hola chicos,

Our week in Montevideo has flown by. i´d like to report that we are pretty slick at spanish now after our spanish classes but we still have a little way to go. We are damn good at asking for directions and pointing out whether items are on/under/behind/or next to the table though.

Bars and clubs only really open in Montevideo about 2 in the morning, our classes started at 10am so leaving a salsa bar at 5 in the morning seemed like a reasonable thing to do, but all the Uruguayans who are working the next day have the stamina to stay until it closes at 7. we did try and show the locals how the dancing is done back home. there was lots of jumping from steve and a fair amount of one handed action from me. not sure it endeared us to those around us but we did have plenty of space to dance in.

To recover after our spanish clas we headed to Puerto Mercardo (Port Market - it´s a doddle this language) where there are loads of restaurants all cooking meat as per the photo. What a hunck of meat: remarkable, magnificient and cooked perfectly.

we´re back on the beach, punta del diablo - devil´s point, on the east coast of Uruguay. lots of big sand dunes, it´s very pretty.

another of my lists, this time of things lost or discarded since we arrived:

• 18 pairs of Steve´s socks. Remarkably he still has about 8 more pairs.
• two whistles. (i thought they were torches when i packed)
• one battery charger (probably still plugged in at the hostel in Rio where we forgot it).
• one replacement battery charger. tinpot and broken and useless. Until we find a new one or see if our solar battery charger works we will be cameraless unfortunately.
• hope of steven having a haircut. his hair is almost as long as the length of his head, and it is all going straight up.
• no pounds in weight.
• one hand luggage bag, returned to the hostel by the taxi driver
• any idea what punctuation marks are on what keys on these keyboards
• budgetary control.

Hope all our readers are well, say hi to each other next time you meet up.