Montevideo

Hey Kids,

As you may remember, I wasn´t feeling so well in Colonia. However, Monday morning rolled around and I decided to get on a bus to Montevideo. Easy enough. No problems on the bus. Stayed at the Red Hostel which was pretty nice despite various projects going on. At least they´re taking care of the place. Still feeling pretty stuffy and achy on Tuesday morning but decided to take someone up on their couch surfing offer. Couchsurfing.com, if you haven´t heard of it, is a website that you can use to find a couch/floor space/fellow travelers/etc. It´s a great way to meet somoene who´ll give you the lay of the land. Way less boring than a guide book.

So that´s how I ended up at the house of 4 very nice IT consultants from India. Working in Montevideo. Though an opportunity to practice the local language went out the window, I got a delicious meal of chole and some paneer curry too. It was the most savory food I´ve had for the past 3 weeks and completely unexpected. Though the food here is good, and fresh, and healthy, it is BLAND. So I was grateful, oh so grateful, for a little sinus clearing spicyness. Unfortunately, the spices didn´t have a lasting effect and the next morning I felt worse than ever.

My head felt like it was going to explode and since I´d been sick over a week, I broke down and booked it over to Hospital Brittanica. I don´t know why I picked it, I guess I didn´t to deal with waiting at a public hospital. And I knew that if my Spanish completely failed me, they had English speaking doctors. After wandering the halls for about 10 minutes, I checked in, affirming that I had a method of payment. Then I sat on a stretcher for about a minute before a nurse came in and took my symptoms. After 30 seconds, the doctor arrived, like the nurse, also a very nice young woman. She pushed on my forehead, listened to me breathe, and took my temp. Or maybe the nurse took my temp, it´s all a blur (btw, they stuck an old-fashioned mercury thermometer -remember those?- in my armpìt). Before I knew it, I had a prescription for antibiotics and she was telling me I had an infection in my lymph nodes, which I guess I already knew. Then I was on my way out the door after being charged about 70 bucks. After another 7 or so for the antibiotics at the pharmacy down the street, I found myself on my way to a budget hotel where I could lie in bed, watch the most intellectually stimulating show on television (Sunset Tan, or whatever), and drink a gallon of juice. I also ate a ton of food.

After getting over the hump I decided to take up another offer for a couch. But this time I couldn´t get ahold of my host. So I did the next best thing, I decided to call the bartender that gave me his phone number, "just in case things didn´t work out."

You´re probably thinking, that´s probably not a good idea. You are right. And no, I normally wouldn´t bother with bartender (esp. at a certain bar in Madison, eh, Andy S?). But that´s not why everyone is still reading, huh? Good ideas and playing it safe? Well, you either break the rules or make the rules... And that is how I found myself in a little old convertible on a beautiful Saturday afternoon, driving along the coast of Uruguay. To be continued...

Up next:
How I really feel about traveling

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