Mom & Dad, I´m getting married and moving to Buenos Aires.

*I am just setting the record straight right from the get go. This blog is about a side trip Kristin and I made to Argentina and Uruguay. This trip was financed solely by myself and not of the financial donations of family, friends or supporters. Another blog is to come soon with more updates on Paraguay and the work that is being done here.*

After weeks and weeks of planning, it was time to leave our country and family in Paraguay and get out and see a little bit more of what South America had to offer. For one week, Kristin and I had a great trip planned. We planned to leave on Tuesday, October 4 for Buenos Aires, Argentina and stay there with Bia (Lilian’s best friend who lives in Buenos Aires) for 3 days then make our way to Montevideo, Uruguay where we planned on staying with Nicole (a friend of mine from college who is living and working in Uruguay right now) and her friend Alex for 4 days. Little did we know that this “well thought out trip” would bring so many unexpected adventures.

Monday night, October 3: Kristin and I couldn’t fall asleep. I don’t know if it was due to too long of a siesta that day, or if it was nerves knowing that the next day, we had a big travel day ahead of us. We had to mentally prepare for all of the confusing things that were yet to come (or I prepared, since everything is in Spanish and everyone speaks Spanish J), so this caused quite a bit of tossing and turning the night before. Right before I would start to drift off to sleep, Kristin would say, “Katie….?” or right before Kristin would drift off to sleep, I would say, “Kristin…?” So with this happening over and over, we both knew a good night’s sleep was not in the cards. It was about 3 a.m., and as I was finally drifting off to sleep, I heard, “Oh my gosh, Katie!” I looked over to find that Kristin had sprung out of her bed, jumped up onto the stool and was shuffling around for something in the secret hiding place in our room. “What are you doing?!” I said to her. She said, “We almost forgot to grab our tickets for the bus and the boat we’re taking tomorrow!” We both just started laughing as she grabbed the tickets and went back to bed. So much for thinking we had all of our things together, we almost forgot the most important part; the tickets!

Tuesday, October 4: We woke up bright and early at 6:30 a.m. to my ever so annoying alarm clock. We rolled out of bed and got our things ready for the day. I kept thinking in my head about the fact that in this one day, we would be crossing 4 different borders, meaning we would step foot in 4 different countries in one day.

Pastor picked us up at our house and we crossed the border into Brazil to get to the airport. He waved as we walked inside and told me that Kristin and I, “should not make any friends. Be careful!” Ok pastor, thanks for looking out for us. J We waited at the airport for a little while for our flight to Montevideo. The flight went well and as we landed in Montevideo and cleared customs, we had so far passed into our third country, and in smooth fashion.

It was now time to figure out the Montevideo city bus system in order to get to the boat terminal at the water. After Kristin and I figured out what bus line to look for, we stood on the side of the street, waiting for the bus to come. As we stood patiently at the bus stop, we both spotted our bus barreling down the road, right for us. “Ok good, here it is,” I said. As we stood there with smiles on our faces, we waited for the bus to come to our stop, but to our dismay, we stood there and watched the bus fly right by us. I looked at Kristin, “What the heck!?” We both just laughed at the fact that one minute, we were looking to our left, happy as can be knowing the bus was coming, yet as it passed, our heads  quickly turned to the right as the bus was then hauling down the street, far far away from the bus stop we were at. “What do we do to track one of these things down?!!?!?!” I thought. I looked over at another bus stop and saw that even though people were standing at the bus stop, clearly waiting for the bus, they were sticking their arms straight out, this meaning that yes, even though they were standing at the stop, obviously waiting for a bus, their arm was the indicator for the bus to stop. “Oh……ok then.” As the next bus came a while later, I stuck out my arm, feeling like a newbie, yet it was ok because I knew Kristin was doing the same thing behind me. To my surprise (or not?) I turned around and Kristin was in fact, just standing there, not doing anything to track down the bus. Fortunately the bus had stopped, but only because I was holding out MY arm. “Kristin! Why didn’t you hold out your arm and look like an idiot like I did!?” 

“Well, I didn’t have to” she replied. 

“And why didn’t you have to Kristin????” 

“Well, I felt like I had solid eye contact with the driver, and I think he knew we wanted him to stop.” Thanks a lot for the help, Kristin. ;)   

We eventually got on the bus and took about a 45 minute bus ride through Montevideo to the boat terminal on the water. We soon realized, through the bus ride, the beauty and “upper class” characteristics which Montevideo boasts. Though we wouldn’t trade Paraguay for anything, Montevideo is definitely living in style and comfort in comparison to Paraguay. We hopped of the bus and walked over to where we were then going to catch our boat from Montevideo to Buenos Aires. We waited in the terminal for a while and boarded our fourth mode of transportation for the day. The boat ride was serene and quiet, as the ship slowly rocked to the waves of the Atlantic; serving as a lullaby for the passengers, throwing us all into what seemed like a deep sleep for 3 hours.

