Piriapolis

Well, we made it safely out of Punta Del Este and arrived in Piriapolis at 8am yesterday. We couldn´t have been more pleased to see the quiet streets, quaint shops, and better prices. After finding a terrific hotel we wandered through the streets, talked to all of the dogs, and hiked up one of the three big hills in Piriapolis. Then for dinner we went up the second large hill by lift which was amazing! The view of the city lights was beautiful from the restaurant. This small town is quite bustling and people (even families and their children) stay out until all hours of the night. Our bodies were tired and our brains may not have been at their best but we had the greatest time and we couldn´t believe that we actually had beds to go home to that night (clean ones that is!).



Nine hours of much needed sleep later Chrissy´s ¨Aunt¨ Alex took us to El Polonia which is just east of Piriapolis and Punta Del Este. After driving up to the outskirts of the city we then had to park and ride in on government issued trucks. Wè plowed through rolling sand dunes and ended up on the most beautiful and tranquil beach! The ¨downtown¨ looked like it robbed Madison of all it´s hippies and was made up of one short line of them selling their homemade goods. We went to lunch at one of the two restaurants and one of the only buildings with electricity. After filling up on food and a drink similar to sangria, we headed down the beach and into the vast reaching dunes (or as George described...¨the Sahara¨). It was a beautiful and relaxing day that was pleasantly finished off by a visit to Alex´s Turkish friend in Peradena where we enjoyed the much talked about Medio y Medio (a white wine champagne mix that´s popular here in Uruguay). Now we´re back in our favorite city and ready to go to dinner (yes, it´s almost 2am but people eat very late here!). Tomorrow Chrissy will leave us (so sad!) and we will be searching for an apartment here in Piriapolis. We may stay a week or so and enjoy the beach and hiking and then head to Montevideo. There we will stay at a friend of Alex´s and take spanish lessons as well. So far we love Uruguay so much that we may never leave. We have so much yet to see though so we won´t settle in just yet but we´ll enjoy every moment that we´re here.

There are tons of pictures to post so hopefully we´ll get our act together soon and post them!

Until next time,
A&J (and C)