To get to Uruguay Caitlin and I took the boat across the Rio de la Plata leaving from the port at the marina in Buenos Aries. After an hour on board we docked at Colonia de Sacramento, the former smugglers port.
Luckily it was only a short walk before we reached the town and found a hostel to leave our bags and go for a mooch. We wandered down to the end of town to the Barrio Historica, the historical area, where we found the tile-and-stucco colonial houses that lined the narrow, winding, cobbled streets.
Before long it was getting dark and both of us were getting peckish so we headed into the back streets to find an old style neighbourhod Parrilla (barbecued meat steak house). We put an order in for a platter for 2 and were chuffed to bits when a plate of hot coals arrived atop with a mountain of meat! Amoung the mountain we found steaks, chicken thighs, chorizo, ribs and ´blood sausage´ - black pudding I guess. We were each given a wooden chopping board for a plate before we attacked our dinner, and when we did we were pleasently surprised at just how delisious it was - even rivalling the renound meat that we had eaten in Argentina!
First impressions of Colonia de Sacramento were beautiful. I found it so refreshing to find myself in the picture perfect little town after previously spending a lot of our time in hectic cities.
The following day Caitlin and I had a great time, we took a golf buggy out for a few hours to go exploring further out of town. I think we were the slowest vehicle on the roads but it was a fun novitly and an excellent way to see the sights.
We set out of the town, passing the sports stadium and driving along the edge of the gorgeous white sand bay. Turning inland we came across some interesting attractions that Gave us more insight into the intriguing culter and history of Uruguay.
My favorite places were the horse racing track
(unfortunatly there were no races being held at the time)....
... and the old "Plaza de Toros", the bull fighting ring.
With a little time to spare on the rental we went back to the pretty streets of the barrio historico and tried to navigate our way around the bumpy maze of one-way roads that seemed to have tno logic to them at all! It was a shame that in the afternoon the clouds rolled over and it rain over the town for the rest of the day. We took shelter in our hostel playing cards and watching bad TV.The next moring the sun was back and we went to visit El Faro, the restored lighthouse. We ascened up the spiral stair case and climbed the final ladder to get to the outdoor platform at the top, giving us 360 views of the colorful town below.
Caitlin and I had planned to go and see Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay, but desided to stay in Colonia de Sacramento for the whole day. So when the sun kept shining we went to the beach to soak in the rays and listen to the bohemian playing his guitar in the shade of the willow tree nearby.
After our third night we checked out and were back on the boat to Buanos Aires. I absolutly loved my time in Uruguay, I only wish I could have stayed longer. To me Colonia de Sacramento had got "IT", whatever that is to keep me happy for days
PARAGUAY - CIUDAD del ESTE
From Argentina, crossing the busy boarder into Ciudad del Este `City of the East` left us right in the middle of market mayhem when we got off the bus. The city is a renowned center for contraband goods, earning it the nickname `Supermarket of South America` - I bet you could find anything you could ever need around the streets of this city!
Ciudad del Este, apparently like the rest of Paraguay, is a place of remarkable contrasts:
From Argentina, crossing the busy boarder into Ciudad del Este `City of the East` left us right in the middle of market mayhem when we got off the bus. The city is a renowned center for contraband goods, earning it the nickname `Supermarket of South America` - I bet you could find anything you could ever need around the streets of this city!
Ciudad del Este, apparently like the rest of Paraguay, is a place of remarkable contrasts:
- It is rustic and sophisticated, where the grotty markets start on the doorstep of the fancy, air-con shopping malls.
- It is extreemly poor and obscenly wealthy, where the football hooligans celebrate outside the grand casinos.
- It boast exotic natural reserves like the Monday Waterfall just down the road from the massive, artificial Itaipu Dam.
And we also saw the Itaipu Dam too - voted one of the 7 Wonders of the Modern World! Paraguay´s publicity machine is awash with facts and figures about the Itaipu hydro electric project; with a resevoir 220m deep, 7km wide and a whopping 170km long it is able to generate 80% of Paraguay´s electricity as well as 25% of Brazil´s too!
But what the project avoids the mention of is the envirnoment consequences it caused when the 220m deep resevoir drowned the Sete Quedas Falls, a set of waterfalls more impressive than the Iguazu Falls, along with several indigenous villages and a wild amount of habitats belonging to all the birds and animals in the area.A oment to remember in Paraguay was definitly our meal at Gauchino Grill on our last evening. We made full use of the salad bar before the all-you-can-eat meat feast began where waiters would arrive at the table offering cuts of meat that they carried with them ...
...`Sì por favor, más, más!`
I don´t know howbut, I managed a trip to the dessert cart too!
We also went to visit the huge Iglesia Catedral, crowned by a Romanesque dome this cathedral overlooks the Plaza San Martin. The building is even more impressive inside with ornate Icons that line the walls and stunning, intricate paintings that decorate the high ceiling.
