Day Trip to Colonia, Uruguay

Hola todos,

After coming back from the US, I was in a little bit of a funk, I missed Boston and all the people there. To snap me out of it, cheer me up AND get 4 new stamps in my passport, Stef and I decided to plan a day trip to Uruguay.  Our good friend Miranda decided to join us.

The southwest coast of Uruguay is separated from the eastern coast of Argentina by Río de la Plata.  The water looks disgusting but the brown color is actually natural and is caused by sediments in the water. Ferry's run from Buenos Aires to Colonia, Uruguay and Montevideo, Uruguay daily.  It takes 50 minutes to get to Colonia and 3 hours to get to Montevideo. The three of us bought Buquebus ferry tickets to leave Buenos Aires for Colonia, Uruguay at 8:45am and return at 8:00pm. 

We arrived in Colonia on a "bright sunshiny day", exchanged some Argentine pesos for Uruguayan pesos (for reference, US$1 = Uruguay$25) and visited the tourist center for a map. Colonia is an old Spanish strong hold in the Río de la Plata region, the historic part of the town was actually a fort.  We wandered in to the historic district and never left.

The town was so quaint and absolutely adorable.  The main entrance in to the town takes you over an old draw bridge and through a massive stone gate. The streets were all cobblestone or gravel and there were tons of blooming flowers. Bogan villa, one of my favorites, was everywhere in hot pink, royal purple and flaming orange (see the picture below of me and Miranda under the tree). We hung out on the old peer watching sailboats go by and walked along the shoreline (picture above). We climbed to the top of the old white lighthouse built in 1845 and visited the ruins of the governor's old estate (picture below). After a spectacular lunch in an old mansion, we took a little siesta nap on a park bench on a cliff overlooking the water. There was just enough time to visit the basilica before we had to return to the dock for our ferry departure back to la capital federal. The basilica was still decorated for Easter.  In the US, churches are decorated with springtime flowers like tulips and lilies, the altar of the basilica in Uruguay was decorated with a hundred or so birds of paradise flowers.  I thought it was an interesting difference and absolutely beautiful.

             

Note:  Since my camera was broken and then stolen in Patagonia, all photos in this post were taken by Stefanie Bair.

Love to all,

Raquel