An Anniversary to Remember (Trip to Uruguay 4)

A few hours later, we were in Montevideo.  The first thing that caught our attention was the beautiful waterfront, where locals were walking and enjoying a peaceful afternoon.  Again, we have nowhere to stay, as this was not the original plan. Some walking was in order to find a place.  We were lucky to find a brand new hotel with fabulous introductory prices!  With the discount, we paid exactly the same amount than in Colonia.  Luxurious is the word that comes to mind after our previous hotel.  It was wonderful.



Sorry this is blurry....  I was taking pictures from the car while
driving/ walking around looking for a hotel.



The night was cold, and a there was a light rain over the city.  We decided to relax/celebrate over sandwiches and beer.  There was a nice bar a few blocks away.  A perfect way to end the day. However, about 10 minutes later, it was pouring. The rain was not stopping. We talked and laughed until we ran out of topics.  We were full. A couple has been waiting for our table.  I was tired.  It was time to go.  

We ran back to the hotel, stopping from time to time under a balcony to catch our breath.  This technique didn’t work.  We looked like we had been thrown in the shower with clothes and all.  A water trail was left in the hotel’s lobby when we made our way to the elevator.



This is Jose Luis and I anniversary celebration, remember? The rain didn’t spoil the fun.  I was with my family, we were traveling, and there was hot water, with good pressure!  What else can I ask for?





PS:  For those of you wondering what else went wrong with this trip, let me tell you:  We got lost on our way back to Colonia, but I will save that story for another occasion.  J

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Things we liked about Uruguay:

1.      Palacio Salvo in the plaza was impressive.  Built in 1928, it was at the time the tallest building in South America.

2.      La Rambla de Montevideo

3.      Teatro Solís

4.      Walking and taking pictures in ciudad vieja.

5.      We saw so many women, that we wondered about the gender radio in Uruguay.  We have not been able to find anything current on this topic.

A Three Stars Hotel (Trip to Uruguay 3)

After the excitement faded of, it was time to rest.  Remember our hostel situation? Our last minute booked hotel, offered the following:

1.      Internet connection only in certain corners of the room.

2.      “Vintage” accommodations, with a strong 70’s vibe. Complete with flowery, bright pink covers, and “retro” furniture.

3.      Missing buttons remote control, which I solved pushing inside the holes with a pen or bobby pin. Other buttons didn’t work.  To change the channel you could only go down.

4.      The bathrooms have had some fixing done, and it showed….  Just not in a positive way.

5.      Water had no pressure. What came out of the shower was a coooold drizzle. Taking a shower was a torture. 

This was supposed to be a 3 stars hotel?  Hostels seemed better, and were half price!  We were annoyed.  Our pockets were sore…..*sigh*



Our room.  No internet on this corner.



To be fair, I have seen worse. There were some positives:

1. Hotel was conveniently located, close to shops, restaurants, and historic quarter.
2. Our room had a great view.
3. The heater was working! The remote had to be held directly in front of the unit, but we slept in a warm room.
4. Breakfast was included.

Nope, it just does not balance things out.  It was too expensive for what they offered.

We were the only ones in the dinning area next morning.  I was wondering what we were going to do that day and the next one. After all, we had seen most of the town main attractions.  While silently eating our barely average breakfast, Jose Luis proposed to… leave. We cancelled our reservation for the second night, and turned in the remote control, the keys, and an electrical converter to the person at the front desk. No questions asked.  That small, white rental car we got immediately after was an instant mood fixer.  No more silence, just laughter and excitement. See you later Colonia!

Mood Fixer

Where Are We Staying? (Trip to Uruguay 1)

Our first weekend in Argentina, we crossed the border in order to visit Colonia, Uruguay.  Our expectations were high.  Founded in 1860 by Portuguese conquistadors, Colonia del Sacramento is a place rich in history. 




Photo:  Flavio Vargas GC

 

Jose Luis, Flavio -my brother, and I took the ferry from Puerto Madero in Buenos Aires, and planned to spend the weekend in Colonia.  It was also my wedding anniversary.  What a better place to celebrate, than a small colonial town overlooking Río de la Plata?



Leaving Buenos Aires



We enjoyed the view. It was cloudy, but the sun made the water look silver sometimes.  I am pretty sure that is how the river got its name. Once in town, we walked a few streets to get to our hostel.  Short houses and narrow cobblestone streets make up part of this charming town!



