Fin de Semana (Parte II)

Let me preface this entry by saying that I was hoping to get some better pictures of the weekend from some of my fellow students, but in order to keep this blog moving along, I had to be impatient.  Some people here have really nice cameras.  For now, however, my camera's pictures will have to suffice.

Boat ride and some friends.

Saturday's sleep felt like a nap.  I awoke much too early, and took a 3 hour boat ride to Montevideo, Uruguay.  I listened to some "Mike and Tom Eat Snacks" on my iPod before falling into a delirious slumber, interrupted by occasional flashes of sunlight from the window in front of me.  It wasn't a refreshing rest, but it helped get me through the day, I'm sure.

When arrived in the city, we were shocked to find it completely barren.  No cars, no people, no sign of life in the streets.  Like a colonial ghost town.  As it turns out, in this city, Sundays are taken very seriously--everyone stays in, and nothing is open.  A lot of students were a bit freaked out by the radical nature of their sabbath.  I'm not sure whether it is religious or merely tradition, but it was interesting to see a big city so empty.

We had some time to wander, so we decided to get some lunch from a smoky cluster of restaurants which were cooking something that smelled delicious.  What was this delicious aroma, you ask?  Meat.  Just a lot of meat plopped on a grill.  I'm no vegetarian, but I tend to avoid meat when possible, mainly for ethical reasons.  That said, I wanted to get the cultural experience, so I got the works: a little bit of everything.

That picture is what the waitress gave me.  Just a big ol' bucket of meat.  All of it was absolutely delicious.  All of it, except of course the blood sausage (scroll down to see an .gif which describes, via metaphor, my feelings quite accurately).  I finished feeling like a Neanderthal after the hunt--stomach full of animal, grunting with satisfaction. Ha, I didn't actually grunt with satisfaction, don't worry.

I, along with my fellow students, walked around the city seeing some of the more important sites.  I took a few pictures, and, unfortunately, forgot the significance of most of them.  Here are a few:

Former tallest building in South America.  Would look a lot cooler without that goofy antennae.  

Almost all the buildings looked like this.  I had a ton of pictures that looked
exactly like this one, so I just took one at random to give an example.

 From Montevideo, we took a bus ride to Colonia, a small colonial town.  On the ride, I saw one of the most vibrant, gorgeous sunsets of my whole life.  I really wanted to give the person next to me a massive hug, but, give our nascent relationship, I withheld the temptations.  Instead, I simply allowed my mind to be blown by the colors and the knowledge that I was lucky enough to be alive, then, on the other side of the world from my home.

Some of you might want to see who I've been hanging out with.
Well, here you go.

We arrived in Colonia late, but that did not stop us from walking around a bit to find a glass of fine Uruguayan wine (in this sentence, the word "fine" means "cheap").  I really liked the city for it's structural appearance. It had retained a bunch of it's old architecture from centuries ago (hence the name).  The city had continuously been captured and recaptured between Portugal and Spain, so there were mixes of the two countries in the architecture, as well as hints from elsewhere in Europe.

That's one of the things I love about the western hemisphere: such a mix of cultures.  (Although I'm not so ignorant as to forget that the pre European cultures have largely been wiped out in many places--a consequence of their decimation by conquistadors and other Europeans/Americans.  That is a culture that seems to be relatively absent from both Colonia and Buenos Aires in comparison to Mexico).  I am fascinated with the study of how people from different places meet and coexist, but I am often filled with sorrow to learn of the death and destruction which accompanies such interaction.  Xenophobia and ignorance must be some of the worst psychological problems we humans have faced since the dawn of time.

On Monday, it rained.  I couldn't have imagined better weather for a walk around the town.  It looked like how I pictured The Old Man and the Sea only cooler.  I envisioned myself moving to a place like that one day--some quiet ocean town in South America.  Dreams can be so real, but reality can be so harsh!  Since I probably won't be back for a while, I took some pictures.  Of course, they don't do it justice.

My friend Chelsea standing at the end of a dock.

My tired mind mixed with the beauty of the place, and brought me to a rare mental state--silently appreciative of my surroundings.  I didn't feel like talking much for the rest of the day, and I probably came off as unhappy or annoyed.  In truth, I just fell into my thoughts, and had one of the best days I've had in a long time. I listened to some music, had a debate about love, came home and went to sleep.  That was the weekend; enjoy the rest of my pictures:

Me from the end of the dock, looking back on the town.

Being a colonial town, they had a wall which still stood from
the old days

       

Lighthouse.

I wanna walk up the side of the mountain
I wanna walk down the other side of the mountain
I want to swim in the river and lie in the sun
I want to try to be nice to everyone -Grandaddy (Nature Anthem)