Last February I went to Montevideo, Uruguay. We had a 5 day break and we found an inexpensive flight.
This trip started at the end of my chaperone duties. I had just spent 12 days in Europe chaperoning our school MUN trip to Amsterdam, the Hague, and Pairs. We arrived into Quito on Tuesday at 3 pm and I flew out at 8pm. Before leaving to Europe, I packed a second bag. My co-chaperone took my Europe bag home with her and my co-Uruguay traveller brought my Uruguay bag with her to the Airport.
One of the most important things with so much back to back travel is a shower. The flight between Paris and Quito was 14 hours and the flight to Montevideo was 8. After checking back in and passing through customs, we purchased entrance to the VIP lounge. I was able to shower and change and then Greta and I were able to toast our trip with sparkling wine and a snack.
We arrived in Montevideo in the Early morning and had to wait a few hours to check into our AirBnB. After February in Paris and the Netherlands, it was nice to be in the warm, humid weather. After we checked in we took a long walk to Cafe Gourmand. It was a fun restaurant with a hearty brunch. We then came back and napped for a few hours. Next up that afternoon was a walking tour. This was a good way to get to know the city. We were the only ones on the tour so it was really personalized for us. We got to learn about the Independence Square and some of the political history of Uruguay.
Plaza Constitución
Independence Square
We wandered and found a bodega, the Montevideo Wine Experience that specializes in wine from Uruguay. The bread, cheese, and charcuterie plate was a nice appetizer.
Montevideo Wine experience
We started the next day renting bikes and we biked the boardwalk by the river (Río de la plata). We biked 11.1 Kilometers from the Ciudad Vieja to the Lighthouse (faro de punta carretas)
our route
boardwalk selfie
one of the many beaches along the boardwalk
The lighthouse
We finished the day at the Bodega Bouza winery. Where I had my most favorite Chardonnay. It was harvest time so we got to see them beginning to process come of their grapes. We also got to taste the tannat and chardonnay grapes. We finished with a multicourse meal pared with the wines produced.
That night we went to Bar Fun for a tango show.
I'm glad we saw the Tango, but it was a tourist show and everything else was only ok. We also had the most disgusting drink. Medio y Medio.
The next day we took a tour to Punta del Este. We were excited to get to see this area, but unfortunately the tour was not what we hoped for. We thought we would travel and see some sights and then get to spend time at the beach. It was a very controlled tour that spent time driving through middle class and upper class neighborhoods where they pointed out houses and living costs. Bizarre. Greta and I made the most of our time and did get to the beach and to see the sights we were interested in. We stopped in Priápolis for the views and we visited Casapueblo constructed by artist Carlos Páez Vilaró.
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On our last day we visited an all female owned winery Artesana. The owners spent time in Northern Califonia wine country before start their vineyard in Montevideo. They have been cultivating Zinfindale from California vines. This tasting experience began with a tour of the vines and then inside to see the production room and storage "cave". We then sat outside on a patio and were served a multi-course meal paired with the wines. It was such a relaxing place and the food was rustic and tasty.
We left Nasca on June 17 on an overnight bus to Arequipa. It sucked. We were seated in the back of the bus. It was smelly, hot, and uncomfortable. I woke up multiple times with claustrophobia because my legs were trapped by the reclining seats in front of us. It was horrible. We arrived in Arequipa around 5 in the morning. We elected to stay at the Casa de Avila, but we were leaving that morning for a 2 day tour of Colca canyon. The hotel was a converted colonial mansion. They were so very kind and the allowed us to store our bags and to rest in one of the common rooms until breakfast. We then were picked up for our trip to Colca canyon. The road to Colca Canyon Wild vicuña on the side of the road The trip out of Arequipa took about an hour because of traffic. We then began our climb. The drive took us up past 15,000 feet elevation. We stopped at the highest point to see the volcanos, stacked rocks, and domestic Llamas and Alpacas. We arrived in Chivay in time for lunch. T...
We had a 3 day weekend and it was my first chance to really get out of Quito and visit parts of Ecuador. I rented a car because of my friends I’m the only one who could drive a stick shift (thanks mom and dad!). Quick aside - I was so glad that I had had the opportunity to drive a couple of different types of stick shift cars. When I rented the car the company showed me how to/where to put gas, open the trunk, use the radio, etc. The one thing the didn’t show me was how to put the car in reverse. I’ve driven cars where reverse is on the far right. I’ve driven cars where it was on the left, where you had to push a button to put the car in reverse. I got the car home to my parking garage and I realised I had no idea how to put the Chevy Aveo into reverse. I spent 20 min trying to get the care in reverse, slowly inching towards a wall. I finally remembered I had the power of Google on my phone. Thank you Google for showing me where the tiny ring was that I had to pull up on wh...
Puno We arrived in Puno and got settled in at our Hostel. It was another very basic place. Puno is a small town that doesn't have a lot of tourism. We spent the day wandering a bit in the plaza and visiting the church. There was a festival and a lot of places were closed. That afternoon we took our tour of the floating islands in Lake Titicaca. It was very cold on the lake. We took a boat about 30 minutes out to the islands. They are a series of islands that are grouped together. The tours take turns going to different islands and the people pool their money to support the community. When we arrived we were taken to an area to sit on the reeds and a local spokes person gave us information on their life and the islands. He showed us how they layer the reeds on top of the root blocks to make the island (approx 3 feet thick). We learned that they need refreshing regularly. We learned that traditionally the reeds are edible and combined with fishing this was the main sustenance. Now...
The next day we took a tour to Punta del Este. We were excited to get to see this area, but unfortunately the tour was not what we hoped for. We thought we would travel and see some sights and then get to spend time at the beach. It was a very controlled tour that spent time driving through middle class and upper class neighborhoods where they pointed out houses and living costs. Bizarre. Greta and I made the most of our time and did get to the beach and to see the sights we were interested in. We stopped in Priápolis for the views and we visited Casapueblo constructed by artist Carlos Páez Vilaró.
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