Uruguay from Colonia to Punta

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Hola amigos!

Firstly, we are no where near the earthquake in Peru and are both safe and sound in sunny Brazil.

Sorry its been a while since our last contact. Our blog site had a massive meltdown and we lost pretty much all our entries. Since then we have been trying to find the time and patience to update it again and try to recover lost work.

We have been quite stressed out lately, the amazing beaches in Brazil have been calling our names every day and our decision making skills have been tested to the limits - should we listen to some music on the beach today or read a book? Shall we take a dip in the water right out the front of our hostel, or walk through the amazing jungle to that secluded bay 10 minutes away! As you can imagine, its been hard to spend too long in front of a computer at this current time!

However, you will now find a few entries detailing the current escapades of Quest1127!

From Buenos Aires we ferried over to Colonia Del Sacramento in Uruguay. We did have a blog entry on this gorgeous historical little town so hopefully you read it. We hired some bikes there, rode around the coast, explored the tiny cobbled streets and made comparisons to the countries of Spain and Portugal who both had a hand in shaping the town in the past. I got a bit snap happy here because all the old buildings were beautiful and the town emanated such character.

From Colonia, we headed to the capital, Montevideo, which we childishly renamed, Monty Potato. Here we walked the streets like the tramps we are, and got to see several live bands which rocked our worlds. One reminded us of a Uruguayian cross between Cog and Pink Floyd (those of you who know your shit will appreciate the joy of such an experience!) and they were followed by a band of young 16 year old boys, complete with parents in the front row, playing covers including Smells Like Teen Spirit and Rape Me by Nirvana. We were tipsy enough on long necks of local beer to even have a bit of a boogie on this night.

Next it was on to Punta Del Este, a fancy resort town on the coast just east of Montevideo. Sarah and I fell in love with this gorgeous town and anyone who enjoys fresh local seafood, a crisp delicious sauvignon blanc and sunsets over the ocean should start brimming with jealousy right now. We enjoyed the most amazing seafood plate on arrival in Punta, prawns, fish, squid and mussels all delicately battered and washed down with some incredible white wine. We sat and savoured this financial splash out for as long as we could! Also while in Punta, we took a massive walk around the peninsula, stopping to chat to many seals, both huge and tiny, watch the local fisherman bring in their catch, snack on delicious custard danish pastires, read books on the beach and basically soak up the most sunshine we had received thus far on the trip.

We were also in Punta Del Este on the 29th of the month which is always Gnocchi Day or Dia del Noquis. History books tell us that in Uruguay people were always paid at the very end or very start of the month so by the 29th most had ran out of cash - so all they could afford to eat was potato dumplings. To this day they still celebrate this cultural chow down and many restaurants who dont even serve gnocchi normally will whip up a batch on the 29th. We found one such restaurant in Punta and enjoyed some of the creamiest, softest, yummiest gnocchi weve ever had!

It was sunny and lovely each day we spent in Punta Del Este but the nights were still really cold. In fact, all of Uruguay was bloody freezing at night! Despite its climatic downfalls, however, we thoroughly enjoyed our adventures in Uruguay and can highly recommend it as a travel destination.

2 pages of pictures now added. Enjoy!

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Photos

So much art in Colonia, many artists live there
Did Nick Morrison paint this....???