What started off as a not so great day turned out to be a memorable one.

Montevideo in daylight is much prettier. You see the beauty of the buildings, gardens, fountains and statues.

After morning coffee and pastries, we walked along the main street with the intention of finding the local Market. As me and Reens where walking, a man passsed us and asked if we were from England as he overheard us talking. As we were heading in the same direction he walked along with us telling us about his love for Suarez liverpool player and his girlfriend who is from London and how he owns one of the clubs mentioned in our Lonely Planet bible. He mentioned he was off to go buy Coldplay tickets as they were playing in Uruguay tonight, being a huge fan we asked if there were tickets available, which to our delight they were. In the end as he went inside a building to get the tickets, we ran away! How naive are we to think firstly Coldplay would be playing in Uruguay (there were no posters advertising it and I didn't have Internet to check) and secondly for believing some random stranger. That's what happens when you always look for the good rather than the bad. Ps. We still don't know if he was genuine or not, it's on my google to-do list. Lesson learnt not all people are genuine.

Back to our plan of finding the local market, slightly lost we bumped into two uruguayan guys who spoke English (not the easiest to find) who gave us directions, but judging by our confused faces they decided to walk with us to the market.

What was supposed to only be a 10 minute walk for them ended up being a half a days outing with us! Two of the nicest most genuine lovely people we have met.

As we walked to the Market they gave us an insight into Uruguayan lifestyle.
Both spoke so proudly of their country.
As we passed statues they would provide an explanation, it was like we had our own personal tour guides!

Markets here are very calm, people don't hassle you for sales and you can look around peacefully. Nicholas and
Pablo went around the different stalls with us, helping us communicate in Spanish. We taught them the British concept of haggling/bargaining something which is very uncommon here. Although I managed to get an inci winci discount off a gorgeous handmade necklace from a lovely lady, my memory of Uruguay.

As it was a gorgeous unusual sunny day we walked around the park which had many monuments and statutes all of famous writers and poets. Both of the guys are soo knowledgeable, I told them if they plan to visit London I need a months notice so I can read up on all our history and tourist hotspots!

Thanks to the boys we are all addicted to carmelised peanuts. Around the streets are people with stands selling and making them. The smell and taste is irresistable. We were told most people take these into the cinema for a snack. Ha try doing that in London... they would search your bag to make sure you have no outside food just so you cab buy overpriced cinema popcorn (i'm usually first in line, just can resist cinema sweet popcorn)!!

In return for being lovely gentlemen we wanted to take then both out for coffee/lunch, instead we injested some culture by going to National Art Gallery.

I wish I made more of an effort in London to go to gallerys. I like the idea how one picture can be interpreted in many ways by different people. There was one powerful painting of a household struck by Yellow Fever. The second floor of the gallery was full of modern art which I just find mind boggling!

Has to be one of my favourite days of out travels so far thanks to Nicholas and Pablo.

Time to say goodbye..noooo!! Here's us feeling so guilty that we have wasted their afternoon, and they both were just happy to practice their English. What better place to leave four girls than a shopping mall!!

Earlier on the day we wondered where all the people were hiding, it's a Sunday and the streets are airy and quiet. Turns out they are all hiding in the shopping mall, place is crowded! We all know I'm a shopaholic but when you only have a backpack for storage it's no fun at all! Right me thinks it's straight to the food court for us.

Time to explore the nightlife of montevideo and what better way to start off than Caprihanas in the hostel bar made by Devi. The bartender was so impressed that he left Devi making our drinks for the rest of the evening (I'm sure he regretted it the next day when he realised the alcohol bottle were near empty).

Poor Devs was made to work like a slave behind the bar that she was too unwell to come out, so the remaining three of us went to do some nightseeing. Any guesses where we ended up?? Nope not an opera show at the lovely Theathro Solis... Wrong again, not a Uruguayan club... Oh alright, I shall confess we ended up in an Irish bar! Apparently Montevideo is very quiet on a Monday night.

Arriving back at the hostel, we expected to see Devs curled up in bed, instead she's chilling on the balcony listening to an amazing Spanish guitarist singing away. As tired as we were, you just couldn't walk away from his voice. Perfect end to the night.