More from Uruguay.

I wanted to mention a couple additional things about our trip to Uruguay.

On my birthday, Abby and I went out to the Tranquilo restaurant again. After dinner, we ordered a banana panqueque for dessert (it is like a crepe with banana cooked into it and then doused with liquor and lit on fire...and it is delicious!). In the meantime, Abby managed to inform the waitress that it was my birthday, so when the panqueque came out, there was a hallowed out strawberry that was on lit on fire like a birthday candle, and the whole restaurant/bar (which was pretty much packed) stared clapping and singing. It was really nice and really embarrassing!

On the weekends, there is a small downtown boardwalk in town where you can buy handmade jewelery, some local crafts and snacks. Although we always enjoy checking out the local crafting talent, we were really excited about the snack stands because that is where you can get freshly made empanadas! You can actually watch them put the empanada together, starting with a ball of dough that they roll out to a thin crust, fill with the filling of your choice and seal with the use of a semi-circle dish and a small rolling pin. They then fry them up in a large pot (that looked very well-used) and serve them to you steaming hot wrapped in a napkin. My favorite was the pescado y queso (fish and cheese) and Abby liked the cebolla y queso (onion and cheese). But the best part is that they were between 40 and 45 UR pesos, which is less than $2.50 US!

As I mentioned before, Tranquilo offered horseback rides through Santa Teresa national reserve, a 30 square kilometer park and wild-life refuge just up the beach from Punta del Diablo. With hundreds of native and imported trees and a plethora of bird and animal species, the park is a majestic and beautiful place to spend the afternoon. Abby and I were hoping to take the 5 ½ hour horseback tour on my birthday but because the horses needed an additional day of rest, we were not sure we would be able to fit a ride in before we left on Sunday. However, we were able to secure a bus to Montevideo at 6 PM, and Fabian, the tour guide agreed to a morning ride. So, bright and early on Sunday morning, Abby and I, along with another traveler (Jerome, dubbed Geronimo by Fabian, a Frenchman with an English accent!) mounted our horses and set off for the forest (none of us had been on a horse in over 15 years!). What a magical day! Our wonderful horses tirelessly hauled us around the reserve. Although my horse, Rosino, might have been more worried about snacking on everything green we passed than anything else and Abby's horse, Borracha (which mean's drunk in Espanol), had a little trouble walking in a straight line!

If you have a free minute, check out the pictures I took of the reserve and the greenhouses. They were breathtaking! At the small store on the reserve, we bought some sandwiches and snacks and then got back on our horses to find a lunch spot. Abby got some cool bread, a couple veggies and cheese, but us meat eaters each had a huge hamburger topped with a fried egg, ham, cheese, lettuce, tomato and mayonnaise. Yum! We washed it down with some vino and relaxed. Before heading back we visited a petting zoo on the reserve, where we were awed and saddened by a caged tucan.

On the way back, we explored another area of the reserve, which led us down to the beach. It was amazing to reach the crest of the dunes and see the ocean spread out before us. Once we hit the beach and some open space, we kicked it into a higher gear and galloped most of the way back (my horse unexpectedly broke into a gallop one other time during the trip and scared the crap out of me!). It was so much fun. We took a couple pictures of the coastline from the dunes and then headed back to the hostel to grab a shower, pack up and head out.

By the time we reached Montevideo, after 5 hours of sitting on the bus from Punta del Diablo, we felt the pain creeping in. By the time we made it to Colonia, after a couple hours sitting around in Montevideo, a strenuous rat race to get a seat on the bus and a 2 hour bus ride to the ferry station, the pain had taken root and was expanding into muscles we didn't even know existed!! By the time we actually made it back to Buenos Aires, after 3 hours on the ferry with people snoring all around us and a gnawing bright light right above our seats, we thought we might need someone to carry us home. But we made it, and after almost 12 hours of sleep and some Advil to dull the pain, we had a chance to reflect on what an amazing weekend we had. Even though our backs, butts, arms and thighs were hurting for almost a week, we wouldn't have changed a thing.

Thanks for reading!!
XOXO