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.