Along the Coast of Uruguay

After Iguazu, we decided to explore the often forgotten little country of Uruguay…and boy was it fantastic. If anyone wants to do a ‘South American vacation’, I would highly recommend Uruguay. It has so much diversity and culture, yet it is contained in a relatively small area- it was great! . Here is a brief summary of our wonderful trip through this country:

Day 1: We took a ferry from Bs. As., across the Rio Plata, and landed in Colonia after only 1 hour. This waterfront city looked like it was straight out of the colonial era (hence, the name.) The cobblestone streets, old churches, and city gate (complete with moat and drawbridge) really made this entire city seem like a postcard. We spent the day exploring the city, and taking lots of pictures. For dinner we had some delicious seafood paella, but the best part was that we ate in an old-fashioned car! It looked kind of like an old Model-T, except the inside had been gutted and replaced with a table and floor pillows.- pretty cool.

Day 2: We took a bus to the capital, Montevideo. We rented antique red bikes (complete with wicker baskets) and biked around the historic city center and along the sea wall. It was a perfect day- bright sun shining, cloudless blue sky, breeze off the ocean…totally picturesque. That evening we bused onto Punta del Este, found our hostel, and settled in for the night.

Day 3: Today we rented scooters and motored around the city and surrounding areas. We went north and crossed a ‘wavy bridge’, which was literally like going on a roller coaster- fun! We visited a sweet museum (Museo del Mar) and saw giant whale skeletons, dolphin skeletons, lots of shells, some big turtle shells, and a pirate exhibit too! It was a pretty amazing collection, considering it all belonged to just one guy! (He said he started collecting shells when he was little, and then ended up spending his whole life traveling the globe, snorkeling and scuba diving, amassing this incredible collection.) After the museum, we had ‘chivitos’ for lunch- a really yummy steak sandwich of sorts. After feasting we drove south of the city to “CasaPueblo” (you might have to Google image this one.) It’s an incredible house built by the artist Carlos Paez Vilaro. It was originally his home, and is now a museum and hotel. The structure is 9 levels, built right into the hillside- it’s painted all white and has no straight lines…kind of like a giant adobe castle. It was a fantastic place to watch the sunset on the ocean, which we did.

Day 4: Bused onto a little town called Cabo Polonio. We had intended to stay just for the day, but learned upon arrival that there were no more buses leaving that day…no choice but to stay over night! It’s hard to explain the remoteness of this town…our bus dropped us off literally in the middle of nowhere. There was a little ticket booth and a few trucks- that was it. We bought a ticket for a truck ride into town- this is the only way to get into town! We rode in the back of the truck through some forests, which gave way to huge sand dunes (no roads, only sandy paths!) and finally to the huge beach. In the distance, you could see some ‘houses clumped on the hill’. Turns out these houses are more like shacks, and there really isn’t much more to the town than that.- no internet, no electricity, no nothing…just LOTS of wind. As soon as we got off the truck, we were approached by a guy named “Pancho” (which means hotdog in Argentine slang, haha) who offered us a place to stay in his ‘hostel’- which turned out to be a bright orange shack right on the beach. “We’ll take it!” we said J After settling in, we explored the rocky shores, the lighthouse, and visited the sea lion colony (2^nd biggest in the world!) On the way back, we passed a group of ‘hippies’ (for lack of a better term) playing drums, gourd instruments, and dancing. They invited us to join in, and we did! We had a great time jamming and drinking mate with the locals, but after awhile we headed back to our hostel. That night we feasted on shark (tastes like chicken) and had crepes with dulce de leche for dessert- yum! And the stars that night were incredible…it felt like you could just reach out and touch them…

Day 5 & 6: Left Cabo Polonio and bused back to a small town called Nueva Helvetica, which is a small village with a very strong Swiss heritage. We stayed at a small country house/hostel called “El Galope”. We had intended to go horseback riding, but it was so incredibly windy that we decided to pass. Instead we got to brush and feed the horses. We also played with the dog (named Tupac), bottle fed the baby sheep (named Dorothy) and took a few nice walks in the countryside. We also tried ‘cow stomach’ for the first time…actually quite tasty. It was a really relaxing visit, and a nice ending to our Uruguay trip.

