Finally I made up my mind on what to do with those ten days that were still ‘open’ between the first four weeks in Buenos Aires and the flight on to Santiago.

I was contemplating Patagonia, the glaciers in the far, far south, Mendoza and a wine tour, Salta close to the Bolivian border or a stint to Uruguay. In the end, Uruguay won.

I’ll take the Buquebus for a three-hour trip over the Rio de la Plata and its murky waters to visit Montevideo, Uruguay’s capital and, what everybody tells me, Buenos Aires smaller sister city.

I might add a day trip to Punta del Este, Uruguays beach town, which friends assured me is just a two-hour bus ride away.

I’m a bit sorry for the other destinations, but I cannot do them all, and it all needs to be manageable… Even with my limited luggage, I wasn’t up for a bigger trip… Mendoza would probably have meant to rent a car to drive up through the wineries… I love the idea, but I honestly wanted as little planning effort as possible.

I’m constantly planning and booking and checking and comparing and rethinking… it’s fun but it also needs a limit. Uruguay seems to be the easiest.

In the next days I have to start booking my stuff for Chile, find a home in Santiago and maybe plan that trip to the Easter Island. That will be enough.

So, after four nights in Uruguay I will come back to Buenos Aires again, and spend another five days in my lovely Arenales apartment…