6 days in Uruguay

We were so close, we had to go to Uruguay.  We had to check it out - it has the second largest Carnaval culture in the world just behind Brazil´s, so why not!

Yes, that´s an inflatable bucking bull!

About the size of Florida, the country of Uruguay is across the widest river in the world from Buenos Aires.  We´ve seen the Mississippi and Columbia Rivers; the Rio de la Plata makes both of their mightiness look meek.  We ferried for an hour over to the tiny town of Colonia del Sacramento.  It´s been recognized as a UNESCO heritage sight and couldn´t be more relaxing.  But it was culture shock once again....we went from a city of 13 million to one with 21,000 people (and from our own apartment to our first hostel).  This is BA across the Rio from Colonia, with a very good lense.  And isn´t Colonia picturesque? 

We relaxed, enjoyed the river, the history, rode bikes, discovered new birds and breathed clean air.

Mate (ma-tay) is HUGE in Uruguay.  We thought Americans we´re obsessed with coffee drinks; our obsession is tame compared to what we saw.  Uruguayans seem to never be without their Mate cups and their thermos of hot water.  Mate is kind of like tea but the leaves are used over and over.  The Mate cup is shared, kind of like a joint, and it is an important social practice for Uruguayans.  Evidently there is art to preparing, pouring and passing.  We thought it seemed to be a very high maintenance past time, but, hey, what do we know!

Montevideo is the largest city in Uruguay but only has 1.5 million people.  Our hearts sank when we arrived in our new home.  Our view was the best we´ve had so far, but our "apartment" was the strangest. The "kitchen" was in the bathroom and the marble tub was massive with the shower head propped up with scotch tape.  For $38 a night, you get what you pay for!  Our time in Montevideo was made special with the local contacts we made.  (More on that later.)  Off to Iguazú Falls in Northern Argentina.