Punta Del Xmas and VeryCrapolis

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On the 23rd of December we took a ferry from Buenos Aires (the Buquebus - pron. Bukkybus) to the capital city of the second-smallest country in South America, Montevideo.

The Ferry Crossing
Much the same as getting the ferry to France it was a smooth and relatively uneventful affair. The queue at immigration for passport stamps and suchlike could have been more smooth - these countries really do need to create some kind of mini-EU where nationals need only to show a passport - but anyway, we got through whilst noting that the population travelling with us probably had an average age of over 50, and that their attire and fashion sense was most distressing (bearing in mind that the residents of Buenos Aires are reputed to possess a certain ammount of chic).

Well, on board we (I) took advantage of the duty-free facilities and bought a few Christmas goodies for us; bottle of French Champagne, chocolates, bottle of Chilean wine and other assorted goodies came to a stagerringly cheap 90 Dollars US. Nice one, Terry.

Getting to Our Destination
On arrival at Montevideo there was a bit of a palaver as we collected our luggage airport-style from a far-too-small luggage conveyor (a-lá Quito), whilst the entire population of the ship sparked up their first cigarette for three hours. Some pasangers even managed to chain two (cigarettes) together. Lovely.
We picked up a free transfer put on by Buquebus which took us to the main bus station wherein we got out some cash from the hole in the wall (I had only a bare idea of the exchange rate and so only got about 20 Dollars - i think that´s worth about 50p these days no?).
Aaaaaanyway, we shall digress no more. Not for now anyway.

Welcome To Piriápolis
The bus we took eventually deposited us at the bus terminal in Piriápolis, before heading on to Punta del Este. We were within spitting distance of the Hotel Argentino and so decided to walk there. As there seemed no obvious quick way around the gigantic building we opted to test the security and try and find an open door at the back. Luckily the second door I tried opened no bother and we entered into the back of the entertainment areas where some people were playing table-tennis. We proceded past the swimming pools (very good) and noted a few small broken windows high up at the back of the building.
Sarah noted that this didn´t bode well but I ignored the remark, thinking that it must be very hard to maintain all the windows unbroken on a building this size (imagine the Brighton Grand but a bit bigger and not as Grand).
Once inside we were met and shown to our room by a bellboy (who omitted to carry the heavy bags).

The Crappest Room In The World, Ever
So, as we walked down a massive (and obviously once-Grand) corridor we noticed peeling paint on the doorframes - not the best sign.
The bellboy opened the door and we were confronted with our Superior-class room - no view to speak of), no bath, wallpaper peeling off the walls, and a bed that was, quite frankly, awful. I need not go further for it is hurting my brain to think about it.
We asked the bellboy (in Spanish), "This is a Superior room, no?", and he explained that the reason it was superior is because it had a fridge and a television.
I´m sure at this point that we both wondered what a "standard" room was like.

Long Story Short
Long story short, I upgraded us to a "super-superior room" (only 6 dollars more per night) which was not half bad - but only for the night.
We spent the evening taking a bus to Punta Del Este (after exhausting the other options in town - the Best Hotel in Town was also less-than-par). When we got there we hopped in a taxi and asked the driver to "take us to a good hotel that costs less than 200 Dollars a night". A broad remit, I know, but one that worked nonetheless - giving the taxi-driver a good idea that we wanted something nice seemed to work as he showed us 3 places located right on a very nice beach.
One didn´t have any rooms, one was nice (and did), but we thought we´d see the 3rd - and that was the one we settled for in the end. 60 Dollars a night (the Argentino was 116) and far superior in every way imaginable.
It was pretty late by this stage and there were no more buses, so the taxi driver earned himself a 1000 peso Christmas bonus driving us the 20 miles back to VeryCrapolis (sorry, I mean Piriápolis). By the way, 1000 pesos is about 20 Pounds, so not too bad value-wise.
Happy in the knowledge that we would not have to sleep another there, we slept the night in the Argentino, taking a morning bus to Punta del Este and settling in to our new, good, hotel.

Christmas Eve 2004
After settling in, we went for a bit of sun by the pool until it clouded over a little. Sarah needed to get her legs waxed and so we walked to the mall about 1km away, passing by the beach.
We later went into the downtown area (asking a cabbie to take us to a good Locutorio, or call centre) and we called our parents and made them the first ones to know of our engagement.
That evening (after the fierce rainstorm) we returned to the hotel and joined in with the festivities of Xmas Eve in the hotel´s restaurant area. Sarah would probably describe it better, but it was much like a wedding reception with the buffet dinner and cheesy music and all the oldies dancing. We had a really good time and ate way too much and drank a little too much too.

Christmas Day 2004 - Happy Birthday, Jesus
We opened our presents (I got a compass-thermometer, a box of chocolates and a t-shirt, Sarah got a travel hairdryer, a bottle of her favorite perfume, and a leather passport holder), Sarah went to Mass at the local church and I went to the beach (a more popular local religious activity).
It went cloudy after a couple of hours so we both returned from the beach to the hotel and had lunch and a game of chess.
Later we went back to the really good value Locutorio (12 Pesos - 25p per minute) and I called Richard who has agreed to be my best man. Later on we went back to the hotel and chilled out a little - we saw Anger Management (Jack Nicholson and Adam Sandler) which we both thought was very good.
That night we went into town again and had a fantastic meal in the restaurant "Lo de Tere" - all the trimmings, 3 courses etc. 40 Quid. And this was probably the best restaurant I have ever been in, service-wise. We also chatted to an educated American family while there, which was nice - I think all the intelligent ones are out of the country, seriously.

The Rest of Our Xmas Break
We mainly chilled out on the beach and spent less money by checking into a perfectly nice hostal.

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