Paradise.

The last few days have been great. We grabbed a bus with no problems out of Montevideo. It was a nice modern bus with AC and everything. The bus ride was about 5 hours to Cabo Polonia. We went through about an hour of residential area then we were out into the country. It was very green landscapes with lots of trees and shurbs. Its wierd to see a cow field full of palm trees. There was alot of cows, horses, sheep and the occasional ostrage and a few other birds that I didnt recognize. It was nice to see some wildlife other than pigions. The bus zig zags from town to town dropping a few people off and picking up the odd person standing beside the road. It seemed like a nice short ride and before we knew it we were in the middle of nowhere. We jumped off the bus into some big old 4x4 toyota trucks and blasted through some sandy roads out onto a beach that you couldnt see the end of. On the end we were destin for there were a few little white shacks and a lighthouse towering above the small comunity.

We arrove in the town hoping to pitch our tent in a grassy spot back from the beach. We realy didnt no where we were going and happened to run into a hostel owner that spoke very good english. He continued to tell us that Calo Polonia was a park and that if we camped the rangers would kick us out of the town. He was waiting on two people comming in that hadent arrived yet, and said that if they didnt show soon we could have there room. He said we could go wait for him at his hostel. As we were walking along the beach we heard someone yelling our names. When we looked over we saw a girl that we had met a few days before in Montevideo named Stephie. She is in Uruguay on an exchange program from germany and is doing a little beaching before school starts next week. She was staying at a new hostel in town that luckly had 2 beds left, so we grabed them just as it turned dark. That night we just sat under the stars and looked up at the milkyway like I have never seen it before and saw quite a few shooting stars. Very nice change from the city.

In the morning Sage and I were up to see the sunrise. WOW! After that we went for a walk from the beach we were sitting on, to the beach on the other side of town about a 4 minuate walk, if you go slow. This beach was more protected since it was in a bit of a bay. The waters were fairly calm on this side of town. We continued our walk into town were we found two people sitting the the so called tourist booth. We were hoping to find some new place to stay since the hostel was 24 american a night! The man sitting at the booth told us that there was knowhere, but after a little convincing led us to a crazy old lady that told us she had a place for two that we could have for one night. We wanted to try to find somewhere for three so that we could get stephie outta the hostel and mabie make it a little cheaper for all of us. She showed us the little vacant house that sat accross from hers. It was a nice place with a little burner from cooking a table with four chairs and some kitchen utensiles, with a double bed and one single bed in a room on the other half of the house with a little addition with a toilet in it. Then 5 minutaes after telling us that we could only have two in there for one night she allowed us to have three people for two nights at a cost of 60 american, half the price of the hostel. As we headded back to get Stephie she just happened to be walking right infront of the place so we grabbed her and she was quite pleased.

We spent the next two days at the beach playing in the waves and laying in the sand. After the beach called for a nice shower of cold water that we got with a bucket from the well right infront of the house. We ate good meals in the house like eggs and hashbrowns in the mornings and pasta and bread for dinners. The last night we were in town there was a huge storm out over the ocean with lighting that lit up the entire skyline every 4 seconds or so. It was just amazing. We sat and watched it for almost an hour. Luckly we headded back when we did, cause about 5 minuates after ariving home it rained sooo hard the back door couldnt keep up and we had water pouring into the house. We tossed our bags on the table, put a towl accross the bottom of the down and laid in bed listening to the rain hitting the roof. In the morning we woke up earlyish and went over to the lighthouse to climb up to the top. It was a big brick lighthouse with a very very steep winding staircase that went up thru the middle. Once on top the view was amazing, there was 270 degrees of ocean with beaches running as far as the eye could see on either side of a little village with big dunes in the background. We also got to look at the light inside the lighthouse that I didnt realize was a fairly small bulb. With a very elegant, very large series of lenses arround it to magnify the light. Once down we loaded up our bags and jumped in the truck for the bus stop. We arrived just in time to catch the bus out to Punta del Diablo. Said our goodbyes to Stephie and jumped on an older bus. The ride was just over an hour of half dirt and paved roads, again stopping in smaller communitys alog the way. The bus then dropped us in what apeard to be downtown Punta del Diablo.

With no idea of were anything was in town we found a sign that read Hostel Del Diablo and headded for that. It was hot and our packs were heavy. About half a mile up the road we came to Hostel Del Diablo. A very nice very expensive hotel. He sent us on a wild goose chase arround town on foot to find the right hostel. After asking a few people we ran into a woman traveling here from Argentia who spoke farily good english and she led us to the place. Stephie had a pamphlet that said we could camp at the hostel so we were looking foreward to doing just that. The place looked great but after talking with staff for a bt they informed us that they were full and they didnt allow camping. They were very nice and sent us with a map to the Hostel International about a 20 minuate walk from them. We tossed on our bags again and headded out. H.I. is a bit of a distance from town but they make up for it with free bikes. Altho I wouldnt call these rusty pieces of metal bikes, but we grabbed the best two and headed for some grub. This town appaently shuts down at the begining of march so after some hunting we finaly found a little place to eat. Great burgers and fish. We then hit the beach for a swim and went back to the hostel jumped in the shower then into the tent for some sleep.

Sage was having a tuff time with the mosquitos last night and was hunting two in the tent for quite some time. She seemed to be sucsessfull after some time and we then had an alright first night in our new tent. The new tent is a little small for us, with little rooom to store our gear. So the night was a little cramped and warm, but we learned a few things and I can only imagine tonight will be better. We grabbed our trusty bikes again this morning and headded into town to hunt for a internet or phone place to get in contact with home since it was dads birthday yesterday and I wanted to wish him a good one. Happy Birthday again dad. Hope you got my email. We were hoping to grab a bus accross the interior part of Uruguay up to the falls in Argentina but we are starting to learn that we have to go back to Montevideo up get up there, so we might go back to Buenos Aires then catch a flight to the south and bus our way back up, through the country to the falls and then off to Boliva possibly skipping Chile as its very expensive just to get into that country. We are thinking of flying since its only about 150 us dollars and will save us alot of time that we can spend working our way up. Well we are going to grab some food now and possibly hit the beach again. Hope all is well in Canada and California, hope your staying warm dad. talk to you soon.
Love Orin