Uruguay was country 5. Brian and I haven't had too many places we've disliked during this trip, but Montevideo is currently holding the top spot for most disappointing places.

We debated whether or not to even make the short, but expensive trip. Planning had been a bit challenging due to the massive shortcomings of the ferry company, Buquebus', website and also the miscellaneous online commentary concerning the safety of the city. (For the record, we never once felt unsafe or threatened. It was never any concern.)

We decided to bite the bullet and go. We are two hours away and we will know if it's worth ever coming back for.

After much confusion with the website, a trip to the actual Buquebus terminal, we booked a cheaper ticket on the direct ferry for $88/person each way. The Francisco is the newest addition to the fleet and it's extremely nice.

We caught the 7:30 am ferry and quickly went through customs on the Argentine side. Buquebus is fanatical about the cleanliness of the carpet so every person had to wear shoe covers during the crossing of the Rio de la Plata. That is quite the sight to see. There is a full duty free shopping mall on the boat and the locals go crazy during these times buying everything from Costco-branded items to iPads. Compared to American prices, everything was very expensive.

The ferry arrives directly next to the old town of MVD, Cuidad Vieja, and we immediately began our site-seeing tour. Within 1 hour we had seen all the major sites the old town held and the majority of shops were still closed.

We stopped at the local chain, La Pasiva, for their "renowned" hotdogs and mustard sauce only to be disgusted by the entire meal. We then headed to the Mercado del Puerto, known for the many parrillas, in hopes of having a better experience.

We grabbed a seat at Roldo's and ordered the special, medio y medio, a combination of white wine and champagne. It was super sweet, but we enjoyed watching the bartender pop bottle after bottle for the locals.

You could spend days in the Mercado just trying all of the parrillas with the varying cuts of meats, veggies and innards on the grill. Roldo's cut of meat was good, but it's important to understand you're not going to get a Bern's steak at Applebee's pricing. The food for the remainder of the trip wouldn't be much better, including the locally recommended Pizzeria Trouville. The two bright spots were Gallaghers Pub, which had a fairly good home brew sampler and La Otra for a decent steak and grilled vegetables.

Our hotel, El Ermitage, was located in Pocitos, the nicest area of MVD, with nothing much to do. It is a convenient walk to the Rambla, a long sidewalk lining the beach. The hotel itself is average and the staff always seemed inconvenienced to even offer an "Hola" when we arrived.

The best part of our time in MVD was an impromptu Penarol futbol game at the stadium where the first World Cup was played in 1930, which Uruguay won.

The experience was unlike any other sporting event we've been too, including college football. The chanting and pounding of the drum never stopped during the entire game. The crowd screamed and whistled during the good plays and cursed and threw things when Penarol screwed up. The intensity never let up for the full 90 minutes. We loved this experience but it's important to note: there is absolutely no order to the process of buying tickets and don't expect to sit in those seats once you have tickets. People pushed and shoved up to the ticket windows and once in the stadium, it's a free-for-all regarding seating. Really, just pick a seat.

On our second day, we walked along the beach to the famous MONTEVIDEO sign to snap some touristy pictures. The beach is wide and clean, but littered with seaglass that is smoothed on its way down the river from Buenos Aires.

On our return walk, we joined the locals on La Rambla. The walkway was packed with couples and families out for an evening walk, sipping the local obsession-mate. Mate is a loose, herbal tea packed into a small cup made from a hallowed out gourd. The locals all carry around a thermos of hot water to ensure the drink is always fresh. The metal straws have a filter at the bottom to prevent loose leaves from clogging the straw. A friendly local even offered me a taste.

We couldn't help but feeling we were missing something in Montevideo. Did we stay in the wrong part of town? Should we only have gone to fancier restaurants? Were we so jaded by our love for Buenos Aires? We never quite nailed down why Montevideo was just so-so. Even the locals we chatted with were hard pressed to give us suggestions of places to go and things to do.

We are glad we went to the city, but truly only because we can now cross it off our list. I don't see us running back anytime soon, but maybe things will be different in 20 more years.

We fell in love with Buenos Aires, but it wasn't love at first sight.

When we arrived in Bs As, as it's written locally, we got off to a rough start-rudeness at the baggage claim, crazy taxi driver who dropped us off a half-mile from our correct address and it was HOT.

But all of that turned out to be a fluke and the more we explored, the more we loved about this crazy, eclectic and fun city!

We blew quite of bit of our budget in Argentina, but we knew it was going to be expensive. Here are some of our highlights of the lovely Buenos Aires:

1. Argentine foods:

Empanadas-La Aguada. We found this place just a few blocks from our AirBnB and it had a blue cheese empanada that was fantastic.

