Chris and I spent our last day in Dayman not going to the thermal pools. Yesterday, after going to one set of pools, I tripped on the post at the end of our bed (which was a hollow metal cylinder that hadn’t been filed down) and cut my shin open. We decided that open wounds in warm public water probably wasn’t advisable and that ended our adventure in the thermal pools. So today we took the public bus 9km into Salto to see some museums.
We had a good lunch of a mixed salad and pizza and water and cake for about $12 total, which was nice because Uruguay has been pretty expensive. We went to a History of Man (and kind of a History of Man in Uruguay) Museum and then we went briefly into an art museum that was in an old restored home. We wanted to stay there longer (it looked like they had some good stuff) but needed to catch the bus and beat a huge black storm cloud that was coming on us quickly. The bus came just in time and the ride back had a lot of lightning and hail and crazy amounts of rain. It was a very Midwestern storm. We had to run through the rain to the hotel, got soaked, but our cameras are still in working condition. Yay.
Tomorrow (early!) we take a 6 hour bus ride to Colonia to look at some old buildings, I think it will be better than it sounds.
And before we leave Uruguay (and Paraguay and Argentina) I need to tell you about the maté obsession. Maté is a type of tea that everyone drinks. When the Spaniards showed up to South America, the native people drank this tea. They thought it was from an herb (so it’s called Yerba Maté) but it’s actually made from part of a tree. Everyone fell in love with it, and they drink it all day, everyday. But to drink it, you don’t just get a little tea bag of maté, it requires a lot more. There is a cup that resembles a hollowed out gourd where all of the dried up leaves are packed into the cup. There is a straw with a filter at the bottom of it that looks like a hollowed out spoon with holes in the bottom. You pour hot water into the cup, and sip the tea through the straw with the holes, to filter out all of the leaves. So to have the maté experience, you need to carry around your gourd filled with dried leaves and the special straw, a full sized thermos of hot water (the Paraguayans have theirs cold), and shoulder bag to carry extra maté leaves and your cup and thermos when not in use. All day we see people with a big thermos tucked under their arms, the gourd thing in their hands, the big leather bag slung over their shoulders and then their required handbag/briefcase/books/backpack/child that everyone needs to carry. It really seems like a lot of work and I think there should be an easier way to do this, but no one asked me. So that’s maté, I’d be upset if I forgot to cover it.
Showing posts with label Salto. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Salto. Show all posts
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Cocoon III or El Hombre de Mimbroso
We’ve been in Uruguay for about a week now and so far it has been great. We were going to be in Bolivia at this time, but I found out that their president was a pedophile and a fecalphiliac. We really didn’t want to go there after we found out about this. So, we changed our flight and came to Uruguay instead. We spent some time in Montevideo and then bought some tour packages from a travel agent to see the rest of the country before we head to Buenos Aires on our way to Peru.
Our first stop on the prepaid tour package was Punta del Este. This is the French Riviera of Uruguay where everyone goes in January and February. This time of year, though, it is a ghost town. It is also a lot cheaper this time of year. We really enjoyed our time there, but only had the hotel for two nights and had to return to Montevideo so we could catch a bus to Salto.
Well, almost Salto. We are actually in Dayman, which is just south of Salto. This is a town where there are hot springs that you can swim in or just relax in. These springs make the town a sort of tourist attraction in the middle of nowhere. There is something unsettling about this town. It is small and ominously quiet. It is filled with old people that wander around in their bathrobes. Everyone seems to know each other and they all appear to be hiding something. I feel like either I’m about to witness the long overdue filming of Cocoon III or that I have found my way onto the set of the South American version of The Wicker Man (El Hombre de Mimbroso). On our first night here, we went out to get some dinner and there was a large group of senior citizens dancing around in a circle on the other side of our hotel complex. They were wearing crazy masks and singing, chanting and clapping. It was obviously some sort of pagan ritual where they most likely sacrificed a child in an effort to steal its youth. There are very few children around here other than the ones that seem to be passing through with their tourist parents. It is likely that the sacrificial children used in the youth preservation ceremony are conceived in some other ritual and then raised on the outskirts of this town for the sole purpose of perpetuating the life of the elders here. None of this is found in our guidebooks, but what other explanation could there be?
Beyond the creepiness of the whole place, this town has very little going for it other than Acuamania. Acuamania is a water park that is closed until September. There are no ATMs and one and a half convenient stores. There are lots of “hotels” that kind of seem to form a sort of trailer park atmosphere with plenty of “Artesan” booths set up that all sell the same crappy stuff for the most part. I have seen some interesting items like a stack of Buffalo Bills Superbowl T-shirts that looked old enough to be authentic, but clearly weren’t. There are also several restaurants to choose from, but they all serve the same thing: Milanesas (breaded chicken, pork or beef sandwich), pizza ( with ham or without), ravioli, meat.
Tomorrow we are off to Colonia. Hopefully that will be a more interesting town.
Our first stop on the prepaid tour package was Punta del Este. This is the French Riviera of Uruguay where everyone goes in January and February. This time of year, though, it is a ghost town. It is also a lot cheaper this time of year. We really enjoyed our time there, but only had the hotel for two nights and had to return to Montevideo so we could catch a bus to Salto.
