I think that Latin America is a good introduction to traveling. If I could do it all over again, I would have chosen to start traveling through Latin America before heading over to Asia. However, I did this backwards, so it’s too late.

Here’s the thing: Asia is crazy. Asia is intense. Asia is jam-packed full of loud noises, strange smells, and people, people EVERYWHERE. Asia is IN YOUR FACE. Asia will kick your ass the moment you step off of the plane, and will continue to beat you down with an array of unforgettable experiences until the moment you leave the place.
Latin America is very, very different. Yes, there are people. There are cars, there are houses, there is food, there are all of the necessities and basic essentials that you will see in every country. But Latin America does not LEAP out at you. Latin America is subtle. Latin America is bursting with flavor, but it’s all in the aftertaste.

And so little old me, who had grown accustomed to this ‘in-your-face’ kind of traveling, shied away from the subtlety of Latin America. I went through an array of amazing experiences; I did a homestay with a Costa Rican family for a month, I learned Spanish, I lived in Paraguay for two months and traveled all around the country taking interviews with natives, and I traveled to Panama, Uruguay, Argentina, Chile, and Peru on top of all of this. But I didn’t FEEL the culture in the same way that I did in Asia. I felt that while I had many cultural experiences and interactions, I didn’t fully appreciate or understand the significance behind them in the way that I did while in Asia.

Transversely, my integration into Asia was much slower than in Latin America. I knew that I had ample time to wander around and understand Asia, and so I took my sweet time. I read all kinds of books about India, Nepal, Thailand, Turkey. I questioned what social services in these countries really meant. And I went on an array of experiences with Carpe Diem and with my school that challenged a lot of local traditions and customs. My head was always on level with what was going on around me.
Latin America was more of a solo trip. I had a plan to go in there, learn about micro-finance, and enjoy the sights while I was there. I plunged headfirst into the continent with no prior knowledge or experience, and hit the ground running. I didn’t have the TIME that I wished I had to fully experience the things in front of me, because there was always a thousand things to do: my current research project, learning spanish, turning in papers, potential job and internship opportunities for the future, and onwards. I went into Buenos Aires, Argentina armed with a laptop and a recording device to transcribe all of my interviews from Paraguay, rather than spending my time REALLY appreciating the city. I spent 5 days in a room on Easter Island furiously writing away my research project instead of exploring the volcanoes or various maori statues. I arrived in Peru exhausted and ready to collapse, thinking about nothing much except my plane ride back to the United States the next day.

Now it seems like I may be going off of a complain here, and I’m surely not: I know that I had unbelievable, unforgettable experiences that SO many don’t have the fortune of doing. I am truly, incredibly blessed. I can’t believe that I have had the opportunity to travel to seven countries within a mere four months, and have that count for my schooling.
Merely the point I’m trying to make here is that because of these factors, my experience in Latin America was not as potent culturally, or as significant as my experience was in Asia. And while I wish that one day I really WILL go to Latin America when I have the time to experience all that it can offer, my heart still pines to go back to Asia.

My senior year ends in a few months, and then I’m graduated. Let’s hope that I can keep the traveling up after that.

Latin America: You were beautiful. You were magical. I am sorry that I couldn’t fully appreciate all that you had to offer. I dearly hope that I can come back under different circumstances, to truly know all that you have to offer.

Much love,
Brittany

Pictures of Uruguay are up! Check them out here!

Much love,
Brittany

I decided that it would be a good idea to put some travel tips on Uruguay, such as good buses to take, restaurants to check out, places to go, things to see… I have realized more than ever that many guide books are outdated or have missing information. Therefore, I thought I would tell you exactly what I did and give a little ‘review,’ so for those that stumble upon this website that are going to Uruguay can use this information while they travel! This is also useful for those who want to travel cheaply. I stayed at a cheap hostel, never took a taxi, and managed to make my way around Uruguay pretty comfortably.

Without further ado,
Uruguay

My budget:
I spent 200 dollars while I was there (50 a day, including food, accommodation, travel expenses, and gifts). This was enough for me to travel around on buses, stay in a hostel for four days, get a few gifts for friends and family, and eat very well (including me splurging on a meal at Puerto Mercado). If you want to spend the BARE MINIMUM within four days, you can probably get by on 100, though you may have to skip a meal or two. If you can find someone to host you on Couch Surfing then you could probably be there for even cheaper (BE VERY CAREFUL WHEN COUCH SURFING! I ONLY couch surf with Peace Corp Volunteers myself because I know they’ve gone through extensive back round checks).