Choripan-La Leyenda & Nuestra Parrilla. Choripan was a surprise lunch after enjoying the Sunday Antique Markets in San Telmo. We became obsessed with the sauce on this simple sandwich of sausage and bread. The sauce is a red chimichurri, some places call it provencal.

Medialunas-Lucio Pasta Y Pizza. Somewhere between a croissant and a crescent roll, is the prefection called a medialuna. We bought them by the dozen.

Steak-Don Julio. This popular steak restaurant lived up to the hype by serving up a perfectly cooked filet and sirloin. We also completed the tradition of signing our finished wine bottle for the collection adorning the walls.

Cocktails-Victoria Brown & Verne Club. Both places are in the Palermo neighborhoods and are exactly what a cocktail bar should be like. The cocktails are a bit on the funky side.

Ice cream-Volta. A local chain in the city, Volta is more like gelato and the location next to El Ateneo has a great "park" in the back.

2. Favorite Barrios

Palermo Neighborhoods

SOHO-restaurants, bars, shops, you name it, Palermo SOHO has it. We spent the majority of our time in this barrio.

Viejo-quieter but with great charm and great restaurants

Hollywood-trendy and more ritzy than the rest of Palermo

Note: We stayed in Palermo Alto, which is a residential midpoint for nearly everything in the city. It's quiet and you can easily access other barrios by foot or by subte (the metro.)

San Telmo-Gritty and up-and-coming, we were glad we didn't spend our nights here, but we spent many of our days. Quirky and interesting, it's easy to get lost discovering new shops and restaurants here, especially antiques.

Recoleta-Palermo borders Recoleta, but Recoleta could be lightyears away from any other neighborhood in Bs. As. It's fancy and rich and has the upscale shops to prove it.

3. Activities

Tango-with Lucia y Gerry. We signed up for the Wednesday night Tango Tour and it did not disappoint! We had an hour lesson and then Lucia and her husband, Gerry, took us out to their milonga-an argentine dance club. With a full orchestra and the locals showing their moves, it was an experience like nothing else.

Walking tour-Buenos Aires Traces. The Traces tour isn't well advertised, but it starts every day at Hostal America Sur and tackles a different barrio every day. We took the downtown tour and learned history of the Plaza de Mayo and the Madres de Mayo and got a private insight to the people's love for Eva Peron in her office.

Relax at El Ateneo. The old theater was converted into a bookstore and it does not disappoint. You could spend days there just enjoying a book or a coffee on the stage, taking in the ambience.

Recoleta Cemetery. This is a must of the Buenos Aires experience.

Some of our dislikes:

Walking: The people of Bs. As. walk with reckless abandon and do not care if you are there or not.

Service in every restaurant is painfully slow. Many times we wouldn't even order drinks for the first 25 minutes of sitting somewhere. And once someone finally shows up at your table, be ready to order everything you want.              

You must pay cash nearly everywhere except a grocery store. We've been stuck many places where Brian had to run out to find an ATM, which brings us to another point: Argentina's highest bill is 100, everything is inflated and people hoard cash so if we found an ATM that actually had cash it was a win! You might have to try 3-4 ATMs to actually get cash.

Some miscellaneous information about Buenos Aires:

-The subte is the easiest and cheapest way to get around but expect to walk quite a ways still to get to places once you arrive at your destination. A ride is a flat 5 pesos no matter the distance. Be aware that some stations are entry specific, so know the direction you want to go before walking down the stairs. The subte is nearly always slammed packed so be prepared to push your way in.

-The buses only accept coins or the travel card. Change is nearly impossible to find in Bs.As. (with many things being rounded up or down to keep the numbers whole and prevent change from being needed) and the travel card is available at main terminals and sometimes convenience stores.

-Taxis are metered but ensure you have a rough idea of where you should be going. The cost out to the airport is about $40 when the conversion rate is close to 9:1.

-Siesta is a fairly real thing in Bs. As. While the city is still busy, a lot of shops do close between the 2-6 pm hours and sometimes until 8 pm. 9 pm to head out for dinner will allow you to arrive before the crowds without a reservation.

-The Sunday Market in San Telmo should not be missed. The Antiques Market is open every day, but the Sunday market spills into the streets.

-You can exchange dollars on the Blue Chip Market on Avenida de Florida in the Microcenter for upwards of 14:1. This is easily identified by the men yelling "cambio!" We never did this, it seems sketchy and they take you away from the street. Other travelers we met did it a lot and exchanged around $300 USD at a time. You would also need to bring a lot of USD to make this worth while for a long stay. Being in Argentina for 4 weeks just didn't make this underground process seem worthwhile. Also, it's technically illegal.

We loved Buenos Aires and even had a few "what if" conversations about living in the city. We already have agreed that when Brian's parents decide to go, we will happily sign on as their personal tour guides of this awesome city. Shoot, we'll tagalong with anyone who lets us on a trip to Argentina!