The Perfect Disaster

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The long and winding road to Rosario didnt quite lead us to what we were promised. Our first bus arrived over an hour late. Im actually convinced that the bus left without us and they had to put a replacement one in service to take us. We were the only two people on the bus, the bus was cold, dark and had no onboard entertainment. It was a miserable 7 hours or so. And just as we had resigned ourselves to not being fed and were half asleep, we were kicked off the bus and on to another one, despite being told our bus was direct to Rosario. The next bus was slightly better, they had music on and we got fed. However, when hes just not that into you came on the volume was so low we couldnt hear, so i asked the lady to turn up the volume, what a mistake. After 15 minutes of her stopping and starting the film she finally managed to find the volume but then came back down and went into the options and turned the language to spanish with no english subtitles. we are convinced she done this to spite us. So we went to sleep in a bad mood, got woken up all night while stopping at random places and then reality hit us full in the face, this random place was our stop. Now we had pictured Rosario to be a beautiful city on the river with nice parks etc. What we found was the worst bus stop in the world, the place was littered with trash, the locals checked you out walking throught he terminal as if they were going to mug you when you got outside and it was freezing cold. Now im sure Rosario actually has a nice side, but after stepping out of the doors we decided it was safer to return to Buenos Aires. So all in all we spent 90 minutes in Rosario. Maybe this was due to the fact we had just come from the most beautiful place in Iguazu falls, and maybe we didnt give Rosario a fiar shot, but boy we dont regret it.

Once back in BA we booked a hostel online and set off to try find it. Once there we were told it was fully booked and we would have to stay somewhere else. So off we went to the infamous Milhouse hostel, the party hostel of BA. This place really was an eye opener. our first night we went back to the all yuo can eat and got back to hostel at around 1am just to find that our room mates were just getting up and getting ready to go out. Its a crazy culture where nothing really happens until 3am and then you party until around 6am, come back and sleep all day. as you may well have guessed, we didnt partake in this. partying that late really isnt our scene.

On Sunday we went and explored San Telmos market. They close off a whole street and all the market people come out and set up their stalls. It was so busy, but much to my surprise, very safe. Mike over indulged himself in bag shopping, but in all fairness he bought two bags for the price of a big mac. well, almost. On the way back to the hostel we went into the famous cafe tortoni, the oldest cafe in BA. I had the most amazing hot chocolate there, reminded me of being back in paris where the hot chocolate was out of this world. the cafe was full up and they dont let you through the front door until there is a table for you. at first we thought the guy was refusing to let us in as we looked, well i looked, like a total tramp. but the doorman did apologise and it was worth the wait. inside was a mixture of elderly ladies out for afternoon tea and tourists busy snapping with their cameras. it was nice to sit thereand see all the waiters in full smart uniform and providing proper service to the customers. We need one of these places back home. in the evening i thought it would be a good idea to play a game of pool. all i can say is my mum can play better than mike, he was dreadful. it took me 3 games to realise that he plays left handed when he is actually right handed, no wonder he was so bad. he has the hand eye coordination of a 2 year old, no actually, ben would even beat mike at pool. Sorry Mike.

On Tuesday we got the Buque bus, which is a ferry, to Colonia in Uruguay. We arrived at around lunch time with no local currency, nowhere to stay and no idea where we were as we found no maps. Saved by an internet cafe we found our way to a hostel a few blocks away from the port. The hostel was quite nice, as it was raining and bloody freezing when we hit Uruguay they had a log fire lit that never went out while we were there. Boy it was cold in the evenings.

Colonia was the most perfect of towns. Colonia del Sacramento was an old town which was involved in a war between the Spanish and the French. The outskirts of the old town still has parts of the original fort wall with canons sat on top. The streets were all made of really big cobbles that just seemed to have been dropped, not laid. There were old cars along the side of the roads that had been turned into large flower pots. All the streets were tree lined and the houses really picturesque. The pace of life was really relaxing and slow, no one seemed to be in a rush, there were no traffic lights on the roads and not one person beebing their horn in frustration. it was a piece of heaven after being in BA.

Our first night there we met a couple of Canadians, who can only be named as Princess Skye and Beeraholic Tammie. Now Tammie can drink 36 cans of beer in a day, she regularly sank 6 litres of beer a day while in Colonia, i think her blood has turned to beer. I have never seen anyones eyes light up so much over a litre bottle of Stella. She is one girl not to enter a drinking competition with. What can i say about Princess Skye.....she certainly knows how to get what she wants. Confident, driven, intelligent, she has this mystical persona about her that makes people melt and give in to her. They were both really cool so we spent the majority of our time with them. In fact we spent all of our time with them. On Wednesday we went and explored the old part of town, wandered the streets, climbed the light house, grabbed some lunch etc. Then some how we managed to lose Mike and Tammie. Now this wasnt a good thing as neither of them had a very good sense of direction. we decided not to sent out a search party and went to the beach for the afternoon to sun bathe, clearly we were really worried about them. turns out the had found a cafe and were having cake, so rude not to invite us. in the evening we went to our local shop, got some bottles of beer and wine and went and watched the most amazing sunset over the ocean while sitting on the rocks. it was really magical. just a shame it got so cold after the sun had set.

We spent most evenings in the hostel cooking and getting drunk. the hostel rules stated that you were not allowed to bring your own alcohol onto the premises, so we done it like a bunch of teenagers by smuggling it past the front desk. over the course of our stay we managed to pretty much upset everyone in the hostel. not sure why, maybe it was because we took over the place, but they were very glad to see the back of us.

On Friday Mike went back to BA so he could get his flight home. I think he had a really good two weeks. He visited 3 different countires, saw the most amazing natural wonders, met some fantastic people and will have some memories he will never forget. I just hope he doesnt need councelling to recover, sorry buddy.

I felt really guilty for staying in Uruguay while mike went back to BA on his own, but he assured me it was fine. He had big shopping plans for friday night to collate a winter wardrobe. so here i am, in Punta del Diablo in Uruguay, having the time of my life, with two awesome Canadians. Will be a sad day when we go different directions next week.

For the first time watching the sun set it dawned on me just what i am doing. previously i thought i would be going home soon as my holiday is coming to an end, but in reality it was only just begginning. I have been gone for less than 4 weeks and i already feel like such a different person. i have experienced so many different things and met so many amazing people in such a short time, this is going to be a life changing trip. i hope it never ends. i feel so relaxed, so chilled, i have no worries, i am in no rush, i am in heaven.

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