From time to time when you are travelling you end up making last minute change of plans decisions .  Leaving Buenos Aires was one of those times. 

Rosanna and I were thinking that we would stay in an Argentinian town near the border with Uruguay called Tigre  for a couple of days before heading into a new country.  We were on our way to the train station, actually in the taxi, when it kind of dawned on us that we should maybe just go to Uruguay straight away.  The ferry dock was close by and there were convient boats that left Buenos Aires to Uruguay.   So instead of hopping on a train we got on a boat, and instead of staying in Argentina for a couple more days we ended up in Colonial del Sacremento, Uruguay. 

Colonial del Sacremento is a world heritage site with cobbled stone streets, whitewashed buildings, and a nice harbour area.  We were there for a couple of lazy days.  From there we went to the beach resort town of Punta del Este.  Kind of a ritzy place, with some nice beaches, but lots of development.   There we were very lucky to have place stay overlooking the ocean that a very nice contact from Buenos Aires (thank you Augustina!) lent to us. 

After a couple of nights in Punta del Este we headed into the capital, Montevideo, for our first couch surfing experience where we got to stay with the sister of a good friend, Rhianna (Rhianna is Canadian and is living in Montevideo with her husband Pancho, who is Uruguayan).  Again the hospitality was very welcomed and being able to see a familiar face was really cool.  We took up too much space in their apartment for the weekend and checked out the sites a bit.  We went and saw some Uruguayan circus performers at a juggling convention (Pancho is a world famous juggler).  That was cool to see. 

Not a long or hurried stay in a small country, but it was nice.  From Uruguay we hopped on a bus and boat to make our way to the famous Iguazu Falls, straddling the Argentina and Brazil border.