As we arrived in Buenos Aires, I looked out the window, expecting a dark night, yet was surprised to see several city lights. We were making our way into the harbor of the second biggest city in South America, there was no way the city was asleep yet. We disembarked the ship and waited in the terminal for Bia to meet us. As we stood there waiting, I thought about how different life is here than it is in the US. I had no phone on me, no internet, I did not know where Bia lived, I did not have her phone number if I had to borrow someone else’s phone; I was simply relying on someone whom I barely knew to just show up and rescue us. After about 5 more minutes of waiting, we saw Bia walking through the terminal, waving. I have yet to experience a South American who has let me down or has not been there for me when they said they would be. As North Americans, I’m sure we can all agree that reliability is important. In fact, sometimes, it is all someone has to lean on. Therefore, this is a good reminder for all of us, is it not?

We arrived that night around 11 p.m. in Bia’s apartment, happy to have made it into our fourth country of the day, safe and sound. It was time for sleep as the next morning; Kristin and I were ready to conquer the beautiful Buenos Aires.

Bia´s cute apartment!

Old school elevator! One where you have to manually open and close the doors!

Wednesday, October 5, (shout out for Kristen Yap’s 23^rd birthday!): We woke up bright and early, and I got ready quickly, almost as if my mind was moving too fast for my body to keep up with. I was so ready to go out and explore the city. Bia gave us a set of her keys, and we were out the door, knowing where our first stop would be: Starbucks.

Though this was not a big deal for me, it apparently was for Kristin. It had been over a month since Kristin had had a “good” cup of coffee, and she was more than ready for it. We walked across the street and both enjoyed a drink and a breakfast snack from Starbucks; which fueled us for the day to come.

With the help of Bia, we easily found our first destination, the Obelisco. The Obelisco sits in the biggest square in Buenos Aires, while simultaneously acting as a median of the largest and busiest Avenue in South America. It is the most famous figure in Buenos Aires. (Almost equivalent to Washington D.C.’s Washington Monument). It was built to honor and represent the founding of Buenos Aires.

The Obelisco.

Lots of traffic. Right by the Obelisco.

Looking down the street from the Obelisco.

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This one is for Mrs. Jill Rogers Madison! Love you!

We walked down the street to another popular square in Buenos Aires. We spent a lot of time in this square, as it is the location of Buenos Aires’s largest cathedral and also, the famous presidential castle, La Casa Rosada (meaning: The Pink House). This is a big deal, because if you think about it, this building is the equivalent to our White House in Washington D.C. It is in the capital of the country, it is where the president lives, and it is a house with a specific color (Argentina’s being pink rather than our’s being white. J ). Not only is this a high security building, but it is famous for Argentina’s most well-known and powerful female rulers of their history: Evita Duarte Perdon. Does the song, “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina….” Come to your mind? It was at this building where Evita stood on the balcony of La Casa Rosada and made her speeches to thousands of Argentineans, most likely not aware of the change she was bringing forth for the people.

Kristin and I in front of La Casa Rosada where Evita once lived and made several speeches from. Also the home of the current president of Argentina.

Awesome building.

The balcony she spoke from.

Beautiful tree lined street.

Right by La Casa Rosada.

Near La Casa Rosada, guards would walk around protecting the square and the area around it. To our surprise, we heard them walking right towards us, so Kristin and I bolted to the side of the sidewalk and I got my camera out for a good picture of them. After further examination as they walked by and I was able to get a closer look, I couldn’t help but see that their swords were made of plastic. Though I am quite confident of this, I could be wrong.

Plastic or not?

We then walked into the large and famous Cathedral which serves as a Holy Home to several of Buenos Aires’s 14 million citizens. As I walked around the Cathedral, I felt like I was back in Europe. The entire building was beautifully painted and handcrafted, just as Cathedrals in Europe are. I then began to believe what other people had told us, this being that, “Buenos Aires is a city which is highly influenced by European art and culture.”

The Cathedral.

Huge door! Doors that guard the Cathedral.

Inside the Cathedral. Beautiful.

Kristin paying her respects.

It was a very serious visit.

Argentinean pride??

