Date Written: Feb. 7, 2002 (6:38 a.m.)
Current Location: Bus from Punta del Este to Montevideo
Subject: Last day in Punta Del Este

Wednesday, Feb. 6, 2002
WOW. Last night was yet another quality evening. Man, I think I have left the bar with the sun up 4 out of the last 6 nights. Rock on! It was my last night in Punta del Este. Of course, it's a s sunny as hell right now...first really nice day since I got to Uraguay and now I'm leaving. Funny. Anyway, I haven't slept so I don't know how long I will last. Once again I want to point out that I am on the bus so it's very difficult to write. Not exactly the smoothest ride ever. Anyway, when I got to Montevideo, I will take a flight to Iguazu via Buenos Aires. Very nice to thing that I'm about to see one of the most spectacular things in the world. So about what happened tonight. Wait...first I should start from the beginning of the day. Well, after the GREAT dinner at Juanjose's and hitting the jazz pub, it was pretty late when we got home. I woke up around 10:30. I had gotten a little annoyed with Johanna at the end of the previous night so I decided to go out for a walk by myself and just chill for a bit. I went and bought some stuff to make a sandwich and a beer and went out to sit on the seawall and eat and soak up the fact that I was sitting there in Uraguay. Man, it is just hard to fathom where I am sometimes. I headed back to the hostel and wrote in my journal about the awesome events of the previous night. By then Johanna and Caroline were awake. Also, there was a new guy in my room at the hostel, Marc, from France. He was pretty cool. Zzzzzzzz

Date Written: Feb. 8, 2002 (1:38 a.m.)
Current Location: Puerto Iguazu Hostel-Argentina

