Perfect Strangers

Montevideo, finally. I am taking in views of the ocean from Mati's 7th floor apartment and of the city from the 7th floor of the Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de la República, Uruguay. The trip here was long; I missed my connection to Montevideo from Miami due to delays caused by bad weather up north. Somehow, my bags made it on that original flight which means the plane was still there and waiting when I arrived at the gate. Oh well. I and another misplaced passenger embarked on a journey to find a place to stay overnight (international flights are typically scheduled once per day, if that) which ended up to be a seedy place north of the airport where the shady desk clerk charged more than he promised on the phone. But I was happy to have a bed. The following day began in a void between hotel check-out time (11 AM) and flight check-in time (6PM; take note: check-in begins 5 hours prior to your scheduled departure, not a minute before). The Miami Airport is one big mess of people and luggage without enough space to maneuver. The Information Attendant was friendly enough to reveal several coveted quiet places in the airport to which I and my fellow displaced traveler fled. There, we intersected with another traveller, waiting for a flight to none other than.... Montevideo (different flight, same destination). Together, we broke out of the airport and hopped on a bus headed for South Beach. This took an excrutiating amount of time but along the way we picked up another misplaced traveller on his way to Chile. The four of us enjoyed a late lunch in the heart of Art-Deco architecture in South Beach and touched the wide, sandy shore before heading back to the airport. Upon check-in, I was granted a seat in the far back, the way back, the cave of the plane: row 43, located conveniently between the lavatories. No way was I going to sit between two toilets for 9 hours. A quick check online indicated plenty of available seats in much better real-estate to which I upgraded. I enjoyed a pleasent vegetarian dinner of curried chickpeas and rice, arrived intact, was not harrassed by customs (even with my four bags of equipment). I am looking forward to the drive to Tacuarembo tomorrow and maybe the first glimpse of a wintering Upland Sandpiper.