Survivor: URUGUAY

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¡¡¡Hola!!!

If there is any blog that is going to be the most...interesting....of the blogs from my travels in South America, it is going to be this one! So get excited and read on:

Okay, last I left off I was still in Buenos Aires and had just gotten back from a tango show where Ashley had fallen asleep at the show 😊 That night Matt had to leave us so the next day it was just Ashley and me on our own. We ended up spending most of the day with this guy named Jay from Florida, so that was fun. We got back from going to Palermo (a neighborhood of Buenos Aires) around 7:30 at night. Well, Jay's friends that he was traveling with were leaving at 8 that night to catch a bus to Iguazu, but he was hungry and thought he could eat really quickly with us and make it back in time. Well, we got back from eating at 8:10 and his friends had left him!! So he takes a taxi to the bus station hoping he can find his friends who have his ticket! Well, 2 hours later poor Jay shows up again saying he missed his bus. Ashley and I felt so bad, but I guess it was his own fault! So we went out to a bar with him that night to celebrate both our last nights in Buenos Aires.

Next day: Thursday. We take THE MOST HORRIBLE boat trip of my life across the bay to Montevideo. It was soo soo rocky, and Ashley and I were sitting right next to the bathroom on board, so of course there were people constantly going by us throwing up. Ashley joined them as well, haha. Luckily for me I don't get motion sickness. Upon arriving in Montevideo, we walked around the city that night then went with the hostel that night to CARNAVAL!! OMG, it was soo much fun! We got to go up on top of this roof, so we had great views of the parade that was going by. Basically the parade was all these different drummer groups walking by with tons of people in exotic costumes and dancing and all. It was quite an experience. That night we went out in Montevideo with some friends we had met at the hostel.

Friday: This day began what Ashley and I like to call "survivor: Uruguay." We didn´t even leave the hostel this morning until 1:30 pm because we were trying to book all our future hostels and buses through the hostel. Anyway, so we start walking around the city and by the water to see what we had missed the day before. Well, it´s probably about 3ish or so in the afternoon, and Ashley and I are walking down a street with plenty of people on it. I have my backpack with my guidebook to South America and a water bottle inside, my money belt on me, and my camera strapped to the side of my body. Well, this guy, probably about 17 years old or so, grabs my camera and yells "dejame la camera" meaning "give me your camera." The camera is strapped to my body, so I´m not about to just take it off and give it to him, so I yell back "no!" Then begins this crazy struggle on the sidewalk. Ashley is yelling behind me for him to let go of me, but all the other people on the street are just standing there. This kid is grabbing onto my camera and I´m holding onto it for dear life too. He is able to rip one of the straps off, but I´m still holding on tight. Then, he throws me onto the concrete in the middle of the street. We were still stuggling for this camera on the ground in the middle of the street, and finally he is able to rip off the other strap, grabs the camera, and runs off down the street and around the corner. I am so mad and frustratred at this point because NO ONE HELPED ME and all I really needed was an extra person to kick him or something because we were struggling between the two of us for awhile. So I start walking off after him when Ashley yells for me to stop. She talked some sense into me because what am I going to do to get this camera back from this kid? For all I know, he could pull out a knife or gun on me. So we start walking up the street looking for police and I just break down and start crying. I´m crying all the way until we get to the police station just because I felt stupid for letting my camera get stolen and just the whole incident scared me! So after this we filled out a police report in Spanish, but I really didn't think I would ever see my camera again. Because of this, there are no pictures attached to this blog...

That night we went back out to Carnaval on our own for the second night of the parade. We were on the street and this kid about 12 years old just kept staring at me. It was starting to freak me out because at this point, I was really paranoid that he was going to try to rob me or something! So after about an hour or so of him just staring dead on at me, he pokes me in the arm and runs away....very strange. Then these really drunk guys come up to Ashley and start saying they want to kiss her, so we were both getting really scared so we left the parade and went back to our hostel!

Next morning: Saturday. We were scheduled to take a 10 a.m. bus to Punta del Este, which is a really nice beach in Uruguay. The bus station was 20 minutes away and we still didn´t have our tickets (just vouchers) so we were going to leave around 9 or so. Well, 9:15 I wake up... our alarm hadn´t gone off! We scrambled out the door and actually made it in time to catch the bus! The bus dropped us off in the city center of Punta del Este, and from there we had to try to figure out how to get to our hostel which ended up being a 30 minute bus ride away! The bus didn´t know where to drop us off though, so we ended up having to walk a good way down the road with our giant red suitcases, haha!

That afternoon was spent on the beach. The waves were HUGE so I wanted to go out and ride them. On the way out there, I felt a sting on my arm and looked down in the water and there was definitely a jellyfish in the water! It was only a small sting, so I kept going out to ride the waves. Well, they were so big that when I caught one, it definitely slammed me in the sand, made my bathing suit top fall off, and cut up my back pretty badly! (bleeding) I get out of the water, and everyone is looking into the water. So Ashley and I look out too, and there is definitely a shark swimming around in the water! Thank God I got out when I did! (especially with my back the way it was...)

Then I start feeling really sick....so sick that I can´t eat anything else and, yeah, I got diarrhea... We went back to the hostel and I realized I don´t have enough money in cash to pay for the hostel that night. Well, the nearest ATM is a good 2 miles down the road....so Ashley and I trek down there and back. She´s too good of a friend to me!

That´s the end of the Survivor: Uruguay stories, a pretty interesting 24 hours to say the least... the next day, we went to the beach at Punta del Este (in town) and took a bus last night to Punta del Diablo (where I am now). This afternoon was spent on the beach here. It is relatively secluded, especially compared to Punta del Este, so Ashley and I decided to go topless on the beach here to relive the Tarifa days in Spain! The only difference between then and this time was that this wasn´t a topless beach, and even though there weren't that many people on the beach, there were still people walking by none the less! Ashley and I were cracking up the whole time! Then we decided to go skinny dipping in the water. So we walked out there without tops but with our bottoms still on and then took them off once in the water. Well, the waves were pretty strong here too, so much so that Ashley was getting wiped out and the lifeguard had to run over and yell at us to get out! So we had to go talk to him and tell him we were okay without our tops on!! We were definitely laughing at that one for the rest of the afternoon!

Tomorrow begins our crazy trek back to Santiago...we are taking a bus tomorrow morning from Punta del Diablo to Montevideo, then Montevideo to Cordoba. Once in Cordoba on Wednesday, we are going to either take a bus that day back to Santiago or stay that night in Cordoba. We want to go to a beach called Viña del Mar (about 2 hours outside of Santiago) on Thursday, and we leave to come home on Friday. This might be my last blog before returning home, so I hope you have enjoyed the stories!!

Even with all the craziness that has happened to us over these past few weeks, I still am having a fabulous time, no camera, bleeding back with a shark, diarhea and all 😊

Still alive and loving life,
Laura

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