Punta del esta, Uruguay

So this place is like the surfers paradise of Uruguay it seems that everyone goes here. We were always told the beaches here would be busy but we have never seen anything like it! just crazy! we have had unreal weather it has been an average of 35 degrees all week! we were looking at the weather in Calgary and it was plus 35 here feels like 39 and minus 23 feels like minus 33! OMG we are in for a rude awakening if it is that cold when we get home! eeek! we head to Montevideo tomorrow to get some culture in the capital! hope everyone is staying warm can't believe January is over! That's all for now:)

Piriapolis, Uruguay

So we are on the coast of Uruguay. We are staying in a tiny little flat in a place called piriapolis which is about 30 minutes from punta del esta. We had a hard time finding a clean reasonable priced place to stay right in punta so we decided to stay here. The beaches here are really nice with white sand and warm water. Its easy to get a bus to punta so we can stay here where it is less busy and just go there a couple days. Yesterday we went up a chair lift on a hill called cerro San Antonio to see great views of the bay. It's quite funny watching the people here they are quite obsessed with a tea called matte. They take it everywhere even in the ocean! They carry around a thermos and this cup that has a straw with a filter on it. It reminds us a lot like we are in hobbit ville. The sinks are low and the houses small and they carry around there tea:) They say if someone offers you a sip you have to take it other wise you will really offend them. We are here on the, beach till the 31st then we will head to the capital city for a few days. Hope everyone is keeping well! Hugs!

Colonia de Sacremento, Uruguay

We have made it to our 11th country safe and sound! We enjoyed our last week in Buenos Aires we had a blast at the tango show we have some new moves when we come back:) We met up with another couple we had met in arica Chile and did some sight seeing with them the last couple days. We went on our first subway ride with them, it was exactly how the movies portray it I now see why they use them for movies I felt like we were in pelham 123:) Yesterday we took the ferry from BA to colonia, it is a cute little town on the coast of Uruguay. The old town is full of cobble stone streets and lots of character. We are here till tomorrow then we will head up the coast to punta del esta which they call the Miami beach of south america so we are looking forward to being back on the beach again! That's all for now:)

Buenos Aires, Argentina

Well we are in the big city of Buenos Aires, we took a 14 hour overnight bus from Mendoza which was ok we were able to sleep and they fed us dinner as well as champagne and wine, you can't beat that! We are staying in a flat right down town so we have been able to walk to all the great areas of the city. We have chosen a different walking tour each day. We went to the recoleta cemetery the other day and saw evitas grave it was something to see the insane buildings they have built for the tombs. All were just incredible! we went to the presidential palace and walked along the river docks in Puerto madero, and saw the opera house which is one of the 4 most well known in the world. They have a street here that is 8 lanes each direction, you had to walk very briskly to get across before the light turned. Last night we went for dinner with Pablo and Laura, Glenn had trained Pablo at work 4 years ago in Calgary so it was great to be able to see him here. We went for steaks and though they were good iam still an Alberta beef girl! Tonight we are going to put on our dancing shoes and make our attempt at the tango! we are going to a tango dinner show and they give you lessons before the show so we will see how that goes:) We are enjoying Buenos Aires there is lots to see and do so it is keeping us busy! we are here till wednesday then we will head to country number 11 Uruguay! That's all for now!

Mendoza, Argentina

So we have crossed over into our 10th country of our trip! We took the bus from Santiago to Mendoza which should have been the easiest border of them all. I say should because when we got to the border we were taken to a room and the lady pointed at the computer screen that said user name and pass word!? as of January 7th Canadians, Americans and australians have to pay the reciprocity fee that you always paid arriving by air but now it's by land as well... needless to say no one knew what to do yet point at the screen. They only took credit card that u had to set a profile up on a computer and print the page for them to scan no cash. All I can say is shit show! but we figured it out and the bus was only delayed by an hour:) We are staying at a super cute bed and breakfast in the center of town, friday night we went and saw a futbol match which was fun it was the under 20's qualifying match for the world cup we saw Argentina vs Paraguay and Chile vs Bolivia. Let's just say Argentina lost so the fans were not to happy! Yesterday we went on a wine tour, ourselves and 2 others got a driver for the day and he took us to 3 wineries. Belasco de Baquedano was the first and they had a Aroma room which we were told there are only 6 in the world and this was the only one in Latin America. There were 50 scents that you smelt so you could learn how to identify the different flavors and scents in the wines it was super interesting. Next we went to Chandon which is champagne and then Norton where we tried wines from each process, oak barrels and stainless steel tanks. All in all great day! It has been 38 degrees here so super hot but a very nice place. We are here till tomorrow night when we take an overnight bus to Buenos aires. That's all for now we need to go to the store before siesta:) 

Santiago, Chile

Hi!!! We hope everyone has had a great 2013 so far and we thank everyone for following our adventure. We are sorry we have been slow with the blogs lately but we are on it once again! We are in Santiago, it is a very nice city and easy to navigate considering it has 7 million people! we are staying in a nice hostel in the center so we are able to walk to the main sights. It has been extremely hot here so we are definitely going to have to make sure we have air conditioning the rest of our trip. Sorry hope that's not to much of a dig at the people in the cold:) Tomorrow night we head to our 10th country! we are taking a bus to Mendoza Argentina and are looking forward to all there great wineries! We are meeting up with a girl we met in Panama so should be nice to visit. We have had a great time in Chile but are super excited for something new. Argentina is well known for it's beef so we will let you know if it competes with Alberta:)( I have my doubts:) that's all for now!
hugs!

Feliz año Nuevo!

Happy 2013 everyone! hope everyone had an amazing new years! We had a wonderful dinner with great wines while we watched the awesome fire works in the bay. We did it true Chilean style starting dinner at 10pm:) It is quite an event here people love there new years party's! They were expecting 2 million people to watch the fire works, truely insane the place to be in South America for new years. The pictures don't do the fire works justice but we got some great videos! we are into our last week in the condo and will be heading to Santiago for a couple days and then to Mendoza Argentina. Hope everyone is well and we wish you a very happy start to 2013!