Alhambra Punta del Este

... circumnavigates the peninsula. Towards the halfway point of our run, the rambla followed sand dunes that stretched for another 10 miles or so up the coast. We decided to run back along the beach and from this side it seemed that the dunes were taking over the city in a man versus nature kind of way. <br><br>After one night, we decided to catch a bus farther up the coast to a small seaside town, La Pedrera. <br><br>

... to his chest. He also has long scragely hair but is balding. Uniform: Tight black t-shirt, leather pants, button up jean shirt, chuck taylors. He is the only person able to fix a church organ in all of Uruguay, he´s a builder, and god knows what else. Everyone calls him Bin Laden and if I met him in Canada I would either a) not speak to him or b) give him my spare change. So.. As we´re sitting drinking our 3rd bottle of vino Fre strolls by and ...

... was doing it. A couple other interesting tidbits about the city...the primary garbage pick up service involves a man, a two wheeled wooden cart, and a mule. We were amazed to see this seemingly old world technique in a modern city. Also, both in Buenos Aires and Montevideo, we quickly noticed getting constantly bombarded by phantom rain drops whereever we went. Though at first, we thought bad weather was on its way, but we ...

... he really worried the staff one night when they saw all the blood on the floor, and though someone was dying! After Cordoba we headed to Rosario and really lovely city a couple of hours North of Buenos Aires, it was on the Rio Parana (which also flows through BA separating it from Uruguay) and had lots of monuments and historic buildings including Che Guevara´s birth place. From there we headed to Buenos Aires for Christmas, to meet up with many friends we had collected on ...

... the town is full of restaurants and bars with sky high prices, which we obviously avoided due to our budget, however we found the supermarket, Disco, in punta Del Este, has the most amazing selection of foods, better than anything we have seen in South America so far, lots of foreign foods, great deli counter, we ended up getting food from there and cooking back at the hostel. Xmas day was a bit weird as all the shops were open ...

Montevideo is such a nice change from the fast-paced noisy city of Buenos Aires. People not only walk a bit slower here but cars and taxis even stop to let you cross the road at times... unbelievable really =) We arrived late on Tuesday night.. about 11:30pm, after spending four hours in transition getting from BsAs (Buenos Aires) to Montevideo. The most popular method of getting to and fro is taking the Buquebus ferry. You can take a quick 3 hour rapid ferry to get ...

... it (bad luck), there was a flight that night at 5:30 pm!  Awesome!  this was the same time as the ferry we had expected to take, so we should have had enough time to make it.  Well, things are never that simple...the agent had to call the travel gods...which took about an hour....by the time she confirmed the changes it was 4:10....and the laundry still had to be picked up....well, we were committed at this ...

... Punta hotel. We were made to feel like nothing more than an irritation. Maybe things would have been different if we´d had Louis Vuitton emblazened on our packs instead of Karrimor 65 litre!! Nonetheless we headed out (we were begrudgingly informed they might be able to get our room ready by midday) to the beach full of hope that the day would improve. It did not. Punta was officially shut and in recognition of this the fabulous weather about which you´ve read repeatedly had ...

... to find one of those in Uruguay. We went to the Uruguayan Yacht Club and at ethings like gnocchi, pasta, fish, and steak. Extremely delicious, but not your typical thanksgiving fare. After dinner we spent more time in the casino. It was actually a rather depressing setting because it wasn't in season yet so the hotel was by no means at full capacity. Many of the guards gathered around the few tables that were being operated just to have something remotely ...

... making for several top quality surfing spots. I did not go in the water though: too damn cold! (And ridiculously small waves, but I am not sure that with my surfing proficiency I can use that as an excuse). The thing is, Punta del Este gest empty off season... and it is very nice! Maite and Uvaldo had to get back to Montevideo, and I was to continue east with Piedad, to some villages and beaches that seemed a bit lost. So we went to the ...