Getaway to Urugyay

To be 100% honest, I wasn't quite sure of Uruguay's exact geographic location before I came down here- in fact, I really had no idea where it was in South America.  Little known fact- it's right between Argentina and Brazil!

Because of the Mercosur (the South American equivalent of the EU which officially includes Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay) it's very easy to travel to Uruguay, and since I suppose I'm officially Argentine with my student visa and all, why not head over for the weekend? Side note: if you're ever in Argentina for a long period of time and don't want to go through the hassle of getting a visa, you can renew your 90 day tourist visa just by heading over to Uruguay and entering Argentina again.

There are three main points people mention visiting in Uruguay: the capital, Montevideo, the posh beach town, Punta del Este, and the old colonial city, Colonia. So with 3 days, my friend and I decided to do all three. When in Uruguay..

After racing from class and making our boat with literally seconds to spare, we took a three hour ferry to Montevideo. This was a ferry to top all ferry's- it was essentially a moving building it was so massive

Complete with FIFA

Then we went through some serious customs.. aka a wooden "metal detector" that definitely didn't work

Then took a 2 hour bus to Punta del Este where we wandered the streets until we found our hostel. Thank you Lonely Planet.

Then we got some pizza where the put the cheese on top of the "toppings." It was new idea but delicious nonetheless.

And of course we managed to find a cone filled with dulce de leche for dessert.

That night we went with some friends we met at our hostel to a bar called Moby Dick where everyone posted money from all around the world on the walls. Trés chic.

Our hostel

 Saturday: Went to the beach where it was nice and freezing!

La mano

Clearly went to BK in Uruguay too.

Pan au chocolat!

That night made dinner in our hostel along with a few of the other kids staying there- such travelers

Sunday: Woke up at the crack of dawn only to miss our bus to Montevideo by three minutes. This is the only thing that has been on time my entire stay down here. So we had a few hours to kill before our next bus..

Finally, chau Punta del Este!

Next stop: Montevideo for approximately 2 hours (and 7 minutes, so of course we had to pay extra for storing our luggage)

I wonder what religion they practice here?

Armada Nacional

Parilla

Parilla after parilla after parilla..

Cool water fountain in the city

 Then it was off to Colonia for approximately 1 hour..

Again, thank you Lonely Planet.

Chivito.. really though, what's not to like?

Old gate to the city

And don't worry.. we found silly bandz in Uruguay

And that's all folks!