Another night of broken sleep and clashes with little critters. Tired and sticky (no air conditioning here) I got up and showered. I´m heading back to Buenos Aires today. I was just getting ready to go down for breakfast when a knock came on the door. I replied "Si". The person on the other side of the door said something about Desayuno (Breakfast). I thought he meant that breakfast would be ending soon and that I should go dwn now if I wanted some. I put on my runners and was tying the laces when a second, shaper, knock rattled on the door. I opened it and the hotel porter handed me my breakfast on a tray. A mug of coffee and some pastries. I was surprised. Obviously it was a little gesture from the old couple who owned the place. I had built up a little rapport with them over the few days. We always said hello in passing. I paid the lady each morning and each time she chatted away as I smiled and nodded gingerly. I complimented how nice Montevideo was. It was she who gave me directions to the launderette and later that day after I collected the clothes tut-tutted that I should have said where I was staying and they´d have delivered the parcel to the hotel. We both had a great laugh at that!!!! Still, sending the breakfast up to my room this morning was a small but touching gesture.
When I haded in my key on leaving the old guy wished me safe travels (I think..... I hope) and waved goodbye. I caught a city bus out to Tres Cruces, the bus terminal and got a combined bus and ferry ticket back to B.A.
I had a little time to spare so I took a walk over to Estadio Centenario, the national stadium and home to Penarol, Uruguay´s leading club. I had hoped to catch a game here but Penaról don´t play until this evening and another mosquito ridden night doesn´t appeal. The stadium hosted the first world cup final which was won by Uruguay.
The ferry bus was a quality one and eased its way to the outskirts of Montevideo. Out on the edge of town we passed by a series of shanties. Simple shacks cobbled together with odd pieces of rusty corrugated iron. Beside them were more permanent looking structures but buildings you´d hardly call housing. It was poor, squalid. The first real evidence of poverty on the trip.
Soon I drifted off to sleep waking minutes before the bus arrived at the ferry terminal. The ferry crossing passed by and we arrived in back in Buenos Aires by 7pm. I took a bus which dropped me off near to the hostel. I checked in and was put back into the same room I´d stayed in last week. I got the last available bed aswell. There was a german girl in the room. She´s living and working in the Falklands as a fisheries officer. The whole experience sounds bleak. They can only get basic goods on the islands. Everything else has to be ordered in and shipped over. She´s in Argentina on a 4-week break.
Around 9pm I went to eat in a small cafe on La Defensa, Pork chops in a garlic sauce and a half litre of Quilmes. Afterwards I took a look into Plaza Dorrega to see if the Tango session was on this week. The plaza was busy tonight and the tango session was jammed. There must have been up to 100 people dancig and more watching from the sides. It was interesting to see so many people dance the tango in their own way. Some moved very formally, others jauntily and others.... very sensually. It was like being at a latin american Ceili. But with the emphasis very much on the.... latin American. There was a very cool vibe to the music that sat so comfortably with the people here on a warm humid night.
By 12 o´clock I was getting tired and the crowds were beginning to disperse so I returned to the Hostel to sleep. It took me a while before I drifted off though. The room was very warm and it seemed as if every single mosquito bite of the last few days suddenly woke up to annoy me. The itch was terrible and everytime I moved to try to get comfortable it seemed I provoked a different bite into an angry state. Eventually though the itch subsided and I slept.
When I haded in my key on leaving the old guy wished me safe travels (I think..... I hope) and waved goodbye. I caught a city bus out to Tres Cruces, the bus terminal and got a combined bus and ferry ticket back to B.A.
I had a little time to spare so I took a walk over to Estadio Centenario, the national stadium and home to Penarol, Uruguay´s leading club. I had hoped to catch a game here but Penaról don´t play until this evening and another mosquito ridden night doesn´t appeal. The stadium hosted the first world cup final which was won by Uruguay.
The ferry bus was a quality one and eased its way to the outskirts of Montevideo. Out on the edge of town we passed by a series of shanties. Simple shacks cobbled together with odd pieces of rusty corrugated iron. Beside them were more permanent looking structures but buildings you´d hardly call housing. It was poor, squalid. The first real evidence of poverty on the trip.
Soon I drifted off to sleep waking minutes before the bus arrived at the ferry terminal. The ferry crossing passed by and we arrived in back in Buenos Aires by 7pm. I took a bus which dropped me off near to the hostel. I checked in and was put back into the same room I´d stayed in last week. I got the last available bed aswell. There was a german girl in the room. She´s living and working in the Falklands as a fisheries officer. The whole experience sounds bleak. They can only get basic goods on the islands. Everything else has to be ordered in and shipped over. She´s in Argentina on a 4-week break.
Around 9pm I went to eat in a small cafe on La Defensa, Pork chops in a garlic sauce and a half litre of Quilmes. Afterwards I took a look into Plaza Dorrega to see if the Tango session was on this week. The plaza was busy tonight and the tango session was jammed. There must have been up to 100 people dancig and more watching from the sides. It was interesting to see so many people dance the tango in their own way. Some moved very formally, others jauntily and others.... very sensually. It was like being at a latin american Ceili. But with the emphasis very much on the.... latin American. There was a very cool vibe to the music that sat so comfortably with the people here on a warm humid night.
By 12 o´clock I was getting tired and the crowds were beginning to disperse so I returned to the Hostel to sleep. It took me a while before I drifted off though. The room was very warm and it seemed as if every single mosquito bite of the last few days suddenly woke up to annoy me. The itch was terrible and everytime I moved to try to get comfortable it seemed I provoked a different bite into an angry state. Eventually though the itch subsided and I slept.
1 comment:
Hey Fran! Have just been catching up on your blog, wow it all sounds so exotic, even the mosquitoes! You wouldn't believe how dreary it is over here, a real November day today...Keep cycling and keep blogging - its great to hear the highs and the lows of such a unique experience! All the best, C.
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