I don't know jack but I stay sincere: Uruguay!

First of all I wanna apologize for the weird format of my last post, google randomly changed my settings to spanish and I can't fully understand everything yet. Hope yall didn't get to confused. So this past weekend all 10 of us went to Uruguay for a mini vacation. We took a one hour ferry to the town of Colonia that is across the river from Buenos Aires. Colonia was established by the Portugese to smuggle goodies into BA back in the day. Now it is a small quaint historical town that is actually a Unesco World Heritage site because of its tree lined cobblestone streets and old buildings.

That Friday was probably the best day in South America so far. We checked into our hostel, had lunch, but alas, it started to rain. We were pretty sad that we came all the way to the beach only to get rain (there are no swimmable beaches in BA cuz of radioactive waste and other nasty stuff). So we were walking along the pretty streets wondering what to do when we realized that the best thing to do in a foreign country when its raining is enjoy a couple choice cervezas. Dan scoped out some random store and we found some local beer called Pilsner that cost 2 dollars for a litro. The offer was too good to resist so the guys bought a couple each and we trekked down to the dock to do some good old fashioned seaside rain drinking. We had a blast hanging out, chatting, and listening to American pop music. The only downsides were the gnats and lack of sun, which were succinctly summed up by Dan with his classic quotes
"What's with these gnats bro" and "Whats good with the sun?"

However, as soon as were done playing Eduardo Pilsen manos, the clouds dissipated and the sun broke through. It was a sign from Apollo validating our clever choice to drink in the shade. We strolled to the beach and waded in the waist high water for about an hour before we realized that the little green floating things maybe wasn't algae but possibly something more sinister. So far no mutant side effects so I think we're good. After drying off we decided to tour around the town. We wanted to all rent scooters and form a tourist scooter gang, but a motorcycle license was needed so 4 people settled for a golf cart and the rest of us copped some free bikes from our hostel to view the historic district. I'll let the pictures do the talking for this part.

Our hostel in Colonia

Typical street in the town

The dock where we played Eduardo Pilsen manos

Madeleine's hair sticking up due to lightning in the air and Brenny making a funny face.

Dan broing out, Brenny being a clown.

Dave doing some swimmer pose. This is what a typical street looks like in Colonia, so beautiful.

Yea we're pretty sweet.

Notice the lighthouse in the background.

M and M cruisin.

View from atop the lighthouse

My attempt at a panoramic picture from the lighthouse, this is essentially all of historic Colonia.

La calle de los Suspiros-the street of whispers-looks like its straight out of the 16th century.

This is the old town wall of historic Colonia complete with drawbridge. Also, that's a nice tree back there.

So after the tour of the town we retired to our hostel and the guys had a group nap. We woke up and went in search of food. Our quest was fulfilled with resounding success as we found a small restaurant off the beaten track where the four of us got 3 personal pizzas, a salad (mine in an attempt to eat some greens), a steak, a sausage, and about 9 jugs of wine all for about 9 dollars each. It was one of the best and cheapest meals Ive had, and fun too as we sat there for about 4 hours joking and talking. A really nice thing about South America is that there is no rush to leave a restaurant after you are done eating. One is perfectly welcome to sit there for as long as you like, which is a nice improvement from the rushed feeling you get at places in the US.

While we were eating a torrential thunderstorm had started and it was pouring rain when we finally decided to leave to meet the girls at a club. Once we started getting drenched Dave and I decided to run to the place and we took off sprinting through the rain, a liberating feeling especially after too many glasses of wine. We got to the club panting and smiling, and discovered that it was a bit run down, as it was still raining inside. The floor was drenched, and there was one spot where no one was dancing because there was an inch deep puddle covering the floor. Everyone took off their sandals and we proceeded to dance in the puddle for the next 2 or 3 hours to the amazement of the locals who simply watched us. I gotta say it was a damn fun dance party, and I'm not sure any of us will ever salsa in a puddle again. We left the club around 4:30 and caught our 5:30 bus to Punta del Este, a five hour ride that we were all unconscious for.

We got to Punta, and after dropping our stuff off at the hostel went to the beach to enjoy the sunshine we were blessed with. The day was spent lying in the sand and playing in the waves; it was glorious. For all you east coasters I think there was a massive snowstorm that day to put things in perspective. That night Hannah and I witnessed a beautiful sunset, and we all went out to a really good seafood place where we feasted on paella (chicken, mix of seafood, and rice). We wandered around Punta del Este playing would you rather until we returned to the hostel bar/common area to chat into the morning hours.

The next day we enjoyed another couple hours at the beach before it started to rain again and we had to catch a bus back to Colonia for the ferry. Everyone but Brenny and I made it back in time to catch the super bowl, but that wasn't too big a deal as my awesome weekend made up for the fact I missed seeing Manning blow it. Anyway that essay details one of the funnest weekends in my recent memory, and here's a couple more pictures to show off Punta del Este.

Inside the hostel.

Outside the Hostel.

Catching some rays on the beach.

The two previous pictures were taken from the same spot on our hostel's street, one is the view up the street, the other down. Notice how there's water and beach in both directions.