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Firstly, sorry for all of you who wait with baited breath for my blog updates, i know i´ve been slack. therehas been limited internet in some places and it´s also been pretty full on. I promise to be better from now on, just give me a another chance..
Ok so the last time i wrote was the day before the overnight bus ride to Iguassu falls. Fortunately the bus journey only took 17 hours and we arrived in Foz de Iguassu around lunchtime. rather than go to bed, we checked in and decided to go straight to the Brazilian side of the falls to make the most of our time there. it was also a really warm day so it seemed like it would be a waste if we just laid in bed.
The Brazilian side of the falls offers a paramic view of the falls, showing the sheer enormity of them. know i sound like a proper geek talking about how magnificant and powerful a waterfall is, but i actually don´t care as it was pretty amazing to see. You see one part of it and think wow, that´s awesome, and then realise that it´s only the tip of the iceberg.
Anyway, we spent a few hours walking the trails on the Brazilian side and then went back to the hotel and then out for dinner, drinks etc that night. Thre´s not really that much to do in Foz itself though, so i wouldn´t recommend anyone getting their hopes up for a big night out there.
The next day we got our passports ready to cross the border from Brazil into Argentina to visit that side of the falls. The Argentinian side allows you to get closer to the waterfalls, and walk along the manmade catwalks across them. We all opted to take the speedboat trip into the falls as well, which was pretty scary in parts but really fun too. We were all incredibly soaked at the end, but dried off walking alonf the catwalks to the Devil´s throat, the strongest and biggest part of the falls. The sound of the water is so lud you have to shout even whn you are next to someone. Anyway, after we all got far too many pictures of us in ponchos next to waterfalls, we left to go back to Brazil.
That night we visited a Brazilian bar that had a tradional Brazilian band playing. We then persuaded them to take some requests and they even managed a convincing version of smells like teen spirit, very versatile.
The next day it pissed it down all day, and as i said, there is not much to do in Foz, especially when it is raining and a day at the pool has been planned. Therefore we all sat around looking a little miserable before getting the bus in the afternoon to Salto in Uruguay.
We were told the bus was going to take 24 hours and to wrap up warm as Uruguay wa at least 15 degrees lower than Brazil. You can imagine my delight at this. anyway,in the end and for part of it we travelled in what can only be described as an 80s super band´s tour bus. Full cama, meals, arm chairs - ahhh bliss. However, we had to change buses in the middle of the night and get on a lot more uncomfortable bus. We were then dropped in the middle of nowhere at 5am. Disorientated, we were bundled into taxis and drove to the Uruguayan border. Immigration took quite a while, and we were then bundled back into the taxis and driven into Salto.
Going to Salto is like going back in a time machine at least 30 years....there is nothing there apart from hotsprings and well, nothingness. We were dropped at our accomodation which was alright but reminded of a scene out of the shining..
All feeling a bit disappointed to have left lovely Brazil, we decided to make the most of it and go to the thermal baths. These again were like going back in time, but were warm, relaxing and wasted a few hours.
We then went to a local bar to watch the game between Germany and Uruguay for the World Cup third and fourth place. The atmosphere was like it was the final, and all the locals had painted their faces and were all really excited. Obviously Uruguay lost, but everyone cheered and clapped at the end, and started celebrating regardless. It was really nice to see, as they are just so proud of their team and the fact they have got so far. We stayed and celebrated with them for a while and then decided to only way to make it through a saturday night in Salto was to get ridiculously drunk. We however regreeted this decision the next morning on the bus to the capital of Uruguay, Montevideo.
Montevideo is in my opinion a bit of a weird city. The outskirts are really rundown, and again driving around feels like you have gone back in time. The city centre is really quite pretty though, and it is apparently the most desirable city for South Americans to live in.. (i don´t think it quite beats Rio tbh) Unsurprisingly, it was raining the day we arrived so after a short walk around we decided to go to the ´front room´type area at the hotel and watch the World Cup final. When Spain won, the people in Montevideo were honking their carhorns and shouting in the street, again, it was really nice to see and be part of their celebrations. We then found a couple of cockroaches in our room,
Some of us rented bikes the next day and rode to the coast and around the old town. It was beyond freezing cycling along, at one point the temperture gauge in the city showed it was -1, and that was without wind chill....just what i wanted.
We just hung out in the evening, looking forward to moving on to Colonia de sacremento, which we were told was really quaint and pretty, and more importantly,the ferry to Buenos Aires the day after that.
To be honest, Colonia was a let down. The cobbled streets were pretty, but that´s all there really is apart from the long stretch of coastline which would obviously be great in the South American summer.
we walked around for a while and then decided to cut our losses and sit in the hotel until dinner. That night we went to a lovely shorefront restaurant and had a lovely meal. Uruguay is known for it´s gnocchi and it was really tasty and very very cheap. The owner of the bar/restaurant took a shine to the 14 of us and gave us free drinks all night. ( i think he was happy to actually have some customers)
We quickly found out that this was probably the local gay bar, and the guy who had been giving us drinks was somewhat of a celebrity in Colonia. After too many free drinks, a few of us became his hareem, and i think he very much enjoyed the evening, as did we. if ever we are in Uruguay again we are welcome apparently, i don´t think that´s going to happen somehow...sorry Uruguay but i think you may be the armpit of South America..
The next day we went straight to immigration and then got the one hour ferry from Colonia to the awesome Buenos Aires.
I´m going to leave Buenos Aires and Bariloche until tomorrow/the next entry as i have gone on a bit too long as always.
Hope you are all well and enjoying yourselves. i am missing home today, but i am sure that will pass.
Kate xx
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