Buenos Aires: Colonia, Uruguay Day Trip

You may have noticed by now, those of you who have read my blogged "vacation reports" before, that I am not including photos. Since I have already posted all my photos I figured it wasn't necessary. Also, it saves time. I might also add that I appreciate anyone who takes the time to read my blog posts. Even though it takes me an hour or two to write them, I enjoy the opportunity to share my fun life experiences with the whole world in a format where I'm able to write in my own style. Not what they taught me in college which was "Say what you are going to say, say it, and then say what you said." I prefer the freedom to write in my own, unique, narrative style.

Now that I'm done with that unexpected paragraph, let's get on with the day. My alarm went off promptly at 6 AM and I was down in the lobby by 7 to meet up with my brother, his wife and my sister. We had planned to get breakfast somewhere near by, but nothing looked good, so we just walked down to the pier. Once there, we found the line to check in for our boat. There were automated kiosks which made the process simpler since we had no bags to check. Then we made a stop at the cafeteria and grabbed some pastries and coffee.

From there we headed upstairs where we basically exited Argentina and entered Uruguay. We had our passports stamped out of Argentina and stamped into Uruguay. Very efficient. We then waited for the boarding of our ship. We had coach tickets that had seat numbers, but once we boarded the ship we realized we could sit anywhere in the couch class. We found four seats in the middle section, which turned out to be good for anyone who gets sea sick as this section had the least motion. I do not get sea sick.

The trip across the river took about one hour. We then docked at Colonia Del Sacramento. Once off the boat we exited so quickly we passed by the place where we turn in our passes and are told what bus to board. We eventually found this booth and boarded bus 126 - the English speaking tour. The bus was only about 10% full. I'd say less than 20 people.

As soon as we departed the terminal the guide started her speech. The bus tour lasted about 45 minutes or less. We got a tour of the area outside of the historic district of Colonia, making only one stop where we got out to take photos. I tried take photos while the bus was moving, but they either turned out blurry or just didn't capture the scenery. It was kind of funny that most of the sites were of buildings that were built in the early 1900s and then abandoned a decade later, such as the bull fighting ring. During the tour the guide also gave us a history lesson of the city, told us about the people, lifestyle and average temperatures during the summer and winter. She made it clear that Colonia was a very laid-back city with very little crime and the water along the beaches were clean, unlike the polluted waters of Buenos Aires.

Once we arrived at the center of town, our guide, who's name I can't remember, led our group down the main street, showing us where the restaurant was that we would be eating at. There were maps of the city along the street, and she stopped to show us where we were on the map and where the various sites to see were. We than had over four hours to explore the city before meeting up again for a guided walking tour of the historic area.

Our first stop was the beach. It made for some great photos of the city and of us. From there we wandered towards a lighthouse. It was just 15 Argentina pesos to climb to the top. In Colonia they accepted Argentina pesos, Uruguay pesos and US dollars. I think the exchange rate on the US dollar was the best deal, but mostly we used our Argentina money. The stairs to the top circled up a tight path, but I think it only took a few minutes to reach the top, unlike some of the towers and domes we walked up in Italy last year. From the top there was a great view of the city, and since the sun was out it made for great photos. Once we had our fill of the view, we walked back down, being careful of people walking up as there was only one stair case.

After exploring the city some more, we decided to have our lunch before the restaurant got too busy. The lunch included the salad bar, which had a large variety of cold foods other than salad, a choice of beef, chicken or pasta, and a desert. I chose the mushroom filled raviolis for my main dish. Overall the food was quite good. The lunch did not include drinks, but I just got a Coke. I could have tried a local beer, but their beer didn't look too exotic, plus that would have just made me want to take a nap. So after just over an hour there dining, we paid our bill, tipping the waiter nicely, and continued our explorations of the town.

During the next hour or two, we did lots of walking. We went into many shops to look for souvenirs. I ended up buying a magnet in the shape of the lighthouse we climbed. The lighthouse was completed in 1857 according to the map I'm looking at. As the day went on, the temperature warmed up and we did our best to stay in the shade. We walked up and down the quite streets. It was interesting that most of the intersections had no stop signs. Drivers just politely yielded to the the car that was already in the intersection. We explored a farmers market but bought nothing. Then we walked to the Basilica of the Holy Sacrament, one of the few religious sites we visited.

By this time we were very tired and hot. We saw other tourists who were even hotter, as their shirts were soaking with sweat. Finally, as it got near 4 PM, we walked to our meeting place where we met back up with our guide and the rest of the people on the bus. She then took us to the places in town that we did not tour because we knew we would be there for the guided tour. We learned more about the culture, the influence of the French and Spanish, and much more about the differences in how the French and Spanish build roads than we ever wanted to know. Water drainage, sidewalks and types of stone. We, as with the rest of the group, were ready to board the air-conditioned buses by this point.

So just after five we boarded the bus and made the short trip back to the port. Once again we went through passport control and got two more stamps in our passports. On the boat we sat in the center but closer to the front. The one hour ride was eventless except for the hard rain we encountered as we approach Buenos Aires. Luckily the rain stopped by the time we docked, making our walk back to the hotel rain free.

You are in luck. Since I'm getting tired of typing I decided to take a photo of the magnet I bought in Colonia so you can see what the lighthouse looked like that we climbed to the top of. Enjoy :-)

Once back at the hotel, we took another hour break before going to dinner. A shower and change of clothes felt great. Even though I put on sunscreen, my face still got sunburned. I tried my best to reduce the redness in the photos of my using Photoshop. Also, I had a few misquote bites, but not as many as my sister had. We were worried because there were signs posted everywhere, which I never saw, that warned us about getting the Dengue fever from misquotes. As of now, over two week later, none of us got sick.

We had planned to eat a an Irish Pub we passed several times, but once inside we opted not to eat there due to smoking allowed downstairs and the music was too loud (yes, we are old). So we walked a few blocks away and found another Irish Pub. While my brother and I waited near the door, my sister and his wife walked up towards the bar. At the bar there were several businessmen in suits who were more than happy to see two American girls in their local bar. They proudly spoke their best English to impress the women. Then Brad and I finally walked up and we were seated in a table near the bar but in a less crowded and quieter place. The waitress did not speak much English, but we managed to order our drinks, my sister and I got a Guinness while Brad and Lorie got their usual Coke and Coke light. We ended up all ordering the same meal, their salmon dish. It was not near as good as our meal the night before, and in fact was very fishy tasting.

We eventually paid our bill and left. It was now dark outside and the latest we had stayed out. Before I forget, I really wanted to see some Southern hemisphere stars and constellations, such as the Southern Cross. But due to clouds and light pollution I saw but one star and the Moon. Guess I'll have to make that trip to Australia some day. Once again we found ourselves on Florida Street. However, by this time at night, pushing 9 PM, the vendors had left and there were actually a few prostitutes hanging out on the street corners. They were obviously hookers, just standing there wearing very short, easy access, skirts. This was not a "Pretty Woman" scenario. I was not going to bring one of them back to my nice hotel in a fast car.

A few more stops along the way and we were ready to turn in for the night. Since Thursday was our last day in town and our travel home day, we all agreed to sleep in and meet at 10 AM for breakfast before checking out by noon. Back in my room in packed my bags for the trip home, watched some TV, thought briefly about the hookers and went to bed.