the Coast, BA Sights, Uruguay & concerts

Hang on to your hats people! I haven't written a blog in over 30 days, so I kind of have a lot to report. Let's start by saying that after my last entry I wanted to cover some ground on seeing some classic Buenos Aires sights. So, Diego and I made a trek through Buenos Aires and took a lot of pictures of some must see Buenos Aires monuments: Plaza San Martin, Edificio Kavanagh, Puente de la Mujer, Fragata Presidente Sarmiento, to name a few. However, the most impressive sight for me was the Recoleta Cemetry where Evita Peron is buried. It is unbelievable. The cemetry is full of individual mini castles that house groups of famous familes that have passed away.

Also, if you are interested in going to fairs, Argentina definitely won't disappoint. We have been to many, and I have noticed a common theme is that most of the fairs celebrate and honor the Gaucho culture of Argentina. For those of you who don't know much about Argentina, the Gaucho culture is South America's version of cowboy culture, yet, it is VERY much Argentina. At the fairs, they sell a lot of leather goods, wool goods, and of course, more meat and cheese products, etc. Also, everyone in this cotry drinks Yerba Mate, which is a Tea that grew out of popularity from the gauchos who used to drink it in the Argentine countryside while tending to the livestock.

Having the urge to see more of South America, Diego planned a trip for us to take a 4 hour boat ride across the Rio de La Plata so that I could see for myself what Uruguay was all about. In Uruguay we went to Colonia, Punta del Este, and Montevideo. For a very brief overview, Colonia is a tiny historic city that dates back to the year 1680. Punta del Este is the high class vacation hotspot that was originally for South America's elite, but it is now becoming an international vacation spot. For me, it looks a lot like California in terms of some of the flora, fauna and landscape. Montevideo is the city's capital and it has some neat building and a really cool Port area which has been converted into a modern day Farmer's Market.

Also, we took a weekend and went 3 hours south on the coast of Argentina with Diego's dad. We visted his brother's family and toured around the area. The seaside towns of Carilo, and Pinamar were so beautiful. The towns were maintained perfectly unlike the other areas of Argentina. Also, we went to have a thermal bath in a natural seawater sping. There is a park that you can enter that has several very hot thermal baths with water that comes from the ocean. The water naturally maintains the degree of a normal hottub.. It was very cool, but being that it was freezing that weekend, there were a ton of Argentines in the baths.

Anyway, please enjoy the pictures, and as always, I miss everyone!!!!!!!!

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