It was very odd to hear the news of early snowfall in the UK – coming as it did, on the 1st December, when we were at the beach. Uruguay is famous (amongst Argentinians and Brazilians at least) for the quality of its beaches, and feeling in need of a bit of a tan before we head home, we headed east for a few days.

Our first stop was La Paloma, a little beach town about 4 hours from Montevideo. We did little but lie on the beach, nap and read during our 2 days there, although the timing of our visit was notable in that it coincided with the 'Day of the Gnocchi.' This occurs on the 29th of each month, the day before payday, when people were usually so poor that they couldn't afford to eat anything other than these cheap potato dumplings. Today, often gnocchi is only available on menus on this day, so we had to sample some. Coupled with bolognaise sauce and a 1 litre bottle of Pilsen, one of the local beers, it was absolutely delicious.

From La Paloma we headed west to Punta del Este, the “party capital” of Uruguay, where the beautiful people come to dance at the nightclubs and gamble in the casinos. Or at least, they do in high season, which, we discovered, only really lasts between Christmas and Carneval in February. James had a vague desire for us to go out but his plans were foiled: most of the clubs only open on weekends in low season (and we were there mid-week). Just as well really, considering a) our regular bedtime of 11pm is a good 3 hours before the clubs even open and b) after 9 months on the road, I am not sure even our smartest remaining clothes would pass muster with any self-respecting bouncer.

The centre of Punta is meant to be a little like Surfer's Paradise in Oz, so we decided to stay in Manantiales, a small suburb 20 minutes out of town which is home to Bikini Beach (sponsored by HSBC Premier). The upside of being here in off-season was there were no crowds: in fact, we had the beach pretty much to ourselves. The area is pretty good for surfing but our desire to hire boards for the day was quickly overpowered by a stronger desire to just lie on the beach and soak up some sun. I did rouse myself enough to go for a paddle in the sea a couple of times, but the water was so icy cold I didn't last long.

Away from the empty beaches Manantiales was a hive of activity, with lots of businesses preparing for the official 'seasonal re-opening' next weekend and lots more in the process of construction – we were very sad not to be able to pay a visit to “Glam Coffee” which offered take-away drinks, a fairly new concept in these parts. Presumably the 'glam' part refers to the models who will be acting as baristas. We were there however, for the opening of Cactus and Pescado, a gorgeous fish restaurant overlooking the beach. We only meant to stop in for a quick lunch before catching the bus into town, but the restaurant had a 3 course menu del dia which included a free glass of wine – clearly too good a deal to pass up. After washing the meal down with an additional bottle of wine, we realised that we had accidentally had another Quality Lunch, decided that the town probably wasn't worth the effort, and collapsed on the beach for the rest of the afternoon.

Arriving in Montevideo after a month in Patagonia was something of a relief – not quite of the scale of our arrival in Salta after Bolivia, but it was definitely a good to be back in a city again. And Montevideo, walkable in scale and with a population of just 1.5m people, was the perfect place in which to readjust to urban living. Unlike the airport, which seemed brand new, with a futuristic design and more brands than we'd seen in weeks. It was a little overwhelming.....

Arriving in Sucre was like a breath of fresh air – it's by far the most beautiful city in Bolivia, all whitewashed buildings and terracotta rooftops. Unesco seems to agree, as it's been designated a World Heritage Site, in recognition of its rich colonial history. Sucre was where Bolivia was born – the Declaration of Independence was signed at the Casa de la Liberdad in 1825, and its presidents resided here for nearly a century. These days the political capital has been moved to La Paz, but Sucre remains the judicial capital, and Santa Cruz is the economic capital – you would have thought this would cause all manner of rivalries and problems, but the people of Sucre at least seem happy with their lot.

We headed first for the Cafe Gourmet Mirador, which has the best views over the city. Relaxing in deck chairs and sipping gin and bitter lemon as we watched the sun go down, this was starting to feel like a proper holiday. Lovely. Again it was nice to end in a place with a slightly more laid-back feel after the pace we'd made Swills keep since his arrival – 4 towns in 7 days! Sadly his departure was even faster than expected, as the following morning we discovered his flight was actually later that day and not the next day as we'd all thought. Fortunately he realised this in time!

As a result we designated Sunday morning 'Sucre Sightseeing Half-Day,' beginning with the Casa de la Liberdad. Nadia, our guide, painted a fantastic picture of the history of the place, which was originally a Jesuit college and then an exam hall before it became the important site it is today. We saw a copy of the Declaration – the real one is only brought out once a year for the people to see. It was also fascinating to learn a little more about Bolivia's turbulent history – it has had some 80 presidents in less than 200 years, a significant proportion of whom were assassinated or deposed by military coup. Alpaca-jumper-wearing Evo is highly regarded amongst the people here, not least for being the 'first' indigenous leader. This is not actually true – he's the 3rd, but he looks far more indigenous than either of the others so it's a lasting fallacy.

From there we headed to the Parque Simón Bolivar, named for the first 'honorary' president of Bolivia – honorary because he was holding out for the title of 'President of Casa d'America', a proposed USA-style union of South American states that never came to pass. The park is a lovely outdoor space, clearly popular with the locals, especially as we arrived: the local police force were holding a 'Fun Day' offering kids the chance to take a ride around the park on their motorbikes or in a police car. The park is home to a mini Eiffel Tower which we decided to climb. There are a lot fewer steps here than in Paris, but the structure is also a lot more rickety – after a couple of minutes swaying gently in the breeze at the top, we quickly climbed down again!

We squeezed in a 'Quality Lunch' before Swills' departure in honour of his birthday the following weekend. Sunday lunches in Bolivia consist of a salad course, a soup course, as much meat as you can stomach accompanied by at least 4 different varieties of carbs, and a dessert, all for the equivalent of £5.50. To this we added a couple of bottles of Bolivia's own Concepcíon Sauvignon Blanc (learning: the white is much better than the red) which meant that by the time Swills departed for the airport, we were all happily merry. James and I spent the rest of the day in our lovely hotel room (must stop this flashpacking!), sleeping and watching awful movies on TV.

We had one more day in Sucre whilst we awaited our next bus connection to Tupiza, a mere 11 hours away. As a result, we opted for a fairly lazy last few hours, going back to the park and enjoying the sunshine. We did also manage a trip to the Parque Cretácico, the local Jurassic Park themed tourist attraction, with the largest collection of dinosaur footprints anywhere in the world. We were expecting to be able to wander amongst them, comparing our little feet with those of a T-Rex or a Brontosaurus, but sadly we were disappointed – the footprints are about 1km away in a quarry, discovered by the local cement company in 1995. The company, Fonseca cement (“Building for your future”) had been excavating the site for some 40 years before the footprints were found, so goodness knows how many were destroyed before anyone even realised they were there. However, those that remain are pretty impressive (so distinct they look fake, even though their authenticity has been verified by world-renowned palaeontologists). I also enjoyed posing for photos with plastic models of my favourite species – it really started to feel like we were in Jurassic Park, though fortunately without the live action models!