The Life of Brad: December 2015 - Another Bday, Crashing in to BA, Punta del Diablo

Had my final days before entering a new decade, lined up to go to Argentina again for the 5th time in 4 1/2 years, dusted off the moto and headed to Uruguay for Christmas. And of course with no room on the bike we had to open our presents before we left Buenos Aires.

First moments back after getting my moto from Hernan's,
I dropped it!!!
Not sure if it was my excitement to be back in BA or
the fact I was pretty tired OR
That slippery shit in the gutter called "Verdin"

I haven't made a big deal about my birthday since I turned 30 and as I said before birthdays are for your parents and an opportunity to see their flowers grow. Thanks Mom for the food, water and love that gave me a chance to blossom.

After dinner we had a little tour around town "Light Seeing" (I may have just coined a new term?)

Bday dinner at the delicious "Himalayan"

Santa lights and more

Santa's reindeer at another house

The house in the video below was quite impressive and even set up a short wave frequency that you could tune in to on your car radio for a musical accompaniment synchronised light show. Two thumbs up!

Side Story: The photo to the right deserves all my Christmas respect. Good on you Wayne S. for Christmas light designs for as long as I can remember. A link to a story from 1991 demonstrating the true Canadian accent http://www.cbc.ca/archives/entry/christmas-lights-spectacular-spectacle. It's understandable that the neighbours would get sick of all the traffic during November and December, but also sad how easy it is for one or two people to stop the show for so many. Well Wayne at least you got to finally save on your electricity bill.

Wayne S's place, the legend who
had the best light display for years
until a neighbour complained about
too much traffic, so Wayne scaled
it back saving $$$ in electricity!

A little gathering on friends for a few pints at the Trap and Gill. Sorry I don't have a group photo and photos of all the attendees, but I was too busy drinking beer and yakking with people.

Yael, Bert, me, Peter former
co-workers

Chris, me, and Kevin from University days

Me, Jessy, Yael, Chris
(Met Yael in Buenos Aires and it was
the first time seeing here since 2012
down south. She's been living in
Calgary for 3 years now, wow!)

Friends to the bitter end
Me, Brendan, Andrea, Bill, Jessy and Yael (again!)

Mall Christmas tree

Bonny's Christmas tree which has gotten better every year

I was a little sad the snow had melted
making it tough to show J a great
snowman, but she didn't mind at all.

Bye Calgary. And then it was time to go... line up that is. Left Calgary Dec 10 and arrived in Buenos Aires Dec 11 for my 5th time in 5 years, once by moto and the rest by Airplane. I must admit aside from the usual issues with United the new 787 airplane was great. I think it cut 45 minutes off the flight which was a nice bonus and one of the few reasons to fly United.

I can't wait until the customer fights
back and says "I want service!!!"

Not to be outdone by the US, EZE Airport in Buenos Aires
offered me a 2 hr line before finally getting back to life South.

After my little moto crash I decided to rest up my now damaged knee and ankle before the trip to Uruguay for Christmas. What better way to do it then sitting back on the couch and opening Christmas presents unable to come with us on the limited space moto.

Oh no, only one oven it
Don't I need two?

Icing up the leg in order to be ready to ride in 3 days.

There's the other mitt.

Super Late Start to Punta Del Diablo. Instead of the usual up at 6:30am beat the traffic to get out of Buenos Aires, we went for the midnight run to Colonia, Uruguay on the cheapest Buquebus ferry arriving at 3:30am. In theory this would allow us to be sitting on one of the Punta del Diablo beaches for breakfast, but as an engineer I can tell you that theory doesn't always connect with reality. There's always an aspect missed. The aspect I missed was that Uruguay wanted me to have Uruguayan insurance this time, not like the other 15 times I have past their border. The border officer was not going to bend on this regulation no matter how foreign I was. Meaning we were free to go the 450 km to Punta del Diablo, just not with the moto. Ouch 1! Ouch 2 was that this regulation has been in place since 2009 making it unbelievable that now at 3:30am was the first time someone enforced it!! Ouch 3 was we had to wait 7 hours! until an Insurance office opened to pay $40 USD for 1 year of insurance in Uruguay (or $25 USD for one month which seems a little out of balance).

That face says it all for a midnight crossing

On the ferry
trying to catch a little sleep
between the seats

Waiting for dawn to get insurance

Hoping someone would give her some spare change.

So comfy with security too

Back in Diablo! One of the furthest points North along the coast of Uruguay only 35 km south of Brasil. I love it here.

Rental tour of "Nao Tem Fim" a 2 level, 2 bedroom with kitchen and fireplace run by it's artistic owner Nico.

"Nao Tem Fim" - Endless

Hammock Life!

Back in the Ocean, yeah!

Ankle ok, knee...not so much

Our local supermarket.

Parque Santa Teresa

Spiderman was even here amongst
all the campers in Santa Teresa

Great parking

I did it! don't skimp on the paper

Animals of Northeast Uruguay (Let's do it in Spanish)

Iguana

Sapo

No idea so let's go with
Insecto

Perra

Perra con suerte

Laguna Negra, Sunset and Moon all at once. What more can you ask for...

Why is this place closed
A beer right now would be perfect

Enjoy some shots from Laguna Negra ...

Good times

Christmas Eve Fireworks in Punta del Diablo.

A tranquil sky soon to be on fire

After 10 good days it was time to head back to bustling BA. Ouch. Here's a sequence of photos to cover our trip back from Punta del Diablo stopping in Montevideo for lunch and then finishing on the ferry back in to BA.