I tried hitchhiking again, from Mercedes to Montevideo. Long story short: Absolutely unlucky. Also bad conditions because it's only a minor road with plenty of intersections of small pueblos. I started at 8 in the morning, got overall a 20 minute lift wait forever and eventually catch the bus that left Mercedes around 11 o clock. So I effectively waited 3 hours to save maybe 1€ - because of the distance I hiked in 20 minutes...
Beautiful, empty roads as far as you can see..The bus brought me right into the center from where I walked straight to my host. Usually I have one couch surfing host per city, the plan was to stay 5 nights in Montevideo. Well people here are terribly busy and leaving the city a lot for work so I got 4 different hosts for 5 nights. That's no couch surfing, more like couch hopping. But so far so good, I got all nights covered.The 'Rambla' (translates to 'promenade, I think') here has a great sundown!Also the night mode of my camera does a pretty good job. In moments like these I wish to have a tripod to make even better fotos.Beers later that evening with Christhian (yes the h is intentional), my CS host that night.Every Sunday is a big street market here, something like a flea market but there are also people selling meat, vegetables and snacks. It was kinda cool but I was hungover from yesterday and couldn't really enjoy it.It was pretty crowded which I also dislike - now while I'm traveling more then ever.So I searched for a chill park which are plenty here and stayed there for many hours.My next couch surfing host greeted me with this super delicious meal, Stephanie, if you should read this, thanks a lot 👍. It has been a very pleasant change to the typical Argentinian food.In the following morning the host cancelled who wanted to host me for the next two days. I was kinda annoyed and didn't bothered to search for more hosts in the capital.. My plan for the day was to go to 'Ciudad de la Costa' and enjoy the beach.So what I did was just to write some new requests for that place while on the bus and go to the beach. The beach was super beautiful and I actually found a host in town spontaneously!I've had the other nights many mosquitos but thanks to my awesome host Allison I was safe for 2 nights!I decided to just keep it calm and enjoy another day at the beach. The water isn't super clear (sight is actually less then a meter, it's kinda muddy) but it's very warm, almost not even refreshing anymore and incredible huge, so I can crank up my boombox (portable speakers) without having anyone remotely close enough to hear anything.A big beer, mate and schwarzbrot (black bread) on the beach - there is not much that could have made me happier in this moment. REALLY missed good bread. This one was super expensive (actually German description on there) but worth it!I basically cycled through jumping into the water, putting on sun screen, relaxing in the sun until I'm too hot and jumped into the water again. I've been doing so until beer and mate was empty, which took me quite a while. Sadly I forgot to use sun screen on my feet sooo they were slightly red.Yeah beach days are tough and I took a break in the hammock of Allison's super chill garden. I would easily stay here longer but have plans to keep moving.Of course, with mate. Yes I own a cup and a thermic bottle by now but still need a straw. I'll tell you more about that once I found the straw I'd like to have 👍This is Allison, super cool vibes - buena onda in Spanish 🤙🤙Later I decided to make tereré which is a different style of using the yerba leaves (the leaves you use for Mate). So for tereré you use either tea or juice, cool it down with icecubes to 0°C, may add sugar, limes or oranges and pour that (cold) over the yerba leaves. It's not common in Uruguay, it origins in Paraguay and is also known in Misiones, the northern part of Argentina where I picked it up. Tomorrow I'll go to the beach again and will be going back to the capital for a night. I'll keep you updated 👍
