February 24th, 2019

Hola!

Today some of the group had the opportunity to head to another country...Uruguay! We started our day on a ferry (much like the one to PEI for all of the folks from Atlantic Canada), and were greeted by a very nice tour guide who showed us around the port town, Colonia. Here, we walked through markets, along beaches, and past bicycle races. Since this town was once controlled by the Spanish and Portuguese, both distinct styles of architecture were represented here. The cobblestone streets slanted towards the ocean so that rain water could empty without flooding the homes along the street.  In Colonia there were tons of stray dogs, laying in the street, lounging on steps, and chasing cars up and down the main roads. Luckily, Alicia had a bag of dog treats, and every dog she passed was given one, even though most of them are already fortunate enough to eat the leftovers given to them by tourists every day (our tour guide said they were much chunkier now that many tourists feed them their leftovers). For lunch we headed to a buffet, where they served us enough barbequed meat to sink a ship! After lunch, we spent some time in the sun, walking along the beach, and collecting some beach glass. Next, we headed to the lighthouse, and for only 1 US dollar you could climb to the top and have a view of the entire coast line as well as the markets and buildings below. Eventually, all of us ended up at the coastline, because we are all so used to being near the ocean. It felt like home. Around 7 o'clock we headed back to Argentina, and by 10 PM we were all tucked into bed. For those that didn't go to Uruguay, the other option on the table was a trip across town to the Parque Norte waterpark. After two minutes of the cab driver telling us in Spanish that it was too cold to go to the pool, and a 20 minute ride, our group of vitamin D deprived students arrived at the park. Unfortunately while there some of us underestimated the strength of the Argentinian sun... and were quite a bit redder heading home. All in all, it was a fabulous way to spend a Sunday off after a week of clinical, compared to shovelling snow back in Cape Breton. 

Your truly,
Katelyn, Johnny, and Daniel.