Quick hop to Uruguay
Uruguay | Friday, July 31, 2015 | 13 photos
Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay, is located on the river "La Plata" separating Argentina from Uruguay. Technically it's a river, but you can't actually see the other side so it feels much more like the ocean! You can see the Portuguese influence in the architecture of Colonia, a beautiful port town not far from Montevideo. Montevideo is a capital and resembles a lot Buenos Aires but it's strange how quiet and almost boring it was. Don't forget Uruguay has only 3 million people so the capital is one of the smallest in all of Latin America. But Uruguay is famous for its beautiful beaches and the country is invaded with Argentinians and Brazilians in the summer which explains the slower pace in the winter now. But we love collecting passport stamps, so one more off the list! ;-)
Uruguay is also called the "Switzerland of Latin America" because it's the smallest country in LA, rich people hide their money here to avoid the frequent economic/political crises, they make good cheese, and it's more expensive than many other neighboring countries. To further the similarities there are 12 million cows but only 3 million Uruguayans. ;-) That's why people love doing outdoor bbq called " asado", you can smell the smoking charcoal on almost every street corner. Anne-Flore had a stomach flu however so we didn't have any asado and we didn't get out much in Montevideo, which really sucks for a short 5 day visit. Rather ironic for Anne-Flore since she was never sick in Bolivia but finally got sick in the Switzerland of South America! All part of the adventure. :-)
We took the bus back to Colonia and then the boat back to Buenos Aires; felt like going home :-) It was great to be back in BA with Laura and her whole family. Anne-Flore wants to reiterate, 'I love BA!' Kurt too ;-) Staying with Laura and co made our stay in BA even better, Anne-Flore's going miss her a lot. It's extra sad since AF doesn't know when she's going to see her again. :-(
Today we are taking an overnight bus to Iguazu falls in the north at the border with Brazil and Paraguay. A 17h bus ride, the longest so far but buses here are much more comfortable than in Bolivia but still we are not looking forward to it. We need to get used to the long bus rides for Brazil; distances are huge there! Iguazu to Rio will be another 24h bus ride. :-(
