Colonia Del Sacramento... Uruguay's Ocean Grove

Hmmmmmmm
OK, so I just realised that in the last blog, I referred in one of the subtitles to "mate", and then never said anything about it! Mate is a herbal tea-like substance that the Uruguayans go NUTS for! Every second person has a thermos of hot water, their mate gourd and bombilla and mate under their arm! The pull their cars over and sit on the grass in the shade drinking it, or outside shops- basically anywhere! I thought Argentinans were keen on the stuff, but they are 10 times more obsessed in Uruguay!

Monte-Colonia
My last night in Montevideo was spent at a different hostel, which turned out to be great! I met a couple of awesome Kiwi chicks, and some of the locals there taught us a bit of latin dancing!.. Great fun! I kinda slept in the next morning, and was ALMOST late for my bus (plus there was the fact that the screen with the departure bays on it said that mine was leaving from platform 14, when it turned out it was leaving from 16). But some kind Montevideanos helped me get the right one!

I arrived in Colonia in the early afternoon, and spent the rest of the day wandering around the old part of town, stickbeaking in shops, avoiding being run over by the people hooning around the streets in rented golf carts (yes, SERIOUSLY) and generally just taking it easy. I had an AMAZING candlelit dinner at a restaurant next to the river, where the crickets and frogs were competing to see who could be the loudest... It was all quite romantic... except for the fact that I was sitting by myself reading a book! Today, I went up the rickety old staircase to the lighthouse without tripping up- YAY! It had a great view of the town..

Things I've loved about Uruguay
Since I'm heading back to Argentina tomorrow, I've been reflecting upon some of the trivial things I have loved about Uruguay.. And here are some of them- I love that they call their McDonalds drive-through an "auto mac" (as I'm sure other South American countries do too, but it's the first time I've seen one!). What a great name! And one that I shall use back home! I love that there is a dress shop called "tit" in the upmarket shopping centre in Montevideo. I loved that one of the older women at one of the hostels I stayed in had more idea about what to do in Montevideo, and spoke better English than the bloke working at the hostel- he said to me "she have my job". I love that the graffiti in Montevideo was about Jesus and Christianity!

Actually, enough trivial stuff! I LOVE Uruguay- full stop! The country is gorgeous, the people are really friendly, and it has a laid back vibe..

Next stop, Rosario- the birthplace of Che Guevara. PS- I am now the owner of a functional camera WITH a USB cord..... Photos will be coming!...