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Hi Guys!
Well we've been AWOL for awhile but now we're back online and on the tourist trail. Last we spoke, we were on our way to the sea for a few days rest (from all this tiring traveling :P). We got to the bus terminal in a taxi driven by Tony (Ryan's dad…ok it wasn't him but it looked just like him! We think we found your long lost brother!) and then onto a bus. It was a relatively short 4 ½ hour ride and soon we were in the seaside town of Punta del Diablo. Well, we were outside a police station, which seemed to be in the middle of nowhere but we were aware this was a pretty small town, especially quiet in winter. Luckily when we asked the police man, he just yelled out "Brian" and the owner of our hostel appeared from the shadows with his ute- he was there to pick us up! We were taken back to our lovely home for the next 4 days, Diablo el Tranquilo- the quiet devil. We had a lovely seafood/ pasta dinner in the restaurant also owned by the hostel (pretty sure it was the only one open- in the winter the population of the town drops from as many as 15 000 people to 300 permanent residents!) and said a prayer for good weather the next day.
And it was answered. We got up the next morning to see P del D for the first time in the light- nothing but miles and miles of beach and a lot of empty cabanas! We took a walk to the only open store and got some supplies for the next few days as well as watching the fisherman fixing up their boats on the beach. Such a beautiful, amazingly quiet town. I guess those fisherman inspired Ryan cause next thing we were grabbing a fishing pole and heading down to the rocks. Ryan searched for a nice spot (we figured we couldn't go wrong near where the sea birds were fishing) while I was quite successful in my search for big mussells to use as bait. But Ryan kept moving around looking for a good spot. The waves were also quite big so we both slipped on the seaweed covered rocks, but it was getting quite warmish in the sun by this stage so we quite enjoyed the impromptu dips! Eventually our fishing day ended with Ryan getting snagged and no fishies for dinner- it was still a lot of fun taking in the gorgeous beaches though!
The next day we set out on a walk to a nearby national park and the Fort Santa Teresa which lies within it's boundaries. We trekked across some looooong stretches of beach without an exact idea of where we were going except that it was left down the beach. There's only really two directions in P del D- left down the beach or right down the beach. Any other direction and your heading out of town and back to the highway- won't get lost here! Oh by the way we were being followed by some aggressively annoying dogs, one of whom appeared to be a female on heat, using us as some form of protection. Thus the pack of boy dogs were always following close behind. Usually I'm VERY dog tolerant but this was really too much! Anyways we made a brief pit stop at a look out tower with a great view to both points and continued our walk inland (we knew the fort was inland from talking to a random Australian couple we met walking the opposite direction down the beach- the only other people we saw, the entire day!) We were probably walking for over 3 hours when we finally reached the fort. Now in a word of explanation, we really had no idea what to expect of the fort- we just heard it was near town and started walking. I guess we vaguely envisioned some ruins on a cliff. However as we came across a rise what should come into view but a HUGE fully intact fort, complete with turrets and perfectly preserved stone walls. I can only compare it to pictures I've seen of forts in Europe or forts in movies (Holy Grail keeps popping into mind :P) We approached the fort in wonder, and circled the entire structure. We weren't even disappointed when we found out the fort was actually open INSIDE to the public on weekends (it was a Tuesday). This had been a totally unexpected and awesome surprise. By the way, the fort was built by the Portugese in 1762 and has swapped hands between the Portugese and Spanish several times before being opened by the Republic of Uruguay as a tourist attraction. On the walk home we saw about 8 big birds of prey, circling directly above us (hopefully not waiting for us to die!) Amazing - we really got to see them up close. In the end we walked for about 7 hours that day (fort was just a little further than we first anticipated) with one of those dogs following us- the WHOLE time! Quite exhausting but a great day.
To be honest, the rest of our time in P del D was spent doing not much- we read magazines and novels (English magazines are like gold in hostels over here- even ones which are two years old!) played Monopoly and Scrabble and chilled in the hostel's hammocks. On the last night we had another great fish meal in the beach side Diablo Tranquilo restaurant and on our last day in town got up to watch the beautiful sunset. Totally worth the early morning alarm!
Before we knew it we were back in Montevideo. We came into town just in time to experience a Uruguayan tradition- Dia de Noquis. On the 29th of every month, just before Uruguayans were traditionally paid their wage, it became common to use the last of their flour and potatoes to make a tasty end of the months dish of Gnocchi. Nowadays the tradition is upheld by many restaurants who serve the dish as their Plato del Dia, even if they wouldn't usually serve pasta! Certainly at our favourite little restaurant (we may or may not have frequented this place three times in the 6 days we spent in Montevideo) everyone seemed to be ordering the noquis for lunch on the 29th. On our final night in Montevideo before heading to the country we met up for a final time with our lovely French Canadians, Catherine and Gen. We spent some time drinking Sangria and watching the locals drink whiskey and dance at the local pub/club (bizarrely enough Lord of the Rings themed?) then popped into Fun Fun Tango Bar to listen to some tango singers and finally to a club where even Ryan danced when they started playing a mix of AC/DC, Beach Boys and the Beatles!
Well, that's it for now folks - more on our recent travels very, very soon.
Love,
Hayley and Ryan
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