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.

Colonia, Uruguay again

We woke up to a semi-disappointing breakfast of hard bread, orange jam, coffee and funny tasting cereal. I always add to the meals with yogurt or fruit. This morning I went with a banana to give it a little more. Sarah and I then walked to the market to look for souevenirs for her to take home. Of course that resulted in me finding something as well. I bought a hand made necklace with leather braided strap then silver intrically wrapped and holding the yellow stone in place. Iç usually avoid the color yellow but its was so beauitful i just couldn pass it up. Sarah found some wooden bamboo wind chimes with designs carved into them. Once returning our purchases to the room, we hit the beach. We went back to the same spot we had been the day before. Just below a beach side resturant/lounge which played music all day long. It made for a relaxing time at the beach. There weren many people out today and that must be due to the fact that it is so hot! We both fell asleep for about an hour. I woke up to sweat dripping all off my body and decided to take a dip in the ocean. This also allowed me to wash some of the sand off my body. Once in the water the day felt nice. There was a breeze and the water was a perfect temperature. After standing about knee deep in the water for a bit, I returned to the hot sand where Sarah was still laying. We decided to head back to town for some helado (ice cream) since we both felt the first signs of a burn. As we walked along, the sound of drums rang from the speakers along the road. They had been playing music over the loud speakers all day long. I love this town. Its full of old buildings and everyone seems to be polite and content. I could see myself living in a place like this. We walked to the first helado shop we saw and ordered a scoop of strawberry and cream. It tasted like i was eating fresh, frozen strawberries with a little added sweetness. We then returned to the hostel and relaxed in front of the tv until Sarah and Stephen (this is the correct way to spell his name but for some reason i always get it worng) had to leave.

Colonia de Sacramento, Uruguay

We decided to skip out on Buenos Aires and travel on to Uruguay. We boarded a large ferry this morning for an hour ride across the border. Once arriving in Colonia, we first went to book Sarah and Stevens bus ride to Montevideo for tomorrow since they will be flying out. I´m very sad to see them go, i wish they could continue with us. This will be a wonderful end to their trip though. We checked into Hostel El Viajero and then headed out for food. We walked down the street and stopped at an ATM to get Uruguay Pesos (conversion is about 23 to one US dollar) so everything seems like it is supper expensive. We first went to a fruit and vegetable market and I bought some of the best peaches i have ever had as well as tomatoes and bananas. We then headed to the market to buy lunch meat and other snacks. Immediately we returned to the hostel to devour our sandwiches and then get ready for the beach. Sarah and I walked about a half a mile to the beach and waded in the water for a bit. It is the calmest water I have ever seen in the ocean. There are sand bars you can walk out to and the sand feels almost like mud. After walking around a bit, we found a nice spot on the dry sand and sat down to people watch until the sun went down. It felt really nice to lay out and just relax since we have been going going going for so long. Once the sun set, we headed back to the supermarket to buy food for dinner. We decided to make pasta with tomato sauce and fresh tomatoes, chicken, fresh corn on the cob, bread and peaches. The meal was wonderful, especially since we managed to find some spices at the store (the food so far in argentina especially is very bland). We just finished dinner and took a shower and now we are lounging around for the night. The plan for tomorrow is to hit the beach again!