First hostel with decent wireless internet in five days, I had to write a little something. Josie & I have been busy impersonating Sonic & Knuckles over the coast of Uruguay for the last four days. No one in North America knows anything about Uruguay and yet, it's a fascinating country, very different from Argentina. It's a lot more what I envisionned from South America. Flattop households, motorcycles, unexplainably beautiful scenery and a Tequila Sunrise kind of vibe that keeps you on your toes regarding to what's going to happen next.
While not having the fascination for image that you can see in the US for example, it's a country that makes a good living out of tourism, so it's producing its own image and it was interesting to see what Uruguay shows and what Uruguay is. Montevideo and Colonia De Sacramento, the two cities we've been in embody very well that conflict and to a certain extent, it's within Colonia itself. A beautiful city with a labyrinth of rock paved streets, boutiques, restaurants and beachs that is cut in half. On the other side, the not so pretty, but much more lively Colonia where the people working in the 'old city' reside and try to live. It's a mesmerizing place that can remind you of France and the Bolivian trip of Tony Montana at the same time. In many aspects, it was the high point of the trip.
Four days left to see Palermo and then I'm home, clocking in at work on Monday. I still have to ponder whether travelling changed my life or not, but I'm waist deep in it now, it's not a good time to draw conclusions. I will try to keep you updated with a review of that amazing novel I read Strong Motion by Jonathan Franzen and my present reading of David Foster Wallace, who's even more jaw-dropping.
