Hi all!
Last night was great. Went out for dinner with Maria, Danton and Jared and enjoyed an incredible salmon with quinoa!
Then we came back to the hotel and had predrinks with Emma, Hayley and Molly. At 11pm our whole group set out in our party buses and bar hopped to five different bars. It was a great night! All of us ended up in our tour guide's room until 4.30 hanging out. I then went to my room to get my iPod speakers but must have sat down on my bed, because next I knew I woke at 7am half on-half off the bed, fully clothed, full face of makeup and holding my phone! Got in bed and slept until 10.
We had breakfast at 10.30 - beautiful buffet and best breakfast we've had the whole trip! Then 10 of us picked up rental bikes at 11. Maria, Danton, Jared and I headed off together and we rode all the way down Pocito - a beach with a huge bike track along it. We found a cool 'Montevideo' sign which we all posed with. Then we rode back to our street and continued the other way towards town. All up I reckon we rode maybe 15km in a few hours?? Was good to do some exercise.
We headed back and I went for an ice cream then a quick swim. Then at 4pm me, Maria, Danton, Jared, Molly, Chris, Nicole and Daryl (our guide) got taxis to a soccer match. We had realised there was no game in Rio most likely when we are there so I had found online that there was a game on in Montevideo tonight. Initially we thought it was at the main stadium but it turned out it was at one 20 minutes away.
What an experience! We arrived and it looked like the Uruguayan equivalent of somewhere like Victoria Park compared to the MCG - a little grimy and run down but lots of atmosphere and fans everywhere! Turned out we were also at a different game to the one we thought and we were watching two teams play called Cerro (second last in the division) and Peñarol (third). Me and Daryl laughed because Cerro were North Melbourne colours and Peñarol were Richmond colours!
The fans were crazy, chanting and jumping. Even though there were maybe 10,000 people there the atmosphere was pretty huge and it was loud. At half time I went and got some food (an experience itself, a never ending queue and a lady who couldn't understand me and vice versa!). Eventually in the second half Peñarol got on top and kicked three goals. A few minutes after the third things got a bit scary. You know how stereotypically South American soccer is known to be crazy with hooligans throwing flares, attacking police and overall going psycho? Yeah, that happened! All of a sudden a huge team of police with batons and shields were attacking the cheersquad. Then the fans starting throwing flares, boxes, anything they could find really. They left the stadium and our section (thankfully the next stand around with a big fence in between) was barricaded so we couldn't get out yet. We climbed to the top to look outside the ground and soon found out why. People fighting, police horses trampling people, people looting food vendors, all around chaos!! We had a funny conversation with a woman who asked where we were from and then laughed and told us not to tell anyone at home about it because Uruguay isn't usually like that - oops, too late!!
Eventually it cleared up and we hesitantly walked to the main road to get taxis, flares and god knows what else going off in the background. I'm glad we went though, it was a real cultural experience! One of those stories I'll always remember.
Tonight Maria and I bought sandwiches, salad and chocolate from the supermarket and we are having a night in. I'm catching up on some tv and then getting some much needed sleep!!
No blog for at least the next three days as we stay on a ranch without wifi. I will type each day as I normally do and post as soon as possible.
Lots of love to all
Claire
Xoxox
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