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Published: March 15th 2006
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Punta del Este
The beach of all beaches! Well my million mile bus marathon (estimate of course) finally ended yesterday, and another one is about to begin. As you may have read already on Jordans blog we leave tonight on a 36 hour bus ride to the bottom of the world. Jacky will be pleased when I find penguins (at least hope to).
I had a bit of a wild, yet disgusting ride into Argentina, leaving Porto Allegre on Monday night, crossing the border into Uruguay around 5am, spending about an hour in Punta del Este, continuing onto Montevideo, then taking a bus up to Colonia finally jumping on board a ferry to Argentina. I broke any previous records I might have held by visiting three countries in one day (Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina). That really is not the whole story though because originally, I left Rio on Saturday and it was not until today I actually slept in a bed (even though we opted not to sleep in honour of our last night with Gav) and had been living like a refugee in various bus stations across Brazil. My personal hygiene was easily at an all time low. Recreation involved push ups in the hidden janitor hallways
Uruguay
Uruguay! of the bus stations, heat lamp food and bathing with baby wipes.
I want to talk a little bit about Uruguay, I had no real desire to visit this country, at least all the research and reading I did in my guide book and talking to fellow travellers amounted to a general consensus that it could easily be passed over without regret. However, in September 2002 I met a man named Pablo Griscti and everything changed. Pablo was a fellow BCIT brother and came from Uruguay. When we got to know each other a little better and I asked him why he came to Canada instead of living his days in Uruguay and he said it was because Uruguay was quite simply, boring. I thought this silly indeed and brought it on myself to prove him wrong. Prove him right I did. I spent an entire day in Uruguay, which of course is not saying much, but did manage to see quite a few sights. Uruguay is small, it is entirely covered in grass, there are cows, some streets and a beach. I was not able to see waves at the beach. The hot shot Malibu of Uruguay is
Cristo?
Uruguay version of Cristo? Punta del Este and it was completely deserted. Pablo, I love your home country (in fact I realize now I am somewhat obsessed with it) but I do not plan to return. I compare it to Oregon really, except less exciting?
When I arrived in Montevideo the rain began, so instead of sightseeing I jumped on a boat to Argentina, arriving via ferry to the Buenos Aires suberb of Tigre. From there I took a bus downtown and found the hostel Jordan, Ryan and Gavin were staying at. They were not there. Well, later I found out they were there, but just laying around their room which I could not access without fingerprint identification. I stayed at a hostel next door, yet hung around their hostel for hours waiting for them, all the while not knowing they simply napped and cuddled up in their dorm room (cuddle reference specifically added to the blog for Steve).
I finally found them around 1am playing pool, and we headed out for the night. Odd yes, you begin your evening on the town at 1am typically starting with dinner. We found a bar and tossed a couple back until around 5am, then
Need shower...
Painfully awaiting a night where I can sleep in an actual bed... living in bus stations for so many days takes its toll... retired to the hostel where we closed their bar. We managed to get a few more beers at my hostel until they cut us off in order to serve breakfast at 8am. The card game continued and I owe everyone a meal and a round of beers. Damn.
By 10am we headed on the metro to buy our bus tickets south, and then prepared to get some food, avoiding sleep altogether in anticipation of our 36 hour bus ride. Then there were failures, I returned to their hostel only to find Gav and Ryan sleeping like little angels while Jord was out writing his blog. Sad how the weak fall. Ryan mumbled something about "proving it" so I took photos, really just for Randy since he would approve of the entire endeavor.
In all seriousness though, it has been a real pleasure to see Gav and his lengthy voyage from home, and then from Rio to Buenos Aires, with only one night to spend with him has been heaps of fun, very happy to see him come join us down in South America.
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Gav
non-member comment
HA!
Ha, left out the part where you passed out for 3-4 hours after lunch Jas. Overall though mad props to Jord for not sleeping at all!