Day 7: Caught the ferry back to Bs. As., with a few souveniers and some awesome memories of an incredible little country J

Iguazu Falls

Paint a picture of Niagra Falls in your mind…imagine you can hear the immense pounding of water as it falls. Imagine you can feel the mist as it sprays your skin. Imagine you can see the rainbows hovering above, shifting as the sunlight filters through the water. Now take that image and times it by about one hundred…and that ‘s Iguazu Falls. We decided to visit this ‘Niagra Falls on steroids” with our good Australian friend, Christian. After an 18 hour bus ride, we finally arrived at Iguazu, which lies on the border of Brazil and Paraguay. We checked into our sweet hostel (awesome pool!), had some dinner, and hit the hay. We spent the entire next day exploring the falls. We hiked all around, and saw lots of butterflies, tropical birds, and little raccoon like animals called ‘Coatis’. These little creatures are very brave- during lunch, one of them stole a ketchup packet right from my hand! I wasn't too happy, since it was real 'American ketchup'! Anyways, we hiked all around the falls- pretty much in awe the entire time. We also took a boat ride to the bottom of the falls, which was pretty epic. You could really feel how powerful the crashing water was…even if you couldn’t see much once you got up close, since the spray was so strong. (We joked that we could have sprayed each other in the face with a garden hose and gotten about the same experience, haha.) Anyways, the day concluded with a BBQ and poolside dance party back at our hostel. It was a pretty fantastic way to spend the weekend…and apparently Iguazu Falls is up for voting to become one of the ‘New 7 Wonders of the World’. I would definitely vote for it!

Livin la Vida Finca

The word ‘finca’ means ‘farm’ in Spanish, and I truly have been ‘living the farm life’ for the past week here at Eco Yoga Park (an Ashram about 2 hours outside of the city.) Nakita and I decided to check into an Ashram partly to experience this way of life, and partly to detox from the meat, party, shopping life that is Bs. As. So for one week my daily schedule was this: wake at 7:30, breakfast at 8:00, work in the garden from 8:30 until 1:30 (15 minute snack break at 11:30), lunch at 2:00, free time at 2:30 (we usually took a nap, read, or wrote in our journals) yoga and meditation at 4:00, snack at 6:00, dinner at 8:30, movie at 9:00, bed at 11:00...and repeat the next day. My work in the garden usually involved weeding (aka digging out snarly vines from the cabbage patch), watering (this usually turned into a water fight), tilling (aka breaking up big dirt clods into smaller dirt clods), and planting (make a little hole, place seed in the hole, cover, repeat). At first, I hated this work.- it made my back sore, my neck got sunburned, the weeds itched my arms, my shoes got muddy etc. etc. (all the typical city girl complaints). But after awhile, I didn’t mind the work. I even started to enjoy it. The simplicity of it was relaxing. The repetitiveness of it was soothing. And plus, it was really rewarding. Did I mention that all the food was vegan or vegetarian? And that most of it came straight from our garden? There something pretty cool about pulling carrots, beets, and lettuce in the morning, washing them in the afternoon, and eating them in a stew for dinner. And the yoga and meditation aspects have been very beneficial as well. I’ve always enjoyed these practices, but never had time to dedicate myself to them on a daily basis. I really enjoyed just having the time and space for personal reflection, and this new-found stillness has spilled over into my everyday life. For example, I noticed an ‘ant highway’ and followed it all the way across the farm. I napped in the sun on the grass. I practiced my balancing by ‘slacklining’ (tying a rope between two trees and walking across, like tight rope walking). This place has turned out to be more than just a ‘detox’ from the city. I’ve learned to appreciate the simplicity in life, and to always find time-even just a few minutes- to calm your mind and your spirit. I plan to carry these ideas with me for the rest of my travels. I know I will see and learn many things, but I will try to set aside time to just relax, reflect, and truly appreciate all that I experience.

Soy Sapukay! Vamos Sapukay!

While here in Buenos Aires, I decided to get involved with the local ultimate Frisbee scene. After practicing with a few teams, I decided to join a team called “Sapukay”. This name is an indigenous war cry from Northern Argentina, and it translates as “let’s go, let’s fight!!” I chose this team because they seemed to have the most “family feel” and just seemed like a genuinely nice group of people. And this initial feeling proved to be most accurate- this team really has become like my family here in Bs. As. From practices, to tournaments, to picnics and parties- we always have a blast. My team is comprised of a few fellow Americans, (here on study abroad,) some Columbians (among them is my housemate, Gabriel), and of course some Argentine locals. We practice every Wednesday and have league play on Saturdays. We also had a weekend tournament in Tigre (a resort city outside of Bs. As.), in which we came in third place!! This was really an achievement for us, considering we haven’t been playing together for very long and we had to beat the former champion team along the way! What I love about the sport of Ultimate Frisbee is that it draws the same type of community no matter where it is played. The players are competitive, but also highly value the spirit of the game. The passion, the intensity, and the community-vibe are all the same- although learning the terms and rules in Spanish has been very different. Overall, I feel really thankful to be able to join this team, to play the sport I love, and to develop a family of “Sapukanos” here in Argentina.

Long Time, No Blog

So, I believe an apology is in order for not writing in so long. I’ve been traveling and without reliable access to internet, so I’ve been ‘blogging’ in my notebook. But so much has happened since I last wrote, sitting down to type it all up has seemed a daunting task. Anyways, I'll do my best to get you up to speed…