Greetings From Uruguay

Here I am in my hotel room in Montevideo, Uruguay, with a rare few spare moments to get some thoughts down on paper (well, electronic paper of sorts). I came into Uruguay on Monday morning after a ten hour flight from which I got almost no sleep. I took a sleeping pill, and as a result, was a zombie. After we arrived, I wasn't able to get any rest, and we were up for a good 40 hours.

A big disappointment came when we got to Argentina. Our flight was delayed in New York, and as a result, we literally had just enough time in Buenos Aires to disembark and get on our next flight. I thought we'd have at least an hour in the airport, and was let down to only have my first experience in Argentina last ten minutes.

Getting into Uruguay, the late summer heat hit as soon as we left the airport. The woman at customs stamped an already full page, and I felt robbed. No biggie though. When we went outside all I cared about was speaking some Spanish and getting to see some of the city.

There will be more--much more information to come on my experiences in Uruguay, but this is just an introduction to the week that has already been amazing. I couldn't describe it in one post. It has to be a series. I will say that there are little joys you can get from traveling like seeing the toilet flush the other way for the first time. The myth was actually a fact. Bart Simpson, this one's for you.

We've finished building the houses, we've painted walls at a youth center, and we spent some time with the elderly. We even got to go to a famous beach for a few hours. But most importantly, we're learning and sharing--not only our energy for construction, but our enthusiasm for the sharing of ideas and cultures. The Spanish language has a word for that--Discutir. There really isn't an equivalent for it in English, which is sort of a shame.

I probably won't get another chance to do another blog, and will just have to wait to get all caught up when I get back, so look for some more blogs, pictures, videos, and much more of what I've been up to down here in South America.