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It is now Monday morning, I am back in Buenos Aires after a short weekend trip to Montevideo, Uruguay. What a strange place that was, I have to say....
If you map it, Buenos Aires and Montevideo are much closer by water than by land, so the most common way to travel to Uruguay is by boat. So Thursday night, on the 11:59 PM boat, my new friend Richie and I left for Montevideo. Three hours by boat to Colonia, Uruguay and then another two and a half hours by bus to Montevideo. With the time change, and arriving early, we were in Montevideo around 6:15. We withdrew some cash so we could take a taxi to our hostel, and we were off.
First impressions, we both liked it, a lot. Despite being the capital of Uruguay, Montevideo is a pretty docile place. Everyone warned us it was like a boring and smaller Buenos Aires, and while in some ways it was, in others it wasn't at all. It was green, it had a beach, cars don't try to mow you down Grand Theft Auto style. It was charming. For anyone who lives in LA, you might think of it as Oxnard (the way outer suburbs of the main city).
Anyway, we took a taxi to our hostel for 75 pesos, which caused both of us a minor heart aneurism (in reality, it was less than $4 USD). We arrived at our hostel, knowing we couldn't check in for another 5 hours, but fortunately they had the space and didn't mind to let us nap and clean up. If i can make a recommendation, Unplugged Hostel in Pocitos (http://www.unpluggedhostel.com/pocitos/) was an awesome place to stay. They were friendly, they were helpful, they were fun and they threw in a free welcome beer (which i subsequently drank on my way out).
In the way of tourism, not all that much to do there, we walked around Ciudad Vieja (Old City), visited some sights, went to the beach, but mostly walked and relaxed. It was relaxing to say the least. We made some new friends, two Oregonians, a Texans, a British girl, a Scottish guy, and of course, more Brazilians. Both nights we paid the equivalent of $5 USD to have food from the parilla (basically a BBQ), and endless amounts of incredible meat. It was social, we drank, we chilled, we ate, and we REALLY ate for cheap. Prices in Montevideo are comparable the prices that Buenos Aires had two years ago which was a relief to both my wallet and myself.
All in all, it was a nice jaunt outside of the outrageously busy Buenos Aires but after the journey home, its nice to be back.
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