Devil's Point!

Hola bambinos! This entry is pretty scattered. It´s hard keeping up with these things when you´re at hostels and can´t write much at a time. Bummer, huh?

The other morning I decided to make a list of things I miss. I was on the bus and couldn´t think of anything better to do. Now I'm going to share it with you:

Mt. Dew. Not the drink but the concept.
Flaming hot cheetos: The taste AND the concept. Actually, I miss ANY food with some spice.
My electric toothbrush! My mouth is filthy!
My iPod. Mainly because I left the headphones in my backpack which is in the baggage storage area below.
A WIDE selection of cheap, cheap beer
Clean socks
Paper Magazine, esp Mr. Mickey´s column. Who is Mr. Mickey? Well, if Karl Lagergeld and Samantha from Sex in the City had a love child, it would be him.
Your smiling faces!

After a few days in Montevideo, I decided to head for beachier pastures. I needed to check out Punta Del Diablo, a sleepy little vacation/fishing town up the east coast.
Day1: MVD to Punta Del Diablo. I'd set my alarm for 7 figuring that would give me plenty of time for a shower, a quick breakfast, and the trip to the bus station. Nope. Daylight savings time happened! So, when I woke up it was actually 8. I didn't realize this until I got out of bed at 8:15 and just happened to glance at the clock. So I threw on some close, checked out and got to the bus with 10 minutes to spare. The conductor let me go back in the terminal where I grabbed a coffee and an unexpected treat. I had a deelish sandwich made with walnut bread. Most of the "migas," are made on cheap white bread. This was nice - the bread was moist and slightly sweet.
Bus ride was 4 hours. Mostly uneventful. I probably slept. Wandered over to the hostel, El Diablo Tranquilo. It's a great place. Very nice. The staff is wonderful. If you come to Uruguay, skip the glitz of Punte Del Este and head for Diablo! Trust me. I'd only planned on staying just a couple nights.
After checking in, I searched for a store selling snacks. As I walked along the beachfront road, a group of partying Uruguayan's greeted me and thrust a cut off 2 liter soda bottle in my hand. It was filled with lemons, ice, and most importantly, liquor. They were passing around Caipriahna, the tasty lemony sugar cane liquor drink. It was tasty!

I was the only guest at the hostel! Decided to stay until I finished my course of antibiotics and/or my snot was no longer green.

Day 2: Did little. Watched a few people check in. Ate some food. Saw some whales

Day 3: Ditto except had some conversations with other guests

Day 4: Took the bus up to the fort at Santa Theresa with a couple other people. Ate lunch (thanks for the sandwich James!). We walked about 3 km back to the Santa Theresa Park. It was gruelling. At about 6 km, I reached that point where you just don´t care anymore. My legs were on autopilot and so was my stomach. Then we reached the beach and watched the whales frolicking. It was great. I probably ate a cookie to celebrate. Anothr 2 km and we were home and starving. Fortunately, James had us over for a nice meal.

Day 5: Another short walk - probably another 5 km. What was I thinking?!? I decided that my feet were too sore but should just stretch my legs a little. So I decided to walk down to the lighthouse. Ooops. I walked down and then back. Much worse because the wind was sooo strong. But it was satisfying. More people have arrived at the hostel and we´re like one big happy family. Sinuses finally felt better. Yay!

Day 6: Oops. I went to Chuy. Ran into James on the way to the beach and he convinced me to go. I had a notebook and my ATM card. I guess that´s all you need in Chuy. It is a strange border town on the way to Brazil. What can you get here? Cheap havianas sandals. So I did. Also got a buffet lunch for about 5 bucks. Not the greatest deal ever but the rice and beans were delicious. Prices in markets are weird. Everythings in reals and pesos and sometimes even USD. One side of the main street has all the Uruguayan stuff - mate cups, leather goods. The other side has lots of grocery stores with havianas proudly displayed in the window. James had me and another guest over for dinner again. We had a lovely fish stew and then Gary, the australian fellow who has been absolutely everywhere, cooked a steak. I was officially stuffed and took my last antibiotic. Finally! Had some fun conversation with the guys. My favorite line of the night: "Prostitute or not, they´re still human being." Also, a Chuck Norris movie started playing on the TV. I kept sneaking glances at "The Hero and the Terror" and thought how Chuck Norris would not be please with how much I´ve been eating.

Day 7: Feet starting to get itchy but it´s so nice here. Seriously, go to Diablo Tranquilo hostel if you go to Uruguay. It´s worth the effort. Anyhoo, I got on the bus and went somewhere else. Until then!

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