Oh I do like to be beside the seaside.....

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Hola Amigos!
We experienced the easiest immigration ever, as it happened in our sleep! We arrived in Punta del Este at 7am and having walked around, soon accepted that this wasn´t the place for us. With every designer shop displaying the credit card acceptance sign and plush hotels that were clearly not geared towards us travellers, we got a bus to the next town along, to get us on another bus later that day. A lot of waiting around in parks and reading, but we finally got a bus to Punta del Diablo. This was the antithesis of Punta del Este, being a cluster of cabañas and shop shacks leading down to the sea. It was truly wild and a breath of very fresh air. We wandered aimlessly, eventually asking to see some of the available cabañas. We were shown someone´s shed, I´m sure, complete with surfboards for beds and not a light bulb, sink or spider-free corner. But then we happened upon what was to be our home for the next week. A cute little place with kitchen, dining room and upstairs to 2 bedrooms. Yes, we had our own rooms!! It was so cute and the lady was super friendly. Well, I say she was, but she could´ve been mad or talking in riddles for all my lack of Spanish understanding, but I loved it. The best feature was the little balcony that led from the back and revealed the sea behind a few houses. I went to bed every night, listening to the sound of the waves and that indeed was how I woke up too. Brilliant. We had the longest stretch of beach just a few minutes´walk away and more or less to ourselves. The waves were quite harsh still, plunging something fierce. Evenings were spent having walked down to the little harbour of boats and walking across the rocks to watch the sunset. Then the best part...a cup of tea!! So excited and so sad I know. With a tv too, we were able to watch films. How comfy is that?
Couldn´t believe that December crept up on us while we were there. One day we went walking along the coast, very similar to Rockham and we watched a sea lion swimming around the rocks. It looked too big and shiny for a seal, but who knows. I got carried away with this marine life and one morning thought there were two swimming along from the balcony view. I cleared my blurry eyes to see they were in fact surfers. Surfing the equivalent of Down End, into the rocks, in a very English looking sea (cold) so not something I was keen to try.

It was sad to leave our humble abode, but onwards we went, saying goodbye to our lady who had been living next door in the tiniest place imaginable. I´m not sure that we weren´t in her house that she must rent out. She did go away for a couple of days whilst we were there, probably to go to the toilet and have a shower....!
Our next destination was just along the coast (sensing a theme here?) at La Paloma. We´d heard this place was quiet, but man, I practically hopped over a tumbleweed. It was looking a little desperate too, as to where we were going to stay. None of the cabañas were yet open, as January is the main holiday period and the hotels looked a bit pricey.
Obviously looking lost, a man helped us out and guided us towards some little white cottages with thatched cat slip roofs in the forest. We struck lucky and found ourselves a really sweet little place amongst the pine trees, a simple room but with a bit of a kitchen and a fireplace!! We had a little patio bit leading to an outdoor bbq that had it´s own stock of wood, just waiting to be burned. Dad, you would´ve been impressed, as there was a sink and it had its own thatched roof. Brilliant.
One night, we decided to have a fire inside and we even embarked upon roasting some sweet potatoes in it. Very yummy and we left it burning for the evening without burning the place down, most impressive for us! Here we just lazed on the beach, walked the pier and played with the dogs in the woods, all very chilled out. Also tried desperately to master the art of Poi, as there was no one around. Poi being those balls on strings that you twirl about with and once we get good enough, get ones you can set alight to!!! Can't wait for that!

Onwards to Montevideo, the first place to really notice how Christmassy everything has become. Negotiated our way through various hostels until my leg/foot could take it no longer (yes, I'm still hobbling), I was close to cutting it off and using it as a crutch. We ended up at a Hotel Windsor, where our room resembled a set from a cheap theatre production. The ceiling was so high, with billowing curtains on patio style doors and a mirror that had a painted frame on the wall. Once outside, I had underestimated the temperature, it was so windy and cold, we had to shelter in a bizarre old-fashioned cafe drinking coffee to keep warm. Now I know why so many people carry a flask and cup of mate with them - the tea equivalent, except that green leaves are brewed in a dried gourd or more extravagant cow's feet cups (ugh) and sipped through a metal pipe/straw that filters the green leaves, so that a pile are clearly visable. People even sport a special wooden case to carry this tea/mate making equipment around with them and so often do I have to watch my step of green leaf debris scattered on the pavement...I thought it was us English that loved a cuppa?
We decided to explore the city and caught a bus, unfortunately to the wrong place, so we bus-hopped around until we reached a zoo and moreimportantly a Planetarium. Unfortunately the Planetarium wasn't open, but the zoo was, so we moseyed our way around it and may I say, if Coca-Cola knew what they've been sponsering there, why on earth don't they plunge more money into it, perhaps to be able to swing a cat in one of their tiny cages, or pull out and save their embarressment. Not impressed.
Back at our hotel, we thought we're the only ones staying there, as our keys were always there waiting for us. The guys that run the place were super friendly, one being a young wannabe rock star, the other could have a bit-part in ´the Sopranos´, but they tended to keep out the back in what I thought resembled a smoky betting room. This seemed to have been the cause for distraction, as when we returned to our room, a leaky ceiling was dripping through to our bathroom. As my only useful phrase in Spanish, I was able to brave the betting smog so that 10 pairs of eyes were fixed on me, as I probably said the roof had wet itself in my bathroom, but the gist was understood.

