Happy Wednesday Friends! I hope you are having a great week so far and have a great rest of your week!
Today I am going to share a recap from days 7 & 8 from my trip to South America.
Day 7
Day 7 started with us coming back to Montevideo via the Buquebus at the terrible hour of 7:00 am. Once we all were successfully on the Buquebus, all of us passed out for the two hour trip. I was very glad for the nap after getting up so early.
After arriving back to the apartment, us girls threw some clothes in the washer so we would have some clean clothes when we arrived back from our little adventure. Essentially we were back at the apartment long enough to unpack our suitcases from Iguazu and re-pack for our next trip.
After successfully packing for the next leg of the trip, we called a cab to take us to the car rental company at the airport. This cab driver was particularly hilarious because he spoke almost no English, but was willing to try and ended up making some pretty funny jokes about the fact that I had left my husband back in the United States and it not being a good idea. However, he also said I was smart for leaving him behind. We enjoyed a good laugh with him.
After successfully picking up the rental, we attempted to leave the airport. Both Christina and Sarah know how to drive stick, but the system in South America was a little different than what they were used to. Up first was Christina and she was hilarious. Right out the gate she could not figure out how to reverse the car, so we sat there laughing hysterically as she tried to get the car to move
The guy in front of us ended up having to help her by moving his car forward enough for us to just pull out of the spot instead of reversing. Okay, that hurdle was done.
Upon exiting the airport, you have to go through a gate... that ended up being hilarious as well because we did not know if we needed money or what. The guard ended up just telling us to go through since we were clearly very confused. I think at one point he just laughed at how ridiculous we were.
After successfully leaving the airport, grinding the clutch several times and getting on the highway, ants began crawling out of the vents of the car. At this point, I was in the back seat laughing so hard I could not breathe while Sarah and Christina are freaking out about the ants all over the dashboard. At this point in the day we had only eaten breakfast and were starving, so we stopped at a gas station to get some snacks until we could get some actual food.
Now, this part of the story is hilarious because Christina thought it would be a good idea to walk into the gas station and ask for ant killer. So she grabbed out her phone, looked up the word for ant {hormiga} and walked into the gas station confident she could communicate enough to get what she needed. Boy was she wrong.
We walk into the gas station and look around for snacks - I ended up with a bottle of water and Doritos while the girls grabbed their drinks and snacks. At this point, Christina walks up to the cashier says, "hormigas!" and makes the slitting someones throat motion across her neck. After she says this she bursts out laughing and the clerk and allllll of the other people in the gas station also burst out laughing. It was a pretty hilarious site if I must say.
Eventually they figured out what we needed, but they only had heavy duty stuff that would have been way too much for what we needed.
After a few hours of driving, we finally made it to our hostel and checked in for the night. This place was actually pretty neat. We were able to rent a private room for the three of us that had our own bathroom and key. This was nice because typically in hostels you share a room with several strangers. We had fresh linens and a warm bed.
After talking to the guy who checked us in, we went to a local bar to grab some dinner. At this point I had eaten so much chicken and steak, I was excited to be able to have a nice juicy burger and this one was perfect. When we talked to the clerk at the hostel, he told us that surfing would not be good and that we really should not go surfing, but the bartender told us that we could possibly get a chance to go with the help of her friend. So she hooked us up and he came to meet us at the restaurant and made plans to go surfing the next morning with his help.
After dinner, we headed down to the beach to check everything out. It was a bit of a chilly evening, but it was nice to walk around in the sand and smell the ocean. We also found one of those workout parks that they have all over Uruguay and took some time to play on them. Once we were tuckered out for the day we made our way back to the hostel for the evening.
Back at the hostel, we hung out in the common area to use the Internet and catch up on Facebook and Instagram. We also hung out with Juan Pablo and Jose Maria. They both work at the hostel so it was neat to talk to them about Punta del Este and the fun things to do. The evening ended with a good night's sleep.
Day 8
The next morning we woke up early enough to grab breakfast at the hostel before getting ready to meet Santiago for surfing lessons. Surfing was so much fun and much harder than I was expecting it to be. Thankfully we all were able to have a good time - and I only ended up with a few bruises on my arms and legs from the board hitting me.
After surfing we went back to the hostel to shower and clean up before walking down to see "El Mano" or The Hand. This is a really neat sculpture in Punta del Este that looks like a hand coming out of the sand. After doing some research on the sculpture, it was actually made to warn the surfers and swimmers that the water can be dangerous and to use caution when in the water. What a neat concept.
Of course, we had to get a few pictures of us on the thumb, so we took turns pushing each other onto the thumb. This is my absolute favorite picture from the trip and I am so glad Sarah took it of me.
After The Hand, we grabbed a bit to eat and went back to the hostel to take a nap before heading out for the evening. In Uruguay, the parties do not start until 2:00 am or so and go until well after the sunrises. So taking a nap was absolutely necessary.
We ended up going out to a local club that was huge! I have never been to a place this large. And of course, since it was the day before Halloween, everyone was dressed in costume. I am pretty sure we were the only ones not dressed in costume. Oh well!
It was so fun to just hang out and meet all kinds of people. In fact, some of the people we met were from Montevideo and had come out just to party for the night and celebrate a Bachelor/Bachelorette party. It was pretty awesome being able to talk to some people and make new friends.
The "evening" ended around 5:00 am when we left the club to go home and sleep for a few hours before heading out on another fun road trip.
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