diablo, Uruguay

We travelled farther up the coast of Uruguay so a small fishing village know for its surfing and relaxed atmosphere. Upon arriving I deposited my stuff and hit one of the hammocks outside the hostel with my book. This place was a vacation from a vacation! When i wasn´t laying in the hammock reading, i was laying on the beach reading or people-watching. The sand was fine, bright white and always stuck to you. There was always a breeze. In the evenings, most of us sat around the hostel and told stories and talked of future plans. I ate my favorite sandwich on the beach here, a chivito.It is a sandiwch with a piece of steak, two fried eggs, ham, cheese, tomato, lettuce, mayo, ketchup, grilled onions and peppers with toasted bread and it is amazing! The second day here I decided to go for a walk along the beach to a fort i had heard about at Parque Santa Teresa. I met a guy from the States who decided to go along with me. We walked and walked forever. We discovered secluded / somewhat secluded beaches along the way. It was beautiful! There was large rocks along the coast to could walk over and the ocassional driftwood. We passed a few homes but not much more than that. We came along a huge sea turtle that was dead on the beach. We also saw what looked like Barracudas (spelling) all along the way dead on the beach. They were silver, long and skinny with a set of really sharp teeth and big yellow eyes. A little farther along the beach we came across a herd of about 20 or so cows on the beach. They were just standing there huddled together and stared at us with evil looking eyes as we took pictures and walked by. This was the highlight of the day because after several hours of walking in the sinking sand there was still no fort. Finally we came across a guy (in only a speedo) who informed us that we had walked about 4km too far and that the fort wasn´t along the beach...he then prceeded to invite us to this secluded area to sit by his fire. We politely declined and headed back the way we had came from. By this time it is pouring rain and the wind is sending chills through our bodies. We finally came to a group of homes and decided to look for a place to eat and warm up out of the rain. After having a meal we headed up the road to hopefully find a quicker way back to the hostel. This is when we stumble across the fort, which was beautiful and i would have enjoyed more had i not been extremely cold and tired. We stopped for a bit but then continued to the road to walk back. Once we found the correct road, we found out that we had over 3 miles to walk until we were back in Punta del Diablo. Luckily this really nice couple from Buenos Aires felt sorry for us and picked us up and took us back to our hostel. The were so nice, and luckily Chris could speak Spanish quite well so he talked to them for most of the ride. This was the beginning of the bad weather and it continued all the next day as we boarded a bus to head back to Buenos Aires.

La Paloma, Uruguay

Sorry i missed a few days, but i have not seemed to be able to catch the one computer at the hostel open. It has been another beautiful fews days here. It stormed a bit yesterday, which was unfortunate because that also happened to be when i decided to wash clothes and hang them out to dry. The good news is they are almost dry and i have clean clothes! The hostel we are staying in here is amazing, its new and literally 10 steps from the beach. The only bad thing is that you never seem to be able to get rid of the sand, its everywhere and most annoyingly it is always in your bed. I am about to catch a bus to Punta del Diablo, Uruguay (our last stop in Uruguay). It leaves shortly and we still have to walk there. Hopefully our next hostel has internet and maybe more than one computer....

Punta del Este, Uruguay

I feel like a beach bum, only one that must wear extreme amounts of sunscreen. Today consisted of an exhausting run on the beach and then lying at the pool most of the afternoon. I talked with a couple people from Denmark and a guy from New Orleans. Around 7:30 pm we hit the beach for some sun bathing until about 9:30. It started to get a little windy and cold in my opinion. We leave here tomorrow to head up the coast to a smaller village. At dinner tonight we sat around and talked with some Aussie girls about some of their hostel experiences, it made for a good laugh.

Punta del Este, Uruguay

The best way to describe this place is....International Beach Resort! There is lots of money here. There are sky scraper hotels and beautiful beach resorts lining the coast. OUr hostel was a bit off the beaten path. There was a sign that lead us down a gravel/dirt path and then another one to turn right and then we kept walking straight. finally we stumbled across it. I wouldn´t say it is one of the better hostels we have stayed in but the atmosphere is wonderful. We have met several very interesting people here. Most of them are from Denmark but also from Argentina. The beaches are beautiful here and the waves are huge. You really have to stand your ground to walk into the water. I will write more later, but for now its a beautiful day and i am going to the beach!

Montevideo, Uruguay Again

I woke up this morning to a wonderful organic breakfast of homemade peach jam and homemade peach yogurt. I then headed out to walk around the city for a bit. I went and saw the Constitution Plaza and Independence Plaza. You could walk down below the statue in Independence plaza. Down there were two guards on each side of a glass box which contained an urn with the cities hero´s ashes. I don´t know the exact story but it has to do with war and how he lead them to their independence. The best part about going down there was investigating the guards. I felt like the people on tv who try to make the guards of the royal palace move. I culdn´t tell if these guards were fake or real. I got really close to see if they were moving and then i walked very slowly in a circle around each one. I believe one of them looked in my directions but i could be mistaken. I still have no idea if they were real people or not. I also visited an art museum. The art was nice but unfortunately i couldn´t read any of the descriptions of each painting due to th fact that they were in Spanish. I did enjoy 3 floors of his art and it varied due to the time period he had created it. Most of his art ranged from mid forties to early seventies. After leaving i headed back to the hostel for lunch. I still had some ham and cheese left so i made a sandwich. The frustrating part about the ham and cheese was that i don´t know how to ask for it sliced in spanish so this resulted in me receiving a hunk of ham and a hunk of cheese, haha! So i spent a great deal of time butchering the ham and cheese trying to get small pieces for a sandwich. After lunch i rented a bike and rode along the coast to a few of the beaches in Montevideo. The farthest beach i went to was about 2 miles away and slightly uphill. I definately got a work out in. The water was not the nicest here but the beaches we clean. The whole city was very clean compared to the other ones i have visited so far. By the time i got back from my bike ride i realized that i had forgot to put on extra sunscreen and had managed to burn my hands. I didn´t even know that you could do that. Fortuntely it was only a small burn and had went in by the next day.

Montevideo, Uruguay

We boarded a bus around 10:30 this morning for Montevideo. The drive was about 2 1/2 hours alond countryside. I read a book most of the way and occasionally sneaked a peek out the window. When arriving in Montevideo, we received our luggage and then wandered out of the bus terminal. We couldn seem to find any streets that were labeled, which could prove to be a problem. We walked to the nearest bus stop and asked a lady which bus number we needed to catch and how much it would cost. After a short ride through the city, we exited the bus and wandered around until fortunately we spotted our hostel. The hostel is were open and tall. Our room has very high ceilings and is quite spacious. There is a terrace which I intended to go to after typing this to read for awhile. Once we checked into the hostel, we left to take a tour of the city. This when we found out that the whole place pretty much shuts down on Sundays. We walked along the oceanfront for a bit. But it felt as if the wind was going to blow me over. We ventured through a few plazas, but eventually i decided to return to the hostel and go to the nearest grocery store for food. I bought ham and cheese and a few other items to get me through. Tonight should be relaxing and then tomorrow will be full of walking! So stay tuned for the adventures of tomorrow. Sorry again for the lack of photos. None of the places we stay allow you to use the USB outlets so i can upload any. I will get some up as soon as possible. I am going to try and find an internet cafe tomorrow when there is actually places open.