Montevideo

So we spent a couple of days in Buenos Aires... looked around... and I got sick for some unknown reason... maybe the airconditioning and heat "schwankungen"
resulted in me having fever on the last day in Buenos Aires. I spent the whole day at the hostel (thank god we had a private room) and the boys explored and came back to check on me every once in a while.
Thankfully by the next day I was feeling better and we took the "Colonia Express" to Colonia and the bus to Montevideo. Later we found out that a couple of days before when the weather was pretty stormy a lady lost her baby (she was preggers) on the Colonia Express because it's a pretty tiny boat. Well we made it safely!! From now on we will travel with the Buquebus which is bigger and cheaper anyway.

Once in Montevideo (Thursday, February 18, 2010) we went straight to my godmothers house... where else???
We set up camp for the boys who were sleeping in the garden (most days) and we just hung out... pretty tired from the trip.
Day two we walked around the city center and went to "La Passiva", a Uruguayan style Diner, where we ate some Chivitos! YUM. Other things we did in Uruguay were seeing my grandpa and my aunt, going for lunch at the "Mercado Libre" with Gustavo where you can eat "Parrilla" (BBQ) and where tango lessons take place. This is behind the main street 18 de Julio.
Aia (my godmother whose name is actually Ana Maria) cooked delicious things for us like "guiso" (Uruguayan stew), "carne al horno" (roasted meat and potatoes), "milanesa" (w. schnitzel- beef style), and we had an "asado" which you make on the "parrilla".
All the while we all got some sort of stomach illness which resulted in visiting the facilities quite often... It was painful! Especially not being able to eat the delicious food!! I remained sick for about a week only figuring out pretty late that it was due to a sort of vitamin deficiancy from too much meat and no fruits and barely any veggies!! Whoops! haha
Once we started adding salad to our meat we all got better. A miracle... I know!

The day before we left to Cordoba, Argentina on the 24 of February we got enjoy the Uruguayan carnival! It takes place all throughout February. It's a bit different than that of Rio and we didn't really get to see all of a show but just the "murgas" which are according to Gustavo Fischer, the "best part". They are kind of like the Austrian "Kabaret". I think there is nothing like any where else in the world. They dress up in bright carnival costumes normally and they practically describe what life is like as a Uruguayan living in Uruguay. They reflect on what has happened throughout the year in a comical way. For example there was one group of murgas who started their song/story with the statement that Carnival is becoming popular in Argentina and that this is their chance to be discovered for "Buenos Airessssssss" (Argentians prolong their ssss's). Then they continue with "you invented the tango and the dulce de leche" and continue sucking up. It's one of those things where you had to be there to really understand it. It was the first time I've seen that and I must say I really enjoyed it.

To see the view of Montevideo from the highest point you have to go to Cerro. There are buses which take you pretty close and then you have to walk through a bit of a shady neighborhood... but the view is worth it!

The next day it was off to Cordoba by bus. A 17 hr bus ride.. yeay!