However my highlight, whilst staying in Cordoba, was befriending Connie, the hostels puppy, who provided hours of entertainment but had a tendancy to steal my flip flops and a hunger for smelly socks!
We also learned that Rosario is the birth place of Che Guevara, the Marxist revolutionist. So we went to visit the plaza that has been dedicated to him and to have our picture taken with his statue.
By the time we had checked in and met our roommates it was late afternoon, we grabbed a bite to eat before going out with Anna and Karen, 2 girls from ur dorm, to go and see "La Bomba de Tiempo" the drum show. None of us knew what to expect so when we turned up at the open air venue next to an ols warehouse that had been turned into a bar area I thought it was a fantastic setting. The show commenced when the 15 percussionists got on stage and started to rock out. The audience grew bigger and the music really got the crowds moving and grooving. On stage there was always one of the drummers at the front as conductor, shaking their hips as much as the rest of us! What a great way to be introduced to Buenos Aires, one of South America´s most electrifying cities.
The next day Caitlin and I spent most of our time around the cities micro-centre. We found that the city holds many European buildings, which surprised us as we expected a more Latin American feel. The more livelier streets were the pedestrian streets, packed with harried bussiness people, leather salesmen, shady money changer, street sellers and curious tourist like us! To the east of the cetre is Buenos Aires newest part of town, Puerto Madro, the lovely marina. The renovated docklands are lined with pleasant walkways , trendy bars and what look like pretty pricay hotels.
We took a siesta in the late afternoon before getting ready to go out again, to see more of the Buenos Aires nightlife. It was a late start to the night as the action in the city doesn´t even get started untill around 2am! We found a bar with Anna and Karen and some more people from our hostel to have drinks and listen to the live music going on before all bundled into a taxi in the early hours of the moring to take us to one of the night clubs downtown. It was a great night, fun filled with lots of dancing and we didn´t end up coming home untill the sun began to rise!
I loved my time in Buenos Aires, I could have easily stayed and been occupied and entertained for a lot longer however our time restrictions were telling us to move on. I think Buenos Aires has been my favorite city that I have visited since leaving home in July, maybe one day I will get to come back...
Guarani legend says that the Iguazu Falls origionated when a jealous forest god, enraged by a warrior escaping down river by canoe with a young girl, caused the riverbed to collapse in front of the lovers, producing precipitous falls over which the girl fell and at their bade turned to rock. The warrior survived as a tree loking over his fallen lover.
For the rest of the afternoon, untill the park closed, Caitlin and I were on the upper boardwalk circuit of the park that looks down over several of the falls and the San Martin Island that isolates itself at the bottom of the waterfalls around it.
Neither Caitlin nor I understood a word of what our spanish speaking guide was telling us but it was a great way to see the towns landscape, the huge navy vessels and some sea lions too.
For the rest of the afternoon we just spent time being in the sun, relaxing in the plazas before making our way back to Santiago. That evening the hostel put on a Chilean BBQ which we enjoyed with all the other geusts. There was a huge amount of sood cooked up for us, mostly all meat including fat Chorizo sausages, chicken thighs, racks and racks of pork ribs and thick, bloody steaks... 
After our stay in Caldera Caitlin and I felt ready to take on the next part of our journey. Our next stop was to be in Pucon, far south of Santiago, and we were currently far north. We arranged an overnight bus to take us to Santiago followed, consectutivly, by another overnight bus that stopped in Pucon. Ensuing a total of 25 hours on the bus, a lot of fast food and a lot of sitting we eventually arrived in Pucon after 2 days on the go, feeling tired, smelly and dirty!
For the first 2 days in Pucon we helped out at the local orphanage in the afternoons. I think it must have been the girl summer holidays as the seemed to have been left to run riot about the place! Caitlin and I were left alone to amuse the children, they all thoguht it was hilarious that neither of us could speak Spanish and they probably got away with murder as our answer to everything was "ahh CI!".
Me with Nicola, Alejandra and little Saray.
Our next stop was at Villarrica Volcano. The live volcano, that still smokes and and bubbles from inside the cone, was a very impressive sight and made a good lunch time spot too! And... it is here in the winter that you are able to ski > gutted I forgot my salopettes! 
Another stunning spot we drove to was at Salto de le China, another waterfall. While we were there we couldn´t get too close to the falls without getting wet, the spray coming at us from the plunge pool was so strong we didn´t want to get soaked. I´m sorry that my picture does not do it justice, becasue the fall was sooo tall you cannot see the top! 
Alot of the day was spent in the car, becasue the area around Pucon is so large, but the landscape that Caitlin and I were going though was amazing! This was our car for the day overlooking Lake Villarrica.
At the end of the day Caitlin and I were at the end of the valley and found ´Termas Los Pozones´- a set of six natural hot springs, we thought this was the perfect way to end the day, bathing in the hot water as the sun was going down! It was also a lovely end to our time in Chile as the following day we were up ealry for long day of bus rides to cross the boarder into Argentina.