South America - Week 4

South America » Argentina
March 17th 2007

Published: December 30th 2007

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110307A

Emma outside La Corte & Don Trigo restaurants, Montevideo, Uruguay

Went on a walking tour with some of the girls on Sunday. Was a little tired because I got in late last night & didn't get a great sleep. Kept waking up because Charlie hadn't come home, but got a message in the morning from reception that she was ok. Turns out she'd been out partying with the Kumuka truck & had gone back to their hostel.

After checking out the waterfront, we found a market & restaurant area to wander about in. Shannon ran into some Americans she'd met at the hotel & we joined them for a few drinks, which turned into a long lunch. I tried some Sangria, which wasn't nearly as nice as what I'd had in Spain. For lunch, four of us ordered a platter of meat to share, which the majority of actually turned out to be offal. I tried intestines, blood sausage & a few other things that are probably best to remain nameless. Really only enjoyed the chicken breast & picked at the rest, but at least I gave it a go.

Had icecream bought for us on the walk home by the boys & proceeded up to the hotel roof

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Pavement artwork, Montevideo, Uruguay

for a bit of a party. Emma & I shared a bottle of sparkling wine, which gave me a headache, so I switched to water. We ended up with about a dozen of us up there & somebody even brought an Ipod with speakers for entertainment. My nose was still blocked form this cold that wont go away, so I only lasted until about midnight before heading to bed.

Charlie didn't get in till seven o'clock Monday morning, after another big night out with the Kumuka crew - dirty stopout... She'd come home yesterday for a few hours sleep before going out to dinner with all the Oasis people that weren't on the roof. I had brekkie at the hotel, then went off to spend a few hours on the net before leaving Montevideo.

The truck rolled out at two in the afternoon & we drove four hours to Colonia. Our original beachside campsite had closed down, so we got directions to another place inland. After setting up tents, we discovered the place was a mosquito breeding ground & spent the rest of the night spraying Deet & burning coils. Cook group came up with the goods,

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Beachside view, Montevideo, Uruguay

making a chicken curry, which was perfectly accompanied by some local red wine from the campground shop.

Tony dropped the group into town mid Tuesday morning, so we could explore the world heritage listed site of Barrio Historico. Seems a former town mayor spent a bunch of money doing up the town & buying up old American cars as a tourist attraction. Problem was, the townsfolk didn't see much value in his ideas & kicked him out of power. Turns out though that he was right on the money because the old buildings & cobbled streets are just what people now come to see.

We found out before lunch that the vehicle ferry was broken, so Tony & Di were going to have to drive to Buenos Aires, whilst the group caught a different passenger ferry. We had to return to the truck to get enough gear for the next day; not a big problem, except we couldn't find four members of the group to get their gear out. Again, not a huge drama, but we needed passports to cross into Argentina & we could only source three of their passports. Tony & Di had to wait around

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City skyline, Montevideo, Uruguay

until we found Andy & the crew, which was forunately only an hour or so after they'd intended to leave.

Sam got bored killing time in the park, so went & hired a golf cart to cruise around in for an hour, before heading off to catch the ferry. After a mix up with terminals, we found the right place, went through immigration & boarded the ferry just in time. The ride was very quick & we got into Buenos Aires alot earlier than expected. Then there was a mess up with the hostel bookings, which after ferrying part of the group to another hostel for the night, was eventually sorted.

After settling in, a bunch of us walked to Hotel Chile to meet for a late dinner & drinks with the couples of the group, who were staying there. Di had recommended the food at the restaurant next door to the hotel & she was right on the money, it was great. I shared some ravioli with Robyn & had a beer from possibly the worlds biggest glass.

We made friends with a dog who was sleeping next to our table. He'd been quietly napping there

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Street scene, Montevideo, Uruguay

for hours, minding his own business, when another dog came up & started harrassing him. It looked like there was going to be a fight & sure enough, it was on. Our dog didn't really fight back, he just tried to get away, under our table, which got flipped, sending drinks & food flying & people scattering for cover. Fortunately we were almost finished, but it definately put an end to our evening. Luckily our friend wasn't hurt & between us & the locals, the mean dog was chased away.

