I'm going back to the start.....

Well, the day has finally come that we make our way back to the start, after 6 weeks, we head back to Santiago where it all began, this amazing journey!

We slept relatively well and woke to have breakfast before heading to the airport for our flight.

Breakfast was typical more cake, lord help me, I am sure I've put on a few kilos!!

We checked out and orders an Uber, way cheaper than a taxi. As we waited out front I realized the road was blocked off and people were running, little did I know Montevideo marathon was on! Not that I would have been in any sort of shape to run it, but I felt a twinge of jealousy as I saw people running along the streets.

Our Uber turned up and we headed to the airport, along the water front which was very pretty and saw the marathoner running the course, seemed a lot like Melbourne along the foreshore!

We got to the airport at 10 and checked in, the airport was very small so after going through customs we grabbed a coffee and checked our social media to kill time.

The flight departed right on time, it was a LAN flight, we had originally booked sky airlines and the time of that flight got changed so we rebooked with LAN.

It was a great flight, we had seats at the bulkhead so lots of leg room and no one next to us, it was quite an empty flight.

We arrived in Santiago a bit before 3, we cleared customs quickly and took a shared cab to our hotel, we stayed at the same hotel as it was so nice last time.

After checking in and having a shower we went out for a few beers and dinner. It was a great feeling knowing we'd made it back to Chile. It was also nice being back in Santiago as we knew our way around and it felt familiar.

After dinner it was time to hit the hay, another big day for us! One more sleep and it's time to go home!!

I want my MTV

Just a little nickname for Montevideo, whilst planning the trip I always called it MTV!

After another super filling breakfast we made our way to the station. We walked again, so whilst I may not be exercising I can tell you, carrying a 14kilo backpack certainly is exercise!

Our bus left right on time and we cruised to MTV, I slept most of the way as I'm not feeling 100%, not sure if it's a cold, allergies or just from being on planes!

We got into MTV at 12 and walked 2km to our hotel, I have to say, not feeling the best I was not looking forward to this bnb as we had a shared bathroom, I had not realized this when I booked it.

We got to the address and rang the bell, a guy answered and mumbled something before finally making his way down to open the door.

It was a person who was staying at the accommodation and I told him we had a reservation. He then advised me that he and a group of mates had booked the whole place through airbnb, we had booked through booking.com.

This all seemed a bit weird, they made a few calls and advised us to also maybe call the owner. It was at this time I remembered that my credit card is used to book the accommodation had been cancelled, so even if we left, they had no way of charging us!

We asked the guy, who was super friendly if we could use he wifi and we did to check for other hotels, we found one near by that was not much dearer and a lot nicer, so off we went!!

When we got our room at the new hotel I emailed Booking.com to let them know what happened.

We spent the rest of the arvo checking out MTV which given it was Saturday arvo was dead as a door nail! Not a lot happening, a few sights but no highlights!

We had a few beers and then went for dinner where we made a mistake of ordering the biggest parmi ever! We could have shared one!! Crazy.

We had a bit of an early night as we fly back to Santiago tomorrow and given I'm not 100% I wanted to get an early night.

It was an adventurous day, that's for sure!! This trip has had a few surprises!! Lol

Colonia

We were looking forward to a nice chilled out day in Colonia and whilst we woke to a little bit of wind it was still sunny & reasonably pleasant.

Breakfast at the hotel was again huge and with loads of cakes etc, they certainly love sweet stuff!

After brekky we took a bit of a walk and then decided to head to the bus station to book our bus to Montevideo, this was easy and we leave tomorrow at 9:15, so plenty of time for more cake at breakfast!

Most of our day in Colonia we wandered, took photos, enjoyed the sun and just took in the sights. There is not much to see, a lighthouse and some old city gates, but the charm of the town is just beautiful.

We stopped for a few craft beers and empanadas at lunch time by the wharf.

Later in the arvo we grabbed more beers and eventually went for dinner at a steak house, again, pretty good steak at great prices.

We had a lovely time in Colonia, it's a must visit spot.

Time for Uruguay.....

We had booked our ferry to Uruguay online and were departing at 12:30, so we had a bit of time before making our way to the port.

We had another great breakfast and after packing up made our way to the station to catch the train to the main station which was close to the port. It was only 1 stop on the above ground train however when we got to our departure station in Palermo the train was sitting idle due to what appeared to be some sort of medical emergency.

We did not really have time to wait to see what happened as if the delay was too long we would have missed the ferry!

So off on the underground we went getting sweaty again, no wonder I am feeling like I'm getting a cold! And we made our way to the other above ground line which was close by.

We got into retiro station with time to spare and walk to the port. Of course it was a nice blue sky sunny day, well at least we knew the weather in Colonia was going to be good too as it's only just across the river!

