chillin in cabo.

punta del este.. four days of wonderment. long days with the sun up until 9:30.. walking around the seawall.. coffees.. our charming tourguide slash landlord, rodriguez.. suppers at midnight.. bottles of uruguay vino.. sandy beaches.. cliff jumping.. we did it up right, saying goodbye was hard to do..

we took the bus from punta del este up to cabo polonia after tons of recommendations from rodriguez and his friends.. it's a small village of about 70 people, a couple hours bus ride from punta del este. there are no roads, and therefore no vehicles, so we got dropped off on the side of the highway and then had to wait for these massive 4x4 trucks with welded seats to pack us in and drive the half hour through sand dunes and beach.. little ranchos spot the horizon until you reach the little town of cabo polonia.. there is very little electricity, one of the few generators is used to power this beautiful brick lighthouse at the edge of the rocks.. at night, it is the only beacon of light aside from flickering candles and the stars..

our first day there, danelle and i met several interesting characters.. all in a good way, i assure you. one man serenaded us on his porch with a guitar.. and then recommended his friends hostel for the night.. so off we went to met 'ajo' (a-ho), which means 'garlic'.. he had only two beds available, but said that if we wanted them, he'd only charge us for the two. so, we essentially slept four people, in a closet, with a triple bunk bed.. santiago, who was sleeping in the middle bunk, was a hilarious little guy from buenos aires.. the next day we decided to look around for a ranchos (small houses for rent), so santiago joined us and everyone became quick friends. we got an adorable little white house.. no electricity.. our own little well out back where we hauled our water.. a bucket with holes to shower outside.. a loft for sleeping.. perfection.

we spent a lot of time on the beach and walking around the peninsula.. saw lots of sea lions sunbathing on the rocks.. lots of bonfires at night with guitars and bongos and singing.. just the cutest little hippy town ever. on the bus ride in we made friends with javier, whom we called 'jay' (we kill pronunciation..) so we met up with his friends a few times.. it's a place you could go to and get stuck indefinitely.. (un)fortunately, we neglected to foreshadow the lack of atm's, and stayed for 3 days..

so here i write to you from montevideo.. we bused in last night after saying goodbye to our new friends, and are now researching different routes up to iguazu falls. uruguay has been phenomenal.. the vibes between the bustling city of buenos aires, and everywhere we've been here thus far, are incomparable..

punta del este.

on thursday we crossed the border into colonia del sacrmento, uruguay.. i have now offically visited 25 countries. our first afternoon there we headed straight for the beach after dropping our bags off at an adorable little hostel. we hadn't thought much about how long we were going to stay, but when attempting to book for a second night we were informed that there was a wedding at the hostel and no beds available.. so we wandered the streets and found another place around the corner that we moved to the next morning. that night we wandered around 'old town'.. gorgeous little heritage homes and candelit restaurants.. an old lighthouse and docks.. it reminded me a lot of luang prabang in laos, very beautiful, quiet, and inviting.

after switching hostels the next morning, we wanted to check out another part of the beach as the strip was about 5kms long. we attempted to rent a golf cart, because how much fun would it be cruising in a 6-seater golf cart? but nobody had a credit card on them and so we were denied. we ended up catching a taxi down to the end and spent a gorgeous day swimming and reading.. practising handstands and cartwheels with coach danelle.. loving life.

the fettes boys didn't reapply their sunscreen and were looking pretty toasty, so they decided to walk the beach and head back to the hostel. danelle, mike and i wandered around that part of town, saw the bull fighting stadium.. checked out a craft market.. then on the walk back, bought a quarter of a watermelon from a street vendor for 45 uruguay pesos, not quite $2.. ate our hearts out, and enjoyed the 5km walk.. reuniting with the brothers a few hours later, they looked like naked cooked lobsters with white shorts.. ouch.

attempting a spanish conversation with a girl in our dorm room, we found out that the next day colonia was celebrating carnaval. since we are so good at planning ahead and always know what's going on.. (there wasn't a single poster advertising for the party of the year!) we scrambled around town trying to find accomodation for one more night. no dice. [kind of like when stacy and i pointed to an unknown town on a map.. showing up in kiel, germany.. only to find out that it was the 'week of kiel'] so, we made the only plausible decision.. locked up our bags and pulled an all-nighter.

carnval was quite the experience.. the parade started at 9pm and continued until about 3:30 in the morning.. afterwards we wandered down to the beach, attempting to catch a few z's. after an hour of lying restlessly and getting eaten by mosquitoes, we went back into town and sat in a park. the streets were full of people celebrating until about 6 or 7am, we managed to rest up a bit, and after getting our bags from storage, headed to the bus station..

bused to montevideo, where we said goodbye to the fettes boys, and continued down the coast to punta del este to meet with danelle's friend, rodriguez.. we gave him a call and made plans to meet up in an hour at this huge statue on the beach. we got about 25 steps out of the bus station, and who drove by yelling danelle's name? ..rodriguez! met some of his friends and cooled off in the salty ocean. he owns a restaurant, and had to go to work, but we will meet up with him later tonight.. and his restaurant will also be our new home for the next day or two..

la nataciòn.

sunday morning we headed to san telmo to check out the antique markets. the streets were full of people on the lookout for deals.. sensory overload.. every now and then i'd stop and look up only to be amazed by the surrounding buildings and statues.. then quickly swallowed up again by the thousands of nick-nacks on display. we stopped for lunch and were caught in a tumultuous downpour.. made a mad dash for the apartment which made absolutely no difference as we were all soaked to the bone upon arrival. loved every single unfrozen rain drop.. spent the rest of the day dry and playing cards with our 6 peso brews..

