I really like this place!

Well apart from getting here at 5am this morning & everything been closed & it not getting light till well after 7.30am its got a awesome vibe to it & I feel really safe here. Maybe I really am a city girl after all... Like I said I got here at 5am but it was a choice of staying in Floronopolis (Sp?) for another 5 hours in the rain, yes it was pissing down, or jumping on the next bus that left town & ending up in a different country at a strange time in the morning... We know which option I took :) I figured that the hostel would be open about 7ish so I spent 2 hours at the bus station here (which really isn't that big a deal & something I've really gotten used to) as opposed to 5 hours at the other one. The bus trip was good. The first 7 or so hours we were on a real fancy bus with leather seats! & for the whole trip they brought us snacks & drinks & oh get this.... THEY PLAYED ENGLISH MOVIES, YAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!! Was very cool & I was a happy little bunny. The R$179 ($90au) ticket didn't include lunch like I thought it would but it did include dinner, a really nice buffet. Was good to have a bit of a treat, it was my last long haul bus trip in South America, only 18hours this time.

Anyway, got to the hostel about 7.30 & thought I was the only one staying there... I didn't want to go to sleep so I cleaned up, brushed my teeth & went exploring. Its actually a really pretty city with a lot of trees of old buildings. I really love autum & here the trees have dropped most of their leaves & they are lining the ground. Its prett cold though, thermal top, flece, jacket, gloves, scarf & hat kinda weather.

I got my other memory card put on CD too for $U120 ($6au). The exchange rate isn't to bad, $1au is $U20.87. I swear though that my brain is going to explode form the math I have to do when I buy things. The money differences is one of the things that sucks about traveling to so many different countries in such a short space of time, but its all good :) Anyway, got back to the hostel about 12pm & tried to figure out money & how much I would actually need for the next few days. This morning before I got to check the exchange rate on the net I took some money out, $U300 thinking it would be plenty - WRONG! I hate it too cause the banks gonna charge me $5au for the transaction :( Anyway got out $U3000 (approx $150au?) so that's gonna last me forever, Ill have heaps left over so will just change it when I go to Argentina, its easy enough to do.

I was so happy today, I walked passed a hairdressers & saw mouse, for like adding volume to your hair, so excited. The last 3 or so weeks I've been without mouse & have contemplated shaving my head, hence when you see photos note the bandana or hat :) I looked all over Chile & Brazil & couldn't find it anywhere. I paid $U273 so are sure I got ripped off but I don't care! I now have mouse or is it moose?? Today has been a wonderful day.

Oh, sorry got side tracked. When I went back to the hostel I met Ben form Belgium & Simmie form France. We went for a walk & got some lunch, so much meat! & only cost $U150 (less than $10au), it was a really, really nice meal in a nice restaurant. After lunch we pretty much walked around town till I came here to download some of the photos.

The internet is actually pretty cheap here $U15 (less than $1au) for a hour, its a bit solw though & is taking 50min to download only 40photos. But I wanted to check email & thought I might as well post so I might as well down load some of the photos too.

Tonight, I believe a group of us are going to a Irish pub. Its funny, I thought I would have gotten really tired by now but I'm fine. Gonna go back to the hostel & have a shower & use my mouse :)

Montevideo - Uruguay, Friday 11th June, 7.20pm