Uruguay ... the best place to stargaze!

Aaron, Sergio, and I are staying in the sleepy fishing village of Punta del Diablo, on the coast of Uruguay. We arrived in the country two days ago and are making our way up along the coast to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

We have the advantage of traveling in South America during the low season, however, the weather is getting colder and it rained for most of my stay in Argentina. I am eager to follow the sun to warmer places as the winter approaches here.

Despite the protests and road blocks, I got a chance to visit my old friend, Valeria Mainardi, in Cordoba. Valeria was an exchange student at my high school during my senior year. Thus, it had been eight years since we last saw each other! Anyway, I arrived in Cordoba after a miserable 11 hour bus journey, where Valeria and her boyfriend, Santiago, picked me up from the bus station. From then on, I was spoiled! Her family took me in for four days with wide, open arms. They fed me, showed me around town, and even when working, took a few hours off to take me to lunch. I was absolutely grateful for their hospitality and it felt like a true cultural homestay experience. I was surprised to learn that Valeria's father is a well known physicist and who was also the first Argentinean to work for NASA in the states. He is a great storyteller. Valeria is an English teacher and is working on her Master's degree in Linguistics. Fact: Higher Education is free in Argentina!

Last night, I saw the night sky for the first time in weeks and I almost couldn't believe my eyes when the clouds suddenly vanished. There were BILLIONS of bright stars to be seen all the way to the ocean's horizon. And right above me, the Milky Way stretched from East to West. An orange shooting star flashed across. It was an incredible scene and Uruguay will be forever embedded in my memory because of it.