Down By the Bay, Where the Watermelons Grow

Buenas Tardes!
After a few days of poking around Montevideo to see what could
materialize in terms of odd jobs, I decided to scoot on up to an
adorable little beach town called La Paloma, which sits on the coast
of Uruguay about three hours north of the capital by bus. I was hoping
to find some work up here in order to fulfill a daydream I have of
kickin it surfer style in a tranquil beach town, watching the time
float by... As always when you travel, the good and bad luck seem to
mix together, the latter often leading to the fomer. Knowing that it
was off season here, I did some research on the three youth hostels in
town, picked a fave, jotted down the address and didn't bother making
a reservation.

The busride was one of the most picturesque I have ever been on. Green
rolling pastures and hills dotted with sheep, horses and cattle
seperated the wide stretches between humble ranch-like homes. An
occasional gaucho rounding up livestock in jeans, knee high leather
boots, a vest and gaucho hat. A young boy riding bareback. A farmer
trailing a load of produce on a large cart behind his bicycle. After
an unfortunate incident involving waiting for 45 minutes at an empty
hostel for the absent staff to appear and wandering all over town, I
asked for directions to my plan b hostel and the woman walked me
nearly to the door of my new abode. I have become accustomed to this
type of incredible hospitality here.

The owner of the hostel greated me warmly and suggeted I take
advantage of the warm and sunny afternoon and head over to the
lighthouse (the tallest in the country I am told) where I could get a
view of the city. I took his advice and was overjoyed at what I found.
The coast guard manning the viewing deck at the top began chatting
with me and asked if I had seen the whales... Wondering if I had
misheard or mistranslated I said no and he promptly lead me around the
other side of the deck to look out over the water... sure enough there
they were! A group of 3 whales swimming surprisingly close to the
coast! The Southern Right Whale migrates from up by carribean all the
way down the coasts of Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina to the antartic
sea every spring! What great luck! I stayed up on the deck watching
them feed and play in the surf until I couldn't stand the cold wind
anymore.

I return to Montevideo tomorrow. La Paloma is lovely but the truth is
there is nobody here! I am the only one at my hostel, was the only one
on the beach for the 2 hours I was there this morning, and I was the
only customer eating at the restaurant downtown this afternoon! I like
tranquility but this is a bit abandoned for me... I will most likely
come back at the start of the summer to have a nice weekend at the
beach though!

Unfortunately I won't be doing much more exploring today as it started
raining mid afternoon and won't stop. Instead I have been chatting
with the hostel owner about a wide range of topics, including the
upcoming presidential election, while we watch NatGeo and drink
mate... Not bad at all! Have a super day now-
cate