The most important tip about Uruguay:
It is better to go to Uruguay during the WEEK DAYS rather than the weekends (especially in Montevideo). Most people give Montevideo a bad review because the tourists usually go on the weekends- however, on Saturday and Sunday, most shops are closed, and the merchants aren’t outside. This is why you should go on the week days, because you will see a completely different side of the country.

Safety:
Montevideo, in my opinion, is one of the safest cities in South America. I walked around Ciudad Vieja (the old part of town) in a lot of deserted areas by myself to the point where I felt uncomfortable because someone could have easily mugged me- and I had no problems whatsoever. I spent my entire weekend walking around and I was fine. I wouldn’t recommend walking around Ciudad Vieja at night though, especially alone. Walking around the main center close to the Ciudad Vieja Hostel was fine when I was hurrying back there at night, even though there was no one around.

To get to Montevideo from the airport, you can take any one of the 700 buses (748, etc.) that go into Montevideo- at the date of writing, they cost 26 pesos, or a little over a dollar. Also, if you are changing money to Uruguayan pesos, only change as small of an amount you can at the airport, since you can get better exchange rates all around the city. You can get a map of Montevideo at the airport of downtown Uruguay, which is where I myself stayed. The best place to stay (in my opinion) is by Ciudad Vieja- you can see it all the way to the left on the map, where the land kind of juts out to form a peninsula. Ask the bus driver to let you off near Plaza Independencia (“¿Puedes decir conmigo cuando este autobus está cerca de la Plaza Independencia?”), and you’ll be able to find the hostel pretty easily, or anywhere else in the general area that you want to go to.

The hostel I stayed at in Montevideo was called ‘Ciudad Vieja Hostel.’ You can find it on Hostel World). They give a special discount if you book on hostel world, although they do charge you a booking fee so I suppose it evens out. I thought this was a very decent hostel, mostly because the staff is really nice and helpful, and they give you a lot of information about what you can do, as well as offering services such as bus tickets, tango shows, spanish lessons, etc. The beds are comfortable, they have free internet, and a pretty standard but delicious breakfast. This is where most of the tourists come to, but it’s not a ‘crazy’ hostel- not too loud, not TOO many people. I would recommend it. Also, the staff speaks English, which is a definite plus.

The best place to check out in Montevideo is the Puerto Mercado, which is right around Ciudad Vieja. It is a large warehouse converted into small and elegant restaurants, surrounded by spitfires with a variety of meat and seafood. It is absolutely delicious, cheap, and I highly recommend it. Outside there are lots of merchants and dancing to go around, so it’s definitely a little hot spot for locals and tourists alike. If you are REALLY looking to be cheap, there is also a stand of empanadas inside Puerto Mercardo that are absolutely DELICIOUS. There are about 50 different varieties and they only cost about $1.25 each. I had a capresse one and a calamari one… best empanadas I’ve ever tasted. You can also generally get a chorizo sausage at one of the restaurants (try the ones where you can sit at the counter) for two or three dollars, and they’ll give you all of the bread (including delicious dipping sauce) and water that you want.

My favorite part about Montevideo was wandering around Ciudad Vieja and seeing the gorgeous buildings and merchants with antiques. This is how I generally spent my time there, and I encourage you to also. Walking along 18 de Julio (the main street and right in front of Plaza Independencia) is also fun.
I have heard that ‘Playa Pocitas’ is the best beach in Montevideo. You can take the 104 bus from Ciudad Vieja to there. At the date of writing it costs 16 pesos.
If you want to go to Colonial Del Sacramento, Punta del Este, Punta del Diablo (these are the best places to go to in Uruguay, so I’ve heard), you can take any bus from the terminal ‘Tres Cruces.’ The bus you can take from Ciudad Vieja to Tres Cruces is CA1, and it costs only 9 pesos.

I did travel to Colonial del Sacramento. It took almost 3 hours to get there by bus, and it cost about 160 pesos (about 9 dollars) one way. The buses are very comfortable and it was a pleasant journey for me. At Colonial del Sacramento, you can rent scooters, golf carts, and cars to drive around. I almost rented a scooter (but decided not to because I didn’t want to spend the money). You can rent all of these things right outside of the bus station. I am not sure how much cars or golf carts cost, but the scooter was 200 pesos for 2 hours.
As for the rest of Colonial del Sacramento, it was a very beautiful place and I’d recommend everyone going there (especially if you want to go to Buenos Aires, because you can take a boat). I didn’t do much but walk around, but they also have other hostels there (Ciudad Vieja Hostel has a sister hostel there as well) and lots of restaurants and shops.

