...for about 6 weeks! Sorry guys, blogging is just so much less interesting than other things!
So, picking up more or less where I left off, Cabo Polonio. This place is absolutely incredible. First of all, you drive up or take a bus to this place in the middle of nowhere on the side of a main road. There are a few small buildings, basically tourist information and a ticket booth. A guy in a 4x4 comes up and offers you a ride into town for a fee. I went with my Swiss friend Remy, so we got into this 4x4 with a couple from Argentina. We proceeded to ride into town, through a bit of forest, over dunes, and eventually over the actual beach to the town of Cabo Polonio. The town consists of a lighthouse surrounded by about 100 or so little shack-houses without electricity or running water, as well as a little market and a restaurant or two. We went before high season, so there wasn't so much of the usual tourist-y souvenir shops and whatnot. We checked into our hostel, a 4-bedroom house. The first night, we had dinner with the operator, her father, and a friend of hers. Since there is no electricity, they have battery-powered lamps and a lot of candles. The atmosphere is absolutely natural and calm, amazing. The next day we went to explore the town a bit, which takes about a half hour to walk through, and saw the massive population of giant seals on the rocky part of the coast in front of the lighthouse. We made a friend with a dog, who followed us all day, as well as the workers at the only restaurant in town, where we had shark for lunch. Delicious. The next day we went to the beach and saw the dunes. Literally like desert dunes. Very impressive, but painful with the strong winds blowing the sand up. That night we went to a Halloween party at the restaurant, pretty low-key since there were probably only 200 people in the whole town. Very interesting little hippy village. On the last day we left on the top deck of a big truck sort of vehicle over the dunes, kind of scary but fun.
Another recent highlight: going to futbol games! Soccer is super intense here, obviously, and even though I am not a sports fan I went to check out the scene. It is absolutely incredible the enthusiasm for this sport. At the beginning of the game, when the teams come out, the fans literally set off fireworks and smoke bombs in the team colors, throw toilet paper, etc. It is absolutely insane. And throughout the game there are candombe (drum) players and a million different fight songs. So much fun to get involved in. I even went to the Clasico, the match between the two biggest rivals in Montevideo. The game was a bit boring (tied 0-0 at the end), but it was still interesting to see the intensity of the fans. Plus tickets sell out in about half an hour!
The past weekend I went to Punta del Este. On Saturday I went to Punta Ballena for perhaps the last time for the end of the year party at the school. Bittersweet. Despite the frustrations I had, I will miss those kids and the kindness of the other teachers. They gave me a lovely book of quotes as a thank you/goodbye present. Not too much else to say, saving most of the tourist stuff for when my mom gets here- on Saturday! Looking forward to that!
So now I am finished with responsibilities and just have some visiting/traveling to do! I am going to spend this week preparing and seeing some of the tourist stuff I've missed in Montevideo, spending time with friends. On Saturday I will move with my mom to Punta del Este. From there we will do a bit of traveling, to Buenos Aires and most likely some more of the coast northwards. And once she leaves, I will be making a trip to the south of Argentina and Chile, Patagonia! It is supposed to be absolutely incredible, mountains, glaciers, volcanoes(?), and the southernmost city in the world! Definitely very excited about that. Then, Christmas in Montevideo and I'll be headed back to the states! Can't believe I'm already so close to leaving. I will miss this place. And I think the reverse culture shock will be worse than the regular culture shock... I don't know how long I'll be sticking around. Well, we'll see, but I am pretty sure I'll do my next co-op abroad also. And I'm pretty set on getting my ESL certificate after graduation. And then....the world!
