Uruguay

So I took a spontaneous trip to Uruguay this weekend. I was planned to go to Colonia, Ur. with my program on saturday so I decided to get to know the country just a little bit better by heading out a couple days early. I bought my ticket for BUQUEBUS wednesday evening and left early thursday morning. The buquebus is the name of the company/ boat that ferries you across the Rio de la Plata that separates Uruguay and Argentina. There are two versions of these boats and I took the 'lento'- or slow one that takes 3 hours to cross the river. It actually doesnt seem like a river because its so wide and you can never see both sides at once. Its a really big boat though that has several levels and big chairs and a deck that you can go walk around on. On the way there we were riding with a large group of River fans going to a futbol game against a team in Montevideo. As we exited the ferry they were chanting and cheering all their team songs. From the port which is in Colonia we hopped on a bus for 2 1/2 hours to Montevideo. Got there in the afternoon and tried to locate our hostel. I went with a friend here and we met up with three other girls.
Anyway, I exchanged 100 Argentina pesos and received 630 Uruguayan pesos. Now, a really weird thing about this traveling business is adjusting to your sense of things. Like my sense of what is a hot temperature would be 80 degrees farenheit, but what does that mean to me in celsius?because that is what they use here. Or how my sense of distance is in miles and feet but everything is in km. So, I dont really understand how to think something is far or near without converting it. This also happens with money. To put things in perspective here I (used to more than now) convert pesos into dollars by dividing by 3. In Uruguay I thought I was getting a lot of money receiving 630 pesos. The only thing is a hamburger can cost around 150 pesos and a cup of coffee about 90. Yes, so the conversion rate is like 20: 1 so divide those prices by 20 to get American currency and things arent so bad. Its just a relativity thing. Its the immediate shock of going to dinner and getting a bill for five people thats 700 pesos. It just seems like a lot from what Im used to.
In Montevideo we stayed in a part of town called Ciudad Vieja. It had nice streets just for pedestrians and there was lots of interesting architecture to look at. You could also see the water on both ends of the street. We were walking around killing time before we had to catch the bus back to Colonia for the night and we came upon what we thought was this impromptu parade. We soon realized though that the men were in military uniform. We walked to the grand Plaza Independencia right across from where the old government building is. The building wasn't so amazing, but the focal point of this plaza was a huge statue of Artigas. He is apparently the guy who united Uruguay and so he is something of a national hero. That day we happened upon some celebration of him. First, We went underneath the statue and into this dark room that had on the wall all these big block letters jutting out and spelling out significant historical dates. In the middle of the room with a spotlight there was this big jeweled urn thing that was labeled ARTIGAS. From the lighting you could make out two silhouettes of the same soliders we'd been seeing. It was actually kind of creepy. Im not sure if those were his remains/ashes or what. but hes a big deal. So we stuck around for a little while and watched this pomp and circumstance stuff. They sang and marched and we watched. It was really cool and we happened upon it serrendipitously. yay Artigas!
The next day we spent in Colonia del Sacramento. It was a planned excursion for our program but we spent the night there and met up with the group that came by ferry that afternoon. Colonia is really cool. Its such a nice change of pace from Buenos Aires. There are no stop lights and if youre standing by the side of the road they will stop and beckon you to cross. That would NEVER happen in Bs. As. Standing on the edge of the sidewalk is risky. In fact, I do know someone who was hit by a car ( ooo but my friend did jump out of a bus that started moving and ended up rolling into the street when we were in Montevideo. shes fine). Anyway, he's okay too. But Colonia is this little antiquated town with water almost completely surrounding it. Its pretty touristy but still charming. It was the most beautiful day I have experienced since being in South America. The weather was perfect. And we found the closest thing Ive seen to a beach. I dipped my feet in the Rio de la Plata and international waters! It was a very relaxing day of eating (i ate a chuvita which is a typical Uruguayan sandwich with beef, lettuc, tomato and egg- yum) and roaming. It was a very full day as well. Although I didnt have to travel by buquebus that same morning the boat ride back took 3 hours and so by the end I was drained. Now its back to the same ol' school stuff but since monday has passed only two more days! My parents come in a week so Im getting excited! woohoo. pictures soon.