Around the corner of the Cathedral was a café which Kristin and I had read that, “we could NOT miss out on.” Café Tortoni is its name. In 2008 it celebrated its 100^th year of serving the Argentinean people. As we walked in, we understood why it is so revered. Pictures of famous people from all over the world have visited this café, and it has survived the test of time and has served as a safe place for Argentinean’s throughout the century. Not only was the food and drink beyond magnificent, but we felt privileged to have visited such a historical place.

Outside Cafe Tortoni.

The inside. Very quaint and European.

DELICIOUS. Toasted bread filled with meat and white sauce, covered with dried tomatoes and melted cheese. I am definately bringing this recipe back to the US.

Kristin making friends. 

¨The Bridge of Women.¨ Very well known bridge in Buenos Aires. Bia: ¨I don´t know why it´s called this, I don´t see many women on it...?¨

He stole my flowers!

Having a fun night out exploring and meeting the locals.

Later in the day we returned to Bia’s apartment and rested our legs from walking all day. Bia is a busy woman, she works all day and takes classes some nights. On this day, she was busy until nighttime, so after a little rest, Kristin and I headed back out onto the town in search of an Argentinean dessert place. Kristin had spotted one earlier, so we made our way there. We looked in the display window at their options, and it didn’t take long to decide that we would be quite happy with any dessert they had to offer. We sat down and enjoyed a nice evening of cold coffee (yes, I had coffee, and I enjoyed it very much! But I think this was just a one-time thing) and dessert. I chose the cheesecake and Kristin chose the chocolate mousse. Mmmmmmmm, if you ever have the chance to go to Buenos Aires, try their desserts! They are to die for! We couldn’t help but laugh because we were both so happy with the coffee and desserts (Paraguay has nothing like this) that Kristin randomly makes the comment, “Katie, I’m just so happy right now!!!” We enjoyed a lovely evening (laughing at the fact that the setting was quite romantic) sitting at the window of the dessert place, watching the Buenos Aires people walk by, living their everyday lives in such a neat city. (Sidenote: I fell in love with this city, and the men were definately nice on the eyes! Hence, the title of this blog).     

Yes.

Thursday, October 6: We woke early, excited to spend another day in beautiful Buenos Aires. Today on the agenda, we wanted to make a mini trip out to the suburbs of Buenos Aires, to a city called Tigre (eye of the Tiger!). The Tigre River is a beautiful river that flows through Argentina and makes for a wonderful vacation spot for several Argentineans. We walked to Buenos Aires’s nearby train station where we stood and waited for our train to Tigre. As we were waiting at the stop, we heard some guys speaking English behind us. This was refreshing as we both can count on one hand how many people we have heard around us who speak English. We turned around and as we did, they said hello and we said hello back. The funny thing is that two of the guys were both from Seattle and were in South America looking for jobs to become English teachers. The interesting thing was that none of them really spoke any Spanish and were unsure as to how they would go about this process. Sounds like a great plan guys, good luck! ;)

I love this picture. Clock tower right by the train station.

Something we did not understand about Buenos Aires: their convenient stores all said they were open ¨25 hours a day..?¨

Buenos Aires Train Station. This station had a few scenes in the film ¨Evita.¨

Right before our train arrived; we noticed a little black cat was standing near us. I saw this moment and I captured it as well as I could. Looks like humans are not the only ones who wait for trains.

Love this.

Soon after this picture, a dog showed up at the scene. It didn’t look like the cat wanted anything to do with him!

Yikes!

The train ride was about an hour long and we enjoyed sitting and watching the city pass us by. The further we got out of Buenos Aires, the quieter and less populated it became. We got off at Tigre and found the city to be very quaint.

The Tigre River.

We walked around, trying to figure out the best deal for a river boat ride, and after an hour or so, we were off on a huge river boat, with only about 10 other people on board with us. We got lucky and pretty much had the whole boat to ourselves. We enjoyed an hour long cruise down the Tigre River. Again, an activity which reminded us of something a newlywed couple would do. Oh well J

Romantic, right?? 

We made our way back into Buenos Aires on the train and had a few more stops to make for the day. We got off at the train station and took a bus into town to an interesting sculpture that Bia told us, “we have to see!” Though it did not look that great at the time we saw it, it was worth going to see. The following pictures show a sculpture in the shape of a flower. During the day, the flower is open, and at night, the flower literally closes up (like a flower is when it is just blooming) and is illuminated for all to see.

