Uruguay For the Day

1001 places to see before you die lists Colonia, Uruguay as one of those places to see.  We had tried to go on our long weekend, but we did not buy boat tickets in time.  So this time, during the week, we went to a travel place and ended up purchasing a day package which included a tour of the city and lunch as well as our boat tickets.  And so, we got up early and took the bus over to the boat dock.  Once we arrived, we were not sure what to do and had to return through immigration to find the bus tour we signed up for.  So we found our tour guide and she sent us to the bus and we waited for anyone else to come.

And so, she finally arrived and their was a total of 6 people on this tour with a full size bus, and before we knew it, she was saying it was time for our walking tour part.  We assumed it would be about an hour based on what the travel agent had told us.  Our tour guide kept saying how small this area was and since there were not very many people, there was not any crime. And so, she took us to the picturesque concave street which is seen in most pictures of this town and shows the age and style to only find out that this street use to be the red light district of the town.  And this was the highlight of the tour!

Next, we walked around the main square and our guide pointed out the old orange trees as well as the museums we could see if we had time and pointed to the one she recommended the most. And in about 20 minutes, we were at a intersection where she was already explaining our lunch choices, and pointing to the restaurant if we had already paid for lunch.

And so, she took the four of us that had the prepaid lunch down to the restaurant and then tried separating us.  The other two, Becky from Wisconsin, and Paula from Texas joined us. We got a buffet salad bar, and then a main dish and dessert.  Though for our main we all pick steak and had the worst piece of meat maybe because we crossed the border out of Argentina. But we had nice conversation about travels and especially India as we had all been there making it so much easier to understand descriptions of the place.

After lunch, we had the bus tour of our trip which again lasted for about 30 minutes. The highlight was passing an old bull ring that only operated for two years before it was determined illegal to torture bulls in that manner, and so the place has turned into disrepair.  Our tour guide asked if we wanted to stop to take a picture, and the couple in the front said yes, and so the driver came to a full stop for a minute before continuing on.  And so, we had free time until our boat return home.  Becky has originally got the 8 o´clock boat, but switch to our 5:30 as there wasn´t much to do, and Bill was glad I had got the 5:30.

We walked as far around town as a we could but we had more time than town to walk around. Bill climbed the light tower but since it was a cloudy and cold day as well, he didn´t get a very good view.  And then to get out of the cold, we decided to get the museum pass which you have to buy one for all five of them in Uruguay pesos, and only Paula had them, so she paid and we paid her back.  And the museum that our tour guide had recommended was a twist between natural history and a few artifacts from the town as well as many types of bugs and animals, it even had a dog genealogy in English.  It was a bit strange.  And we went to one more which was basically an old house with three rooms containing some of the title decorations the people use to use to give you an idea.

And then, it was finally time to get back to Argentina.  Bill sat in the seat in front of us, and we girls chatted the whole way back, it was nice to have a good girl chat again.  But overall, I wouldn´t recommend this place as the highlight is an old red light street.

Michelle