To get back to the airport from Montevideo, you can take the terminal close to Plaza Independencia (unfortunately I forget the name, but if you consult the map you’ll see a small blue bus which means ‘station’ that’s close to the Plaza). This costs 26 pesos as well.

Uruguay is an amazing country with all kinds of places to explore and things to do. I highly recommend you go there!!

Hope that helps and happy travels,
Brittany

You are a hidden gem in this world, and I have had some of the most fantastic three days of my life with you. I have never felt so in love with everything while walking your streets.
I will miss you. I will miss your merchants and markets. I will miss your sweet and kind people, who have gone above and beyond the past few days to make me feel so welcome. I will miss the kind old lady and her husband who are artists and gave me a montevideo magnet wrapped in a music sheet. I will miss the mercado puerto, by far the best part of Uruguay, where yesterday I dined on red wine, paella, and flan with dulce de leche and whipped cream, spending almost every penny I have… and so worth it. I will miss your amazingly cheap, delicious, and varied empanadas. I will miss lying in a bedroom with white sheets in your main city, lazily drawing love notes and imagining what my wedding will look like. I will miss your antique buildings, your artwork sprawled all over the streets, your ocean breeze, your chorizo (which is the best I have ever tasted anywhere), and all of your oriental stores. I will miss feeling utterly relaxed but inspired, tranquil yet thirsty for experience, creative, spendthrift, and daring in your world. I have made friends and relationships with many, many people in the places I´ve traveled to- but I have never been in a relationship WITH the place that I have traveled to. I feel as if you have become a close friend, a lover, a passionate union that I will forever look back on with much fondness. I dearly hope we can meet again someday.

And another large piece of me lays behind again in this place,

Brittany

This is one of my favorite countries I´ve been to. I feel as if I´ve stumbled upon a pearl that very few take the time to know about. Montevideo takes on an entirely different character during the day. It is bohemia heaven before all of the wanna-be bohemians come and rip it apart, driving up prices horrendously, creating ripoffs and fakes, and making Montevideo more contrived. It is Buenos Aires, Casco Antiguo in Panama, Paris, Prague, before they became hot little tourist spots.

In the morning I wandered out into the day to discover Montevideo. The center of town that I´m in is surrounded on 3 sides by the ocean’ 5 blocks to my left, 5 blocks to my right, and 10 blocks down. The main road, 18 de Julio, stretches down from Tres Cruces (the bus terminal) to the shore, which gives a good 30 or so blocks of exploring.

Past Plaza Independence is the old part of the city, where I spent my morning. I walked outside to be greeted by street merchants hawking antique wares- rings, cameras from the 70´s, gramaphones from the 20´s, typewriters, aged books. I wandered down to find myself in a vegetable market, which only led to more street merchants. Ancient buildings, magnificently and volumously sculptured from around the 1920´s, were now painted a bright pastel color and housed canvases upon canvases of contemporary art for as little as 10 dollars. I wandered into an ´oriental´ shop to find a jaw-droppingly stunning enourmous cabinet with detailed Tibetan buddhist paintings- 200 dollars. Hoping to get a taste for seafood, I found what looked like to a large warehouse that had now been converted into small little restaurants, with elegant little tables and elaborately dressed waiters, surrounded by spitfires twice the size of me full to the brim with roasted steak, chicken, red peppers, potatoes, and seafood galore. Right nearby was a small empanada shop with about 50 different kinds of empanadas- I opted for a capresse one, and a calamari one. Two dollars for both.

In the afternoon, I decided to go to Colonia Del Sacramento, a small town known for its ancient buildings right on the sea. After a two hour bus ride, I spent the afternoon walking around in awe at this gorgeous village, which looked exactly like Tuscany, Italy, except right on the ocean- little art stores, shops, and restaurants spilled out everywhere, and I spent the better part of the afternoon reading inside a grand art cafe.

I absolutely love it here. I feel as if I am the luckiest person in the world to have all of these amazing travel experiences. Today I had planned to go to Punta del Este, a beach town about 2 hours away from Montevideo, but I decided that I love Montevideo so much that I´m going to stay and suck up as much of the life here as I can. I feel so, so lucky to be here. I never want to leave.

Much love,
Brittany

Writing from one of those hostel computers where the ´delete´ button doesnt work very well and the keyboard is in Spanish. Excuse the grammatical errors.

