Uruguay - You can never leave...

So orginally we were only going to stay in Uruguay for maybe 4 days but ended up staying a week and a half...and it was difficult to leave.

We started in Colonia, a small port town with cobblestone and colonialesque building. Because of the recent storms and sediment mixture the sea was a nice shade of brown. The first day there we wandered around the town, and ate at a place called the ¨Drugstore¨ which is where we experience the deliciousness that is Alfajores and mate. Alfajores is 2 short bread cookie or sugar cookies sandwiched dulce de leche. Dulce de leche is like a caramel or toffee basically Katie can´t get enough and is determine to master the recipe on her return home. Nicole is very excited to be the taste tester. Mate is basically like green tea but is more of a stimulant and people drink it out of a gourd or a hoof. Nicole wants the hoof... The one downside to Colonia was that it was freakin cold! I mean very cold...also we didn´t realize we had heat the first night so that just made it even better! At the hostel, we met some really great people and we ended up traveling with most of them for the reminaing of our trip... two of them being Argentinian, Yam [pronounciated Cham] and Romi, Nicole worked on her spanish and I think got very far! We also met this English guy name Rob who was completing a year long round the world trip, Nicole was smitten with his accent and lingo..bloody hell..her new favorite saying. As well as this English girl, Lara, who just started traveling on her own and was a english teacher to foreigners back at home. We made dinner both nights in the hostel, so we would eat and drink together. So we are beginning to realize that every American we met we frankly do not like....they are annoying, arogant and assphalt turtles. There were these guys, one was a engineering working for facebook in silicon valley and the other lived in virginia. OMG...they wouldn´t shut the hell up and they were talking about the stupidiest things...america this and that...

After taking in the sights, we traveled to Montevideo with Lara. Montevideo is the capital city. The first day we went to the Mercado del puerto where it was basically an old dock that housed several of the same parilla [uruguayian bbq] restaurants. after being hasseled by several people we chose a restaurant and after several minutes were given the english menus.....thank God. Parilla is special because it is cooked over a huge bbq...we have pictures. we got types of Chorizo and some ribs....we ate ourselves into a food coma basically....we just hung out after because we were exhausted. The next day was pouring rain and we decided ....why not walk around in the rain...so we collectively decided we needed more long-sleeves and nicole made a scene trying to get some flats out of the window display because they were the last ones in her size....that night we went out to a street that `supposedly` had 18 clubs on it but we only made it to 2. Nicole befriended a local boy that harrassed her....and knocked a chair into katie trying to get to nicole. the next day we went to the shore and hung out with Lara, Yam and Romi and ate lunch together. We viewed the ashes of some important old dude....so important that two armed guards stood motionless on either side....super creepy....that night we had all you can eat pizza...not that great...and met this couple from new mexico whom we played spades with...and josh and brie....WE KICKED THEIR ASSES!)!) enough that we thought their domestic bliss might end then and there. the next day we headed out to punta del este with rob.

Punta del este is said to be the Monaco of South America...president...not W...bush has vacationed there...and shakira owns a house there. Little did we know that the hostel we booked was opening for the very first time EVER that day. When we arrived we passed by it due to painters and scaffolding....there were no mattresses or sheets when we first arrived...and were among two of the first 8 guests! the owners were VERY nice and gave us free pizza and booze and took us to bar, moby dick. It was still the off season so it was pretty quiet but we could imagine what it was like during the summer especially since the streets were lined with stores like Versace, Fendi and Dolce and Gabbana, etc...oh and their taxis are Mercedes Benz...hello life of the rich and fabulous! also while waiting at the bus station we saw this cougar making out with a young stud muffin who at first we contemplated whether it was her son untill her tongue was down his throat.creeepy. we ventured to La barra for lunch....a bus ride away and passed by the houses of the rich and famous..and went over the craziest bridge ever....it was a series of dips and hills across a small creek. quite fun to cross actually...Nicole had the cheesiest pancho [hot dog] of her life....and not the greatest either...fyi. and katie tried chivitos...like a steak sandwich. We were supposed to wake up at 6am but when our alarm went off there was terrential rain, thunder and lightning...and there was no way Nicole was getting out of bed...katie neither. we decided to take the 4pm bus to punta del diablo.

The very nice but very wrong guy at the hostel gave us bad directions on where to catch the bus so it took us an hour to actually get to the bus station. So we finally made it and once we arrive at punta del diablo the owner is actually on our bus and is like so i guess you are coming to my hostel and we are like uhhhh and that would be.....el diablo tranquilo....we didnt realize quite how small the town was. pretty freakin small. all sand roads...no street lights...heaven basically. Nicole and katie are both looking for investors if anyone wants to go in on building a house down there...prime real estate! how to describe heaven...well....punta del diablo was serene...you could actually see the stars at night and the sunsets were unlike any other. the beach was a mixture of tide pools, sandy beach, and bluffs with surronding forrests. we literally had the beach to our selves most of the time and found some bad ass sea shells! Nicole found one and made it into a gnarly ring! so the place was perfect...and the people and staff were even more interesting. soooo the owner is from the USA as is 4 of the staff. one of the girls...from NY...was absolutely ridiculous, think long island. we made fun of her the whole time....and we didnt care if she knew it....well nicole didnt at least. there was a fun loving rasta from uruguay who played rugby for 6 years at Texas A and M with a canadian who was super bi polar in his interactions with everyone. Ryan from chicago was super friendly and personable but one never really knew his motives...it was mainly to score free beer from us....whatever it was amusing. Rob was also at the hostel for a bit. Uvi who was an amazing cook from germany fed us every night. we met a friendly virginian who was a complete ham told us numerous stories about himself. Sara an adorable and sweet englishwoman gave us chapstick for our burnt little lips. So we basically explored the beach and the surronding woodland area the days we were there...we made tuna sandwhiches and sat in hammocks in the sun. One day Nicole attempted to surf with one veteran surfer from san diego, alex and ryan. She was very apprehensive but with some pushing from katie she did it. and damn was that wet suit skiiiiin tight! but it was successful and she stood up twice! more than any of the other first time boys! take that for girl power! We also mastereed the game of poker and attempted to learn batgammon....we also played asshole and president along with a jam session on the harmonica. all in all it was perfect except that our camera broke. screw technology!

We had to tear ourselves from Punta del diablo and embarked on a 14 hour trekk back to buenos aires....taking 3 buses, a ferry and a taxi. it was basically the trip from hell...mr.pollo...no es bueno pollo....mcdonalds would have been better than that crap that we ate. and then we had some jerks drinking and playing horrible techno on the bus. the only good thing was the alfajores we consumed for lunch. alfajores is basically the reason we did not kill ourselves that day...no lie... in buenos aires we feasted on some mediterranean food and once again was amazed at the stupidity of americans. we eves dropped on a bizarre convo about race and the south and hoped to God we didnt ever come off that way. We bought a new camera...after hours of contemplation....and got a bus ticket to Puerto Madryn. We also got the best sausage ever from a street vendor...and nicole still lived to tell the tale!

We will explain Patagonia on our next fairy tale! Be ready!
miss you mucho
besitos
Nicole and katie [the personality and the looks]

p.s. happy bday ali and mike and ramon!

p.s.s. we finally got our laundry done today after close to 5 weeks! let just say nicole was getting grossed out...4 days with the same shirt...yum.