Alhambra Punta del Este

... a seaside get-away by residents of a town a few miles inland, La Barra has a core of non-descript buildings typical of a working-class beach town. Later, the great ocean waves that crash on La Barra's beaches brought surfers and their casual lifestyle.

And finally, as Punta became more popular and expensive, it spilled over into La Barra.

The ...

... to join us. Duncan fills him in on the fact that we´re winemakers from Canada and we want to rent a car but I´m not old enough excetera. No Problem. Frie knows the girl Gabriela who owns Rally RentaCar. He calls her.. done and done. We end up sitting around with Duncan, Frie, and Dorris drinking wine and beer for the rest of the evening. We decide to stay in Montevideo for the weekend and check out the Puerto Mercado. (Port Market). On ...

Well I am not quite there yet!! We are in Tigre waiting for our ferry, we still have another 5 hours to kill and nowhere really to go as we had to check out of our hostel this morning. Tigre is just an hour outside Buenos Aires and when we left our beautiful, cool appartment to trek about a mile to the train station in the heat, I did briefly wonder what it was about travelling that I really liked!! Tigre is a pretty place ...

... spots, pulled up some bar stools and got down to business. An hour later, we were feeling the post Parilla paralysis and we happily nudged ourselves out the door... hair, clothes (and probably even teeth) smelling like smoked meat. It's a great cologne if you are looking to pick up local chicks...or make friends with hungry dogs. (Those two groups are not in any way related as the people down here are for the most part ridiculously good looking...like Zoolander ...

... it, is if "BA" is west London (say Notting Hill), Montevideo is definately east London (say Shoreditch). We found ourselved one night in a discrete little alley way (not far from the main square) that was filled with groovy little pubs/bars/clubs. Conchita took advantage of Paco´s slightly inebriated state and ordered a couple of `toe curling´ tequila shots! We then ducked next door and jumped around to some live Spanish rap. A good time was had by all, but I must admit that ...

... We tried to go for something different for dinner and went to a Basque restaurant recommended in one of the books, but it was non-existent. Ended up at an Italian chain restaurant which was actually really great, enormous salads and great pasta .... they could do something about the lighting though. It was full of locals watching a football match, all the tables were seated on the side facing the tv, I think I was the only person there ...

... walked the short distance to the Teatro Solis - www.teatrosolis.org.uy/ (Spanish only) - for the 2 pm performance of students from the Fundacion Sistema de Orquestas Infantiles y Juveniles del Uruguay - www.orquestas.com.uy (in Spanish). Since it was free, we were warned to get there very early. But, since it was such a terrible day, there wasn´t much of a crowd. The interns (not our friends from the other day) handed out tickets and then led us ...

... on standby for last minute flights.... After several (GB would say endless) hours we took a break, GB went to the spa (well fitness room with a jacuzzi in the corner!) - did another 6km on the treadmill and flooded the gym whilst taking a shower (I can´t work out how). I went for a walk to the beach and got 45 minutes of sun on my back. Shorts and tee-shirt rolled right up all I needed was the hanky on my head - but then what´s the problem, there´s no one here to see me look ...

... food was excellent, and I had tuna for the first time in months and it was soooo delicious. Then it was back to the hotel (we stayed at the Park Hyatt in Recoleta). Being the supercool kids we are, we just stayed there and hung out all night. Lauren went to bed early, though, because she wanted to be sure she was rested for her big Saturday of touring the city. It was great when she woke me up at 8:45!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (please note: previous sentence is meant ...

... URUGUAY The hunk in the picture with the beautiful woman is Leonard. Went swimming in the Atlantic, which felt great, especially compared to the cold and the rain we rode in two days earlier. How did we get here. After leaving San Luis, Argentina, we turned North and headed for the Sierras looking for some more interesting country to ride though. And we found it, the Sierras is a mountainous area ...