Well, almost Salto. We are actually in Dayman, which is just south of Salto. This is a town where there are hot springs that you can swim in or just relax in. These springs make the town a sort of tourist attraction in the middle of nowhere. There is something unsettling about this town. It is small and ominously quiet. It is filled with old people that wander around in their bathrobes. Everyone seems to know each other and they all appear to be hiding something. I feel like either I’m about to witness the long overdue filming of Cocoon III or that I have found my way onto the set of the South American version of The Wicker Man (El Hombre de Mimbroso). On our first night here, we went out to get some dinner and there was a large group of senior citizens dancing around in a circle on the other side of our hotel complex. They were wearing crazy masks and singing, chanting and clapping. It was obviously some sort of pagan ritual where they most likely sacrificed a child in an effort to steal its youth. There are very few children around here other than the ones that seem to be passing through with their tourist parents. It is likely that the sacrificial children used in the youth preservation ceremony are conceived in some other ritual and then raised on the outskirts of this town for the sole purpose of perpetuating the life of the elders here. None of this is found in our guidebooks, but what other explanation could there be?
Beyond the creepiness of the whole place, this town has very little going for it other than Acuamania. Acuamania is a water park that is closed until September. There are no ATMs and one and a half convenient stores. There are lots of “hotels” that kind of seem to form a sort of trailer park atmosphere with plenty of “Artesan” booths set up that all sell the same crappy stuff for the most part. I have seen some interesting items like a stack of Buffalo Bills Superbowl T-shirts that looked old enough to be authentic, but clearly weren’t. There are also several restaurants to choose from, but they all serve the same thing: Milanesas (breaded chicken, pork or beef sandwich), pizza ( with ham or without), ravioli, meat.
Tomorrow we are off to Colonia. Hopefully that will be a more interesting town.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Beaches and Thermal Springs and Colonial Cities... oh my!
Chris and I are still trucking along through Uruguay. I must say I am very impressed with both of the ‘guays… Uru and Para. Uruguay is a small country of only 3 million people and its clean and seems pretty safe and the people are nice. There are a lot of cattle ranches, it’s green, and the coast line is pretty with sand dunes and forests. Currently, we’re in Punta Del Este.
Punta is the beach resort to end all beach resorts in Uruguay. This is where the pretty and rich people from Argentina (and some from Brazil) come to have their summer holidays. This place is packed and expensive in the summer months (January and February) and then clears out for the rest of the year. There are loads of empty hotels and restaurants and shops that are currently shut down, it’s a little weird. But the weather is still fine and we’re in shorts and pretty much have the place to ourselves.
In Montevideo, we went to a travel agent who booked our hotel and bus tickets here. He also booked the same thing for a town called Salto in the western part of the country that has thermal pools. After that, we’re going back down south to a town called Colonia that is a good restored colonial city. Our bus tickets and hotels (we have a total of seven nights in all of these places) cost $288 each. That’s over our budget, but I don’t know what hasn’t been over our budget in the trip. We are staying in places nicer than we normally get, so that’s good. Plus, we can stock up on tiny bars of soap and shampoos so we don’t have to buy more for awhile… it’s the little things.
Tomorrow we return to Montevideo and head to Salto early Friday morning. We have another appointment with a travel agent to try and book some flights while we’re in Peru to get to Macchu Picchu. And maybe the Nazca Lines, we’ll see.
So yeah, yay Uruguay. While at dinner last night, we met some old Polish guy that was here, possibly on the run. At least that’s what we think he was explaining through broken English/Spanish. Uruguay is not that big on extradition.
Chris and I are getting better at our Spanish and can piece together conversations with people much better. We try and study Spanish a bit each day, and that seems to be going OK. I also tried to run for the first time in months yesterday and only made it for twenty minutes. I’m so sore it takes two hands to sit on the toilet seat. Good times.
Punta is the beach resort to end all beach resorts in Uruguay. This is where the pretty and rich people from Argentina (and some from Brazil) come to have their summer holidays. This place is packed and expensive in the summer months (January and February) and then clears out for the rest of the year. There are loads of empty hotels and restaurants and shops that are currently shut down, it’s a little weird. But the weather is still fine and we’re in shorts and pretty much have the place to ourselves.
In Montevideo, we went to a travel agent who booked our hotel and bus tickets here. He also booked the same thing for a town called Salto in the western part of the country that has thermal pools. After that, we’re going back down south to a town called Colonia that is a good restored colonial city. Our bus tickets and hotels (we have a total of seven nights in all of these places) cost $288 each. That’s over our budget, but I don’t know what hasn’t been over our budget in the trip. We are staying in places nicer than we normally get, so that’s good. Plus, we can stock up on tiny bars of soap and shampoos so we don’t have to buy more for awhile… it’s the little things.
Tomorrow we return to Montevideo and head to Salto early Friday morning. We have another appointment with a travel agent to try and book some flights while we’re in Peru to get to Macchu Picchu. And maybe the Nazca Lines, we’ll see.
So yeah, yay Uruguay. While at dinner last night, we met some old Polish guy that was here, possibly on the run. At least that’s what we think he was explaining through broken English/Spanish. Uruguay is not that big on extradition.
Chris and I are getting better at our Spanish and can piece together conversations with people much better. We try and study Spanish a bit each day, and that seems to be going OK. I also tried to run for the first time in months yesterday and only made it for twenty minutes. I’m so sore it takes two hands to sit on the toilet seat. Good times.
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