Sadly Sarah wasn't feeling very well for one day, so I was left to my own devices all day. This is always a danger as most often I get acquainted with the freakiest of people. I was actually very cultural and visited museums and art galleries. I even went in this big old building that looked interesting, but I think there was a conference going on. I didn't really understand what the guy was saying and asked if I could just look around, mainly to shelter from the blasted rain. Inside was a little boring I must admit, very Naval and Nautical memoribilia, but as I wandered, I think the function was about to begin as I came across a seated room, with a white board and I could hear the clinking of cups and saucers as people were being registered in....time to move on. Having checked on Sarah, I left her alone and headed to the park as it stopped raining. I was sitting on a bench, looking homeless as usual, when a man came and sat next to me. Within minutes I learnt all about his family roots, his surname coming from Italy or France, to the problems there are with the contaminated waters of Uruguay, due to the high demands of paper production...mmm..interesting. I declined his offer of going for a drink as I made my excuses and headed to the sea. Luckily once back, Sarah was feeling better and so we took a walk to the old town, where the buildings are gorgeous, quite European, though dotted with palm trees in between and with the back drop of the bluest sky, it seemed impossible that it had been raining just hours earlier.

Next stop: Colonia de Sacremento. Such a quaint little town, though not so many places to stay. We tried knocking at a house that was supposed to have rooms, but got no reply and hoped we hadn't been knocking just at a random house, so wandered the cobbled streets and almost gave in to the ovepriced Youth Hostel. Luckily we tried the house once more ( I can bellow quite loud if needs be) and we conversed through an intercom, only to be told there was no room (How Mary and Joseph?). Some guys across the road indicated us to someone above and then we got a hollar from the intercom, that actually yes, there was a room. Not sure what this was going to be, we were greeted by an old unshaven dishevelled guy wearing a white string vest and shorts that were painted splattered with remnants of perhaps bird poo in his hair. He was smiley and friendly and opened the door to a really sweet room, ideal for us, even with a t.v, fridge and gas burner, for those essential cups of tea. All a little aged, but dandy.
We spent the afternoon perusing the neat streets of painted houses and little gift shops, with the most daytrippers we'd seen to date. It's one of those places you can sit on the rocks and look out to sea for ages, watching the sunset. Our evening felt very reminiscent of Uni days, watching endless episodes of ´Friends´ with a cup of tea and overdosing on dulce de leche biscuits (aka, the sweet goopy stuff). It's quite amazing though, what we can concoct for dinner, using merely a Swiss Army knife, plastic bag and empty bottle....Delia eat your heart out.
Unfortunately we experienced yet another leaking ceiling dripping into our bathroom, a common theme I'm hoping not. But with my trusty phrase I managed to get a small child to understand me who got his Mum, who then got the owners and having rounded up the whole family, we managed to get the situation sorted and source the incident to a major spillage from upstairs. Spanish Comedy at it's best.

On leaving our room the next morning, we found we were locked in. We literally couldn't unlock the door. Sarah then remembered the conversation with the old Señor, saying something about not locking the door at night, but we presumed that meant the outside one that led to the street. No. Luckily, we had a window that opened onto the street, so having waited for our old Señor to go back inside as he'd been talking for ages, I had to climb up and over the railings and jump down to unlock it from the front. Never easy is it?!
We enjoyed a couple of beach days and before we knew it it was our last day of Uruguay and onto Argentina........

I apologise now for this distinctly boring account and with no photos I'm aware it sucks, but I'll try putting photos on whenever I can and hope my experiences become somewhat more entertaining!
Hasta luego xxxx

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Photos

Salty
Our adopted dog whilst at Diablo

La Paloma
Our BBQ area, ready for BBQ-d pizza?!

Mermaid moi
My only chance of being a mermaid and living by a light house...so sad...

Colonia de Sacramento
The pretty streets of this small town were picturesque from every corner.

Montevideo
The architecture around this city was rather impressive