Succumb to the charms of Colonia, Uruguay

The old town in Colonia

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I´m back in BA now after a 17 hour bus ride from Iguazu...but more on that later.  I realise I am a few days behind in my blog so I am taking advantage of the early morning calm at the hostel to try and catch up!  BTW, if you ever come to BA you must stay at Hostel Estoril, it feels like home here with really helpful staff and its right in the centre of the city. 

Back to the past....Wed 31 May...

Only got about 3 hours sleep before getting up to grab some breakfast and packing for my trip to Iguazu, straight from Colonia.  The plan was to spend the day in Colonia, get the 4pm ferry back to BA and then back to the hostel to get my bus ticket to Iguazu and then off to the Retiro bus station to get the 6.50pm bus.  The hostel staff had a bet that I could not make it in time but I was optimistic that I could get from the ferry to the bus station via the hostel in 2 hours even if the ferry was an hour late.  

Esteban from the hostel kindly fixed breakfast for us (bread, jam and coffee) while Regina nursed her hangover with some OJ and coffee.  I felt fine despite all the wine we´d consumed.  Lucky for all the training I´ve had on Friday nights in Sydney! 

We left the hostel and took a taxi to the Burquebus ferry terminal with 40mins to spare before departure.  We quickly bought our tickets (99 pesos for same day return, AUD40) and made our way through immigration.  I was really excited about going to another country by ferry.  We passed through immigration without a hitch and a buggy drove us right to the ferry where we embarked.  The ferry was very modern and comfortable.   We were even served a snack (croissants) and a bottle of water.  Regina remarked that the ferry felt like a train due to the sounds it made.  An hour later we chugged in to Colonia.

Colonia was founded in 1680 by the Portuguese apparently to smuggle goods across the Rio de a Plata into BA.  The Spanish captured the town in 1762 and held it until 1777.  The old town consists of cobbled streets and old portuguese style houses and buildings, including a light house and a walled fort. 

You know you´re in a small town when the staff don´t even bother to take down your details for the locker storage.  I was tossed a key for the locker at the nearby bus station and not even asked a question.  I was already starting to like Colonia.  The cars stop for you even if you´re clearly jay walking.  In fact, there are no traffic lights on the streets, even on the main street, General Flores.  At times it felt like there were more stray dogs than cars.  

The town was fairly deserted but I could imagine during the summer season this place would be packed with tourists.  It´s by the sea, it has beautiful streets and buildings and seemingly friendly locals.  A resort type town with a historical flavour.

Regina and I bought the museum pass for 25 pesos which allows admission into about 10 different museums, some of them worthwhile visiting.  The Museo Minicipal has to be one of the most random museums I´ve been to.  In the same room there would be old dinosaur bones next to some stuffed animals and old maps, not arranged in any particular order.  The highlight is a massive skeleton of an animal that resembles an armidillo and dinosaur skeleton, all supposedly found in the region. 

Another highlight of Colonia is the cheap wool and leather products.  You wouldn´t think so but you can get cheap woollen slippers (US10), rugs, leather gloves lined with wool and woollen hats.  I wanted to get some woollen slippers but decided that I would wait till I get to Peru to get llama products!  Regina, on the otherhand bought some very nice rugs for her apartment in Brazil.

By 3pm we had spent all our Uruguyan pesos (I´d only exchanged US10) so we headed back to the ferry terminal, escorted by 2 dogs, much to Regina´s horror!  Enroute we passed by the central bank with armed casually-dressed  guards at the front.  I wanted to take a picture but a stern look from the pistol-bearing guard deterred me.      

While waiting for the ferry, we met a Canadian traveller, Rodney who had previously taken a photo for us in one of the museums.  We got talking and found out that he was also headed to Iguazu by bus at 6.55pm.  So we agreed to meet at the bus platform.  So I´ve been pretty lucky with meeting people as Regina was staying in BA but now I had a new friend to hang with in Iguazu, if all goes to plan.

So it was a mad rush back to the hostel once we disembarked from the ferry.  I was panicking a little as we couldn´t get a cab but eventually one appeared and despite the traffic, we got to the hostel with time to spare.