Feliz Navidad

I have been in Uruguay for a couple of days now and I am having Buenos Aires withdrawal! Not the actual place but the hostel. I spent three nights in Montevideo and I feel like a bit of a granny because I had to complain about an Argentinian rugby team running naked and wild all night all over the hostel. Of course last night was very nice, of course because I was leaving the hostel today.

Uruguay seems cool enough- the last on my great tour of gaucho culture, which started in Rio Grande de Sul in Brazil. People drink mate in Argentina but here they drink it like they did in Porto Alegre, which is to say constantly. The streets are full of people clutching their mate gourds in their hands, with a thermos nestling in the crook of their elbows ready for top ups.

Montevideo was nice, chilled out and I had a nice time there. Today I arrived into Punta del Este and seem to have made the mistake of booking myself into a hostel with NO BAR! And it is Christmas Eve tomorrow and I have paid until 26th. Silly me!