And now for something a little different......
Across the Rio Plata from Buenos Aires lies Uruguay, a middle income nation of about three million people. To put this in perspective, about eleven million reside in BA alone. I very much doubt Uruguay falls the "must see" list of many people, but, we here at The Four Corners don't discriminate (well, North Korea and Somalia, don't bother waiting for me).
The capital, Montevideo, is three hours across the Rio by boat, which makes it too far for a day trip. Luckily, only an hour from BA lies Colonia del Sacramento, or simply Colonia. Colonia has an histroic center that is a UNESCO World Heritage site, and is quite popular with Argentine weekenders.
I caught the 08:45 boat from Puerto Madero. A lot of people had the same idea apparently, the large boat (which transports vehicles as well) was pretty well packed. An older Polish couple sat next to me, and despite their extremely limited knowledge of English (super, oddly enough, was their word of choice), we still managed to navigate, using had signals, a pretty muddy conversation. I got that they traveled a lot, and I communicated (I don't know how I did it) that I was of Polish heritage. The guy was a dead ringer for Lech Walesa though, mustache and all. Maybe it was him. Well, good job on the whole Solidarity thing.
We made the transition between the two countries in an hour, and I found myself standing outside of Colonia's boat terminal. The weather today was near perfect, sunny with a nice breeze coming off the water (Colonia is on a peninsula). I would put the temperature at high 70s, maybe low 80s. Gorgeous. First off, Colonia is a very very small city, if you want to call it that. I made may way from the terminal to the historic district, which is a few blocks, but took maybe ten minutes of walking. Getting there, walking through the more modern parts, you walk through a sleepy town with cobbled streets, cafes, boutiques, and small neat little houses. All the streets are lined on both sides with trees, which looks great in the sun and in the breeze.
Colonia's historic district is of course very tiny. I walked across it in about five minutes. Yes, its that small. There is not much to see there, but it is a very pleasant place to walk around, particularly with weather like today. Some of the homes built by Portuguese settlers (the Portuguese settled it first, before the Spanish came in) way back in the 1500s still remain, and the cobbled streets they stand upon are quite charming. There were a number of tourists milling around, indeed, the only Uruguayan natives seemed to be the shop-owners and the stray dogs that roamed the streets. This area of Colonia wasn't really much, but it was interesting to visit and walk about such an old area (if its good enough for UNESCO, its good enough for me) and again, the weather was perfect for such a thing. Colonia's historic center is also right on the water (it was used as a slave trading area at one point) which was was nice as well (being near the water, not the slave bit). I moseyed about, looking for nothing in particular, enjoying the beautiful weather and the time away from the big metropolis BA. As my time winded down, I decided to check out some of the area outside the old town, and soaked in the laid-back feeling of the town, the occasional scooter zipping by, and passed by some sleek-looking homes, some done up in a Caminto-style mix of colors.
By 1730 local time I was back in BA. I have just finished a dinnner of champions of pizza and an empanada (carne this time, fantastic) and joined the locals in watching a big (I assume) football match on the tv in the restaurant.
Uruguay now joins Turkey and Mexico as the only countries I have been to and not visited the capital city. Hats off to you Uruguay, you provided a nice reprieve from the fast-paced BA.
See you tommorow.
Across the Rio Plata from Buenos Aires lies Uruguay, a middle income nation of about three million people. To put this in perspective, about eleven million reside in BA alone. I very much doubt Uruguay falls the "must see" list of many people, but, we here at The Four Corners don't discriminate (well, North Korea and Somalia, don't bother waiting for me).
The capital, Montevideo, is three hours across the Rio by boat, which makes it too far for a day trip. Luckily, only an hour from BA lies Colonia del Sacramento, or simply Colonia. Colonia has an histroic center that is a UNESCO World Heritage site, and is quite popular with Argentine weekenders.
I caught the 08:45 boat from Puerto Madero. A lot of people had the same idea apparently, the large boat (which transports vehicles as well) was pretty well packed. An older Polish couple sat next to me, and despite their extremely limited knowledge of English (super, oddly enough, was their word of choice), we still managed to navigate, using had signals, a pretty muddy conversation. I got that they traveled a lot, and I communicated (I don't know how I did it) that I was of Polish heritage. The guy was a dead ringer for Lech Walesa though, mustache and all. Maybe it was him. Well, good job on the whole Solidarity thing.
We made the transition between the two countries in an hour, and I found myself standing outside of Colonia's boat terminal. The weather today was near perfect, sunny with a nice breeze coming off the water (Colonia is on a peninsula). I would put the temperature at high 70s, maybe low 80s. Gorgeous. First off, Colonia is a very very small city, if you want to call it that. I made may way from the terminal to the historic district, which is a few blocks, but took maybe ten minutes of walking. Getting there, walking through the more modern parts, you walk through a sleepy town with cobbled streets, cafes, boutiques, and small neat little houses. All the streets are lined on both sides with trees, which looks great in the sun and in the breeze.
Colonia's historic district is of course very tiny. I walked across it in about five minutes. Yes, its that small. There is not much to see there, but it is a very pleasant place to walk around, particularly with weather like today. Some of the homes built by Portuguese settlers (the Portuguese settled it first, before the Spanish came in) way back in the 1500s still remain, and the cobbled streets they stand upon are quite charming. There were a number of tourists milling around, indeed, the only Uruguayan natives seemed to be the shop-owners and the stray dogs that roamed the streets. This area of Colonia wasn't really much, but it was interesting to visit and walk about such an old area (if its good enough for UNESCO, its good enough for me) and again, the weather was perfect for such a thing. Colonia's historic center is also right on the water (it was used as a slave trading area at one point) which was was nice as well (being near the water, not the slave bit). I moseyed about, looking for nothing in particular, enjoying the beautiful weather and the time away from the big metropolis BA. As my time winded down, I decided to check out some of the area outside the old town, and soaked in the laid-back feeling of the town, the occasional scooter zipping by, and passed by some sleek-looking homes, some done up in a Caminto-style mix of colors.
By 1730 local time I was back in BA. I have just finished a dinnner of champions of pizza and an empanada (carne this time, fantastic) and joined the locals in watching a big (I assume) football match on the tv in the restaurant.
Uruguay now joins Turkey and Mexico as the only countries I have been to and not visited the capital city. Hats off to you Uruguay, you provided a nice reprieve from the fast-paced BA.
See you tommorow.
No comments:
Post a Comment