Beach Bummin' At Its Finest

Friday morning the pack got up and headed for the bus station. About the night before we had decided to go to Piriopolis, a beach town about two hours away from Montevideo with the intention of staying the night, maybe ziplining, maybe the zoo, maybe these cool lift chairs thst take you to the top of a hill for a panoramic view, and definitely some ice cream. We got there about midday, checked into our surprisingly nice hotel. After we checked in we all went to a little place for some lunch and then hit the beach. We probably had way too much fun and spent way too much time on the beach and probably looked so silly, but it was so fun.

Races

Jumping

Gymnastics

Team gymnastics

Best friendsness

Kicking water-ness

Prussia-ness

I hate ourselves for this picture, but it does look cool

Prussia.

Hey, here's some semi-serious, cute photos

You're cool I guess and I will tolerate your friendship

I tried throwing her off into the water. She hung on like a kola.

Most epic photo bomb ever.

We're awesome and we know it.

I'm still not sure how we managed this selfie.

After our crazy time on the beach, we went around the harbor and found the lift chairs! It was so sketchy. But we did it. And it was so so pretty. Totally worth it. We stayed up there for a few hours, talking, enjoying the view, eating ice cream, and feeling awesome and like we were on top of the world.

I swear I'm not bald

Sittin' on a'top the world

Ice cream for dayzzzzz

Afterwards we headed back down (also sketchy, but so fun) and then walked to the end of the harbor. It was here that one of the most exciting things on our trip happened: we found Nessie. I don't know what else it could have been. We were sitting on these rocks that kind of looked like man-made Tetris gone wrong, when we heard this terrible sound...Megan caught it in a video.

I started climbing down there it get closer, but chickened out and sat contentedly on the cool rocks enjoying the sun set.

But then Kelsie started saying, "Look at that!!" And at first we couldn't see anything, but then we saw what she saw! It was in fact an otter. And adorable. But I stand by wanting to believe it was Nessie making calls under those rocks. We stayed for a little while longer to listen for Nessie or see the otter again, but alas, we did not.

After that we headed back to the hotel and climbed into one bed to stay warm because it was FREEZING and all watched 13 Going on 30 together.

After the movie we called it a night and hit the sack. Megan and I stayed up talking for a while but then I fell asleep mid conversation hahaha the next morning we had a free, very nutritious breakfast of donut-like croissants and bread.

Greeting the day right: Socko-style

After a very confusing conversation with our hotel staff we realized it might be $70 per person to go hiking on the mountain we were wanting to go ziplining on and that did not include transportation. As the cheap college students that we are, we all opted out of that. We went to the super market for some snacks and and a soccer ball and then... Hit up the beach again. Okay, I know it sounds like we were just beach bums for almost two days but...

No wait, that's exactly what we did and it was awesome. BEACH BUMS FOR LIFE. We sat on the beach all day and read, played soccer, attempted to play soccer, took goofy pics, I built a rad sandcastle, and we played with random dogs. It was so perfect. And so warm. In montevideo it's starting to get super cold every day. But in Piroplois, it was so nice and warm! Granted we were like the only people in shorts, tshirts, and chacos on the beach, but it was fantastic. So worth it. I built a sandcastle for cash and Clara because they had wanted me to go on a family trip to the beach this week and I couldn't go because I was gone in Uruguay! So I built this for them, kind of like being in the same place. This is what we would have built together had we been together guys! (And I also just really really wanted to make a sandcastle... The shells are windows...)

Prussia, K?

We're the coolest weird people you'll ever meet

What is soccer.

She's cool. She plays soccer.

I am not cool. I do not play soccer.

But I do build pretty raw sandcastles.

I. Love. You. Two. Too.

And this is how you beach bum.

After some ice cream we headed back to the bus station, where I wrote this blog and waited for our bus to take us back to Montevideo. Our group had to split up 3 and 4 because of seat availability, but it was fine. We all got home at a decent hour and we plan to go run the Rambla tomorrow morning one last time. Goodness knows I need to after this day trip. SO MUCH BREAD AND ICE CREAM. It's like my body's kryptonite. Tomorrow begins the days of "The Lasts." The Last Sunday, the Last Observation Day, and so forth. This is our last week in Montevideo and then we head to Peru with just Dr. Austin and Dr. Powell. This has gone by so fast! But it has been so so great. I wound to trade my time here for anything. The memories I've made, the people I've met, and the friendships I've made/strengthened are some of the best yet.

Alright, I will post again soon!!

Ciao del Sul!

Margarita