Travel Week 12
Day 15 (78):
| Snacks (wine, cheese, salami, crackers) | 384 |
| Total: | 384 UYU (10.91 USD) (RMB 74.8) |
The thing about cooking for yourself, is I make enough food to last me several days, so the only additional expenses are the poor dietary decisions of the hippie-beach partying mindset. I was supposed to go to the beach, but it was a cold, rainy day and the group of people I was hanging out with just ended up in a park for several hours. In the evening, I splurged and this one purchase killed me weight loss streak of 11 weeks.
Day 16 (79):
| Beer | 325 |
| More beer (and potato chips) | 470 |
| Total: | 795 UYU (22.59 USD) (RMB 154.9) |
I actually made it to the beach for a couple hours, but really after nine days on the beaches of Uruguay, I am tired of the salt and sand. It can be hard to leave the hostel, except to head to the closest grocery store.
Day 17 (80):
| Bus to Montevideo | 713 |
| Local bus | 40 |
| Subway sandwich and cookie | 155 |
| Airbnb (2 nights) | 44.03 USD |
| Cafe Brasilero | 140 |
| Groceries (wine and cheese) | 442 |
| Total: | 86.36 USD (RMB 592.3) |
On my way back to Argentina, I decided to stop in Montevideo for two nights to enjoy a private room in an apartment and escape the endless cycle of meeting people and partying that comes with the hostels. Now that the Uruguay trip is almost done and I have a pocketful of cash to spend, I can try to enjoy life a bit more, such as visiting the famous Cafe Brasilero (one of the oldest in the city) for an espresso and medialunas (mini-croissants). Subway was a necessary stop to kill a few hours while waiting until check-in time at the Airbnb.
Day 18 (81):
| Tira de Asado & Patagonia beer | 530 |
| Bottle of cider | 62 |
| Wine, olives, chocolate, and cheese | 481 |
| Total: | 1073 UYU (30.48 USD) (RMB 209) |
It was a frustrating day full of disappointments. I borrowed a bike from my host to go to a barbecue restaurant, which turned out to be closed and the bicycle chain broke. Needing to walk the bicycle back to the apartment 2 miles, I skipped the art museum (free) and lunch. However, I ate in the afternoon at the famous Mercado del Puerto (which is full of restaurants but closes at 6 pm for some strange reason). I managed to get a small portion of barbecue (tira de asado is ribs) at a reasonable price, before meeting up with another global nomad and drinking on the rambla. Back at the apartment, I discovered that my airbnb hosts also welcomed a couchsurfing, who offered to cook, leading me to run out for some additional supplies to make a small party. I just can’t escape the go-go life.
Day 19 (82):
| Boat ticket printout | 14 UYU |
| Local bus to Tres Cruces terminal | 40 UYU |
| Lunch: “pizza” and faina | 210 UYU |
| Bus/Boat combo to Buenos Aires | 2826 ARS (47.31 USD) |
| San Telmo Art Factory (2 nights) | 10.89+2.07 USD |
| Deposit return from America del Sur | -100 ARS |
| Craft beer | 130 ARS |
| Proper happy hour beer | 50 ARS |
| Empanadas (6) | 360 ARS |
| Salad from buffet | 59 ARS |
| Total: | 76.35 USD (RMB 523.65) |
I finally made it back to Argentina! A note about the pizza in Uruguay is that it is just bread and sauce without cheese. That is rather strange because the default pizza in Argentina is bread and cheese with barely any sauce. Faina is possibly a uniquely Uruguayan pizza-like flatbread made from chickpea flour. By stopping in San Telmo for two nights, I was able to swing by the last hostel and get my 100 pesos back, which I promptly spent on a beer in a bar that experienced inflation since the last time I was there. The empanadas also appear to have gotten 10 pesos more expensive.
Day 83:
| Buffet (salad and chicken) | 190 ARS |
| Cookies | 84 |
| Personal mobile topup | 130 |
| Bierlife happy hour and sandwich | 625 ARS |
| Mundo Lingo event beer | 110 |
| Total: | 1139 ARS (RMB 134.3) (USD 19.58) |
The other main reason I stopped in San Telmo is to visit what is possibly my favorite bar in the world and enjoy several craft beers during the 2-for-1 happy hour. I dragged a German backpacker along with me and we went to the regular Tuesday night language exchange at Temple Bar in Microcentral afterwards, where I nursed a single drink for the rest of the long night.
Day 84:
| Starbucks coffee beans (250g) | 470 ARS |
| Chinese buffet | 214 |
| Sube | -20 |
| Sato Hostel (2 nights) | 13 USD (?) |
| Steak and groceries | 235 |
| Lettuce and onion | 60 |
| Drinks | 290 |
| Fernet and Coke | 180 |
| Total: | 37.57 USD (RMB 257.7) |
I moved to Palermo for a couple nights and on the bus ride needed to lend my card to a passenger who only had cash. The hostel had a decent kitchen so after using fried noodles and vegetables to soak up my hangover in the morning, I cooked an early dinner of “bife americano” wrapped in lettuce before hitting another language exchange at a much swankier bar. I actually got a couple hours of Spanish language practice this time around.
Uruguay (18 days)
Running Total: 778.07 USD (RMB 5336.)
Daily Average: 43.23 USD (RMB 296.5)
South America (84 days)
Running Total: 2449.41 USD (RMB 16799)
Daily Average: 29.16 USD (RMB 199.99)