Tranquillo in Colonia

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Hello bloggers and happy carnival for those of you out there celebrating. The huge party that erupts in Rio does not spread south by all accounts, with a rather more sedate marking of the coming of lent happening in Argentina,but I will let you know if I run across any naked women or men out on the streets.

I have added Uruguay to my list of passport stamps, though a quick few days in a small town on the waters edge is not really seeing a country, but hey colonial powers claimed whole tracts of land simply by setting foot on them and planting a flag for the Queen or King!

I travelled here by high speed ferry from Puerto Madero. Buquebus is a travel company here in Argentina that runs the ferry service to Uruguay. A modern ferry terminal with efficient systems for ticket purchase and checkin. Boats leave on time and all in all a first class experience. There are two passages available to Uruguay,my choice was the fast ferry taking an hour on a modern catamaran powering its way across the milk chocolate water or a more traditional ferry taking three hours to travel the 50 kms to Colonia del Sacremento.Both boats take cars and provide all the services you would expect from food and drink to duty free.Immigration was routine and courteous and the terminal in Colonia also modern,clean and comfortable.

I spent a few days in Western Uruguay's Colonia on the shores of the Rio de la Plata. Huge Sycamore trees line the streets of the barrio historico,a UNESCO World Heritage site.Cobblestones and buildings from the colonial past. The city was settled by the Portuguese in 1680 as a strategic location to keep an eye on what the Spanish were doing in Buenos Aires 50km away across the Rio de la Plata.It became a smuggglers port for those wishing to bypass the Spanish control of commerce in the area and was fought over a number of times going back and forth until finally settling in the hands of the Spanish by treaty around 1750.I stayed in a small Posada on a tree lined street.Nice little place with a roof top patio with river view and just at the edge of the barrio historico.

Uruguay is 'tranquillo' compared with Argentina,no hustle and bustle here in this lovely little town and it was not long before I had melted into the humid heat and calm vibe of the place.No looking over your shoulder here, anticipating the guy going to pick your pocket or rip you off. Beautiful parks and little cafe's to visit,sunsets over the river and lazy dogs sleeping in the shade. I spent most of my time walking around the old streets between rehydration stops. On one rehydration stop in a beautiful park sitting on a bench i was suddenly splattered with a yellow goo! I immediately went into theft defense mode and turned around to see no one! It was not till a few minutes later as I sat there cleaning myself and my camera bag that I realized that I had been annointed and welcomed by a green parrot,of which there were many, up in the palms shreeching in their most unmelodic way and all feasting on small yellow berries or seeds. I do not know whether such an event brings luck or misfortune but I took it to be a fitting reminder that I was in another world both physically and spiritually. Welcome to Uruguay,get over it!!

Another sign of the tranquil pace here was the drinking of 'mate'. I had heard about mate from Marina in class and she had brought in her mate gourd to share the drink around the table. In BA I had seen a few mate drinkers and of course seen many stores selling the gourds and bombilla's through which the mate is consumed. Mate is the one cultural experience that everyone shares be they rich or poor,co-workers,friends,family,the drinking of mate is a ritual and the sharing of mate is really the point. Mate is a green tea made from a plant from the holly family 'ilex paraguayensis' for those of you who want to google.The dried leaves are sold in all the grocery stores and people down here consume kilos of the stuff annually! The gourd is filled almost to the top with the 'yerba mate' and then warm water is poured in to the gourd. Everyone walks around with thermous bottles of warm water here and you can always get your thermous filled at restaurants or gas stations. The drink is sucked through the bombilla,a metal straw with a bulbous head filled with holes to filter out the leaves as you drink the mate. In my apartment I have two mate cups and bombillas as part of the dishes and necessities I pay rent for. In a group one person is responsible for filling the mate gourd,the 'cebador' or server fills the gound and always passes it clockwise. This order continues with each drinker finishing the mate then passing back the gourd for the cebador to refill slowly then pass to the next person.If you do not want anymore you say gracias when you return the cup otherwise it will come around again and again.I was told emphatically by Marina that one does not stir the mate so keep that in mind if you are ever this part of the ritual. Mate was being enjoyedall over Colonia with people walking around with their thermous bottles or sitting with others sharing the moment. I have not had much and am no judge but can say it is an acquired taste but is a part of the culture here and not to be missed.

On Friday I rented a vehicle to drive out of the main part of town to a place called Real de San Carlos where a rich entrepreneur had spent 1.5 million dollars at the turn of the 20th century to build an immense tourist complex including a 10,000 seat bull ring and a 3,000 seat fronton to play and watch the Basque sport of 'jai alai' as well as a racetrack and casino. Alas bull fighting was outlawed in 1912 and the only thing still operating today is the racetrack but the remains of his dream still stand and decay.

After my trip to the bullring I got back on the ferry and returned to BA. It was good to be home in some way and I went shopping for groceries and have seteled down for a quiet weekend ,keeping my Urugguay vibe alive.

The trip to Iguasu is booked for the 28th and between then and now I will cross off the things on my list of places to see in BA before I head north again on March 4th. Take care and watch out for parrot shit.

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Photos

childrens playground
Can you imagine such a play structure in Canada? Essentially a swinging battering ram to ride on or get clobbered with!!