Uruguay

I had been looking forward to Uruguay since the beginning of our trip!! The beaches are supposed to be beautiful, everyone in BA was talking about Colonia but obviously the most important part was that I couldn’t wait to see ISABEL!!!

We caught the ferry from Buenos Aires to Colonia and the first thing you notice as you arrive is that the water is brown!! Not quite what we expected but it is something to do with silt rising up as rivers meet the sea!! Everything else about Colonia was quaint & beautiful. It was a picturesque and quirky little town from the cobblestone streets, gate bridge entrance to the old town, vintage cars outside restaurants that you could eat in, lots of tourists driving around in golf carts and not a golf course in sight!!

We hired bikes from the hostel and cycled out to the beaches which you had practically to yourself and we found an amazing old bull ring, disused now but you could imagine it was an exciting place in its day. Late afternoon we arrived at the old lighthouse in the town, we climbed it and watched the sun go down. It was a beautiful sunset over the sea and the first time I had seen the sun actually drop over a horizon.

After a nice few days chilling in Colonia, we packed our rucksacks again and took the bus to Montevideo to see Isabel and the gang. I was soooooooooooo looking forward to catching up with her, seeing a familiar face, chatting about things and people we already knew (ie lots of talk about the ISH much to the dismay of Tom and Wilfred!!) and staying with a friend rather than in a hostel bed :o) Its been amazing to travel round South America seeing new places, meeting new people and experiencing new cultures but everything is so transient and catching up with Isabel was about familiarity, feeling at ease and not having to introduce yourself :o) We had a fantastic stay there. The room was perfect and Paulina and Rosalia were excited to see visitors (I think that it helped that we came armed with princess jigsaws and fairy wings!!). And it was great to meet the new addition to the family little Tobias - he was so cute and did well to put up with his very attentive big sisters!!!!

We had loads of nice food and wine, vegetables for the first time in ages (it was definitely a team effort in the kitchen with Wilfred and Isa!!!) Tom enjoyed helping Wilfred out with some website stuff (you really cant keep Tom away from technology!!) and building some drawers. I went for a much needed haircut with Isa while she got her nails done and also went out to visit her Irish Christian Brothers school, Stella Maris which had a beautiful tri-colour hanging outside and lots of pictures of old Irish brothers inside!!

They made us Chivito and home made pizza, showed us their local ice cream parlour (Tom and the kids were in heaven!!), we walked along the promenade, saw the best view of the city up by an old fortress and visited the family farm - paradise and good old family mayhem wrapped into one afternoon - it made me feel at home!! Lunch was fantastic - Italian pasta for the whole family which I think was about 10 adults and 6 kids followed by Siesta for all but the foreigners!! Then it was into the pool for a dip…honestly words cant describe how perfect the setting is…the house is big and old and you can feel the family history, the sun room is perfect to sit in and enjoy the view and the pool is great for a cool down. All you can see for miles is green fields, cows and horses…paradise :o)

After a fantastic time in Montevideo, we said it would be a shame not to check out the beaches along the west coast of Uruguay. We only had a few days so we decided to base ourselves in Punta del Este where all the rich and famous go (obviously we would fit in perfectly!!). The beach was nice but Punta del Este was very busy and touristy (as Isa had warned us!!) so we rented some bikes and cycled to Jose Ignacio!! Well what a day that was!! Id say it was at least 30’C and we cycled 40km in a head wind to get there!! Which wouldn’t be too bad if the bikes hadn’t fallen apart!! After 20km Tom’s pedal fell off. Luckily a nice local cycled passed and went back to his house to get a wrench to help us fix it. We got it back on but it only lasted for another 5km and there was nothing on the road for the next 15km to stop at so he just had to cycle on with it half falling off!! Then with about 10km to go my thighs were killing and it was so hot!!! I thought the head wind was getting worse but then realised that the brakes had slipped and were rubbing against the back wheel so I was cycling twice as hard and getting nowhere!! But as we said there was nothing to stop at and so we just had to keep cycling!! We nearly collapsed into Jose Ignacio and I’ve never been so glad to see a welcome sign into a town!! We had a well deserved lunch and then begged the bus driver to stick our bikes in the boot of the bus to take us back to Punta del Este!! After a few no’s, we were nearly crying, he eventually said yes and we threw the bikes into the boot :o)

The next day we took the bus out to Casa Pueblo, the house of a famous Uruguayan painter. His art was very interesting and his story fascinating. Carlos Paez Vilaro had travelled the world as a young artist to many small villages in Africa, South America and Europe which in those days was quite a feat. He painted for many famous world leaders and rich people but also spent a lot of time with ordinary people in small villages painting murals in schools and hospitals etc. A very interesting day finished off with a nice lunch on a terrace in the museum looking out over the sea :o)

After Punta del Este we went back to Montevideo to say good bye to Isabel, Wilfred and the kids. We were sad to be leaving but excited to be heading off to OZ!! Its very true when people say its friends that make a place and we discovered that first hand in Uruguay. It was definitely one of the highlights of South America and we will never forget our time there. Thanks so much Isabel and Wilfred for showing us a great time and we hope that we can return the favour some day when you bring the whole clan to Ireland :o)