Today I decided to take a city tour of Punta del Este. So took the bus from my hotel to the bus terminal to inquire. There was one which left at 5pm, in Spanish. Since I was the only one requesting English I had to pay double. Screw that I decided to go with the Spanish guide. At 5 I boarded the bus and sat up front so I was sure I understood the guide, also the driver. Soon everybody got picked up and we were on our merry way. Since it was a 3 hour tour people got friendly. People whom do you not know who speak English speak to you in Spanish since the tour is Spanish speaking. Well I must say it was a challenge conversing in the Argentine/Uruguayan Spanish the accent is harder to understand. Even a Romanian couple whoe wife spoke English continued to speak to me in Spanish even after I told her I spoke English. She kept going in Spanish, what can you do?! I just took it as a challenge! She did speak slower so I could understand, at least. Sometime during the tour I got to speaking with an American Ukranian in Spanish from New York. I did not know where he was from until 15 minutes into the conversation. Isn't this ridiculous? 2 English speaking people speaking in Spanish when clearly one is struggling: me! He didn't have an accent so I wasn't sure where he was from. It turns out he moved to the US at 15 and speaks 9 languages, including Japanese! He was a trader with a hedge fund "in between jobs" and was traveling for 6 weeks between Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Chile. After monopolising conversation in English I let him be since these 2 Argentine girls had their eyes on him and I was forced to switch back to Spanish when they reappeared now and then. I think ome people just have an ear for languages because he has had as much exposure to languages as me and he didn't major in languages in college like me. Damn! Some people just good at languages, sucks! [Photos #1-9, L to R top row down] #5-Rollercoaster bridge going into La Barra. #8-The photo taken from the tour bus. Feels like a rollercoaster! when driving over. #6-Casapueblo and #7-sunset from Casapueblo. This is taken form Wikipedia: "Casapueblo is the former house of noted Uruguayan artist Carlos Páez Vilaró and now a citadel-sculpture that includes a museum, an art gallery, and a hotel called Hotel Casapueblo which is inside the structure. It is located in Punta Ballena (Whale Point) near Punta del Este, Uruguay." Remaining photos are around Punta del Este: Mermaid statues made out of shell south of Punta, stretches of beaches around Punta, boats at the Yacht Club, fresh sea catches sold near the Yacht Club area, some bull seals I saw sleeping under a pier.
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