I returned yesterday from my 8-day vacation to the coast of Uruguay. I left Paraguay super excited to go to the beach every day and eat tons of delicious seafood. Unfortunatly, it rained 7 out of 8 days of our trip, and the shellfish selection was extremely dissapointing! Our trip started out in the city of Montevideo for two days. The weather was beautiful the first day, but by the second day the rain had started. We did a lot of walking, eating at expensive restaurants, sightseeing, and overspending on clothes while in the city. Sounds like what most tourists do in most cities around the world, no? The city had a lot of really beautiful buildings and plazas, but also had some really shitty areas that made me feel like I was back in Asuncion, Paraguay.

For our second stop, we took a 3-hr bus ride east to La Paloma. In La Paloma it was cold and rainy the whole two days, so I don't have much to say about the place. I bought a warm sweatshirt because I didn't think to bring one with me, and we walked up the beaches, went up into the lighthouse, which involved climbing a really scary ladder, ate yummy fish, and met lots of travelers at the hostel we stayed at.

The last stop, and by far the best, was to Punto del Diablo, a small surfing/fishing village near the border of Brasil. As soon as the bus pulled into the town I knew I would love the place. The town is basically built on the beach, and consists of hippies and surfers. The first day we walked around the town and the beach in between the rain. The hostel we stayed at has a bar located on the ocean, so we decided to venture out of the hostal for dinner and drinks despite the torrential down pour. The staff from the hostel, and one other group of guess also were at the bar (but thats it). After sharing a sandwich and couple liters of cerveza with Carin, the power went out in town. The wind and the rain were so strong, the paint was dripping off the walls inside the bar. After heavy contemplation of how we could sleep comfortable on the tile floor of this bar, and after a few more beers, we decided to try to brave the elements and go back to the hostel. The rain was not letting up and probably was not planning on stopping anytime soon. The town was pitch black because there was no power, our brand new umbrella was inside out, and our mini maglite basically served no purpose. It was one of those things that you look back and laugh at, but at the time, it SUCKS!

Day two surprisingly cleared up and we made it to the beach and I go to go in the ocean. We let the giant waves throw us around for a while until we realized we were in the middle of a school of jellyfish. I ran the hell out of the water, and then was too scared to go back in past my ankles. At night we had a yummy dinner with some kids we met at the hostel and then went to see a reggae band play at a bar on the ocean that totally reminded me of the Wheelhouse in Galilee, Rhode Island. At the hostel we met kids from England, Ireland, New Zealand, Australia, South America, Canada, France, and Massachusettes. Definately a more diverse crowd than I've ever experienced in Paraguay or Newtown, Connecticut. Anyway, It started raining again, but stopped by the time we left the bar. I fell in love with place, and have already inquired about jobs in Punto del Diablo for when I complete my peace corps service in December.

The next day, it was raining again, and we were depressed because we were leaving Punto del Diablo and heading back to the cityto catch our flight back to Paraguay the next day. A nice guy from France who was staying in our hostel offered us a ride back to Montevideo in his renta-car, and we gladly accepted the offer. This way, the trip was 2 hours shorter than a bus, and free. It ended up as 5 of us crammed into a little hatchback. The frenchman who was living in Uruguay and than Chile to work at winery's, two germans who lived in Buenos Aires, Argentina and were interns at hospitals, and then us, two americans who lived and worked as farmer's in the middle of nowhere, paraguay. We all shared the common language of spanish, even though it is none of our fisrt languages. It was an interesting, silent ride back. We had delicious sushi that night, at a restaurant near the hostel, went to bed, and woke up super early the next day to catch our a.m. flight that ended up being delayed until noon. But, we made it back to Paraguay, where its always hot and humid, but there are no beaches to make up for it. Although, the chaco hotel does have a 2 foot deep pool on the roof...