Day 8 (71):
| Bus to Piriapolis | 245 |
| Hostel de los Colores (3 nights) | 12.60 + 71.40 USD |
| Groceries | 503 |
| More Groceries | 87 |
| Beach Umbrella | 100 |
| Total: | 110.56 USD (RMB 763) |
On the way to the Tres Cruces bus terminal in Montevideo, a wheel of my rolling duffel popped off. I’m not sure whether to be annoyed or delighted that it lasted a full 10 weeks before breaking. I need to go harass American Tourister to see what they can offer me. Luckily, Piriapolis is a tiny beach town where the hostel was only a block from the terminal and two blocks from the beach. It was a nice hostel, though a bit pricey.
Day 9 (72):
| Groceries | 92 |
| Superglue | 180 |
| One artisanal beer | 200 |
| Total: | 472 UYU (13.41 USD) (RMB 92.55) |
Having received good news about getting compensation for my delayed luggage, I decided to splurge on one beer at the bar operating in the front of the hostel (otherwise, I had still been sipping on leftover martinis). Leftovers beget more leftovers, and I was awash in rice and hot dogs for a few days.
Day 10 (73):
| Snacks (including beers) | 439 |
| Total: | 439 UYU (12.47 USD) (RMB 86.1) |
After hiking Sugar Loaf Peak in the morning and spending the afternoon lounging on the beach with a group of women (from whom I was provided with beers and snacks), I made sure to hit up the grocery store in the evening to make things up to them. Of course, they all disappeared and I’m left indebted.
Day 11 (74):
| Bus to Punta del Este | 156 |
| Taxi to Hostel | 280 |
| Hostel Rocamar Boutique (3 nights) | 9 + 49.33 USD |
| Water (2.25 L) | 75 |
| Chicken and bread | 199 |
| Vegetables | 195 |
| Cocktail Happy Hour at Hostel (incl tip) | 220 |
| Bus to overnight party | 60 |
| Shots of gin | 900 |
| Total: | 117.56 USD (RMB 811.3) |
What an insanely long day! I woke up super early and jogged in the morning in Piriapolis, going by the one night club which was still packed with people at 7:30 in the morning. At midday, I checked out and carried my duffel bag to the terminal for a fairly short bus ride to Punta del Este — the hippest beach town in Uruguay. I couldn’t imagine walking the nearly 3 km to the hostel, but I never imagined how expensive the taxi would be. It was a nice hostel, full of friendly volunteers and I spent the afternoon on the beach with a group of them. Then a long walk to the grocery store/vegetable stand to buy ingredients to whip together a curry. The hostel bar offered a 2-for-1 happy hour on Caipi(rhina)s, which was a pretty decent deal. At 1:30 in the morning, I headed with a new friend to a cervezaria downtown, where her friends who worked their hooked us up with free beer while they were closing for the night. Then three of us took a 45-minute bus ride out to another town where there was a party. I bought the first round of shots (300 pesos per shot), but was supplied with alcohol through sunrise.
Day 12 (75):
| Bus back | 210 |
| Cocktail | 200 |
| Total: | 410 UYU (11.65 USD) (RMB 80.4) |
For the way back, I forked over 200 pesos as my share of the Uber, but no Ubers were available, and a bus ended up coming around. I didn’t ask for the 200 pesos back because I was still coming out ahead. For example, that night, she ordered a pizza + liter of beer at the hostel bar and I had more than my fair share of it. Before then, I had managed to take advantage of the happy hour once again, but this time scoring one caipi and one mojito.
Day 13 (76)
| Cocktails | 400 |
| Total: | 400 UYU (11.36 USD) (RMB 78.4) |
Just listing expenses provides a very skewed perspective of my days, haha. After a morning run, I was grinding coffee while people were breakfasting and I was gifted a small bag of Colombian coffee beans from a woman who had beans but no way to make coffee. I spent two hours on the beach, rested back in the hostel, went out with a group of newcomers to the hostel to what I thought was the beach, but turned out to be a tour of the old town on almost literally the same route as my morning run. We enjoyed the sunset over the harbor, but rushed back in order to avail ourselves of the happy hour where I went all in on two orders. There was a lot of turnover that day in the hostel with many people leaving and a new wave of guests coming in, and I worked my social magic to bring people together into an impromptu party, earning a new epithet–“Amazing Hostel Man.”
Day 14 (77):
| Uber to Terminal | 6.29 USD |
| Bus to Punta del Diablo | 467 (12.52 USD) |
| Lemonade & Cookies | 161 |
| Hostel Ariana deposit | 5.40 USD |
| Punta del Diablo Hostel (3 nights) | 39 USD |
| Groceries (pasta and wine) | 412 |
| Total: | 79.49 USD (RMB 548.6) |
Unfortunately, the timing of my bus didn’t correspond to anyone else leaving the hostel, so I had to take an Uber by myself, which involved actually setting up an Uber account, a rather Sisyphean task given the fact that Uber assumes I am Chinese because my phone system settings are Chinese and would not accept an Argentinian phone number in Uruguay (!) Tech localization goes way too far and completely overlooks the needs of multilingual global nomads. Anyways, it was a several hour journey to Punta del Diablo and a sweaty walk to the hostel, which turned out to be abandoned. After waiting around on the chance that someone would show up so I could check in, I decided to go to a different hostel. I’m still waiting for Hostelworld to refund the deposit for the non-existent hostel (They email me every couple days saying they are waiting to hear back from the hostel management — which doesn’t exist).
Uruguay (14 days)
Running Total: 627.73 USD (RMB 4332.1)
Daily Average: 44.84 USD (RMB 309.44)
South America (77 days)
Running Total: 2167.57 USD (RMB 14958.83)
Daily Average: 28.15 USD (RMB 194.27)