We made our way across the street to the Hard Rock Café to pick up some souvenirs. One place which I can always count on to go see in the big cities. J

Right by the Hard Rock Café lays one of the most famous, historical figures of Argentina. “La Recoleta” is the cemetery where Evita Duarte Perdon is buried. As we were walking to the cemetery, it started to rain a bit and the clouds started to pass over us. Ironic, being as the entire day was beautiful up until the point where we began walking to see her grave. We found the cemetery but learned that we were 5 minutes late from being able to enter. (This is a closed off cemetery where several famous people from Argentina lay to rest. It is only open during certain hours for viewing. So we decided to return in the morning).

Later that night, Bia was available so we made plans to take her and her cousin out to dinner, being as they were so kind to host us. “Take us to your favorite place that serves good Argentinean food!” Kristin and I both suggested. They took us to this cute place across town where they said serves, “the best Argentinean food!” We were a little unsure of what the girls ordered, but we trusted their judgment. About 15 minutes later, the waiter walks out with this huge platter of MEAT sprawled across it. Kristin and I looked at each other smiling, knowing that we were in for a treat.

Bia explained to us what each meat was; one of the meats being cow intestine. Yes, cow intestine. “Que rico es!!!!” (“Oh it’s so good!!!”) Bia said. 

Kristin and I just looked at each other with, “I am NOT going to eat that!” faces. 

There was another type of meat which Bia said we would LOVE and she basically forced Kristin to pick it up and try it. She said she would tell Kristin what it was after she tried it. Kristin took a small bite and looked at me as I looked at her and gave me an, “Oh my gosh….what is this???” look. 

I felt so bad for her! We learned later that what Bia had Kristin try was cow blood concentrated into meat. Yup. Later that night, Kristin brushed her teeth for about 5 minutes, saying over and over, “I just can’t get that taste out of my mouth!! Ew!!!” Well it’s all about the experience, right?? :/   

Bia and Kristin at the restaurant 

Bia´s cousin and I

Friday, October 7: We were up around 6 a.m. this morning because we had to catch our boat from Buenos Aires to Montevideo at 9:30, so we didn’t have much time to make the trip back to Evita’s grave. When we were getting ready, we could hear that it was POURING down rain outside. (When it rains here, it RAINS. It’s not just “the sky spitting on you” as one of the people whom we have met down here says when it sprinkles). So I got ready by putting on my jeans, my raincoat and my tennis shoes. However, unfortunately, Kristin decided that bringing her flip flops on this week long getaway would be sufficient, so she had no other form of footwear than flip flips. So, she got her jeans on, her raincoat, and her flip flops. As we stepped outside and made our way to the bus stop, Kristin was STRUGGLING as she could NOT stop slipping ALL OVER the marble paved sidewalks. As some of you may know, Old Navy flip flops are not made for traction, so you can only imagine what it is like to walk on marble sidewalks that are pretty much paved with water, not a pretty sight. After about 3 or 4 times of Kristin nearly falling completely on her butt, I told her to hold my arm, and this way, she could somewhat remain standing as she slipped around. So there we were, walking around in the pouring rain, Kristin in her flip flops as her feet nearly gave out from beneath her about every 20 seconds. I’m sure people were wondering 1. Why the heck does that girl not know how to walk? And 2. Why the heck is she wearing flip flops in the pouring rain? At least it made for a good laugh because every time Kristin nearly fell to her demise, I just couldn’t help but chuckle at how foolish we both probably looked.   

What a trooper.

After a lot of tripping, we finally made it back to Evita’s grave. We entered, and what seemed like about 5 minutes after we got inside the cemetery, lightning struck above us, immediately followed by thunder. I don’t know about you, but it is not often that I am 1. Walking around in a cemetery while 2. In the middle of a lightning/thunder/rainstorm. It was quite fitting for the mood, but a little eerie as we made our way around the tombstones. What topped off this eeriness  was when we turned the corner to find this:

A cat with its nose literally chopped off. We don´t know how this happened. Look close to see!

After asking one of the security guards for help, we finally found where Evita lays to rest. Though we did not know much of her at the time, it was a privilege to stand so close to the body of one of Argentina’s most powerful, historical, female leaders.

Entrance to the cemetery.

The Duarte family. Where Evita and her family lay to rest.

A special section made just for Evita. Notice all the rain on my coat!

As Kristin continued to slip and slide, we finally made our way back to Bia’s apartment where we said our goodbyes and grabbed our bags. At this point, we were literally already drenched, but the 10 minute walk down to the boat terminal got us even more drenched to where I was literally squeezing out water from my jeans after changing out of them on the boat. Kristin and I both laid dour jeans over a seat in hopes that they would dry by the time we would make it to chilly Uruguay.

