Me gustan los filmes de Schwarzenegger

If you are a backpacker in Montevideo, you are most likely headed east to Brasil or west to Buenos Aires. I am no exception, and I make my way toward Argentina along with a large caravan of people from all parts of the world: Germany, England, Brasil, Scotland, Canada and the U.S. My new friend Malin, from Sweden, and I are decidedly slower, and watch the hordes race to BA while we sit back in the historic Uruguayan town of Colonia. We ate sausage and drink $3 wine. I tried the local whiskey Dunbar. We said hello and goodbye to what will be our last beach.

The common route to Argentina is a ferry from Colonia, but a more interesting route is to ride north to Carmelo and take a launch down the Rio Plata to Tigre, Argentina. I was stoked on the latter, and Malin tagged along. But as traveling goes, you lose things, you get had, you miss buses. Well, we missed the boat, one of only two that leave daily for Argentina. So we spent the next 12 hours in the tiny, but shockingly noisy, town of Carmelo. We ate sausages and drank $4 wine.

A graying security man of roughly 80 sat outside our lovely boatdock-cum-hotel and drank mate. He chatted with a younger man who seemed to be passing through. The latter asked where we were from.

"Suecia," said Malin.
"California," I said, and the young man cackled.
"Arnold Schwarzenegger! Hahahaha," he responded. I laughed too, because, well, it´s funny.

Later the elderly guard and I shared some words, and he told me how much he loves the Schwarzenegger movies. I told him that Schwarzy wasn´t the worst governor the state has ever seen.

"He´s your governor?!," he asked, apparently not understanding that fact from the previous conversation. "And you have a black president? Things are changing," he exclaimed and let out a loud, gutteral laugh.

Sleeping on plastic chairs in a cement enclosure is not conducive to good rest, believe it or not. We finally boarded the boat at 4am, and I fell fast asleep as did the rest of my fellow patrons. And since the sun didn´t rise until we arrived in Tigre, I didn´t see a damn thing. Why? I am too tired to care.

Learn english in Latin America!

The English speakers of the world have quite an advantage when they travel anywhere. It may be difficult to communicate sometimes, but if any person knows a little of any other language than their own, it is most likely English. I have met several English-speaking travelers so far that know very little, if any, Spanish or Portugues, and they seem to survive just fine.

Even more interesting was Chui, a Taiwanese girl I met in Montevideo. She is traveling alone like myself, and doesn´t speak nary a word of Spanish. But she doesn´t speak English either; she uses English words when she knows them, and her electronic translator when she doesn´t. I thought this was fascinating and inspiring: if this timid Taiwanese girl who is 100-pounds soaking wet can travel solo, anyone can.

"And my English has gotten better!" she says to me, as we sit in a hostel room in Latin America. Increíble.

Would you like kidneys with your intestines?

Montevideo... best and worse, plain and simple:

Best: Cafe de la Pausa: funky bohemian cafe filled with art, photos and old literature. A man dressed in black with a beret and a cigarette sits in the window. The food is tiny but delicious.

Worst: Ciudad Vieja on the weekend: not just dead but abandoned. Does anyone live here anymore?

Best: Parradilla: BBQ everything! Beef, chicken, chorizo, red peppers...

Worst: Parradilla: BBQ everything... cow intestines and pig kidneys.

Best: A bike ride on La Rambla by the water, creamy beaches and colorful rocks

Worst: The waterfront: Tall apartment buildings line La Rambla

Best: Drum show: every Sunday through the streets, drummers line up and people surround them while dancing the samba

and Worst: the water: a saucy dark brown that I wouldn´t recommend dipping in

Same feeling, different place

Welcome to my travel blog, and if you care enough to be reading this right now i suppose you´d like to know a little about my trip through south america. Well it starts, inevitably, with a long bus ride followed by a longer bus ride to get to my first destination: Montevideo. That´s Uruguay, in case you were about to google it, a country about the size of Montana and known for its beef, leather and mate. Montevideo is a port city that the Spanish, Portugues and English played tug-o-war over for decades until they gave up and let it be independent. It´s juggled a couple dictators and currently has as happy and healthy a democracy as any other.

This is my first viaje mochilero alone, and I am ready. I get on the bus and sit next to the only visibly sick person aboard and we say very little to one another. The two rows in front of me on both sides are already chatting and sharing snacks. I took out my book, the smallest one i had, so as to ease the weight on my healing back. It happens to be The Odessey. It may be small, but man is it heavy! I fall asleep quickly...

Five hours in we get a break at an overpriced cafeteria. A guy approaches and asks if he can sit. In very good but telltale Brasilian english he says, ¨My brother and i have a bet. He says you are Australian and I say you are European.¨ I broke him the bad news that they had both lost.

¨I am from California,¨ I said. Saying I am from California always feels safer than coming right out with THE UNITED STATES, because, lets be honest, you never know who you are talking to.

"Ahh, you´re American. I don´t like Americans." And so it was. Even though he was inclined to dislike me, we continued to chat and found we were going the exact same route all the way to Macchu Piccu. So when we reached Porto Alegre and the three hour layover until the next bus, I had good company. They said that I was the first American they liked, no, the second after some guy in New York. Well I don´t know if I´ll change anyone´s mind about the US and it´s tendency to attract the stink eye, but I am sure that traveling is one of the true ways to bring acceptance and understanding to the world, and to yourself.