MONTEVIDEO: As seems to be my trend lately, I managed to rise just after 10am. Breakfast was until 11am so I still had time for a shower first. My room mate, Mike, had long since disappeared to Colonia. He was working his way around most of South America in just three weeks, so the 16hrs he spent in Montevideo was quite a luxury on his schedule. Temperamental Showers Negotiating the shower proved harder than I first imagined. It was a cold morning so a hot shower was a necessity today, but no matter how long I ran the hot water, nothing hot was coming out. Eventually I decided to run two showers to speed the process. It worked, and soon I had hot water, but as soon as I turned off the other shower the hot water stopped too. The result was that I showered with two showers running, and got the hot shower I was wanting. I wandered down after my shower and joined a couple of German tourists at the breakfast table. They were enjoying their measly fare of sliced bread rolls and jams that constituted breakfast. After our conversation, I decided to head out in search of a better breakfast such as a banana or yogurt or even both. But being a Sunday morning, there was not very much open and I never did find my breakfast. In fact I did not find lunch either, opting instead to fast for the day. Enjoying The City My first stop was at the Plaza Independencia, a lovely open area filled with lush green grass. There was not a single person on the grass when I first arrived, so I found myself a lovely sunny patch and sat down to enjoy the atmosphere of this new town. Very few people were around the place and the few that were remained firmly in the sun. It was too cold to do otherwise. About two hours later I decided to wander a little further afield and see what this city had to offer. Using my miniature tourist map with its walking tour information, I managed to find my way through the entire tour within a few hours. I do not think I could have walked much slower either. There were plenty of old buildings to see, and a number of old churches too, all standard fare for any city. I stopped and relaxed at times in some of the other parks on the way but none of them seemed to have the same positive feel as Plaza Independencia. Mercardo Puerto Since I was near the port and ferry terminal, I wandered in and got the ferry timetable for my return to Buenos Aires. Crossing the road from the port, I wandered into the Port Market area which was now open and filled with people. The atmosphere was busy and electric. A drumming band was playing rhythmic tunes amongst the local artists with their wares on display, the restaurants lining the place were filled with people dining, and dozens of people were wandering up and down the street enjoying the whole show. But this was just the avenue outside. Inside, the market was filled with eating places. There was little room to walk between each of them. It seemed very similar to some of the eating markets I had visited in Japan. Every kitchen was filled with people busy stoking the fires and cooking up the meals for hungry customers. Chefs and waiters would search out and canvas for new customers as they wandered through the commotion. I found myself explaining to quite a number of these guys that I was not going to be a customer. Most of them left me alone as soon as they heard that although a few were like bull-terrier dogs that took a lot of convincing before I could shake them off. The whole market area was built inside a large high-roofed building made of tin. In the centre of this place was an old wooden clock standing proud above everything else. Exposed steel girders held the roof in place, and long tubes of steel venting the cooking fumes rose from each of the restaurants to the roof. The whole place took on the feel of chaos, but it was also a place that I would love to return to more than once. The Tourist Trail Moving on from here I continue on my wanderings, following the tourist map back to where I had started and then further on. Along the main road virtually all of the shops were shut. In one of the parks people are huddled together in the sun along the edges of the walking paths and gardens. From a distance they looked like birds sitting on a wire. Further along I heard the sounds of a pentecostal church and wandered inside to listen to what they had to say. The volume of the speakers inside were so loud that my ears started to hurt. I could not understand what they were saying and decided to head out at the first song. As I left, a young man from the church approached me and tried to tell me about God. I told him that I knew God already, and once he realised that I did not really know Spanish, we shook hands parted ways. The rest of the walking tour was very ordinary, although it did take me past a tourist information booth that was able to produce a map of the actual city and not just the Old City. It was getting quite late in the day now so I decided to head back toward my hostel. Heading For Dinner I stopped on the way at a cinema expecting to find people here. It was open, but had the same ghost-town atmosphere as the rest of the place. It was hard to believe that 1.5 million people lived here. Moving on, I found a place to eat that I had passed a few times before. Each time I had passed by there were always people inside, so it seemed to be a great place to stop. Only after having decided on the meal that I wanted did I discover that the kitchen does not even open until 8pm. That is the way things work here. People come in even after midnight to eat their dinner, so at 7pm I guess I was still too early. None-the-less, I selected something from the snacks menu which turned out to be a full meal in itself, settled back and enjoyed my dinner. By the time I left that place, just after 8pm, people were starting to appear on the street outside. When I had walked this same street before, it seemed crowded when I discovered five people walking along it. Now there were almost thirty or forty people wandering down it. Some people at my hostel told me that after midnight the place is completely packed with people, although I did not hang around to see that. Hostel Activities Back at the hostel I allowed myself to be entertained for a while by a strange French movie. It was about a young man being persuaded to start a family by his son and other descendants who lived in another world and time. Somewhat bizarre. When it was time to retire to my room I passed by the family that runs this place who lived on the middle level. They were having friends over for dinner, creating a lot of noise in the process. I noticed their son using the computer in the corner, evading the crowd. I had not realised that the Internet computer was also their home computer too. Inside my room the noise of these guests carried through readily. I lay on my bed reading until sleep eventually overcame me. Even the noise was not able to stop me by then. These easy days in the city were just what I needed. Perhaps I would do more tomorrow. But then again, perhaps not.