The pretty town of Colonia de Sacramento was our first stop in Uruguay. It's a quant little place with cobbled streets lined with cafes and restaurants, just 50km across the water from Buenos Aires. Joined by Rem and Ellie (friends from home, also travelling South America), we made the most of the open air dining and found a lovely little restaurant on the main square. The restaurant manager lured us in with a free glass of "half & half" - the local tipple, a mix of white wine and champagne. After our huge meat feast in Argentina, we all avoided any steak on the menu and opted for fish, pasta and salad dishes. The girls washed it down with more "half & half", while the boys sampled the local beer, a brew called "Patricia".

A great way to explore the town is by bike and the good news was our hostel offered them for free, perfect! But the bad news was the bikes were old and knackered, b*****! But we decided to give them a shot anyway and went for a cycle around town. With clanking chains, rubbing mud guards and squeaking brakes (that didn't really work) we got plenty of odd looks from the locals, but the bikes held up and we had a great time exploring the picturesque squares and leafy streets around town.

Later in the afternoon we decided to push our dodgy bikes to their limit and ride out to the beach, 3km away. Incredibly, we all made it in one piece, although there was a very close incident involving a steep hill and spongy brakes! It was a great beach lined with massive palm trees, which was lucky because the sun was strong and we needed shade. But the best thing was that the place was deserted, so we had the beach all to ourselves.

After our fix of sun and sand we cycled further along the coast to the ruins of "Real de San Carlos". A hundred years ago an Argentine entrepreneur had the dream of creating an immense tourist resort complete with hotel & casino, beach pier, racecourse and 3000 seater bullring, at a cost of one million pounds. Unfortunately for him, just a few years later, the government banned bullfighting and people lost interest in his dream resort and he was left bankrupt. The crumbling ruins made an interesting excursion.

The next day, as we packed our bags to go, there was big news from home. Steph's best mate, Allie, had gone into hospital ... but this was good news, because she'd gone into labour and was going to have her first baby!

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