Uruguay
After an uneventful ferry ride across the river to our fourth country we woke up on Friday morning in Colonia. Colonia is a pretty town, which is now a UNESCO World Herritage Site. After retrieving Lisa's purse from the ferry terminal (lost by Martyn!) we hired bikes and rode around the centre and along the beaches. The weather was pretty rubbish so no sunbathing, it was now six weeks since we had been on the beach at Lima, our tans needed some work. The town was lovely though, and it was nice to wind down after BA.

The following day we went to the capital Montevideo. The centre of Montevideo reminded me of an old eastern European town, a mixture of ornate public buildings and ugly concrete towers. We went out for a lovely meal at a local restaurant, and I managed to persuade Lisa to get the mixed grill for two. There are no pictures, needless to say it was like a tower of meat, all expertly cooked. There is no comparison between this mixed grill and the ones in the UK. Two types of steaks, ribs, chops, and chicken, fantastic. All washed down with some lovely Uruguaian wine. This was proceeded by brochette and a cocktail, great service, again, and great food, again. Then next door to watch a Uruguian band, and some sangria. Lovely day.

One week until we meet El and Sas

Up early the next day off to a market. This was a huge sprawling affair taking over street after street. It sold everything, the first thing I noticed was what I thought were mechanical toy dogs, they weren't they were real. You could also buy hens, parrots, rabbits, fish. It also sold spices, so that night I cooked a chicken curry for us both in the hostel. It was fun looking around the market, but after rain throughout our Uruguian stay so far the sun was coming through so we went over to the beach. The beach itself was lovely, golden sand, with beach volleyball and football areas. The water was a bit grey so we didn't go in and it was windy, but after so long it was nice to be on the beach again. They also had a beach volleyball tournament, we watched Columbia versus Uruguay, Columbia winning. Apparently there were also men playing too.

Uruguay was fun, much more laid back than BA, but with enough to keep you entertained for a few days. We saw live music every night we were in Montevideo, the food and beach were excellent. It didn't have the glamour of BA nor the craziness of Lima but it was head and shoulders above Santiago (aka worst place in South America). Colonia was pretty and given more time we could have spent longer in both places and explored the country a little more.

Tuesday we went back to BA because we were off to Iguacu Falls.