storage so we had a slightly drippy final leg of our journey. We arrived at the bus terminal and took a taxi to our hostel. Our hostel was new and had only been open for a couple of weeks, so there were still quite a few little DIY jobs that needed completing! Our room was one of the most sparse rooms we have ever stayed in, we were hoping that this had something to do with the hostel being not entirely finished! The hostel was in a fabulous location though, situated on the corner of Plaza Independencia, the main square in the capital. The guidebook had described Montevideo as being the most laid back capital in all of South America, and whilst having a laid back feel to it, it wasn’t a patch on the laid back quality of Vientienne in Laos, where we were this time last year. The city had a very European feel and the architecture helped to emphasise this feeling. There were a great deal of very grand looking buildings situated around the main Plaza and after settling into the hostel we decided to head out

for a walk to check out the local area.

We walked down Av 18 de Julio the main shopping street and the streets were deserted. On the pavement was a huge advertising newspaper which had been laid out on the pavement and made for some interesting walking! It was a very interesting and impressive advertising campaign that’s for sure.
We headed down the main street and were pleasantly surprised by the elegant buildings and wide boulevard avenues branching off in ever direction. After a good walk we headed back to the hostel via ‘The Manchester’ a pub and pizzeria! Of course we had to pop in for a chopp or two! Chopp being a glass of beer on draft, rather like our half a lager or in this case half a litre!

Knowing how late