Uruguashos

Hello Friends!  It's been a busy month, very exciting, so I'm sorry I haven't updated more.  As I mentioned, the month of February was full of travelling and adventures, so I want to try to update as soon as I can.

February started with an incredible trip to Easter Island.  This place has been in the top three of my list of places to visit for as long as I can remember, so actually being there was incredible.  However, I'm not going to write about Easter Island right now.  It was so incredible that I haven't fully processed it yet.  I will need a lot of time to reflect and write about it, and time is something I don't have so much of. So, stay tuned for that.   But in the meantime, here's a teaser:

Moais at sunset

A few days after returning from Easter Island, I set off for Uruguay with my friend Natalia.  Natalia, like most Chileans, has her vacation in February so she had convinced me to join her in Uruguay months ago.  Neither of us had ever been, and I was really looking forward to it.  We visited the capital, Montevideo, and the town of Colonia about three hours outside of Montevideo.  I enjoyed it, and it was a ton of fun spending time with Natalia and her cousin, but to be perfectly honest I was underwhelmed by Montevideo.  It's a nice enough city, but not particularly beautiful or interesting.  Even the presidential building is just a normal office building.  Hardly impressive.  Part of this is probably because I know close to nothing about Uruguay or it's history, so I wasn't sure what to look for.  This is my fault, but the city wasn't really helping me out.  One thing I will say though is that since Montevideo is on the coast, there are beaches everywhere and the water was incredible and warm.  You could just see the Uruguayans loving life and spending every spare moment on the beach.  Not a bad life.

We left Montevideo after three days and really, I think that was sufficient for me.  We took the bus to Colonia, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  It's a small town, further north but still on the coast, and very sweet.  I can see why it's a World Heritage Site.  The houses are cute and distinct, and the whole town has a relaxed and laid back feeling.  It was perfect for strolling and sitting with a beer or glass of wine.

We strolled and sat the first day, and the next day we rented a ridiculous off-road golf cart to explore further outside of the downtown area.  It was slow, noisy and absolutely wonderful.  (The sites outside of town however, were underwhelming.) 

The final day was rainy, which suited me fine.  There wasn't much left to see, and I had a lot of work to do.  We took the bus back to Montevideo and out to the airport for our late night flight home.  I really enjoyed the trip and it was great to spend some girls only time.  

I got back from Uruguay on Tuesday, worked for some days, and this morning we went to the airport to pick up my mom and my sister!  They're visiting for a week, and I've got big plans for them.  We're going to the north and to Viña del Mar, and of course spend some time in Santiago.  I wanted to get this post done before we headed out , so please excuse the brevity.  I'll be sure to update you on the Ewen family adventures next week!  I know it seems like I've just been flitting around this month, and maybe that's sort of true, but remember that Chile goes on vacation in February and since I'm a teacher, if my students go away I have no one to teach.  So that's my excuse.  I probably won't have very exciting updates for the next three years after this while I'm working to pay it off.  Such is life.  

Until next time!