4hrs later we made our way into Uruguay and collected our bags eating as much of our fruit as we could not knowing if were allowed in the country with it, turned out we could. We then wondered around for a while to find a bank which didn't open till 1pm so went for some lunch first. The town was tiny and very tranquil but not a lot going on so after a huge lunch we went and caught a bus to Colonia where it was supposed to be a little more upbeat,

Turned out to be a lovely bus journey taking us through plush countryside not unlike the Uk which was nice. An hour later we arrived in what looked like a lovely little town, very old and un spoilt. We got off the bus and were approached by a lovely lady who said to come to her hostel. We were thinking of staying at another place but thought we would have a look. The streets were so pretty and quiet so different from the hustle and bustle we had been in lately, the hostel was lovely as well and had tons of character, she showed us a double with bathroom and were sold - lovely. We dumped our bags then checked out the other place to see what it was like and the cost but decided to stay put. We then bought some dinner and went back and i did some washing in a proper outside old stone wash tub whilst Toby went for a walk. After dinner we had planned to go out for a drink but were both tired so had an early one.

Had a lovely nights sleep for a change and had a job to get up to be honest. We had some rice cakes for b'fast and then headed down the corner to hire out a couple of scooters for the day. They were only 50s and very funny to look at as they both had little baskets on the front where we could put our shopping - how sweet

We then spent the next few hours going around all the old part of the city which was absolutely beautiful, looked just like the little villages in Greece with the small brightly coloured houses and cobbled streets with shady squares and courtyards. I took tons of photos on my new camera! then we pottered over to look at an old run down Bull fighting arena which had never been used because Uruguay outlawed it, very strange. Toby's bike didn't seem to run very well and i kept overtaking him on my very speedy bike, but every time i passed him i just fell about laughing cause he looked so stupid, on a scooter that kept sputtering and spewing out smoke and his little shopping basket bobbing up and down. It was a really sunny day but quite cold on the bike so we stopped to sit in the sun on the beach for 20mins before heading back into the old part of town to find a restaurant for some lunch. We found a lovely place and sat upstairs on the roof over looking the sea for a couple of hours chilling and eating before going to check out our emails and phoning some friends. I then went back to get a thermos of coffee from the hostel then went and sat in the sun on an old forte wall for an hour. Took the bikes back then went back to the hostel and whilst Toby did his diary i sat in the sun in the courtyard and saw the most beautiful humming bird. At first i thought it was a big green insect but then realised what it was and tried to get Toby out, but he is so slow to react he missed the bugger. Luckily it did come back and we had a chance to witness what a wonderful bird it is, small,green and sooooooo pretty! We cooked ourselves some dinner then drank some white wine before heading down to a bar for some more vino on our last night in this lovely place. I started talking to a guy called Tony whilst sat in the little lounge drinking my Vino whilst Toby sat in our room reading. He was a lovely chap who didn't speak a word of English so it was an entertaining couple of hours! I did find out though that he loved Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones so i said i would take a photo of where he used to live in Richmond and email it to him which completely made his day, also gave him some of our coins from the Uk and Fiji and a note from Nepal as he son collected money from around the world. I suggested we all go out for a drink at a local bar which Tony thought a great idea so he ordered a taxi and we all bundled in only to find out it was just down to the end of the road! seems they don't walk much round these parts so i was really shocked to get one for a few metres down the road. The bar was lovely though and we spent the next couple of hours trying to understand each other and drink very sweet cocktails. Tony paid for everything which was really kind so when we got back to the hostel and Tony went to bed, Toby ran up and bought him a bottle of whiskey to say thanks.

I was up at 5.30am so had a shower and sat outside for a bit. Tony go up for his b'fast so i gave him the bottle of whiskey which he was sooooo chuffed about and couldn't believe we would do such a thing.

We went and caught the 10.30am bus to Montevideo which took us 3 hours through vast countryside and hardly a house to be seen. When we got to the city, which was pretty nasty, we went straight into the terminal to purchase a ticket onto La Paloma. Unfortunately the bus didn't leave till 4.30 which gave us 3hrs to kill so we sat in a restaurant and drank coffee and had the best meal i have had in weeks, even had some chocolate cake, something i don't usually like.

