Hotel Best Western Palladium Montevideo

... and buildings like the "Beehive" or Palcio Salvo in Plaza Indepencia, clearly pushed the boundaries of what was possible at the time.<br><br>Unfortunately, the wheels came off the economy between the two World Wars and the country has been struggling to recover ever since. Compared to its Argentine neighbour across the River Plate, the city is looking extremely tired as there has been little investment over the years. There are, however, pockets of investment but compared to ...

... bring me home by the afternoon the next day. Phew!!!! (This last entry is currently being written a cramped cubicle in the Santiago International Airport.)<br><br>Anyways, there are no USB ports at this Airport cubicle so I will be posting all 2 GB of pics on Picasa (some of which I didn't want to post on a public blog). Let me know if you want access to them by sending me an email (if you´re not ...

... a metal rip. You have metal straw thing to drink it out of. It filled with some stuff that looks like dried herbs but is some kind of tea. You then have to carry that and a flask of hot water with you around the streets to keep topping it up. The metal straw thing has a kind oc thick spoon at the end that has hole in it and acts like a filter so you don tsuck up the leaves or whatever. Anyway we got all the claptrap together and made this mate to take ...

What an absolute luxery, travelling by night to your next destination and sleeping like a princess in a queen size bed. The capital of Uruguay is easily reached by food. After some sightseeing I took a bus to the local beaches but they were not really appealing to me (I think I got a little used to Caribbean-style beaches, shame on me :-))

... to Buenos Aires. Little did we know how many people we after doing the same thing. Lets just say we were in the bus terminal for a long time before we finally left Montevideo but we´ll tell you about that in the next entry (this isn´t a cliffhanger by the way, don´t get too excited waiting for the next installment, bus terminals aren´t that exciting). One plus point of Montevideo though.....at least the bus terminal is nice!!

... where it's helpful to have full use of both hands. there are many rules when it comes to drinking mate. 1. don't even think about touching the metal straw [called "bombilla"] except to drink from it. the person who is serving the mate has strategically maneuvered the leaves, the straw and the water and why would you disrupt this masterpiece. 2. don't say gracias unless you don't want anymore. if you say gracias, you're cut out of the ...

... to walk around the Argentina side, and another 3 hours the next day to do the Brazilian side, it was so impressive, one of the sights of my life. The jungle around it was full of crocs and jaguars. We went up there with our friend Kate, and I think she may be part witch, as she said she had a feeling that we should go to the island in the middle of the falls, as she thought the light was right to see rainbows, so we did and there were loads of rainbow, and then none for the ...

... from Europe and USA as well. It was held in this sweet outdoor courtyard of one of the local Couchsurfers houses, complete with a custom outdoor brick bbq, typically used to make asado (a type of popular grilled meat), but was being used to grill up other types of food people brought for the night. Music was playing, people were drinking and socializing and getting to know each other... the guest of honor for this event and the main reason it was being hosted was ...

... opened. Imagine my surprise when I was confronted, not by a drunken student, but by a little old lady in a hairnet and dressing gown! Clearly hard of hearing, she apologised and turned the TV down. <br><br>Montevideo is best described as a city of faded elegance. It has some wonderful architecture if a little run down in places and some great shops and restaurants. We spend our few days here just wandering around the streets and trying out a few of the local ...

... so into the old quarter, passnig the downtown area with its univerisities, museums, etc. It was a nice walk, and then the old quarter was nice as well, with your usual churches and what not. I made it to the ocean front, which was nice. Then, at around 4pm, I made it back to the Theatre (I forget the name now) for a free guided tour, which was really nice. It´s a ...