Photograh by Marcus Bleasdale (Refugees from Mogadishu fighting seek shelter in Baletwayne, Somalia )

So this last weekend I thought to myself, ¨Gosh dang it, I´ve been in the city too long… I need to travel!¨ And so I did.

Okay, so I guess it wasn´t quite that spontaneous. There is a little town a few hours outside of Montevideo called Minas that is known for its nearby natural parks and campsites. I have been wanting to go for several months now, so me and my friend Martina set aside this weekend to go. (actually we had set a side the previous weekend, but she was sick last weekend so things got shifted a bit).

Friday morning, our set day to go, I woke up to my alarm and the sound of rain pouring down outside. It wasn´t just raining, it was drenching, pounding rain with thunder to boot. I had an 8 o clock class, and I weighed in my mind how many times I had already been absent and if it was necesary or even worth it to get myself soaking wet on the way to class (a disadvantage of having no car and no raincoat…). I decided I could afford to skip the drenching, and went back to sleep for a few more hours.

I woke up again at about 10am. Still pouring down rain. I thought to myself–there is no way we are going to Minas in this weather. So I texted Martina, saying (translated from spanish), ¨We should change and go another day, don´t you think?¨ and she promptly responded, ¨no, lets go today, don´t you think?¨ Being the northwest native that I am, I could not allow myself to use rain as an escuse to not travel, not when my german travel partner was still willing to go. So we hopped on the 12 o clock bus to Minas.

By the time we got there the rain had let up, though it was still pretty gray out. We then visited the terminal to find out about bus schedules to the nature sites and available lodging. First disapointment: the bus schedules were scant, and on this particular day there were no buses going out to Salta Penitente, Uruguay´s most famous waterfall (in Uruguay anyway–I doubt most people outside of Uruguay have heard of it…hehe), which was the place I had most wanted to see. Second disapointment: the site where we had hoped to rent an open air cabin (at only $15 per night–a great deal), was already completely booked. The cheepest hotel in town would cost about $30 dollars per night per person–thats about 6 times what I payed for my bus ticket to arrive–ouch is right. Serves us right for not making reservations and planning ahead.

So finally we decide, since we were already there, to split a taxi fair to drive out to the waterfall. It was nice at least to get out into nature, the landscape was lovely. Here I am enjoying the lovely waterfall…

and yodeling…

Crikey!! Its a big one!

wabbit hunting…

enjoying the magnificance of nature…

pondering…

and… falling?!?! HELP! I WANT MY TWO DOLLARS!

Yeah… I´m kind of crazy. Its hereditary. But really, if your going to study abroad or go on a trip you´ve got to take some wacky tourist fotos, haven´t you?

This actually got me thinking about how many lovely places there are right near where I live in the states, both in Bellingham and Spokane. I know wacky tourist pictures are most often taken next to world or at least nation famous sites… but I´ve just proved you can have just as much fun taking crazy tourist pictures at locally known sites. So here´s the challange of the week. Grab a camara, find a beautiful naturescape near your home, and have at it. Even better if you can post the pictures online afterward.

Anyway, there is more to tell of my weekend adventure, but this blog is already long, so the rest shall have to wait til the next exciting entry…