The boat docked in Montevideo, but with the time change and all, I was a little unsure of what time it really was. Come to find out, the boat was moving very slowly due to the winds it was facing, so we arrived into port later than scheduled. What made our late arrival even more unfortunate was when everyone was lined up to exit the boat, then we were asked to sit back down due to the fact that, “the boat could not dock because of high winds.” After translating this to Kristin, we just looked at each other and laughed. I still think about this and am unsure as to why the boat could not dock due to high winds. Did they not have rope to throw the people on the docks? Were the engines not working? Were the captains in the bathroom? Either way, we sat there for about 45 minutes, watching the boat get about 5 feet from the dock, then watching the wind take it back another 20 feet, then watching it go back 5 feet from the dock, then back another 20 feet….over and over and over. I just sat there and smiled. Oh South America.

After the boat was finally able to dock, I was THIS close to applauding as we all disembarked onto dry land. At this point, we were in a small town in Uruguay called Colonia, and at this point we immediately made our way to our bus which would take us to Montevideo. Again, we draped our jeans over our seats and fell asleep right as we sat down and got comfortable.

We pulled into Montevideo’s main bus terminal about two and a half hours later than expected. We had plans to meet our friend Nicole at the bus station, then we would all take a taxi back to her apartment. However, the back-up plan was that if we were to be more than about 45 minutes late, Nicole would go back to her apartment and we were to get our own taxi and meet her at her apartment. It was all going to be fine, I thought, because Kristin had written down Nicole’s cell phone number and also the cross streets of her apartment. So if need be, we could get to a cell phone and call Nicole and tell her where we were. Sounds easy enough, right? Not for Kristin Cappellano and Katie Olson, no.

We took a taxi to the cross streets which Nicole had given us. We got out and I asked Kristin which apartment it was and she said, “I don’t know, I just have the cross streets. I have the apartment number though.”

“Ok how is an apartment number going to help us??? There are like 10 apartment buildings here!” 

“Well….all I have is her apartment number…so I guess we just have to walk around each apartment, ring the little buzzer and see if it’s their place!”

So there we were, walking around Montevideo aimlessly; in the rain, the wind and the cold, carrying our bags and the things we had bought in Buenos Aires. We started at this one apartment and rung the buzzer, and when an old man picked up and said in a very deep tone, “Hola?” Kristin and I ran off, knowing that that was not the voice of our friends. We tried again at another apartment, yet another man picked up. Run away! Another apartment, another man, run away. We walked over to another apartment and before we were going to ring the buzzer again, this cute, short little man came walking out of the building. For some reason, I felt inclined to ask him if he could help us. I explained to him that Kristin and I were very lost and were looking for our friends’ apartment. I saw that he had a cell phone and I asked him if we could borrow it to call our friends. He took the number Kristin had and began dialing. After waiting for a while, he brought down the phone and said that the number was incorrect and would not work. I looked at Kristin, thinking, “you better not have wrote down the wrong number!” We tried again, this time I was looking at the numbers and telling the man what to dial. He dialed what I told him, yet again, it did not work. Turns out, Kristin wrote down a 9 which totally looked like a 4. Ok, cell phone back-up plan, fail. Move on to plan C.

Since the phone idea didn’t work, the little old man began to tell us that we should continue to wander around, buzzing each apartment that had the number 902. But we were to only buzz the apartments that were tall, because 902 was obviously on the 9^th floor of a tall building. We thanked him for his help, and walked away, still not knowing if we would find Nicole and Alex.

We walked over to another apartment to buzz for the girls, but we were distracted by a man yelling out after us. We turned around and running down the street towards us was the little old man, shaking his finger at us, yelling that we were going to the wrong apartments. So this began a new trek to find their apartment; Kristin, me and the little old man. The little old man (I wish I had his name!) began walking around with us, buzzing all of the 902’s that he could find. Each time he buzzed, a man would pick up and right away I knew it wasn’t Nicole and Alex, so I would try and tell the man that this wasn’t the right place, but he insisted on still asking, just to make sure. So each time he buzzed, he would say, “Hello. I am here with two foreign girls who have lost their way and are wandering around looking for their friends. Their friends live in apartment 902 and they are looking for a Nicole or Alex. Are you Nicole or Alex??” This went on for about 6 different apartments….each time the man buzzing another apartment, and each time a man picking up and saying, “hola??” and the little old man beginning his rant, even though I knew we already had the wrong place. At this point, I didn’t know if I wanted to laugh or cry.