Colonia del Sacramento



A feeling of discomfort invaded us when the person at the hostel's front desk informed us that they were completely booked. Our reservation was not showing on their availability book! To make the story short, there was a misunderstanding and our reservation was never completed.  Our discomfort turned to anxiety when we realized it was a holiday in Argentina, and many people will be coming over to Colonia during the long weekend.  We knew finding a place to stay was going to be a difficult task.



Colonia del Sacramento



Well, I stayed in the hostel watching the luggage, while Jose Luis and my brother rushed through the streets trying to find a place to spend the night.  After a good number of tries, they found a hotel. The two next nights were booked…. For more than double we had planned to spend.  (To be continued...)

Party in the sky

A scene from the party.

We were back on the plane.   After so many hours in the same space, sharing the same bathrooms, walking the same hallways, making the same long lines, going to the same hotel, all of the passengers kind of became familiar with each other.   As we greeted our neighbors, others were talking about the news and trying to be positive about reaching our final destination.   Many passengers were chatting.  Everyone sat quickly, and seemed ready to get this over with.  We had, hopefully, 5 more hours of flight.

The plane took off.  There was no entertainment this time, due to the flight being an irregular one.  I decided to listen to music.   Jose Luis was busy on his computer.  The chatter became louder, as well as their laughter.  I looked.   A group of passengers were visiting.  It seemed they were having fun.  I saw one of them reaching for their luggage.  To my surprise, it was a guitar!  Sure enough, they started singing!

This shameless “serenata” got many of us out of our seats.  Children and grownups clapped, sang along, requested songs, and laughed.  Some of them even walked around singing La Bamba!  Some of the flight attendants joined for a while.  As one of them said, it was a “party in the sky”.  It was only when we were about to land that we went back to our seats!   Everyone clapped when the captain announced, “welcome to Buenos Aires”.

Lima, Peru - Jose Luis' view.

Tuesday, June 14th

We landed last night in Lima, Peru.  Three days pretty much gone to waste on an already short vacation.  I felt like Tom Arnold on Soul Plane (You won't know unless you've seen it).  I'll post pictures later.  Anyway, we managed to get off of the plane fairly quickly and headed to the terminal.  American Airlines had no idea that we would be arriving and only had one person working the counter to set us up with a taxi and hotel room for the night.  Luckily we were very close to the front of the line as there was only one employee working the counter.

We got our vouchers, got in the cab and headed to the hotel.  We got a few tips from and old woman who rode in the shuttle with us, and contradicting advice from a younger woman who confirmed what every traveler should already know:  there is crime everywhere, just needs to be aware of one's surroundings.  The older woman said that we must not read the newspapers.  "People get killed over sneakers."

We arrive at Hotel Ibis, highly recommended.  It's a new hotel, they were actually in their "soft opening" so the staff was extremely helpful.  I hope it stays that way as the hotel was really nice.  The room was small, but it had what we needed.  Did I mention in an earlier post to remember Peru is on 220v?  The hotel staff let us borrow the only converter they had so we could charge our devices.

I had a pretty good ham and cheese sandwich that night, saw a little TV and went to sleep.  Woke up around eight so we could head down for breakfast.  Buffette as usual, not bad at all.  They also offered us free lunch, but we decided to try out one of the restaurants/tourist traps by the coast.  We both had ceviche, which was really good and the fresheshestest.

We walked through the city, not too far from the hotel as we needed to make it back to the hotel where they would take us back to the airport.  2PM.  Sure enough, another line.  We got our boarding passes and headed to the "soul plane".  It took off pretty fast, short taxi and we were in the air (still are, I guess as I'm writing this on the plane).

I am not too religious, but I pray that we can finally land in Buenos Aires, book a hotel, get some rest and start our vacation.  I also need to continue planning next month's trip to Alaska.  That will be interesting as well.

Spain. June 10th to June 24th.

Well it looks like we'll be traveling to Spain in June.  The plan is to land in Madrid, spend a couple of days there with some friends, then head south to Sevilla via train.  We're thinking of renting a car there and road-trip it down to Cadiz, Jerez de la Frontera, possibly Marbella.  After a few days head back to Madrid to catch our plane back.

Anyway, we're looking for recommendations, especially with lodging as we want to keep a tight budget.  Round-trip flight is around $2,500 USD for the two of us, so we might want to keep all other expenses (lodging, meals, etc.) below $3,000 USD if possible.

So post up any suggestions and recommendations you might have.  Thanks in advance.