Lobos del Mar

     This past weekend had the little bit of adventure I have been looking for. I had started becoming a little restless in the city. Climbing trees and walking down streets I haven't seen before. I realize these aren't the brightest ways to deal with my need to gallivant, but I can only live in a city far so long. This weekend I got to stretch my legs in Rocha, another district in Uruguay. ( I realize that there is way to know if I am just typing, but I took a break here to trim my finger nails. They got bad enough that I was having to type slightly different.) We stayed the nights in a beach town, La Paloma. Our hotel was right on the beach, which we had plenty of time on, and we rode our bus into town for meals. The beach was great. Much cleaner than Montevideo and real waves. There were surfers all down the beach and the real Atlantic Ocean water was nice and cold. I went out and played in the wave first thing. It was great, I felt like a little kid again. Especially when I got really tired and went back into my room and took a nap. I really enjoyed walking the main street in town. There were little shop and restaurants all over the place.
      While I did enjoy La Paloma, my highlight of the weekend was Saturday when we left town for the day. First we went to an Ombu Tree forest. We rode the bus to a river dock off of the highway. We boarded our boat, "El Gaucho" and made our way down the river. We winded through open planes and the sky was awesome. It was great to see that huge sky that I am so used to in Texas. We landed the at a dock in front of a little establishment right next to the river. A young woman with flowing pants and a young long haired, bearded man (my kinda guy) pulled us and tied up the boat. The woman ended up being our guide through the Ombu Trees and everyone's undeniable crush. Yes, even the girls had a crush on her. Actually, the girls had more of a crush on her. She was pretty good at English and did her best to give the tour in English, and she did a great job. Of course, what made the tour the best were her little mess ups and differences in translation. The best thing was probably her shamelessly calling some feces "fox shit." She asked what she had said when we all laughed, and then said that she had learned that one from a movie. We assured it was no problem and had a good laugh. Anyway, the Ombu trees are amazing. Scientifically they actually trees and our guide told us that they are more like grass than trees. No two trees look the same and many have holes and hollow out at the base. This causes a lot of them to outgrow themselves and collapse.
     After our excursion in the Ombus we got back on out bus and headed to Cabo Polonia. This beach, or Cape (Cabo) is so remote that to get to it we had to hop in the back of a supped up truck and drive across sand dunes. Once on the beach we made an early stop at a hostel right on there on the beach. It is there that I had the best tasting piece of beef that has ever graced my being. While experiencing this meal my hearing got dull and I would guess that I was slightly blind, but my eyes were already shut. Once I came to my senses David Reynolds and I decided to walk down the beach to the little bitty village. Our original intentions were to go see the sea lions that lay on the rocks there, but we took the long way. We hiked around on the rocks right at the water and the waves. It was awesome. We eventually made it over to the Sea Lions (Lobos del Mar) and found the girls too. Then we cut through the town and headed straight out to the sand dunes. It nice and windy and quiet at the top and a good place to rest.
     It was a weekend I had been needing to have and enjoyed every minute. This trip makes look forward to the other outdoorsy trips I will be taking this semester and all of the other great things I will experience. I love and miss all you back home so much and it is a great time to be a Kinsmen! Sing Song Champions! Threepeat! The cup stays! REO REO REO HEY!!
Curtis out