Uruguay

We left Montevideo by bus to Colonia Del Sacremento. A little over 3 hours and we arrived at our accommodation. A cheap enough place costing around US $13 each with our own ensuite bathroom and a decently comfortable homestay with a lovely host.

We spent a couple of hours thinking this was not overly "Sensational" as Lonely Planet said, until we hit the historical quarter or district. A square kilometer of beautiful colonial buildings, cobbled streets, churches, old wheels, horse and carts etc. This could have been the nicer areas of Spain, France or Italy but on the coast as it is a port and beach town. The sunsets were simply sensational.

We were there 3 days and had a blast exploring the local areas and watching my beloved Liverpool lose to Barcelona but go through with the locals. A man from Malaga was there supporting us as he hated Barcelona. He was a Malaga and Real fan.

Our last morning was spent in our room after breakfast watching a devasting storm until our cab arrived to take us to the ferry for our international boat trip across the water to Buenos Aires on a catamaran. The trip only took an hour and customs was done in one hit in Uruguay. Unbelievably the passage was smooth given the weather.

A simply sensational country that should not be overlooked....... We had not planned to go to Uruguay but we are so glad we covered the area for a week. Just goes to show, not all the best things you see are necessarily planned or thought about before you do them.

Another overnight bus delivered us to Montevideo, although this time we went first class and arrived in a bit of style!

Uruguay has been our favourite country to date, and Montevideo is a beautiful city. Quite small after the big city bright lights of Buenos Aires and Rio, and with a lovely, laid back feel. The city itself is attractive, very european feel to the architecture and parks dotted about the city. It is definitely more modern than Brazil, and the fact the temperature has dropped about 10-15 degrees has made walking around exploring so much more comfortable.

A street off the main square is where the nightlife centres - restaurants and bars with live bands every night so far. That being said, Montevideans don´t seem to go out for dinner or drinks until midnight or so, so things are a bit quieter pre-midnight when the bands generally get going. One night we saw a cool little cover band doing songs we both knew, last night [Saturday 3rd] we saw a local band who did more traditional south american music - sounded a bit like the Gypsie Kings!!

Today is our last day in Montevideo and sadly, it has been pouring rain all day so far, so we might not get to see much more of the sights, but tomorrow we´re heading a couple of hours west to Colonia del Sacremento which is a sea-side town for a few days. Hope the rain clears up before we hit the sights and beaches there!

Alli + Jason