Argentina and Montevideo

I am always relieved when I find out that the bus that is going to be home for the next 13 hours has a toilet aboard. Not all of them do, and the ones that don´t send me into a mild panic.

You see, I seem to have been fitted with a cheap Taiwanese bladder, and the longest period of time that can elapse between pit stops is roughly 2 hours. Buses in some countries in South America (Ecuador, Bolivia, you know who you are) don´t come with WC´s aboard, and you have to talk nicely to the driver to let you out so that you can find a shrub tall enough to duck behind, also preferably one that isn´t near a cactus (I am still picking spines out of my bottom, and I left Bolivia months ago).

To be fair, the buses in Argentina are probably more comfortable than your average first class BA seat and all of them have WC´s aboard. In fact I am, or at least I was very impressed with Argentina (and obviously relieved to be here). The food is great...one can eat steak 3 times a day and then for pudding too, all washed down with vino tinto, and if you get a bit peckish you could have a small lomito to keep the wolves at bay until the next lomo!

The accomodation is generally of a good standard and people speak English as a second language. A very narrow minded consideration for liking a place, but I speak English and it suits me fine if other people do too.

All this was great until we landed in Montevideo. There are 2 major contributors to the wealth of Uruguay, one is cattle farming, the other is middle class Argentinian holiday makers, who regard the coast as their playground in the summer months.

This results in 2 things. One: The steak is fabulous and far surpassed anything the Argentinians had on offer. We truly did eat the side of a cow in 3 days, easy. And two: The Montividians ( I have looked this up.) speak English, are charming and know how to party; most days started with a couple of Nurofen...