Buenos Aires was where it all began. We passed almost three weeks in the Argentine capital and had accomplished much within this time. Looking back now I think maybe Pat and I should have bought shares in ´Quilmes`, the national beer. Memories of BA come flooding back with the mention of the name Flavia, a wonderful girl from Brazil who became the but of all of our jokes for the remainder of our stay (didn´t her name have such a sweet ring to it Shanil?). And what would BA have been without ¨sin gas¨, or more importantly ¨fuego arriba¨ which was Travis´ Spanish translation of ¨fire it up¨. But all good things must come to an end and we best thought it time to depart.

Our final night in Buenos Aires left us more or less in shambles and in need of a relaxing trip across the Rio de Plata. We bought a one-way ticket on the ferry to cross into Uruguay and our first destination was Colonia del Sacramento. This sleepy little river town is known for two things - it´s charm and it´s mode of transportation. Golf carts, mopeds, and horse and buggy are the most popular ways to travel around town - not necessarily due to comfort as most streets are fully ¨paved¨with cobblestones.

Upon arriving we rented a golf cart and spent the evening ripping around town. The boys took this opportunity to show all those in the Southern Hemisphere how to properly handle such vehicle. The town lies on Rio de Plata which means fresh water - and not quite the ocean that we had all been dreaming of - but a beach is a beach and we were just happy to be out of the city taking in some fresh air. We also realized right away that Uruguay would be a wonderful change from Buenos Aires when we received our first lunch bill - 3 pizzas and a 2L bottle of Coke for about $12 (but I bet more people would be shocked that we actually ordered Cokes rather than at how cheap the meal was!)

We woke early our first morning in Colonia just to be certain we secured ourselves some scooters! For about $20 a piece we rented two scooters and had them until 8pm. We took them out on the open road and let hell break loose at a whopping 40 km/hr. In between wreaking havoc on the streets of Colonia we managed to hit the beach for the first time, very apparent by the intense sunburns both Morgan and Travis woke up with the next morning (damn your tanning abilities Pat!). Strangely enough, Morgan only burnt her kneecaps and her left ear... we have yet to determine how exactly that happened.

Colonia was a much needed break from the hustle and bustle of our previous location, but we were ready to move on after two nights. We had our first taste of local seafood, saw a beautiful sunset, and survived the scooters (barely, but the story about how Morgan almost dumped Pat when rounding a corner can wait). Our work here was done thus we set sail for Montevideo!