Kristina Argentina

Trip to Uruguay (pt. 1 - Colonia)

Anyone who has ever lived in a foreign country knows that the one thing you always struggle to keep up with, is the visa. At the end of November, Brett and my 90 days were up, so we had to leave the country. Most people do a one day trip to Colonia, Uruguay, and there are many tour packages that address this; but since Brett and I were only going to school once a week on Friday, and it was a holiday on Monday, we said why not go longer?

Grandma, who was visiting for 10 days also wanted to see Uruguay. It just so happened that Caro, my good porteña friend here, had also never been to Uruguay, so she took Tuesday off, and we booked a hostel.

Now the other really great incentive to go to Uruguay - is that there was someone else I really, really, really wanted to see. So it was absolutely perfect timing that just when I had to go, he was also visiting there. Thus our easy trip to Colonia expanded to include Montevideo. I will get to that in the next part.

We woke up at 6am, hopped in a taxi and took it to the port in La Boca for Colonial Express (never never take this company, it is not worth the $20 you will save - take Buque Bus!!). Anyways, all biases aside - they messed up Brett, Caro and Grandma’s tickets, putting them on a different boat at 11 instead of 8. Luckily, Caro thought something was fishy, so she went to the HQ the day before and fixed the tickets. I will never take Colonial Express again.

After checking in, we had to go through customs (so weird going through in a boat terminal). They found all of Grandma’s medication, but let her through “just this time”. They told Caro her bag was too heavy and asked her suspiciously what she had in it. Clothes she said. Make up? Yes. Shoes? Yes…? Ok go on through. One man, one dog, vs. the world.

The trip itself was an easy 1 hour and 20 minutes. We got to Colonia, exchanged some money, bought bus tickets to Montevideo and set out to explore the 8 block by 8 block city.

It was originally Portuguese colonial town (1680), which was later disputed by the Spanish when they founded Buenos Aires. It went back and forth between the two countries until Brazil declared independence, so it became Brazilian. Then during the Cisplatine War between Brazil and Argentina, disputing the area on the northern shore near Buenos Aires, it was decided that the land they were fighting over would become the Eastern Republic of Uruguay.

The Barrio Historico is a UNESCO world heritage site. We started with the portón de campo, or the moat, drawbridge and city gate. We then walked to the historical center, the calle de los suspiros - a picturesque little street, and then on to the lighthouse. An epic photoshoot ensued, here are some of the best.

TBC with the next episode…