Day 77 - Punta del Este
I set out on a two-hour trip to the beach city of Punta del
Este. The tour stopped at a hotel with
cool architecture and spectacular views, as well as a sculpture garden of
modern art. The heart of the city was
famous for the modern art sculpture of fingers reaching out of the main beach,
representing unity of the five continents.
Back in Montevideo, a bunch of us met up to watch the sunset on a
hill by the beach and go to dinner afterward.
We made it to the hill and found a place to settle down 5 minutes before
sunset, but as soon as we stopped moving – or even slowed down – at least 20
mosquitos would land on us and start feasting.
We looked at the sunset for about 10 seconds, then skedaddled to dinner.
But the main event of the day centered around my good friend Zach. I
only saw him briefly in the morning, but the scratches and bandages all over
his face left an impression that lasted the entire day. The night before, he
ran after a drunk girl who stumbled out of a hotel where a bunch of SASers were
partying. He caught up to her and decided to escort her back to the ship. Eight
blocks away from safety, two guys showed up and hit Zach over the head with a
bottle until it broke. Though probably near unconsciousness, he forced himself
to get up to protect the girl, which must have scared the guys and they ran
off. He hid the girl, who was still too drunk to walk, much less run, and
booked it to the ship to call for help. The police found the girl unharmed, and,
a lot of motherly attention and 15 stitches later, Zach was ok, too, though
badly beat up. For the next couple days, I would have to get in line whenever I
wanted to talk to him. Nobody curbed their drinking habits, though.
I set out on a two-hour trip to the beach city of Punta del
Este. The tour stopped at a hotel with
cool architecture and spectacular views, as well as a sculpture garden of
modern art. The heart of the city was
famous for the modern art sculpture of fingers reaching out of the main beach,
representing unity of the five continents.
Back in Montevideo, a bunch of us met up to watch the sunset on a
hill by the beach and go to dinner afterward.
We made it to the hill and found a place to settle down 5 minutes before
sunset, but as soon as we stopped moving – or even slowed down – at least 20
mosquitos would land on us and start feasting.
We looked at the sunset for about 10 seconds, then skedaddled to dinner.
But the main event of the day centered around my good friend Zach. I
only saw him briefly in the morning, but the scratches and bandages all over
his face left an impression that lasted the entire day. The night before, he
ran after a drunk girl who stumbled out of a hotel where a bunch of SASers were
partying. He caught up to her and decided to escort her back to the ship. Eight
blocks away from safety, two guys showed up and hit Zach over the head with a
bottle until it broke. Though probably near unconsciousness, he forced himself
to get up to protect the girl, which must have scared the guys and they ran
off. He hid the girl, who was still too drunk to walk, much less run, and
booked it to the ship to call for help. The police found the girl unharmed, and,
a lot of motherly attention and 15 stitches later, Zach was ok, too, though
badly beat up. For the next couple days, I would have to get in line whenever I
wanted to talk to him. Nobody curbed their drinking habits, though.
Thank you for always being such a kind friend! It’s been cool reliving the SAS journey through your blogs. We were extremely fortunate that night. I hope you and your family are well.
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