I woke up feeling rough. This time it wasn't due to the amount of Quilmes I had drunk or any other alcoholic beverage. The fact I had been attacked by mosquitos all night (another huge selling point for Milhouse hostel) and rowdy people entering in and out of the dorm all night being extremely noisy meant I was up pretty much every twenty minutes. It would be our last night in that hostel though and I couldn't wait to get out, despite them having an awesome breakfast selection. Typically though on our last night we found that they did have a big light in the room, the light switch was just hidden behind a bunk bed nobody would have seen unless you know it was there. Still I advise nobody to stay there, party there yes, but lay your head in a much better hostel.

Anyway the day was to be an exciting day, even though I was in a grumpy mood due to my lack of beauty sleep. We were crossing the border to Uruguay, getting another stamp in the passport, our first country to country escapade. We were getting comfortable in Argentina, Buenos Aires in particular, we needed an adventure and know it was time to face more of the unknown, how would customs be? What would the transport be like? Would we be waiting ages? Would the tap water still taste like a heavily chlorinated swimming pool? What would Uruguay be like? I knew very little about the country apart from a couple of there well known football players Diego Forlan, Godin and Cavani. Whatever happened it would be a good adventure.

We met Allie who was coming with us for a short while and made our way to the ferry terminal. Yes we would be crossing the border by boat. The last time me and Earl travelled to another country by boat was from Thailand to Laos, in an oversized canoe with car seats as the chairs and took two days. This time though we were on a ferry similar that you'd get from Devon to the Isle of Weight or Sydney to Manly. And roughly took about two hours. The only downside was you were unable to go out on deck, get the sea breeze and heck out the views. The border control was a simple process, maybe the simplest and easiest I've ever done, the passports were all sorted and stamped at one end, just meaning in Uruguay we just needed our bags scanning. Apart from Earl getting two Bananas confiscated off him all went well and we had entered Uruguay to a place called Colonia where we would be staying for two nights. We made our way to our hostel - Che Lagarto which was only a short walk from the terminal and then explored the town. The town is very nice but really small, in a few hours we had managed to scale the lighthouse and check out the views, walk the main high street, visit the old town, a church and the ruins of an old building. So we mozied back to the hostel had a chicken and rice concoction for dinner and proceeded to get smashed on cheap wine and litre bottles of beer while playing the usual drinking games.

We all woke up a little worse for wear the next day, but made in time for breakfast, this included eating cornflakes from a mug and bread and jam. The free breakfasts were good to save on the money but I missed my bacon and egg butties. From here we decided to rent what can only be described as a Golf Cart for the afternoon. This allowed us the opportunity to explore a bit more. Our first stop was Real De San Carlos Beach, where we took a gander at one of Uruguay's beaches. It wasn't the best, but to be fair I'm use to Australia's beaches. We then made our way to an abandoned bull ring called Plaza De Toros. It looked like a poor man's version of the coliseum in Rome. But we snuck in past the no entry sign, climbed the stadium and had some good photos in the thick of it. I couldn't help thinking while I was stood in the middle that I was like Russell Crowe in Gladiator. Allie then recommended that we went to Los Foridos I think it was called, though I probably have that wrong for a Chivito. Chivitos were amazing. It is a sandwich-style national dish in Uruguay, and consists primarily of a thin slice of beef, with mozzarella, tomatoes, mayonnaise, and also bacon, fried or hard-boiled eggs and ham. Other ingredients might be added into the sandwich such as red beets, peas, grilled or pan-fried red peppers, and slices of chilli. Earl and I had the lot and it was incredible. We then made our way to a second beach on the opposite side of town this one called Playa Ferrando. The beach was ok, but we got, I say we, but it was mainly me got absolutely decimated by mosquitos. The golf cart was great fun, we got to see parts of Colonia we wouldn't have if it wasn't for having the Cart and we also had a fun game of Chinese Fire Drill. Where you stop the car and everyone has to change positions. We had a bit of time left with the cart that we decided to called Sally so stopped off at a park for a while and checked out the Mulle Viejo pier. But eventually it was time to take Sally back to the rental shop and say goodbye. Sally was not the only person we would be saying goodbye to that night, as after our tuna sandwich dinner we bidded farewell to our new friend Allie, who was heading back to Buenos Aires for the remainder of her stay in South America. I think I speak for both Earl and myself when I say we are very grateful to Allie for all she helped us with, me getting a phone, showing us around, taking us places we would have probably never herd of and mainly being ur Spanish translator. The night was an unusually quiet affair for us that night because we had booked a bus for 5.40am the next morning. So after showing Earl the 3mates7seas documentary I had been banging on about we had an early night.

Our early night didn't stop us overlaying. We were meaning to wake up at 5am. Instead we woke up at 5.21. Our bus was at 5.40. We had 19minutes to get sorted and get to the bus station. Would we do it and make it to a town which has a famous pie named after it! Well my friends you will have to wait until next to time to see if we made it, or see if we had another day driving golf carts around Colonia.

So until next time stay safe and take care

Adi

xx