Hodlaw Modcloth (My brother's suggestion for the name of this blog)

My brother and sister came to Uruguay! And we went to Argentina! Although barely made it. Americans must pay a fee to enter Argentina (and then you can enter freely for ten years). I thought that you pay the fee upon entry to the country, but that was quite wrong. You must pay it online and print out proof of payment beforehand. 

We owe our trip to the good people of Colonia Express who let us get on their computers at the ticket counter to print ours out. I had a nice conversation who, upon hearing my Spanish accent (it won't go away), kept asking me about Spanish bands. We went through ten before he realized that I wasn't kidding, it had been awhile since I had been in Spain. And I'm glad we made it, Buenos Aires may be one of the coolest cities we had ever been. We don't have many photos, however, because apparently different countries use different adapters and our phones did not have enough battery.

Shannon and Brian also got the unique experience of seeing stand up comedy in a tiny Uruguayn bar. At one point, Brian was clapping after being instructed, in Spanish, not to clap. The emcee started making fun of him until an Uruguayan friend informed the emcee that Brian did not speak Spanish. He then started asking my brother a string of questions (why are you here? work? love? how old are you?) to which I secretly fed him answers. Brian became the callback joke of the night, and every subsequent comedian kept calling him out and saying, "Brian! What's going on? Brian! How are you?" He made it through the night, but he said it was a truly surreal experience. 

Ok, on to the good stuff, photos:

Pisco Sours in Buenos Aires

We were one of two tables at this restaurant, therefore we became best friends with the waitstaff: Nicolas and Mariana, Xavier, the owner, and Claudio, the chef who might also be a Pixar character. 

Second cafe in two hours. 

Enjoying some Urguayan Tannat on our balcony.

We've always wanted to ride a bus in Montevideo.

This is the exact site of the northwest corner of the governer's mansion in Colonia, Uruguay. We read it on a sign.

Anthony Bourdain approved Mercado del Puerto. Basically a bunch of bar s with huge grills in a covered market. 10/10 would eat again.

There's a cat in those scarves.

Not even Shannon can stand under her umbrella.

ella. ella.

Fotos de Uruguay

 It's the second week of classes here, but most are just starting this week due to other week long seminars and some professors still being on vacation. The classes are more relaxed (some are basically undergrad classes. 

One of my classes is a first year class, which means that most of my classmates are 18 and 19. On Day One of that class, most people did not acknowledge my presence until they heard their name. The spent the next two days calling my Lizzie McGuire, Kerry from Homeland, and McDonald's (although that's really because the professor can't tell the difference between McGuire, McDonald's and MacGyver) and practicing writing my name on the board. That professor even conducted our last session in English in my honor, which I think was painful for at least half the class.

Other than than that, I have also found a place to rent. I will be living with a Bolivian journalist in a 2 bedroom apartment. We're next to a park and within half a mile of a beach. We are on the 7th floor, which is actually the 8th floor. Uruguay, like many countries, has a floor 0 which totally takes away credit from going up flights of stairs. 

That's enough words. If you're looking at this all, you know you really just want to see some sweet pics:

I'm still going to the UM!

A giant Uruguayan Flag!

My first meal in Uruguay. We went to a mall and had chivitos, basically a skirt steak sandwich with a hardboiled egg. You have to cut the sandwich, so for me, this ended in disaster. At least food courts serve beer!

This is my classmate from Minnesota - Brent Johnson. He was offered several guest spots on the this blog and showed little interest. 

View from my 8th floor apartment Part One:

That is the Parque Rodo, and a small sliver of the Rio Plata/Ocean. Technically we are still on the river and not the ocean. Looks like an ocean to me.

View from my apartment Part Two: 

Another part of Parque Rodo - a permanent installation of carnival rides for kids. 

Rib and herb flavored chips. My sister and I bought these out of curiosity. While I wouldn't call them bad, I still found the rib flavor unsettling. 2/10, I would not buy them again.

10 degrees.

Food from bags (from left to right)

• An unwieldy bag of yogurt (pouring it in to tupperware went mildly well. 5/10 might buy again)
• Mustard
• Pasta Sauce

Hello!

Hi all!

I have one minute of internet left at the airport. I'm setting up this blog to hopefully share some photos and things from South America so I don't have to share things on facebook. I will not be offended if you don't care! I also needed to keep up my my girl Greta Jane who has only been in this world for a week, and she already has more blog posts (and poop-themed ones) than me. 

I hope you are all well. My time on the Internet is up!