I was THIS close to giving up hope, until we reached the last apartment located on the cross streets we were given. BUZZZZZZZ BUZZZZZ BUZZZZZ. “Hola???” a young girl said in the speaker. My heart nearly skipped a beat because 1. It was the voice of a girl and 2. I thought I recognized her voice! I was about to start talking to Alex, yet little old man cut me off by again saying, “hola, I have two foreign girls here with me who are wandering around and do not know where they are. They are looking for their friends…..” 

“Yes! Yes! Yes! It’s me Alex! Katie, Kristin are you there???” 

“Ah Alex yes it’s us!!!” Kristin and I got so excited, and through this, the little old man was able to figure out that we had found our friends and that he no longer had to walk around with us, buzzing random apartment numbers.

Alex buzzed us in and the little old man held open the door for us and kissed us on our cheeks and said, “I am your Uruguayan dad. I am happy to have helped you. Enjoy your time in Uruguay!” I could not thank him enough. What a great first experience with an Uruguayan civilian. This definitely gave us a good first taste of Uruguay after this miserable yet hilarious experience.         

After our crazy day of traveling, Kristin and I were happy to have found our friends. We had a relaxing night in and a delicious first dinner in Uruguay.

Saturday, October 8: We were up early this morning because Nicole and Alex thought it would be fun for us to take a short mini trip over to Punta del Este, Uruguay. Punta del Este is basically the Los Angeles of the U.S. It is the place where all the South American celebrities have their second homes, or go to relax and hang out in the sun on the beach.

We hopped on a bus, and an hour and a half later, we were in Punta del Este. Driving into the city, we were right along the coastline and out the windows was the beautiful Atlantic sprawled out in front of us. Along the coastline stood the tall buildings of the cities, as well as the quaint walk-in cafes and small town shops.

We stopped first at the home of a friend of Alex and Nicole’s. There, they made us an Uruguayan home cooked meal which consisted of fish and a “rice salad.” This meal would have sat much better in my stomach if the son in the family wouldn’t have taken the fish out of the oven and shown it to all of us. One minute I’m turned to Nicole talking with her, the next minute this 3 foot long fish with teeth bigger than my own and eyes nearly bulging from its head is sitting on the table for all of us to see. “Mmmmm…..looks so good…..” were words I nearly had to force out of my mouth. Don’t get me wrong, I love fish, but I would rather eat it than look at its entire body, basically fresh from the sea. I thought of the poor little guy as I forced down the food that day.

We made our way over to the bus stop where we caught a bus to the apartment of another friend of Nicole and Alex’s. It was a family of 4, mom, dad and two girls ages 19 and 13. They were extremely kind as they opened their homes to us and gave us one of their bedrooms to put our stuff in and stay in for the night. The plan for the rest of the day was to go explore around town, then go out for a little party at night. Alright, sounds good!

We got in the car and Julieta’s (the 19 year old) dad drove us into town so that we could walk around. It was a cute little city, right on the beach and I soon understood why this is the place to go vacation in South America.

Punta del Este. Unfortunately it was a foggy day :(

The city behind the fog.

Picture this, but with sun :)

This is a famous sculpture they have on their beach. It´s a hand. Hahaha

The girls took us to a popular place to go see where a bunch of Sea Lions hang out. I thought I knew what Sea Lions were, but I was pleasantly surprised. As we reached the viewing point, I looked down and “Whoa! It’s huge!!!” I had NO idea that Sea Lions were as big as the one I saw! Nicole and I walked down closer to get a better picture. Before I knew it, Nicole had my camera in her hands and this man who had fish was giving me fish to feed the Sea Lion. Unwillingly (yet with peer pressure from the man and from Nicole), I took the nasty raw fish in my hand, leaned a bit over the edge and dropped the fish in the Sea Lions’ mouth. Feed a Sea Lion in South America: check!

The big guys face from up close.

Kind of an idea of how  big he was. He was seriously huge.

Feeling a little excited....

Raw fish in hand....

Here it goes....man is right there to help me in case my hand gets bit off....

Drop it in!

We made our way back to the place we were staying and the family kindly ordered pizza for all of us to share. (This was my first dinner in weeks, I was so excited!) It was about 9 p.m. when we finished the pizza and I asked when we were planning on going out to this “party” that the girls wanted to go to. “Oh well it’s still real early….people in South America don’t go out until around 2 a.m.” 

“Um…. what? Did you say people don’t LEAVE to go out until 2 A.M.???” 

