uruguay for the day

Friday, March 27th, 2009
We started the day with two mate lattes and a chocolate chip muffin at the nearby starbucks.

After a mate latte we walked to the collectivo stop to head for the boat to Uruguay, but the colectivo we needed was late so I started to look in the "guia 't'" for other possible buses to take. Finally we got on a bus, but I kept looking at my watch. We were cutting it close. Finally our stop came up but we were still far away, even though we could see the building. We weren't going to make it....luckily a taxi heard Nicholas whistle and stopped or did the homeless guy hear Nick whistle and stop his taxi? Either way we jumped in a taxi for just 2 blocks.

After checking in, going through security, then both Uruguayan and Argentine customs we got on the boat at exactly 11:30am. The crew wasted no time; we left on schedule. We agreed that if we didn't jump in that taxi we wouldn't have made the boat. I need to learn how to whistle like that.

Around 12:30 we arrived in Colonia. We first walked around and then had a nice lunch on a plaza. It was quite and peaceful until a huge group of Americans showed up. Even though I speak English every day here it's weird for me to hear strangers speaking English (if that makes any sense). Lunch was yum-my!(photo below: our amazing Chinese chicken and rice dish with a shared salad and two agua con gas)
After lunch we both excitedly headed for a dunbuggy rental place. I think I can safely say that we both felt like kids on Christmas day! Oh what fun, a dunbuggy!!! It cost $15 usd for the first hour and $10 usd for the second.

Nicholas didn't have his license on him but luckily I did, so I had to drive the buggy out of the renters eye-sight. Without any hesitation I handed over the control of the dunbuggy. (I'm not sure if I wrote this in the blog, but last week I had the strangest desire to 'go for a ride' in the car. I just wanted to be driven around to enjoy the motion and see some new sights at a quick pace. So this day I got my fix, just to be the passenger and I think Nicholas really liked driving it around. He said they're not street legal in the U.S.) When we drove it away from the rental place I didn't put on my seat belt because I knew we would switch. Once we made the switch we started to drive and I went for the seat belt. It was one of those kinds that you put your arms through and it fastens at your chest. Sure enough....it was broken. Typical. Very typical. So, since it had long straps I tied them into a knot. Enough about safety issues....the dunbuggy was so so much fun! For me that was the most fun I had this week. We drove through the small town of Colonia, made a left and headed out of town towards the beach. Even though the beach was a river rather than an ocean there was white sand. It really felt like a tropical island. There were some other people picnicking but only a few. We had our own beach which we lay on, taking in some sun.
(photo below: dunbuggy pulled up to the beach. it didnt do well in the sand)
After some sun, we headed back into town, got some ice cream and walked around a park. We noticed a park pigeon on top another. Mating season I thought, but Nick said they were trying to kill each other. No, not pigeons, they mate for life, they don't kill each other. But when we exited the park he pointed out the pigeon that was still laying on the path. No, she must be sleeping!...in the middle of the park path. (me trying to be naive)

After witnessing the pigeon murder we returned our dunbuggy and headed for the boat. This time we wanted to be early. At 5:30pm we boarded the boat back to Buenos Aires. In February when I was on the boat to Uruguay, the boat company constantly played their theme song. It's so annoying, but I kept singing it, even on this journey without hearing it I found myself humming the tune.... but somehow I was disappointed that they didn't play their song. So I had to youtube it so that Nicholas could be plagued with the same tune playing in his head.

Bu Bu Bu-quebus!

Upon looking for the video with theme song I came across their video from the 90's! You just got to watch! It really shows you the cultural differences...(an advertisement commercial with big 90's thong swimsuits.)


When we returned to B.A. I think we chose the longest colectivo home. It felt like it took forever. Once we got back to the apartment we crashed for a couple hours because we wanted to have another Buenos Aires night. Around 2:30am we headed out to a salsa club to dance dance dance. We returned around 5am.