A most amazing visit!

Well, here I am with just a few short weeks left to go.  Hard to believe, but I am eager to be home and organize the next phase of my life.  But, I had the fortune of enjoying a bit of these last few weeks with some amazing visitors.  Life-long CT friends Allison and Erin came to visit for a week, and it was incredibly special to have that experience with them.  Having grown up together our whole lives, it can be hard now when we see our lives going in different directions and having such different experiences from one another, so it was truly wonderful to get to share a piece of this experience with them.  I felt very special that they took their precious vacation days and came all the way down here, just to Uruguay, to spend 6 short days with me!  We found some time of course to hang out and have them catch me up on all of the pop culture I've missed, along with some city sightseeing and trying of the different Uruguayan cuisines (asado, chivito, mate, masitas, and the torta frita was quite the hit!).  Then we took a few day trips, including Punta del Este, and Colonia.  Although the first few days were rainy and gray, we finally got some sun towards the end.  They also got to meet several of the other Fulbrighters and friends here during a rambla picnic I organized.  All in all I'd say it was a successful trip, and it was so much fun to spend one of my last weeks with them here!

 I was sad when they were gone, but didn't miss a beat... that weekend, I went on a trip to Cabo Polonio, a beach nature reserve that you can only reach by off-rode vehicles.  Elizabeth and I went on a Friday and met Beth, Meara, and Beth's friend Kim there, where we stayed in the most adorable little hostel/inn that was really more like staying in someone's home for a few days.  Although there isn't reliable running water or electricity, we were pretty comfortable, although I did get to make good use of my headlamp at night!  It was an impressively beautiful site... being so remote, people who live there really have to be prepared for the 'hippy' lifestyle people live there, but they get a beautiful and very protected spot in return.  On our final day of the weekend we had our one day of beautiful weather, and climbed the lighthouse for an impressive view.  We also got to see the sea lions that live on the rocks.  Although we saw lots of dead animals on the beach (sea lions, penguins, turtles...) we unfortunately did not get to see all of them live.  It was a great trip, but after so much traveling and running around these last few weeks, I wasn't sorry to finally be home and have my feet planted in Montevideo for a little while!

Iguazu!

As promised, I'm posting about going to the waterfalls at Iguazu before anything else exciting comes up.  Kate, a Fulbright research scholar, and I went together, starting out early in the morning on a Thursday.  We spent most of the day in transport and at airports, but made it to the hostel without many problems.  The next day we went to the national park to see the falls.  We only went to the park on the Argentinian side (as opposed to the Brazilian or Paraguayan sides, in which there are also waterfalls), because I do not have a Brazilian or Paraguayan visa.  Unfortunately, that first day it poured on and off, and we got soaked a few times, putting a literal damper on things.  It was incredibly beautiful though, and the first glimpses were breathtaking, especially with the rainy mist.

Eventually we made our way back, got an early (American-style, I guess you could say) dinner, than tried to get some sleep, despite it being pretty noisy in our hostel room, which faced the street.  The next day we made a point of getting up early to take advantage of what turned out to be a beautiful day.  We spent the whole day at the park, taking in the sunshine and the incredible views.  I was especially on the lookout for animals; sightings included a toucan, some giant lizards, and of course the coatie, which are the South American equivalent of scavenging raccoons, just with longer snouts.  I'm not really doing much justice to this amazing experience, but I think the pictures speak more than I could ever attempt to describe here.  I'm incredibly glad I went, I think it was certainly one of the most breathtaking sights I've seen down here, if not in my life.

Then on Sunday, we had the day to kill more or less, so we went to one of the stone mines.  It was a bit of an adventure to get there, but for those of you who know my obsession with stones and crystals and general shiny things, for me it was well worth it to see the amethyst, quartz, and agates still in the caves.  Very cool.  Then we wiled away are afternoon, had dinner, and set off to the airport with a very long night ahead of us.  We took our first flight to Buenos Aires, then had about a 9 hour layover in the airport.  Unfortunately, this airport barely even had seats to sit on for people who are not allowed yet in the gate, which we weren't, so we spent the night on the cold marble floor.  Sweet.  Then we made it back to Montevideo, I took a brief nap, headed to work, ran my usual conversation group, then went to the symphonic orchestra concert at the Teatro Solis (a beautiful old theater that was recently redone), then came home, and crashed.  It was well worth it though!

Then this past weekend, I finally got to just stay home and relax, and celebrate Elizabeth's 25th birthday!  Yay!  We went out on Saturday night with some people from the American Embassy, which was pretty amusing, then on Sunday, we went to dinner and finally tried the 'Copa Melba', a giant tower of ice cream, cookies, whipped cream, and fruit.  Yum.

This week, beloved friends Allison and Erin are coming, so I am incredibly excited!  I have plenty of plans in store, and I think we will really enjoy ourselves.  More to come!