Uruguay… oh, Uruguay, what a strange experience. Before coming to Latin America, I hadn´t thought too much about Uruguay as a country. I imagined it as one of those South American countries out of ´Romancing the Stone´- Jungly, with destroyed buses lying abandoned in ravines, with soldiers head to toe in gear…
Once I actually got to South America, especially Paraguay, my impression of Uruguay immediately changed. I read books and notes about how Uruguay used to be one of the wealthiest countries in Latin America before their economy kind of fell apart for awhile. Reading ´Lonely Planet South America on a Shoestring´told me that Montevideo, the main city, was this beautiful metropolitan area with artists and music and tango, with gorgeous beaches everywhere and seafood galore… Ohhh how my mouth watered while reading this, especially since I had been in Paraguay for a month, a landlocked country with no possible dreams of ever relaxing near a body of water while feasting on mussels, crab, shrimp, or maybe even lobster if I dared to dream it was cheap enough. All Uruguay seemed to be about was amazing music and art, the ocean, seafood, and horsebackriding. I imagined Montevideo as this gorgeous metropolis. It was like a wonderful dream….

…that was easily shattered as soon as I arrived into the city. My first impression was that this place was like Paraguay with a coastline. Plenty of rural areas to go around, a strange mix of flair followed by buildings in sore need of a good scrubbing, and once again, complete desertion. I arrived into Montevideo´s downtown to find it so devoid of people I was shocked. The sun was setting and it was quite beautiful, but there was almost no one outside to enjoy it. I didn´t quite understand what was going on, and where the people were. I walked down one of the main roads that so reminded me of Taksim Square in Turkey, watching hawkers packing up their wares as the few people that were actually out hurried by, as if there was this perfect storm coming and everyone was running for cover.

This is suc h a strange but interesting place, and I don´t know quite what to think about it so far. It feels a little bit like all of the bad parts of Panama City and the good parts of Paris mixed together, without any people in it. It is both beautiful but ugly, charming but devoid of flavor, interesting but lacking any actual spice. Looking outside at the antique buidings that lead down to the oceanfront makes my heart want to burst with sheer pleasure, but lurking behind it is SUCH a strong feeling of utter depression as to how dismal this place seems, that I just end up wildly confused.

Last night I tried to find a place called ´Kazbah´which was recommended by the Lonely Planet. It was supposedly this restaurant that had all kinds of mediterranean food, with also a bar that people apparentely liked to frequent to. This seemed like the perfect setting for me to go out to dinner, because I immediately imagined falafel, hookah, and hopefully at least a few traelers like me who had consulted the Lonely Planet that I could meet with. However, I searched all around the area to finally come to the conclusion that it must have been closed. This was the first time I had actually been let down by the Lonely Planet guide while I was in country. I know that their ´sleeping´guides are almost always out of date- just check out hostel world in any country you´re in versus their book and you´ll see that there are newer and better places that have popped up everywhere. But I had never been let down on a restaurant before. Sadness.
Instead, I went out to a place called ´Don Peperone,´which turned out to be QUITE a nice restaurant, even though I spent 5 dollars for a meal. I arrived at around 8 PM, which is usually a late dinner for me. The place was pretty deserted. I proceeded to hang out for about 2 hours, reading and enjoying a burrito (don´t judge. There was no seafood on the menu). The longer I waited around, the more people showed up, until finally when I asked for the bill at 10:30 PM, the place was SWARMING with people. Dinner at 10:30?? Maybe this is why Uruguay looked so deserted… maybe everyone naps until 9 or 10 PM and then only at late night does the life actually start.

Maybe it´s too soon to assume much about Montevideo. I DID arrive just as the sun was setting. Today is Friday. I have all day to explore Montevideo and the town center, the ocean, the markets, and of course, the seafood. Let´s see what happens today.

Originally I had plans to go to the Galapagos Islands in Ecuador, where I was planning on spending a good chunk of my budget. However, I learned that a trip to the Galapagos Islands is just too much money. In order to be able to actually walk on the islands (which is what makes the trip worthwhile), you would need to be on a boat of less than 15 people- which means that it would cost somewhere around $1500 for ONLY a four day trip. On top of that, they charge an extra 50% fee if you’re going alone. On top of THAT, then you need to pay for your plane ticket. With all of the charges, spending about 700 dollars a day is not ANYWHERE NEAR within my budget range. Though sad, I hope that one day when I am no longer a student, I can return to Ecuador and go to the Galapagos Islands.

This frees up some money that I have to play around with. So as of 15 minutes ago, I AM OFFICIALLY GOING TO EASTER ISLAND IN CHILE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!