The Modest Shore of La Plata

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Hola,

We left Buenos Aires in the morning on board one of the Buquebus catamarans across La Plata to Montevideo. The boat went ridiculously quickly and it only took us 3 hors to get there. We arrived in Montevideo and then wandered from the port to our hostel in 30 degree sun, something that was not the smartest decision that we have made so far.

We checked into El Viajero Ciudad Vieja and the room they had us in was a 6 bed dorm that was so small and so hot that it felt like a sauna. Fortunatly, there was space available in another dorm so we moved into it. After we got settled, we went for a wander around Montevideo. The city is somewhat like Buenos Aires in the sense that it has many historical buildings with pretty facades, but it is a lot smaller in size, thus making it more manageable to wander around. We walked along the pedestrianized area, past the original city gate to Plaza Independencia. On the square is the Palacio Salvo, which used to be the talled building in South America. From there, we continued along the main drag, past some beautiful Art Nouveau buildings to the Plaza Cachanga where, according to Lonely Planet and the map from our hostel, the Canadian Embassy was supposed to be. It had since moved, so we headed back through town to Plaza Independencia, where we had seen a large Canadian flag flying from a building, but had not really put two and two together. Of course, it was closed to we headed to the Mausoleo Artigas. Artigas was one of the early heroes of Uruguayan independence and his ashes are contained within an urn that is in an extremely darm mausoleum underneath Plaza Independencia. It was not like Lenin or Mao, but it was still interesting to see. We then wandered past the beautiful Teatro Solis before walking along the promendae by the waterfront. The next day we went to the beach. Playa Pocitos is a lovely crescent of golden sand on La Plata. It was fun lounging on the beach but Peter, despite putting sunscreen on, still managed to get sunburned. He blames the English blood in him. After that, we wandered around the new part of town and saw many beautiful houses. No wonder so many expats want to live in the city!

The next morning, we checked out of the hostel and, after one of the more manic taxi rides so far in South America, where we were seriously considering using our Antarctica jackets as air-bags, we arrived at the light, airy and beautifully modern Carrasco airport where we would catch our plane to Brazil.

Bye for now,
Valerie and Peter

Things we Learned in Montevideo.
-People are much more laid back than in Buenos Aires
-Things are finally cheaper somewhere than what Lonely Planet says
-In one women's clothing store, there were 5 "guy seats", where guys could sit while their significant others were trying on clothes. They were all full!!!

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