“Yeah. That’s when we all leave…” 

“Ok….then when does everyone get back home? Like 4 or 5 a.m.?” 

“Oh no, that’s early. People get back home around 7 or 8 a.m.”

Ok, I’m a young 22 year old girl and I got some good energy left in me. But 2 until 8 a.m. is party time!? WHAT?! That’s SLEEP TIME for me!!! “Kristin….we are going to have to stick this out for tonight….just one night. When in South America, we do as they do, right?” 

“Right!” 

So after getting over this temporary shock, we began to hang around and wait until 2 a.m. rolled around…..

5 hours later we were ready to go and rolled out the door. I had on quite a conservative dress that I had borrowed from Kristin and Kristin basically went out looking like grandma. She had on flip flops, leggings and a long cotton skirt, topped off with a rosy pink cardigan. She joked with me that upon entering the club, everyone would yell at her, “get off the dance floor GRANDMA!!!”

Julieta was trying to improve Kristins outfit...Kristin passed on the shoe suggestion. 

As we drove out to the club, I noticed that we were getting further and further away from the city. “Where are we going???” I thought. After about 20 minutes, we turned a corner onto a dirt road and literally began driving into a jungle. “Ok seriously….where are we going??” I thought. “How could this awesome club be somewhere out here???” Julieta’s dad dropped us off (the parents in South America are so funny. You live with them until you get married, and if you don’t get married, you live with them forever AND, if you want to go party at a club at 2 a.m., they will drive you out there, drop you off AND pick you up at 8 in the morning if need be. Talk about supportive parents!)

We finally turned onto another dirt, pothole filled road where her dad stopped the car and where the girls began piling out. All I could see around me were trees, a bunch of young kids with alcohol in their hands and what looked like a big warehouse. For a split second, I wondered if I would survive the evening.    

We walked inside and I got really excited. It was a super cool looking club (from the inside). There were 4 different big rooms with separate DJ’s playing separate music. There were comfortable couches to sit on and several different bars. The first thought that went through my head was, “Man, U.S. clubs have a thing or two to learn from Uruguayan clubs!”

We chose the bigger dance floor where the DJ was playing pretty typical American hip hop dance music. Us 4 Americans and the 3 Uruguayan girls we came with all decided on a meeting place, just in case we got separated. It was about 2:30, and the place was pretty much empty. No one was there. “Maybe the party won’t have as good of a turnout as the girls thought there would be….” I said to Alex. 

“Just give it an hour or so. It usually gets going around 3 or 3:30” Alex replied. “Wow” I thought. So different than what I am used to!

Around 3, the place really started filling up and it got really fun. The DJ was awesome and we were all dancing and having a great time. Grandma (Kristin) was especially getting her moves on. So much that I had to tell her to wipe the sweat off that was rolling down her face. Was the perfuse sweating due to the rosy pink cardigan she refused to take off? Perhaps.

Around 5:45, the place really began to get packed. At one point, Kristin yelled in my ear, “this is kind of starting to get scary. Everyone is going crazy!”

It became apparent to me that there are no health hazard laws or occupancy laws in Uruguay. As Kristin and I stepped outside for air, we could barely move through the masses of people. It was as if we were trying to get through the door to a mall that was giving away all their things for free. It was absolutely ridiculous as Kristin and I clung to each other and as man after man grabbed at my dress, pulled at my hair and touched my face to get me to talk with them. (I am not a special person, at this point of the night, they were doing this to all the girls). We finally found a spot to stand, away from the crowds, in a place of fresh air. Nicole and Alex kindly said they would wait inside until they found the Uruguayan girls whom we unfortunately had lost track of sometime between 3 and 5:45 a.m. Around 6:15, Kristin and I spotted Alex and Nicole who had fortunately found our friends. They walked up to us and said that they were ready to go if we were. We all gladly left the overcrowded, smelly, somewhat unsafe club. Even though I was ready to sprint out of that place by the end of our time there, I can now say that it was a fun one-time experience. J 

  

By the time Julieta’s dad had come and picked us up and we had driven back home, we walked back into their home around 7 a.m., just as the sun was rising. What a wild and unforgettable night!

Sunday, October 9: After going to bed at 7 a.m., we woke up on Sunday at 1 p.m., feeling surprisingly rested. We had a nice lunch with the family, packed up our stuff, said our thank you’s and headed out the door. After meeting with another friend of Nicole and Alex’s at the mall, we got a ride to the bus station where we took a bus back to Montevideo. (I must say I am a professional South American bus rider now!).