monday our agenda was finding water. we have all been itching to swim.. found an outdoor pool in the lonely planet and took the metro over to the 'club de amigos'. turns out it's for members only and we were denied the right to dip our sweltering bodies into their watering hole. so much for living up to it's name.. so, we opted for a day of museums and art galleries.. all of which were closed.. feeling rather oppressed we went to check out the cemetery and see evita's grave. [kidding, it just happened to be close].. we entered through a gate in the large surrounding brick wall.. no grass, only cement and marble.. tall elaborate tombs and narrow gridded 'streets'.. an intricate city built for the dead..

yesterday we took the bus a few hours out of ba to san antonio de areco.. showed up at 2pm, during siesta.. absolutely everything was closed.. the streets deserted. felt like a ghost town.. so we spent the afternoon prowling for a swimming pool once again.. asked and received directions from a local, in spanish - a language that we barely speak and understand even less of.. we wearily walked a fair distance out of town, every step feeling more skeptical than the last.. then in the distance, the sounds of summer.. laughter, splashing.. a utopia of gazebos and picnics.. only to be denied access because our plan was to go in our underwear and apparently that doesn't fly with the public here.. foiled again.

our spirits slightly crushed, we headed back into town. planning to siesta in the shade of a park, we noticed a river. shallow and opaque, but a river none-the-less.. asked a man sitting in the shade whether we could swim, he assured us it was safe.. danelle and i waded, cooling our feet.. mike and john getting down to their underwear, and john even heading downstream to where some local kids were diving off a bridge. packing up refreshed and on the lookout for lunch, we passed a sign that caught our attention.. 'no swimming, contaminated water'.. all of a sudden, not so refreshed? and about 20 feet further, a local watering hole with families and picnics and a lifeguard on duty, no fee.. [i must add, however, that under further speculation, the same river water was pouring into said pool, so.. who knows]. no one's sick yet..?

today we are celebrating scott's day of birth. mike, danelle and i scampered out in the rain this morning to pick up some groceries.. we feasted like kings and are organizing our things to take the ferry tomorrow to uruguay.

sticky fingers.

after unintentionally playing real-life frogger through 8 lanes of traffic, we had a beautiful day walking around and checking out the sights. buenos aires is a vibrant city. i was surprised at the number of trees.. parks, shops, cafes.. it truly is the paris of south america. we went down to the government house.. crossed the canal and walked around a rather ritzy area and essentially out to the edge of the city. still a distance from the water, we came across a huge marsh area that looked so out of place with skyscrapers looming in the distance. felt a bit like we had made it to an abandoned civilization at the edge of the earth..

that night we discover that 1L bottles of beer are 6 pesos.. equivalent to $1.50. we decided to explore a bit of the town as it was a friday evening.. turned down a walking street close to our apartment and were almost immediately sucked into a crowd watching street performers. after a few minutes i noticed that danelle's bag was unzipped a little, so i told her i was going to close it because it looked too easy to slip a hand in. i was too late.. the damage was done, her wallet gone. we searched the crowd, both knowing the culprits were two ladies that had bumped into her while passing, but they were nowhere to be seen. went to the police station and filed a report, our feelings of adventure quickly diminishing. cash, credit card, debits.. and the only keys we had to the apartment. we cancelled her credit card, tried the landlord several times to no avail, and spent the night in a hotel down the street.

the next morning we woke and tried the landlord again after breakfast.. he said he'd drop off another key. we got into the apartment, cleaned up, and in much higher spirits decided to try our hand at the metro. we lunched and walked around the japanese gardens.. had a siesta in the park.. and returned home to find our security guard anxiously waiting.. a wallet in hand..

the police had found it ditched with andres' [landlord] card inside, so they called him, and returned it. the cash was long gone, but the credit card, debits, keys.. all intact. unreal. danelle and i were so excited when we saw that i think she all but kissed the security guard.. went out for a celebratory dinner before packing it in for the night.

today we are heading for the sunday markets.. tomorrow, swimming.. no word from martin unfortunately, but he left on vacation this morning so i can only imagine he's been busy. we are all happy and healthy.. ready to explore more of this wonderful city.

hola!

after spending 10 hours waiting in airports and 13 hours flying, here we are. buenos aires. population 13 million.. a cement hub in the middle of summer. we´ve had a temperature flux of 72 degrees in the last 24 hours and i´m sweating like a banshee. can´t wait to hit the beach soon!

we´ve settled into our little apartment for the week and although it´s not quite home, i can get used to it. no complaints from this lady. andres, our landlord, stopped in to introduce himself and drew us up a little map of things to do. wonderful soul. cracking jokes and being awesome. our spanish, or entire lack thereof, is already making certain things interesting but that´s incentive to get learning, i guess. just getting out to do some exploring but had to pop in and let you lovely people know that we´ve made it, safe and sound, and i´m thinking of you all.

lots of love. xo.

hasta la vista.

i've blinked and all of a sudden it's time to go.

these past few days have been emotional rollercoasters.. somehow i manage to turn pleasant experiences into sob fests.. [honestly it gets awkward.] only a few months and i'll be back in the native land. it's going to fly. every hour that ticks by brings me one step closer to sun and adventure, and one step farther from snow and routine..

tomorrow at a horribly early hour we are boarding a plane. destination: buenos aires. i have zero expectations. no idea what's headed our way. just an open road, an open mind, and a one-way ticket in a backpack. with danelle, mike, john, and scott.. well, it's bound to be interesting.

so this is the spot to get all the juicy gossip on the dirrrty south. check back for updates.