Uruguay and Buenos Aires

So, I arrived in Uruguay mid April. I was really sad to leave Brazil, but excited to see yet another new country. I was welcomed into the country by open arms. My first night I ended up camping with two fellow travellers I met, one of them Uruguayan, who gave me the name and address of a friend of theirs in the town I was headed to the next day, with whom I would be able to stay, no problem. I took the info, just in case, but didn't plan on showing up at a random women's house asking to stay there. The next day I headed to the fishing village, Punta del Diablo, and realized that my wallet was quite light and there were no banks in the town....great..... I decided my only option was to go to the friend, Alicia's, house or I would have to leave to go to another town to take out money. I finally found Alicia's house (but she wasn't home) with the help of many locals, and in the process I was invited into someone's house for a mate. 'Yerba Mate' is a natural plant that is put into a gourd and drank with hot water in southern Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay, Argentina, and parts of Chile. I was invited to have a mate by Miguel and Irene, a couple of about 75 years of age, and neighbors of Alicia's. A very nice, interesting couple, Irene is Brazillian and Miguel is Uruguayan, and one of their daughters is married to an American man and living in Denver, CO! I am most definitely going to meet up with them next year to share a mate and have some conversation. Anyways, Miguel and Irene said that if Alicia was still not home later that day, it wouldn't be a problem for me to camp outside their house. Alicia didn't show up, so I brought my stuff to Miguel and Irene's and set up camp. They were so welcoming and generous to me, I can't believe it. That night they invited some friends over (one of which is the two-time Uruguay surf Champion!) and we had a nice big meal. What a great welcome into the country. It was also a great way to begin the process changing from Portuguesse back to Spanish because they both spoke Portuguesse, Spanish, and English. I stayed in Punta del Diablo for a few more days with Miguel and Irene before heading to Punta del Este. Punta del Este is a large beach resort city. I was there in the low season though, so tourists were far and in between. I did manage to find a good hostel and meet a few other travellers. From Punta del Este I went to a city called Rocha and then got a bus to Valizas, a town even smaller than Punta del Este. I went with Lauren, a 25 year old girl that had been working in Grenage, CT until she decided she was getting bored and is now taking time off to travel. We arrived at around 2 AM, and discovered that the hostel we had heard about was closed. There was no one around, no lights, and we didn't have a place to stay. I was delighted. It gave us an excuse to sleep out on the beach, no tent, in our sleeping bags under the sky, which was amazing. Before falling asleep, I must have seen at least 15 shooting stars. The next day we hiked to Cabo Polonio, an even smaller town, before heading for Montevideo, the country's capital. We arrived in Montevideo late that same night, thanks to a couple we met in Cabo Polonio who gave us a ride back to Valizas to get our stuff (they were going there anyway to check out the town) and then to Punta del Este where we got a bus to Montevideo. It was great. I spent two full days in Montevideo before moving on. It was a cool city with a really nice old part of town, but there wasn't all that much to do. From Montevideo I got a bus to Colonio del Sacramento, a small town that was founded in the 1800s by the Portuguesse, supposedly as a port from which gold could be smuggled into Buenos Aires. There is a big part of the town that is largely original construction! Very cool. From there, I entered Argentina by boat! As we sailed up to Buenos Aires, I couldn't believe I was already arriving there. I was, once again, amazed at how fast time has gone by. I found myself a cheap hostel in the center and ended up staying about a week. Buenos Aires is a really cool city with a huge European influence. I felt the European-ness straight away, from looking at the people, shops, buildings, and advertisements. It has many nice neighborhoods and parks, and I spent quite a bit of time just walking through the city. Haha, one thing that really surprised me was the city's zoo. It is, hands down, the best zoo I have been to in a while. Overall, I had a great time in BsAs and look forward to returning to meet Will and Ryan. From BsAs, I went to Zapala where I met Ashley Carrithers, the owner of 100000 acre Estancia Ranquilco where I volunteered for a month. More on that next time, expect another post in the next few days!