Another 3hr trip to La Paloma which was pretty dark and deserted when we arrived. We walked around the very small town for a while until coming across a cozy looking hotel that had the nicest bloke working in it, so decided to stay there for the night. We got quite a nice double with bathroom so just dumped our bags and went back down stairs to sit with Aldo for a chat and a bottle of white and some of my rice cake for dinner. The dining room was chockablock with interesting things hanging on the wall and the ceiling was made up of pinecones. He also had a cat and 2 dogs, one of which was a Alsatian puppy with the biggest ears i have ever seen. I went to bed and found on the TV, Antiques Roadshow which i absolutely love!

We had a lovely b'fast of pastries and coffee all included in the price of £4! then went and had a look around town for some info on getting to Cabo Polonia which was an interesting little fishing village and seal colony. The tourist info place was shut but a nice little man came over to talk to us trying to explain that you couldn't pay for a taxi and couldn't hire a car so offered to take us there himself for the price of $10 - definitely do that then. We then bundled in his car and spent the next 30mins whilst he took us to the dunes, having a stilted conversation with his Poco English and our Poco Spanish. He took us to a place that had some 4x4 vehicles and sorted out a price,then we all hopped on the back of the open van and got taken across the dunes and along the beach to the little village. The place was really strange and just had loads of little shacks and stone cottages, Whale bones and hundreds of seals. Nilder took us for a guided tour around the little place pointing out all the little things like, turtle eggs washed up on the shore and dead fish and seals that we seemed to stumble on now and then. The walk was really interesting and there didn't seem to be a sole about apart from a couple of old people sitting out on their verandas. He showed us the old factory where they used to produce oil from the seal blubber and sell the genitals and teeth to the Chinese, not any more thank goodness. We also went up to the top of the lighthouse for some more sightseeing, it was nice to be the only ones for a change. After about 2hrs we caught the truck back then Nilder drove us back to La Paloma, we were both quite tired from all the sea air so thought we would just have a quiet evening. The town however seemed to have come to life and what we thought was an empty town turned out to have quite a few locals, all of whom were lining the main road to watch lots of different bands perform their tunes. Seems it was a fiesta of Spring, and what a good reason to celebrate. So we went and watched for a bit and took some photos before heading into a cafe and having a well earned omelet and coke then went back to the Hotel. Toby went out to find some info on a bus ticket whilst i sat out on our balcony just in time to witness a dirty great big coach that had it's sun roof open go underneath a low hanging wire which got caught on the sunroof hatch and ripped out the big wire and breaking the wooden pole. This seemed to create huge commotion amongst locals who came out to watch all the excitement. The poor coach had to wait for ages before someone came to cut out the wire.The repair work went on well into the late night and caused havoc to our evening entertainment of Jason and the Argonauts.

Said our goodbyes to Also who had been such a sweety then walked to the bus terminal to wait 20mins for the bus to Rocha. Whilst waiting we met up with a German girl called Benteh, the first backpacker we had seen for days. She was going to same way so ended up chatting away for the 30min bus journey, she was really nice. We were planning to get a bus from Rocha straight to Treinta Y Tres but seems they didn't leave till 6.30pm so changed our plans and booked a bus to Montevideo that left at 1.30pm which Bentah also needed to catch. So we sat and had a couple of coffees and talked about the 80's for a bit before getting on our bus and settling down to a 3 hr ride. Benteh got off at a little town not far from Rocha so we said goodbye and dosed off for the rest of our journey. Montevideo is not somewhere we wanted to stop off at, as it is a pretty horrible place but when we got to the bus terminal we couldn't get another bus ticket out of town until later that night so decided to stay in town for the night. Hopped in a taxi which took us to a rather odd looking hotel in the bottom end of town. A bit bleak for my liking but friendly people and a lovely family of cats which took an instant liking to us. We dumped our bags and went for a donder around the area and a little walk down to the water. The place looked like some old detention camp or open prison, it was all pretty horrible but when we got to look over the wall to the sea it was even worse, the water was the colour of chocolate and was absolutely full of rubbish. The little beach, if you could call it that was covered in filth in amongst slept a drunk looking man and a sunbathing fat lady even though it was freezing, all very strange. We walked around for a little longer but the place was just depressing the hell out of us so went back to the hostel where we sat and played with the cats for a couple of hour ( they had now joined us in our room) then went out for our first meal of the day at 8.30pm. Found a place that was recommended and it turned out to be rather bad but edible, just went back to the hotel afterwards and realised just how dingy and dark the place was, paying far too much for a shitty little room.

Up early and straight the the bus terminal to grab a breakfast and coffee then catch the bus for the 5hr bus journey to Paysandu on the border. When we arrived we realised there wasn't a bus to take us to Iguazu from that bus station so hopped onto another bus which took us over the border into Argentina and the town of Colon