Up at 10am. I was supposed to meet Eli to go to the beach at 11am, and just before that Lori (her roommate) said Eli would be there on time, but we didn't know where she went so Lori and I went to the beach ourselves at 11:10.
On the beach we observed this mass of tissue. Lori thought it was a dog but I thought it was a bird. I poked it with a bottle and identified feathers. I immediately dubbed this poor creature "Sleepy, the Sea Bird of Mystery".
We were on this beach for just a few minutes when some guy started calling down to us about our camera. We went back up to the street and he explained that we were on a dangerous beach where kids were eyeing our stuff and he would show us where a safer beach was. We were skeptical at first but he turned out to be a decent guy from Italy now living in Montevideo. He also lived in New York and Canada so he identified with us. We walked with him and his dog for an hour to a nice beach with young people. It wasn't the supercool beach we saw on the tour yesterday, but we would have needed a taxi to get there, and without Eli's Spanish that would have been an iffy endeavor. Lori and I decreed that we must start leaving notes on doors to sync up any plans.
Walking back from the beach, I got sunburned in places where I didn't know I had places. Mainly my wrist (I had my watch in my pocket) and my feet (I was wearing flip flops).
We returned to the hotel and I rested a bit, then went out to an Internet cafe and sent my first round of taunting e-mails to several associates. I informed the family that I was as sunburned as a witch's teat.
Five of us went out to dinner at the Copacabana Cafe on the main street. I had a burger and a liter of beer. Afterward we returned to El Pony Pisador. Eli, Radha and Shaneela were already there. Eli chewed out Lance for standing her up earlier in the day. She then apologized to me for that outburst but added that I also stood her up for the beach, which wasn't true. Turns out she was at the airline office past 11:10am, after Lori and I left. (Lori, I told you we should have waited! Well done on the C-block there.)
Well. Eli invited me to go to Paraguay with her and skip the Salto portion of the tour. She had a job opportunity at a Jesuit mission and wanted to check the place out. Salto wasn't the most exciting place so we crunched the numbers to see if we could save time or at least break even but see monkeys. I was definitely up for the funky adventure.
We split another two sangria pitchers. Eli was surprised when I said people usually think I'm quiet. See, that online quiz that said I'm an extrovert was right. Maybe it's just that when most people meet me I'm sober. (Note to self: Take that online purity test Eli was talking about.)
Outside the Pony bar: Eli, Lance, Graham, Radha and John. This photo was meant to capture the couple sitting by the window: a girl whose look and enthusiasm reminded me of Kelly from The Office (American version), and her big fat date who clearly wanted to get out of there.
Eli and I went home while Lance and John moved across the street to another bar. Last we saw, they were chatting up two local women at least twice their age.