We boarded the ferry with ease after passing through immigration. The ferry left on time and it was a smooth trip to Colonia.

We arrived at 1:45pm and walked to our hotel which was only about 1km.

I'd say as soon as we arrived in Colonia I felt a lot more calm, it had been a busy few days in BA and it was time to be in a smaller town, Colonia fit the bill perfectly!

We strolled about in the sun for ages stopping for a beer or two and finally onto dinner. There is not a lot to do here, but that's fine with us!

Dinner was a local stew, basic but nice with veggies in it!! Yum!

We look forward to exploring more tomorrow and enjoying another nice relaxed day!!

Day trip to Tigre

The breakfast at our new hotel was really good, although not buffet style, but still fab! I had a bagel with salmon and scrambled eggs.

We had a day trip to Tigre planned, an outer suburb of Buenos Aires situated on the river, and of course it was a miserable rainy day!!

Well, we could not let that stop us as we did not have any other plans.

We caught the train, again navigating the painful metro and above ground train network, the signage is terrible and we struggled to find the right platform. It's not the fact it's not in English, it was the fact there were no signs! Crazy!

Still we made it to Tigre and proceeded to take a walk along the river in the drizzle.

It was a very pretty spot so it was shame the weather was so poor. There are loads of rowing clubs and Tudor style houses, a very nice location indeed.

After a couple of hours we decided to head back to BA for arvo beers and then dinner.

We went to the same brewery pub we'd been at the night before enjoying craft beers for about $4 a pint! We ended up grabbing burgers for dinner at the pub as we'd seen other people having them and they looked good.

We had a pretty early night and tomorrow look forward to getting to Uruguay!!

Day 3 Buenos Aires

We did not hurry ourselves given check out of our hotel was at 12pm and we would not check in over in Palermo until 2pm.

Another great breakfast, Tango de Mayo has been a great hotel!

We checked out around 11 and had decided to catch the metro, they have a myki style system call Sube card and we had to buy a card first, very easy, it cost around $2 and then each trip was about .65 cents! Bargain!

We've used a lot of metros over the world and have to say, Buenos Aires did send us into a bit of confusion, a bit hard to work out where you're going and when you get down to the underground, you often realise you're on the wrong side and have to come back up!

The first train was quite modern but when we changed lines the train was a lot older and no aircon, we got very sweaty!!

Our hotel in Palermo was a little walk from the subway, of course we came out the wrong entrance, such bad signage!

Luckily we could check in straight away!

We then headed off to Recoletta cemetery where Eva Peron is buried. Again, no signs telling us where the entrance was and we went the wrong way, walking the whole boarder of the cemetery before finding the entrance! It was not our day!

The cemetery was very ornate and definitely a sight to see. Evita's grave was quite humble. We enjoyed walked around the cemetery it was quite spooky!!

After our visit we headed back to the hotel to freshen up before drinks and dinner. There are loads of good bars and restaurants in Palermo.

We enjoyed some craft beers in a nice bar and then had steak for dinner, not the best one we've had so far, but still not bad!

Overall it was a pretty quiet day, but hectic all the same. Tomorrow we will take a day trip to Tigre.

Day 2 Buenos Aires

After another awesome brekky it was time to hit the streets for Pete to shop for football tops!

Not far from our hotel there was a main shopping strip and we trawled the stores but did not have a lot of luck. It was very busy and another interesting thing is walking down the street there is loads of people selling & exchanging money. This is common in Argentina and every second person is saying Cambio! I would have loved to have used a Cambio man, but I was a bit worried they'd sell me fake money!!

After an unsuccessful shopping venture we had another coffee in one of the local cafes and then decided to walk to La Boca, a very famous area of Buenos Aires, the home of Boca Juniors football team.

It was a very long walk, well, not that far, about 4km, but really no sights and just like walking through suburban shopping strips! Quite boring!

Once we got to Boca things were a bit more colorful and we took a tour of the stadium, the Bombonera. It was a small stadium but we always love visiting a football stadium. There was some fairly good displays and it was a lot of fun!

After our stadium visit we headed to see the coloured houses that Boca is famous for. We were a little underwhelmed as it was very touristy in this area and felt quite fake! We did not spend a lot of time there, we were constantly bugged by touts outside restaurants and we decided it was time to go!

It was a fairly sunny day so we decided to walk back along the river for a few beers. It was good sitting in the sun again, a lot less busy than the day before.

That night for dinner we decided on some simple fare at one of the local diners, they are quite old school and loads of locals eat there, sort of like an old style cafeteria!

I had lasagna and Pete had a parmi, it was good food, friendly device.

We were super tired after walking approximately 17km for the day, we certainly don't stop!!

Tomorrow we move to Palermo to a different hotel to experience a different part of the city.