Colonia = Like, Totally Rad

I finally found a place with a slightly faster upload speed so there are bunch of photos, probably too many, included in this and the next entry. I hope to upload another video at some point. But now I´m tired!

Hey Kids,

Well, I´ve been battling a cold for over a week now. So I got the hell of out Buenos Aires. It´s a great city but I needed to move on. I spent a horrible night in a hostel and then walked to the ferry to Uruguay the next morning. Actually getting to the ferry was intense. I stood in line to buy a ticket. Another to actually pay for the ticket. Another to have the ticket issued. Yet another to go through security. And then immigration. And then stood in line to get on board. Funny thing is, the place was packed but I don´t know where everyone went once the boarding started. There were people on board, yes, but it was actaully quite quiet and relaxing.

When taking a ferry from Bs. As., you have a couple options. I chose to go to Colonia, rather than proceeding directly to the capital, Montevideo. Colonia is a former smuggling port at the mouth Rio Del Plata. This river is so wide between Colonia and Bs As, that you can´t see the land on the other side. It´s also a lovely, quiet place if you have spent the past week fending off an potential sinus infection in a large and polluted city. I wasn´t quite sure what to do when I got off the ferry. People standing around everywhere or getting on buses. So, after I walked through customs, I looked around and walked past the buses. After a few blocks, I found a hotel and threw my stuff down for the day.

I spent two nights there, one in a nice hotel because I needed a good night´s sleep. The other in a hostel. I had no reason for chosing it except it looked nice, wasn´t on a busy street (and there aren´t really busy streets in Colonia), and they were helpful when I said I couldn´t find an ATM.

Btw, using that machine turned out to be quite an experience as a voice from the machine repeatedly told me the transaction couldn´t be completed, from when I punched in my pin number, to the moment it gave me 1100 Uruguayan $ (about $55 USD).

For the first time on my trip, I really got to know some fellow travelers. I think it was the first great day I had, though I certainly had fun in Bs As. I met a nice young woman from Brazil (here via studies in Australia). I also spent an evening being entertained by a German Uruguayan now living in Brazil and his son. They´d been visiting a friend and were just in town for the weekend. I learned more about mate than I ever thought I would. Mate is the herbal drink that tastes like bitter herbs. It´s served in a gourd and you use very little water. So you see people carrying around thermoses on their morning walks or on the ferry rides. You´ll see signs for "hot water, 10 pesos" at bus stops. I´m not sure how much of what the dad said was true but he told us about how the straw placement is important. You can´t move it all the time. And when you´re in a circle, you need to hand it off clockwise, etc. It was all pretty funny. I have to say it was nice to be in the company of such happy, delightful people.

Once the mate was gone, we had a nice walk around town and looked at the distant glow of Bs As. I told them how earlier in the day, some punks on the beach asked me for a light for their joint. Then we talked about cargo ships and well, all kinds of things. After that, we drank some Uruguayan wine (Tannat) and chatted while listening to some excellent live music in a much heralded restaurant called the Drugstore. It does live up to it´s reputation.

The next morning we said our goodbyes while I inhaled plates full of bread and jam washed down with cafe con leche. Then I got out of town again.

What´s next? An unexpected meal in the big city. And a brief brush with the Uruguayan medical system.

Besos!

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