Let's talk about some uruguay.

I really want to take a nap right now. I think I will.

So I went and took a nap, you just can't tell, because this a blog.

Anyways, I went to Uruguay Friday and Saturday. It was a program trip, there were supposed to be two trips with the program, included in the fee of course. I don't think the other one is actually going to happen, which might be better, because traveling with that many people is a bit chaotic. There were 75 of us and that is only half of the group.

So, we had to be at the buquebus station at 8:30 am. That is a ghastly early hour and I did not like it. I also discovered this morning that my host mom makes the coffee the night before and we re-heat it, this explains why it sucks. That's not the only reasons it sucks, but its a contributing factor.

Anyways, so I get there, we get on the boat after getting our passports stamped, woot. I get coffee, take some pics and then sleep for the rest of the trip. We get to Uruguay, we meet Mario (our program director) and take two giant buses to his house which is also a bed and breakfast. It was beautiful, they fed us really well. I ate barely any meat and some really good sweet potatoes. He has a pool and we walked to the beach which is actually a river. It was amazing. Later we got to our hotels and then went on a city tour at night. It was a bit chilly but gorgeous and you could see all the stars perfectly. After this, we went to the retaurant that the program had rented out for the night. In the back room, where we sat of course, they had a projector screen on the wall playing Britney´s single collection. It was fabulous. We had delicious food and something called Clerico, which is really fruity and diguises alcohol, we know now how to get Greg drunk, he loved it. After dinner, we slept.

Saturday, I woke up and had breakfast after checking out of the hotel. Greg met me at the hotel and we met Lindsay and Ami who were staying in a different part of town. We had already decided that it would be super fun to rent bikes and ride them 5 km to the Plaza del Torres, which is a no longer in use bullfighting stadium. It´s in danger of collapse. Also, bullfighting is still legal in Uruguay but not in Argentina. So we walked around, taking pictures and looking for somwhere to rent bikes. We ended up renting them at the Thrifty for 3 dollars per hour, which we thought was completely reasonable. We rode our bikes, it was super fun, we got stalked by a stray dog which kept biting me and we finally made it to the Plaza del Torres. We walked around the fence, which had barbs and took pictures. We then decided to climb through the hole in the fence to take pictures of the inside. Ami is short, it was easy for her, I am not, it was not easy for me. We then decided to ride back to town and return the bikes. On the way back, I was in front and therefore, in the danger position. There was a bad spot in the road and I was going to fast for it. I hit the rock or something and according to Lindsay, I completely flew over the handlebars. She said it was epic and scary, but it makes sense since I have a huge perfectly straight bruise running up my shin. Please refer to facebook for the pictures Lindsay took immediately afterwards, I´m bamf. Yeah. We got back, returned our bikes, had some lunch, got confused by converting currencies and walked around town taking pictures. At one point Ami and I decided to get ice cream, it was artesenal and the best ice cream ever. After that, we walked to the artisan fair (I´m having difficulty spelling) where everything was from China. We went back to our hotels, got our stuff, took a cafe and returned to the buquebus to return to BA.

There was a lnog bus ride, I slept and wrote postcards. There was a singer on the boat, who was singing songs in english, but didn´t actually speak english, making for an intersting show. She also had a platinum blonde hairpiece. Also interesting.

When we got back, we took a bus to this sushi restaurant that Greg had wanted to try. The salmon rolls that Lindsay and I got were really good, but the tuna was canned tuna in a roll, making for a completely unpleasing sushi roll. Overall, the food was good, but sadly, diversifying your palate in this city is very expensive.

Sunday, I slept in, went running, worked on some stuff for my internship and met Lindsay, Greg and Ami at the other tea connection for lunch. We have decided we like this tea connection better than the other, because the staff don´t seem to resent our existence. Also, I had there smoked salmon salad which I would highly recommend to anyone and everyone.

I´ve been eating less to avoid gaining more weight and so now, my host mom watches me eat.

Today, I had to get up and come to the program office to fill out a form I was supposed to turn in last week, but didn´t. Now, I´m in the office, but I have to leave for class because I have to take the slowest subte ever, it was built in 1913. It´s still the same one.

Anyways, talk to you later, lots of love
Kristin