Saturday, February 23, 2008

Lunar Eclipse, Cabo Polonia, Montevideo

On our last night in Punto del Diablo, there was a lunar eclipse. I know you all say: "Yes Pia, there was one here too", but for the first time in who knows how long I was in a place with very little light from cities. The lunar eclipse was gorgeous, Mara and I walked away from town and sat in the lifeguard stand on the beach and just gazed up. The stars were probably the brightest I have ever seen, it was one of those moments where you want to remember everything because you know how special it is even at the time. The sounds of the waves crashing, the bright stars and the golden moon made an amazing expeiernce. One that seems will never be explained in words except to say...I loved it!

Earlier in the day Mara and I caught a cab with an Irish guy named, William and another American, Fran to Fort Saint Teresa. The fort was built around 1870 and it was great. We had spent most of our time thus far looking at the beach and being at the fort allowed us to see the backyard of the beach or the rest of Uruguay. The rolling hills reminded me of being in New South Whales a bit with small signs of agriculture dotting the countryside. We then walked back 8 kilometers on the beach back to Punto del Diablo, it was beautiful and we were lucky because it wasn´t too hot. We stopped at on of the points between beach coves and it had a sign showing the various wildlife that one could expect to see, a few of the same birds that I had studied in New Jersey last summer were on that list which was pretty cool.

After four nights in Punto del Diablo, Mara and I decided to head south for another beach town we had heard of, this time there would not be the same luxuries we had enjoyed the previous days. Cabo Polonia was without electricity and running water was a luxury. We hopped on a bus mid-afternoon and were dropped off at what appeared to be the middle of nowhere. We then were told we had to catch as what can most easily be described as a shuttle to the town. The town was full of simple beach homes, lined along sandy paths. We found a place to stay on the beach for $10USD for each person, it was perfect! The night was gorgeous with no lights looking out onto the crashing waves while eating dinner at the cabin we had rented. We shared the house with three guys we had met at our last hostel from Israel, we had great chats along with a great meal.

The next day, Mara and I decided to head to the captial city of Montevideo. We arrived here last night and have just spent our time here exploring. It is a bit of a strange captial city, with beautiful historic sections surrounded by water but also sections of abandoned homes. At any rate tomorrow we are heading back to Buenos Aires to stay with Florencia (our couch surfing friend) and then it is time to plan our next adventure. I promise I will be posting pictures soon!

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