Argentina and Uruguay

We're off again!!! We got to go down to South America with Brett's brother Bob and sister-in-law Kery. Every year Bob goes down there to do recruiting for Brianhead Ski Resort so we decided to go tag along for a week. After staying in the Atlanta airport overnight we made our flight down there and even made it on Business Class. Oh so nice, we are definitely spoiled. Big huge soft seats that lay all the way back, real pillow, real blanket, personal screen to watch all the movies you want, constant food: snack, appetizer, main dish, fruit and cheese with crackers, dessert, all the drinks you want, etc.... It's awesome!

Anyway, so after we arrived in Buenos Aires we went and checked in at our hostel. (Originally Brett and I were going to stay in the hotel that the company had for Bob and Kery, but for some reason the hotel got really particular, and decided to make a big deal of us sleeping on the couch in their room, and trying to charge us a ton for it, so we just found a hostel down the street.) Our first day there we went out to Lucia's house (A girl that worked for Bob before) and had a barbecue. It was so nice of them to have us over to their house, and the food was delicious. For some reason the meat down there just tastes so good!

We stayed in Buenos Aires for about 4 days, which was really cool. The city doesn't really wake up until about 9pm. Seriously. Everyday we would go to some part of the city and find a good place for lunch then head back to the center where the two main streets are with entertainers, shops, markets, etc... The town would start bustling as soon as it got dark. People everywhere. One night we went to the theaters and got to see the new Batman movie for just $3, it was in English with Spanish Subtitles, which was kind of fun. I learned some new words.The best pizza ever!

While walking one day we came across the zoo and decided to go in since it was just $5. It was really cool too. There were some animals I've never seen before in there. And my favorite part was that there were a lot of animals just wandering around on the walking paths and grass everywhere. Funny stuff.

A Neutra-Rat - They're huge!!!This little guy is a type of Panda and he looked so cuddly.

We then rode the ferry "Buquebus" over to Uruguay. It took about 3 1/2 hours, and I slept the whole way because it was really early. We arrived in Colonia, Uruguay... the Port City. There are a lot of old ruins here. There used to be a wall surrounding the whole city and only a draw bridge entry. This is a very touristy but fun little town with cobblestone streets and lots of fun little shops. We rented a car in Colonia and drove up the coast close to our destination, 'Punta del Este'. We stayed in a hotel right on the beach for $30 a night in a town south of 'Punta del Este'. Brett and I woke up early so we took a walk on the beach, found some empanadas, and browsed some of the stores, a perfect morning. When Bob and Kery got up, we continued our drive up the coast and arrived at 'Punta del Este', where we we visited the giant hand sculpture in the sand, watched the water crash against the rocks, and played on some playgrounds and sculptures. It was so beautiful in Uruguay and a lot more peaceful than Buenos Aires. Brett and I soon caught a bus back down to Colonia and caught the ferry back to Argentina and flew out of Buenos Aires back home, while Bob and Kery remained in Uruguay another week and visited old mission friends (That is where he served his mission). We wanted to stay with them to see more of the country, but had to get back to work out at the farm because 2nd harvest was starting.Giant hand sculpture in the sandThis is the wall that originally protected the port city, this is the only portion that is standing to it's full height still.This is the morning we woke up early and took a walk on the beach.This arena was originally built for bull fighting, but bull fighting was banned shortly after it was finished, and it never got used and has just turned into rubble.The Buenos Aires airport. Crowded.

It was really fun for me to be back in South America and get to practice my Spanish again. The accent in Argentina and Uruguay was pretty hard for me to understand though, but I started to get the hang of it. My favorite thing about South America is that every little town has a plaza and in the plaza is a big cathedral of some sort. The architecture is just so beautiful and I am awed every time.

Traveling is fun, but it does wear you out. Especially flying standby and spending long days and nights in the airports. We finally found us a little wooden game set in Buenos Aires that has chess, checkers, and backgammon combined. It came much in handy in our many hours in the airports on the way home. I'm getting much better at chess too, a game I've never really liked before!

This trip concludes our summer of traveling and I feel so incredibly blessed for the wonderful opportunity Brett and I had to travel and see so much this summer. Although, I will say that I am looking forward to being in one place for more than a week when school starts, and settling down into our apartment with all of our new things we got from the wedding !