A City by the Sea

The first destination of our trip was Montevideo, Uruguay. 



Our flight from Santiago to Montevideo was delayed for a day because there was still somevolcanic ash in the air from the volcano that erupted in southern Chile a few weeks before. Lara and I ended up sleeping in the airport as we waited because we refused to postpone our adventure by returning home! The next day we got on the plane and flew into an ice-cold Uruguay.


Oh, I suppose I should tell you now that we CouchSurfed for our entire trip.Don't know what CouchSurfing is? In their own words, it is "A worldwide network for making connections between travelers and the local communities they visit." Basically, if you will be travelingto a specific city, you can use the website to find people who live there and ask them if they wouldlike to meet up with you to show you around the city or even if they can offer you a place to staywhile you travel. CouchSurfing is absolutely free, but that is not what makes it so appealing. It completely changes your traveling experience, because you get to see the city/state/countryfrom the eyes and home of a native. It is so different from staying in hostels and onlymeeting other travelers (although that is fun, too!). It was amazing getting to knowour Couchsurfing hosts and I am still in shock of how open-heartedly they took us into their homes and the hospitality they showed us. Programs like these really restore my faith in humanity. 
Anyway!!! Montevideo was stunningly beautiful, but we didn't get much time to really explore,what with our flight delay. Here are some photos I snapped in the short time we were there:













We stayed with a really sweet couple, named Natalia and Pedro. They drove us around the city,introduced us to a deliciously sweet liquor called "grappamiel," and took us to a vespashow at a little bar in the city. They were very helpful and gave us a lot of information aboutthe city, like where to go and what to eat. They also recommended that, if we get the chance,we should go to Punto del Diablo (a little beach town up north) during the summer, and not Punto del Este like everyone recommends. I would love to return to Uruguay someday to go there, because it sounds amazing!
After two days in Montevideo, we took a bus over to Colonia, which is a beautiful old colonial town that I will tell you about next time!!! 
♥