The bus ride was beautiful as we were driving along the Uruguayan coast at sunset. We were all enjoying the ride until someone got up and went to the bathroom which was conveniently located right behind our seats. As soon as they opened the door, all 4 of us smelt an unbearable odor. We all looked at each other and said in unison, “Ew!!!!!” After the person left, Alex decided to make a sign that said in Spanish, “OUT OF ORDER.” She stuck it to the door with gum and no one opened that door for the rest of the trip, thank the Lord!

Monday, October 10 (shout out for Lindsy Light’s 23^rd birthday!): After little sleep the previous day, all 4 of us slept in this day. It felt so nice to catch up on sleep! Nicole and Alex went to a nearby café to get work done as Kristin and I had a relaxing morning in their apartment. They were back in the afternoon and we headed out to see more of Montevideo. They took us along “La Rambla” (Nicole, Alex and I are still trying to figure out a translation for this word….my best guess is “boardwalk”) which runs right along the water in Montevideo. It was a beautiful, sunny, crisp day and for a second, I felt as if I was feeling the crisp fall air of Seattle.

The Montevideo coastline.

Kristin, what is that in your hair?? ;)

We continued to walk and talk along La Rambla as the sun was setting. Bikers, walkers, runners and rollerbladders were going by us taking in the last bit of sun the day had to give. We walked into town where several of the main streets were blocked off because a free concert was taking place at night. The girls got a drink and I got churros with dulce de leche squeezed into the middle of them. MMMMMM! Basically picture a Disneyland churro with creamy, thick caramel sauce squeezed into the middle of it. It was literally heaven in my mouth!

We walked towards the concert as it started to get dark and one of Uruguay’s most popular rock bands was playing. We listened to them for a while and put up with all the young immature men jumping and moshing and “accidently hitting us” with their curious hands. Though Kristin and I were unfamiliar with the music, it was a fun time and we were happy to have experienced a street concert in South America with good ol local bands and activities.

The outdoor stage.

People people people.

Awesome building with great colors.

Uruguay´s famous ¨Chivito.¨ Basically a HUGE burger with ALL the mixings, and add on a fried egg. They call it a heart attack on a plate. But you ¨gatta get them while you´re in Uruguay!¨



Check out the video of some of the concert below! He was an entertaining old man from Brazil!

Tuesday, October 11: We woke up bright and early and took a taxi with Nicole to the bus station. Here we went our separate ways and took a bus to the airport while Nicole went to work. It was sad saying by to Nicole knowing that I most likely won’t be able to hang out with her in South America again! She is a friend who I did not know very well before this trip, but come to find, meeting up and traveling together in a country far from your own can do wonders! Thanks for everything Nicole! J

As we made our way to security in Montevideo’s airport, I reminded Kristin of the several liquids she had in her bag and that she might not be able to sneak them all through again. An airline employee told Kristin that her contact solution was too big to go through security and that she would have to check her bag in order to keep it. After we walked away from the woman, I turned to Kristin and said, “I’m assuming you don’t want to check your bag, so just stuff it in the middle of all your clothes and I’m sure you will get it through just like you did when you brought it here last week.” We both laughed at the idea and she stuffed her oversized bottle of contact solution in the middle of her bag and hoped for the best. As we put our bags through the scanner at security, we were not surprised to find that they had taken Kristin’s bag and asked to look through it. Right when they opened the bag, I saw a woman take out Kristin’s HUGE bottle of bug spray. “Oh gosh Kristin, of course they are going to see that and not let it go through!” They took it and told me she could not take it through and that they would have to throw it away. I looked at Kristin and we both nodded that they could take it. They handed her bag back to her and as I looked at Kristin to see if she was upset about them taking the spray, she whispers to me, “No big deal about the bug spray, it was a decoy so that they wouldn’t see my contact solution!” Way to fool an international security system, Kristin. Her ability to do this somewhat frightens me and my future traveling endeavors.    

After another long day of traveling, Kristin and I landed safely in Brazil and passed through customs. We could see Maria and Silent Chief anxiously awaiting our arrival out in the waiting area. We waived to them with big smiles on our faces as we carried all of our belongings in our hands. When we reached them, they greeted us by taking our pictures (haha) and hugging and kissing us. After hugging Maria, I looked at her with a smile and found that she had tears in her eyes. My heart skipped a beat as I realized that these people truly did miss us, though we were only gone one week. Thinking about it then in that moment, it hit me that a part of me had missed them as well. For a moment there, I saw a glimpse of the future and felt a tinge of what it will be like to miss the people I have met here in South America. To miss the family I have so gratefully gained.