Hotel Arapey Montevideo

... the river and Atlantic Coast. Colonia was founded in 1680 and Montevideo in 1726. <br><br>2 hour bus back to Colonia...with a siesta =) Walked around historic Colonia and looked in the shops. Bought myself a bracelet and still had time to enjoy a Uruguay beer before the 9:30 pm ferry back to Buenos Aires. <br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br>

... to a live music bar and I head to bed. it's the first night in 10 that Lucas is retiring after me - in fact I'll not forget his comment after one night of debauchery at the ranch...."Shaaawn - man I got up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night and you still weren't even in bed, godammit - are you kiddin' me?". Indeed. However, you served me that night Lucas.<br><br>On my iPod<br><br>Take it easy - The Eagles<br>

... means that I pay $750 and the local Argie pays $200. Hummm, great. Apparently, it is designed to encourage local people to travel the continent, subsidised by travellers (or some such *****). I´m told they even check your nationality at the Airport and force you to stump up the difference should you be so bold as to go via the Spanish version of the website and book your ticket as if you were a resident (*******s).<br><br>So, I duly traipsed around BA to find ...

... lay back and enjoy. :) PS: The name "Montevideo" has a strange origin. It seems that on an old Spanish map the hill on the bay of Montevideo was called "Monte VI DEO", for "Monte VI De Este a Oeste", or the sixth mountain from East to West... PPS: Uruguay is in the Guinness book for a strange reason: it's the country with the most bovines per inhabitant. 3 million people, 12 million cows... Here to the crazy asados! :D

... and discovered they needed further confirmation on the credit card and as it was all in Spanish it was all too tricky. I tried again on another website with a different card, but that didn't work. Although I was no closer to getting to Rio, at least I knew that going was what I really wanted to do. Plan C was to get up early, call the office in London and arrange a ticket that way - it worked, but I still had to go to the office and pay in person.....BUT I WAS GOING TO RIO.

... to communicate with a lovely local lady who was extremely helpful! We reached the hostel, showered up and then walked down to the banco and supermarcado for a few things .. had a bit on a snack on the sea side wall and then we were in need of some sleep! Tomorrow we look forward to being well rested and enjoying a day around a new city on some rented bikes! ciao

... a number of historical houses you can visit - I popped into the Casa Rivera, which wasn't all that interesting, but it was free! However, there was an exhibition on the indigenous people of Uruguay, which wasn't too bad. I wandered down to the port for lunch, then started making my way back to the hostel. I wanted to see the Casa Lavalleja, but couldn't find it, and it was too hot to linger too long looking for it. I popped into the Museo ...

... but now the house is surrounded by semi-derelict buildings with broken windows, plants/trees growing out of them and graffiti everywhere. Apparently, the old buildings each house several families who have moved there from the suburbs. The old town is where the docks are and a redeveloped market area. The market is now basically a massive bbq restaurant complex and ...

... machine - didn´t leave a message) and Betty (got cut off and then never got her back because the new phone card we bought is only for pay phones - curses!). I found FL Follies on YouTube and sent 2 videos to Marjorie and Debbie Thayer. I slept well, and Philip made French toast for breakfast. Right now there's something very loud, with lots of screaming and shouting and thunderous gunfire, on the TV. I sure do miss those earphones from the RV ...