Wednesday, Feb. 6, 2002 (con't)
Whoa...sorry about that. I fell asleep up there. Man was I exhausted this morning. Let me get back to where I was. So Marc, Caroline, Johanna, and I all headed out to run some errands and do some e-mail. I decided that I had to tell everyone back home about dinner with six strangers the night before. Well, as anyone who is reading this probably already knows, that was a pretty long tale so it took awhile. I would just like to take this chance to mention who utterly RIDICULOUS the prices for internet are here in Punta del Este. It is nearly EIGHT dollars an hour!! That is highway robbery. For those who don't know, I don't think I have ever paid more than THREE bucks and hour, and usually it is closer to half that. Anyway, that was a 12 dollar e-mailing session yesterday. Outrageous but getting the chance to share the story was worth it to me.
So after being raped at the internet place, we all headed in search of a place to grab some food. We had some great seafood at this place on the Marina, which actually was right around the corner from Napoleon. It was pretty good but for the first time I got a little annoyed by the service. Down here, it isn't like in the US where the server is there to do everything they can for you. You must be very patient when eating...which is really how it should be so that you can take it easy and enjoy your meal. This place took bad service to another level though. I think even people from Uraguay would have been a bit annoyed. One thing I learned at that place that I guess is common down here but I didn't know about is that they charge you like $1.50 for "cubiertos". I know, you're thinking that cubiertos must be some special thing they give you in the place...but you are wrong...cubiertos is SILVERWARE!!! WTF!! Charging me for the knife and fork I'm using. That just blows my mind. I mean, who the hell is gonna carry silverware around with them so that they can use them at a restaurant? Why not just raise the freakin' prices by a buck fifty!? Good lord, why not just charge me for the table and chairs too? "Oh, sorry sir, you didn't bring your own chair we will have to charge you for that...or you can stand if you prefer." Man, there are just some things in a restaurant that I think we should have the right to EXPECT to be free. It reminds me of a similar thing that my mom pointed out when I was little. In the US, on those huge boxes of Tide (laundry detergent for those not from the US) there is this little graphic on the outside that says, "Free Scoop Inside!" I mean, how the hell else are you gonna get that detergent out of there!? Like someone is gonna look at that and say..."WOW!! A free scoop. What a bargain! All this detergent and a free scoop that costs about a penny to make. Well, I have to buy this one since on all these other ones I am gonna have to use my hands." There are many things like that in the world that I believe truly exist just to piss me off.
So after we ate, we walked around for a bit and then headed back to the hostel. Caroline had to leave at the point but she was on her way to Iguazu, but was flying to Buenos Aires last night, but I figured I would see her when I got to Iguazu the next day. She was super cool and I'm really glad I got a chance to meet her. Not to mention, as I said before, she was quite integral to the best part of my trip so far.
So Johanna, Marc, and I all headed back to the hostel and ended up hanging out in the hostel with a few others for a couple hours in the small common room with Frank, this guy from Chile, and a few others. It was awesome. We had a few beers and also this stuff that they have here called "mate" that EVERYONE drinks. I also noticed it in Buenos Aires. All it really is is this really strong tea. Everywhere you look you see people carrying these little thermoses that holds their mate along with a little mug. Basically, when people are hanging out socializing, everyone just starts drinking their mate out of these little bowl type mugs. It's a bit tough to explain. The bowl has this silver extension that comes out of it that is like the end of a pipe and that's the part you drink from. It really looks like everyone is doing drugs...kind of funny but only if you see it. Anyway, we sat chatting in the hostel and passing around these little bowls of mate. It was great because it really is something very cultural. The mate isn't that good though because it is VERY strong, so watch out if someone offers you some. Take very small sips. Of course, you have to try everything once.
Another thing I have forgotten to mention about the Punta del este hostel. There was a couple from Argentina who lived in the hostel with their little girl who was absolutely adorable. Her name was Milagros. She was only about one and a half years old but she was so cool. She was very social...well, she couldn't actually really speak but she was just hanging in the hostel walking around to everyone's room. She came and listened to music with me for about a half hour yesterday. She was funny. I even filmed her a little bit. Anyway, she was also hanging in the common room with us last night (here is a picture of us) along with her mom(whose name I can't remember, which pisses me off) for a little while. Her mom was very young...maybe 20 or so. I remember that I was asking if she liked living in the hostel and she said it was cool at times because there was a lot of people for Milagros to play with and also she other people keeping an eye on Milagros while she was working (in the hostel). She mentioned that it was tough sometimes though, because having a little girl is a lot of responsibility and sometimes she wants to go out and do things. We were a group of about 6 or 7 people in the common room and we all spoke Spanish and she was saying how it had been awhile since there were enough people who spoke Spanish around the hostel and she was really enjoying it for a change. Well, after we were all hanging for awhile, we decided to start showering up to go out. I felt really bad because Milagros' mom also went and showered and got all dressed up as if she was going out with us even though she knew she couldn't. It was like, she just wanted to dress up nice and feel like she was part of the group. I really felt horrible for her. You could tell she wanted to come so bad but she couldn't because the Dad (an artist and photographer) was going out to the boardwalk to try and make some money off of tourists and someone had to stay with the baby. She was such a nice girl too. Damn.
So that night we ended up going out first for dinner at Napoleon. That was a PHENOMENAL meal...the best I have had on the trip. This region is very well known for it's meat and deservedly so. We had a great time there eating. The waiter from there that we knew brought some friends of his too. After that, we all went once again to the Black Sheep (same place as the first night in Uraguay) which as you may remember was right next door to Napoleon:) It was another really fun night. It was cool because the NYC guys (John and Jason) were there and I talked to them for awhile. They really turned out to be two really cool guys. Next time I go up to NYC we will definitely hang out. So I ended up passing most of the night with this girl from Germany who was a foreign exchange student. Pretty weird. She was a good dancer though. Somewhere through the night, everyone who I was there with, including Johanna and Marc, left for the hostel. The German chic left too but I decided to hang for awhile...which was almost a fatal decision. I left the bar at about 5:45 to go back to the hostel, pack, and go to the bus station. I wanted to leave sooner but I was just about to hook up in the bar. Luckily I decided that I HAD to go because I didn't really know the bus times and the hook-up didn't have real chance of becoming anything. Well, by the time I got done packing and saying goodbye to Johanna (better see you in Rio gorgeous) and got to the bus station, it was 6:25. The next bus left at 6:30 and the following didn't leave until 8:00, which means I would have missed my flight to Buenos Aires. That stupid hook up almost screwed up that entire day! Let that be a lesson to you folks. On that note, I gotta catch some Z's. Tomorrow I will tell about Iguazu and this freakin' tool, Sammy, that is in the hostel with me.

AC