The one important thing they don't tell you in Uruguay

More internet problems today.  Sorry for the late post.

It rained cats and dogs yesterday.  The wind and rain rattled my windows all night long.  When I woke up, the downpours were visible through the window blinds.  Ugh.  My brother and I had planned to take a boat across the Rio Plata to Uruguay.  The weather forecasts called for rain, thunder, and then more rain.

We couldn't decide if we should just cancel our plans (and forfeit our tickets) or tough it out.  Quad made the final decision-- the right one-- and we decided we should just see what the rain soaked streets of La Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay had to offer.

Buquebus is the name of the company which runs the ferries which cross from Puerto Madero in Buenos Aires to Colonia and Montevideo, Uruguay.  What an operation: HUGE ferries, hundreds of passengers, immigrations and customs.  We left on the 12 noon high speed ferry and found ourselves in rainy Colonia in an hour.  Shockingly, we arrived without incident.

Colonia was settled in the late 1500s by Jesuits who used the town as a base for smuggling goods into Buenos Aires.  It is a UNESCO heritage site and a lovely, well-perserved little colonial town.  It reminded me of some of the older Mexican cities I have visited.  It also looked a little like Santa Fe, New Mexico-- thick earthen walled houses with bright paint colors.

The old entrace to the city

Uruguay achieved independence in the 1850s.  Until its indepdence, it was alternately occupied by Argentina, Brazil (Portugal), and England.  Uruguay is one of the most properous South American nations.  It is also the smallest Spanish-speaking country in South America.  Uruguayans have a reputation for being fun-loving, beach-loving, and very laid-back.  They also hate to be confused with or compared to their bigger, louder, and less laid back neighbhors.



The old port which is a now small vessel marina

The old part of Colonia is set up for walking (or tripping) along the cobblestoned streets, shopping, and ducking in and out of 8 small (read, REALLY small) museums.  Entrance to these 8 museums cost about $2.50 and Quad and I were feeling smug about how cheap everything was until we saw the museums.... The Museo de las Indigenas was filled with hundreds of identical rocks used as tools by the Churras people... hundreds of them.  All the same.

Paul Bunion in front of the Museo de Azulejos

The empty beaches outside Colonia

After visiting all of the museums (4 were open), we wandered around Colonia, biding our time until the ferry departure at 7 pm.  We responsibly presented to the ferry terminal an hour before we were supposed to leave and..... GUESS WHAT?  The biggest secret in the entire tiny country of Uruguay is that they observe day-light savings time while Argentina does not.  So much for being impressed with Buquebus' seamless operation.... I can't tell you how many opportunities there were to mention this small detail to us dumb gringos.  Okay.  Rant over.  The long and short of it is that we were just in time for the next departure to Buenos Aires... on the slow ferry.  So, we spent 3 hours riding slowly back to our beloved Argentina.  And to top it all off, we were treated to some on-board entertainment:

Japanese drummers.... kind of.

The great scientific count: 34