I love the word Uruguay. I have no idea why, but it never ceases to make me giggle...
So, as the title implies I spent a week in Uruguay. And it was just the thing to make me stop complaining about how expensive everything is in Argentina- Uruguay is definitely more so. And it is all relative, but you know, compared to say SE Asia, India, and Bolivia, these places cost a lot. But Uruguay was fun. I spent a couple of days wandering around Montevideo. One night I got locked out of my hostel for 2 hours (my key did not work and 24 hour reception in Montevideo apparently excludes Sundays). But I met some really nice homeless people and found a good little restaurant nearby. Plus the Uruguayan family that was also waiting outside the hostel asked if I was from Spain after talking to me for 10 minutes so that made me very happy about my Spanish skills. From Montevideo I headed to the deserted (out of season) beach town of La Paloma. It was kinda fun to have the town to myself. I did a long walk along the beach to a neighboring town and just enjoyed watching the ocean. I do love the ocean.
After La Paloma I spent another night in Montevideo but it was super cold (and it is Spring!) so I was glad my hostel did a communal dinner and had a bar and a pool table. My roomies were these hysterical girls from Brazil and Columbia so we had an entertaining evening. I was sick of the cold at that point so I headed up to Salto in the north where there are hot springs. I went to Dayman which is described by Lonely Planet as "the Disney of hot springs" and it really is a huge complex. It has about 12 pools of varying sizes, temperatures and depths plus lots of green areas for lounging around. There is also a thermal water park next door, but I stuck with the plain ol pools. It was much warmer in Salto which was nice. Yesterday I headed back across to Argentina and spent the night in Santa Fe. Santa Fe is a colonial town with a bunch of lovely ornate churches so I walked around and checked them out. Today was rainy so I decided to make it a transit day and took a bus to Cordoba. And they served wine on the bus! That was a first for me. And I have taken loads of buses in Argentina.
Wanted to remark a bit on the mate culture. I am intrigued by it. In Argentina, and even more so in Uruguay, everyone drinks mate all the time. They carry a thermos of hot water and a mate glass with silver straw everywhere they go. I love it. Well actually I am not a fan of the drink but I love how completely addicted everyone here is. Note to self to take a picture...
OK, this was my attempt at a shorter post. More in a few days. Hopefully the weather will clear and I can get out and explore more of Northern Argentina. Cross your fingers for springlike weather for me. I have another winter to face when I get back to the US.
So, as the title implies I spent a week in Uruguay. And it was just the thing to make me stop complaining about how expensive everything is in Argentina- Uruguay is definitely more so. And it is all relative, but you know, compared to say SE Asia, India, and Bolivia, these places cost a lot. But Uruguay was fun. I spent a couple of days wandering around Montevideo. One night I got locked out of my hostel for 2 hours (my key did not work and 24 hour reception in Montevideo apparently excludes Sundays). But I met some really nice homeless people and found a good little restaurant nearby. Plus the Uruguayan family that was also waiting outside the hostel asked if I was from Spain after talking to me for 10 minutes so that made me very happy about my Spanish skills. From Montevideo I headed to the deserted (out of season) beach town of La Paloma. It was kinda fun to have the town to myself. I did a long walk along the beach to a neighboring town and just enjoyed watching the ocean. I do love the ocean.
After La Paloma I spent another night in Montevideo but it was super cold (and it is Spring!) so I was glad my hostel did a communal dinner and had a bar and a pool table. My roomies were these hysterical girls from Brazil and Columbia so we had an entertaining evening. I was sick of the cold at that point so I headed up to Salto in the north where there are hot springs. I went to Dayman which is described by Lonely Planet as "the Disney of hot springs" and it really is a huge complex. It has about 12 pools of varying sizes, temperatures and depths plus lots of green areas for lounging around. There is also a thermal water park next door, but I stuck with the plain ol pools. It was much warmer in Salto which was nice. Yesterday I headed back across to Argentina and spent the night in Santa Fe. Santa Fe is a colonial town with a bunch of lovely ornate churches so I walked around and checked them out. Today was rainy so I decided to make it a transit day and took a bus to Cordoba. And they served wine on the bus! That was a first for me. And I have taken loads of buses in Argentina.
Wanted to remark a bit on the mate culture. I am intrigued by it. In Argentina, and even more so in Uruguay, everyone drinks mate all the time. They carry a thermos of hot water and a mate glass with silver straw everywhere they go. I love it. Well actually I am not a fan of the drink but I love how completely addicted everyone here is. Note to self to take a picture...
OK, this was my attempt at a shorter post. More in a few days. Hopefully the weather will clear and I can get out and explore more of Northern Argentina. Cross your fingers for springlike weather for me. I have another winter to face when I get back to the US.
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