Up early on Wednesday to change travellers cheques at the Amex office. Had a long Champagne lunch next to Hotel Chile again, before being picked up for a half day city tour. We drove around to a few places of interest, including La Boca Stadium & it's surrounding neighbourhood. Bought an awesome painting at the local market, then finished the tour & headed home in the pouring rain. It took a lot longer to get there than anticipated because all the roads flooded from the heavy rain, causing one massive traffic jam.

Had drinks & a late dinner up the street from Hotel Chile. Were planning to

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The pier, Montevideo, Uruguay

go out, but a few had had enought & went home. I headed back to our Chile restaurant with a half dozen others for another drink. We also ordered THE most spectacular icecream & wafer stack dessert, which not even all of us sharing could finish.

Went out with Penny, Rob, Duncan & Andy on Thursday. We cabbed it to La Recoleta Cemetery, which has almost five thousand vaults, including Evita & many other imporatant Argentinians. The architecture was amazing & I of course, took stacks of photos. Found another cemetery buddy in Penny, who also said she could have spent the day there exploring. The boys just looked at us oddly, like we had two heads or something.

Had lunch at a fancy deli, which cost me almost twice as much for one sandwich as it did for my mouthwatering Hotel Chile pasta. It filled the gap & gave us much energy for a spot of shopping afterwards.

After checking in many stores & being given random directions, we wandered into a Tango shop in the main shopping mall that sold Tango shoes. I was so excited to finally find some, I think it took

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Sunset from roof of Hotel California, Montevideo, Uruguay

all of five minutes to choose a pair in my size & complete the transaction. The sales woman looked well pleased with my decision; probably because it was her biggest sale of the day...

Penny & I continued on down the mall & to the square in front of Parliament House, to see the mothers of the missing thousands silently protesting. Apparently over thirty thousnd people were disappeared in the seventies & eighties for 'political' reasons. None of these people have ever been found & their mothers come to protest to the current government every Thursday. They want an inquest into the disappearances & although resigned to the fact their children are probably dead, they at least want to know where their bodies are.

We'd organized a free Tango lesson for the group where we'd eaten last night, so attended that & ended up eating there again. From there, we went to Tortonis to watch a professional Tango show. I've never seen such an amazing performance in my life & would even go so far as to say it was the best show I have ever seen. I filmed parts of it on my camera, but decided to

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Sunset from roof of Hotel California, Montevideo, Uruguay

get the DVD as well.

Wandered across to The Clover Bar after the show for a few bevvies; it's the local Irish bar, so a bit of a change in vibe from earlier on. They kicked us out at closing time, but recommended a club for us to go to, called The Roxy. We had some difficulties finding three taxi drivers who knew where to go, but it's because this place is like thirty minutes out of town. Turns out it's a gay club where just about anything goes. They put on a transvestites show, which was ummm... interesting & althrough the music was quite average, I somehow still didn't get home until sun up!

Slept in a bit on Friday, if you can call four hours a sleep in that is. Went with Charlie to catch up with her mates from the Kumuka truck at their hostel, then went to pick up some of my stuff from our guys at Hotel Chile. Charlie, Naomi & I ended up having a long Champagne lunch, followed by some shopping on Florida Street, Buenos Aires main shopping mall. Had enough time to freshen up before walking back to Florida

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Sunset from roof of Hotel California, Montevideo, Uruguay

Street for a group dinner, celebrating Nikki's birthday, at the very swanky New Brighton Restaurant. Although very professional, I don't think they'd had such a large group in before, because the waiters managed to mess up roughly half the orders. We weren't too fussed though & they fixed it all up, dinner just took a bit longer than anticipated. Champas & cake came out after mains, after which I did a Houdini & went straight back to the hostel - shattered.

Unfortunately, we had to leave Buenos Aires early Saturday morning. There was talk of us staying another night to celebrate St Patrick's Day, but the whole group couldn't agree, so we had to go. It was a long eleven hour drive day & most people joined in & wore some green. Had empanadas for lunch at a roadside stop & I bought some arty stuff from a little lady running a cute little co-operative for local craftspeople. I don't think she'd seen so many people in her shop for a while & looked pretty pleased when we started buying up the place. Rough camped at a little park right next to the road, with trucks constantly going