My weekend in Uruguay!

On Friday night at 7pm we left the Pepperdine Casa to catch the Supte! After the subway ride down to the port, we got on our "ferry" and set sail for Colonia, Uruguay. There was quite a large group of us on the boat together, so it was a lot of fun. We even got to sit in first class! The ferry was quite unlike Washington ferries, this was more like a cross between a Washington ferry and a cruise ship. In BA they call ferries "Buquebus". The ride was only about an hour long, and then we arrived! Once we got their, our very large group split up to go to different places. My group, which included Amy, Lauren, Diana, and myself, opted for a relaxing weekend in Colonia. The other groups went to various other places such as Montevideo, but they had to take long overnight bus rides to get there. On Friday night we went to the hostel where the lady in charge said that "they had no reservations for that name" and that there was not enough space for four of us to all be in the same room. After some lengthy chatting in our lovely Spanish, a room for four suddenly opened up! Ha Ha. So we ended up being able to have a room with two bunk beds in which we shared a communal bathroom. The place was actually pretty nice and safe considering we only paid $11 a night.

On Saturday we decided to get up fairly early, got ready, and had free continental breakfast of bread, jam, and dulce de leche. Then we went exploring. We went to a crafts fair, which was very cool, and we walked to the beach. Colonia has a beautifully famous historical down town, so we spent the remainder of the day there. We even met a couple from Pacific Palisades, which is 10 minutes from Malibu! We had lunch at an amazing little restaurant, and I had Spaghetti, soda, bread, and dessert, all for $7. The conversion rate of the US dollar to the Uruguay peso is 23 to 1! It was very beautiful there and the people were extremely nice and very friendly. I very much enjoyed the atmosphere of the town. We then had a siesta around 6pm, which is a nap. Then at 8pm we set out for dinner at a place we had spotted earlier that had amazing french fries. I had the biggest steak I have ever seen! We made friends with our waiter Diego, who thought we were quite hilarious. After 2 hours of dinner we set of for dessert, and met a very nice women at the restaurant who we chatted with for awhile. We had our desserts in a park where we listened to a live band and just relaxed. Then we headed back towards our hostel and there was a huge concert a block away so we went to check it out. The "King Bandas" were playing in front of a huge crowd. We stayed for awhile until the show was over. In Buenos Aires, there are many different nationalities of people, so I do not feel out of place being blonde and fair skinned, but Uruguay was a bit different. I was definitely one of the only ones of my type around. I got several stares, which Amy found to be quite hilarious. Then we went back to our hostel and called it a night at about 2am, which was early!!

This morning the four of us awoke to a massive thunder storm and lightening flashes outside our window. Our hostel even started to leak! We had to call a taxi to take us back to the ferry, because it was pouring rain. We had a pleasant trip back, and I have just spent the afternoon at the Pepperdine Casa. Amy, myself, and some others went to ice cream at Persicco, the best ice cream place around. I am not much for ice cream, but Argentina ice cream beats everything else hands down. It is amazing! Tomorrow I have a full day of classes, and tonight is dinner with mis padres. Talk to you all soon.

PS... I have tons of stamps in my Passport now!!