ok since i havnt updated this for so long im going to have to do this in small sections and get back to the week by week blog soon! so heres Uruguay so far:

Got to Salto on the argentinian border by nightbus from Brazil on sunday morning, arrived there to find a really stange town that resembled a post communist russia, really eerie and desolate with only a few old people sitting around drinking mate tea..this tea that everyone seems to drink here...everybody has their own cups, tea and carried round a flask of hot water so their never without it. Decided to go to some hot springs which Salto was famous for so caught a bus and heading to these baths. bear in mind its 30c outside and the water in these pools were 40..it was blistering hot! we went to this old spa which was a crazy experence, had a facial and a massage which was amazing and got taken around to all these pressure showers where you slay down and have boiling hot water sprayed at you at such pressure its almost inbearable. we then headed off for a typically uruguayan bbq dinner of steak. went with the group for the first time in ages and realised it was a bad idea. this woman whos with her husband has real issues with my mother, i think shes jelous or something, we were sat with her and she tunred her cahir so she wasnt facing us, cheersed everyone else but me and mom and made it very clear she hated both of us! what a b****! we had a few hours sleep in salto that night before boarding a bus at 6am to Montevideo. Man what a cool place, i was so excited to be there. it actaully resembled a european city. lovely architecture, huge plazas, parks everywhere and monuments, so unlike every non descipt south american city ive visited. wondered round and located the nearest MaccyDs which ive been craving for a while, then ventured to this hippy market which was totally awesome. they were selling everything from parrots, antuques, old records, clothes, a huge weird supply of animals and then mom found this antique scarf she just had to have but it was 400 dollars, i said hell no but she was just totally caught up in the moment but she regrets it now---what the hell is she going to do with that! so anywya chilled out in a hippy bar and watched a group of african drummers and some crazy dancing girls and then headed off to the old town. caught a bus which luckily took us there cas we had no idea where we were going and just wandered round the old cobbled streets, walked allong the peir by the docks, seeing all the families fishing on the rocks, it was really great to see what everyone does on a quiet sunday afternoon. we started to get hungry and mom was getting totally sick of roughing it so we located the nearest fancy american hotel....BAM a Radison right in our view, had an awesome steak dinner and a few drinks. man it was good to have decent food and a touch of luxury. i sure did not want to leave that hotel, could have just checked right in and stayed for a few days. today was pretty fun. our third day in Uruguay and its been great. we decided to head to Punta Del Este..dubbed "the Monoco of South America". got a little lost trying to find the bus station, missed the stop on the bus and ended up way out of the city. that was just great though, being with this tour hasnt even given me the opportunity to make mistakes and get lost which is what ive been missing! i love when things dont go as planned, so anyways, finally found the bus station after asking some man directions and then mom and him getting in a full on conversation for 30minutes! we borded the wrong bus which was twice as slow and half the price of what we payed for! but thats all the fun, i was able to practice my spanish with a tango instructor and we got to Punta Del Este in no time. we arrived and it was like we stepped into the shopping twilight zone. it was so weird, huge streets lined with Valentino, Fendi, Max Mara....it felt like Miami. mom went on a shopping spree again and bought an amazing leather coat and then i was treated to some boots for a belated xmas present..wohoo, i can wear them in england when i get home. moms taking so much stuff back to england when she goes home, my bag will be twice as light. we went for a walk around the marina, getting green with envy of the million dollar yatchs in the harbour and went for dinner on on of the waterfront cafes. its just a millionairs playground here, feels like a place where all the billionair criminals of south america go to spend vacations in luxury! so now im just waiting for a 3 hours bus ride back to Montevideo, heading to Colonia tomorrow and then onto Buenos Aires the day after! wohoo, ill try and update the rest of Brazil soon xx