RTW: Exchange in Chile

U R GAY

Next we took a trip to Uruguay, which turned out to be even less marvellous than we had been told: to start we waited for the damn boat to leave for two hours because "the docks were closed" due to heavy fog. Ok, admittedly it was heavy but what happened to high-tech? Next we were treated with a fog thicker than thin paper and the laid-back beach town we went to seemed more like a ghost-town. Plus the whole trip was done more in the purpose of "just going to Uruguay" anyway..

Anyway, we took off on a day-trip to Colonia, an old (17th century) smuggler town an hour away from Buenos Aires on the Uruguayan side of the river delta. On that particular day the town was really dead and during siesta we had trouble to find any open doors there. An old man in the old lighthouse wanted us to pay to go on top of it to see the sights but he obviously hadn't stuck his nose out of the door all day as you could barely see 50 meters on street level. I'm told on a clear day one can see to Buenos Aires from there.. Well, the traveller's luck has to run out sometime, right?





Uruguay gave us also a nice case of stomach-flu, which kept us more or less still the next few days. More bad luck followed: the French football team woke up after sleeping on their 1998 success and killed Brazil (again), which was not in our program as this meant there would be no party in Brazil either. Good for the angry, headbutting bald man, but they could have lost this one for us. No sympathy for them after the final, none whatsoever.

In the half-living state during the flu I managed to visit Teatro Colon, a Buenos Aires landmark and supposedly one of the best theatres in the World. It was impressive with its vastness, decorations and the fact that almost everything was of marble. However, I think it was a bit smaller than the Vienna Opera and it was definately smaller than the St.Petersburg equivalent.



Here's a way to appeal to consumer:



Earlier we had visited the grave of Evita and wanted to go to the museum, but the illness kept us in bed for that. For those that do not know: she was a working-class heroine that as president Peron's wife was a spokesperson for the less fortunate and women -among other things- and is now respected for that.

After regrouping, we still tried to visit Tierra Santa or the "Jesus park" that, according to website, was open -but wasn't! Argentinians do have something to learn about updating information as they change to, say, winter schedules in a Christian theme park. All we saw was the gate. :(



Of course, once in Argentina and Uruguay, one has to try the Mate, a tea-like hot drink. I bought a kit to Finland as well, so beware guys..



In Urugayay,

The best (& only, actually not very good) national beer tasted: Patricia
Best (& only, very good!) national dish: Chivito, steak sandwich with various ingredients like bacon, egg, etc.
Best experience/sight: The lunch...

posted by Kassu @ 3:41 PM