Woke up early in the morning to catch the local bus to the bus station (15URP) and another bus to Colonia (178URP, about 3 hrs). Felt so good to be on the move away from Montevideo!
By noon, I had arrived. I stopped by the ferry terminal before heading into town to buy my ticket back to Buenos Aires that evening.
Colonia (officially Colonia del Sacramento) is supposedly the oldest town in Uruguay and is listed as one of UNESCO's world heritage sites. As the name suggests, the place has its share of old, colonial buildings and cute, cobblestoned streets.
That share turned out to be quite small though...I was done walking around the town in an hour or so.
Photogenic streets with some great color contrasts:
Lighthouse & city wall:
Photogenic streets with some great color contrasts:
Lighthouse & city wall:
This must be the most photographed car in Uruguay, probably a Colonia landmark by now! Loved the cool retro-ness:
Since the day was very pleasant (so far), I ended up strolling through the same streets again and again and again. And, for the lack of better things to do, bought a museum pass (50URP) that allowed me access to some small museums in town. History, culture, furnishings, etc. Not very impressive. I did, however, enjoy the ceramics museum...just because I like those bright tiles often seen in Spain, Portugal, or Italy.
And then it started to pour. I took shelter in a nearby cafe that was dark, but had good enough flan and coffee to keep me content. Remained there until my ferry time, reading, chatting with a couple of American tourists, and getting attacked by mosquitos.
This time around, my Buquebus ferry was a large boat with all the amenities of a small cruise-liner. Unfortunately, it was slow-moving and took 3 hours to reach Buenos Aires (vs. 1 hour for the fast ferry).
More unfortunate was the fact that the captain wasn't skillful. He had a very hard time bringing the boat into its parking spot…we went back and forth, back and forth for well over an hour at the pier! Announcements blamed it on "strong winds" but there wasn't much wind when we finally disembarked. I think he was just incompetent or wanted to annoy the passengers.
Because of this delay, and the general slowness of the boat, I didn't get back to my hostel until pretty late. With the usual consequence being that there was no bed available in the preferred room. Nightmare. But more on that later.
All in all, I admit that my Uruguay trip was pretty lame. Probably due to the lack of time I had there.
I think I would've had a different opinion, had I been able to stay at an estancia to experience the gaucho lifestyle (cattle-herding via horse!) or embrace the hippie one at Cabo Polonio. Both had been recommended to me by Nicole, but I just didn't have the time…Darn it.
Since the day was very pleasant (so far), I ended up strolling through the same streets again and again and again. And, for the lack of better things to do, bought a museum pass (50URP) that allowed me access to some small museums in town. History, culture, furnishings, etc. Not very impressive. I did, however, enjoy the ceramics museum...just because I like those bright tiles often seen in Spain, Portugal, or Italy.
And then it started to pour. I took shelter in a nearby cafe that was dark, but had good enough flan and coffee to keep me content. Remained there until my ferry time, reading, chatting with a couple of American tourists, and getting attacked by mosquitos.
This time around, my Buquebus ferry was a large boat with all the amenities of a small cruise-liner. Unfortunately, it was slow-moving and took 3 hours to reach Buenos Aires (vs. 1 hour for the fast ferry).
More unfortunate was the fact that the captain wasn't skillful. He had a very hard time bringing the boat into its parking spot…we went back and forth, back and forth for well over an hour at the pier! Announcements blamed it on "strong winds" but there wasn't much wind when we finally disembarked. I think he was just incompetent or wanted to annoy the passengers.
Because of this delay, and the general slowness of the boat, I didn't get back to my hostel until pretty late. With the usual consequence being that there was no bed available in the preferred room. Nightmare. But more on that later.
All in all, I admit that my Uruguay trip was pretty lame. Probably due to the lack of time I had there.
I think I would've had a different opinion, had I been able to stay at an estancia to experience the gaucho lifestyle (cattle-herding via horse!) or embrace the hippie one at Cabo Polonio. Both had been recommended to me by Nicole, but I just didn't have the time…Darn it.
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