Colonia, Uruguay

---

On friday I spent the day in Colonia, Uruguay to renew my visa. I came into Argentina on a tourist visa which lasts 90 days. However, your tourist visa resets if you travel to another country. I've only been here for 6 weeks but will be here for over 100 so I needed to reset my visa sometime during my stay. My program took us to Colonia for the day, but I really wish i could have stayed for the night because I had to take a 3 hour ferry ride to get there and a 3 hour ferry ride back. I think I'm going to return to Uruguay with some friends at the end of the month to hang out and rent a beach house. Even so, how many people can say they went to Uruguay for the day. Colonia was a very cute, pretty town with old colorful colonial buildings. we arrived around 1230 (I got to the buquebus station at 730 and our bus didn't leave until 930). We went on a short tour of the city by bus and headed to an all-you can eat restaurant. I definitely wasn't a fan and I wish we couldn't have just had time on our own so I could spend more time in the city instead of over an hour in a restaurant. But we finally left the restaurant and I opted to go on a walking tour rather than rent a golf cart. It was really nice. I like tours, especially if they're free, because I feel like people always have interesting things to tell me that i wouldn't have learned from just walking around by myself. After the tour we headed down to the water and to see the lighthouse. I was the only one that decided to pay the 4 pesos (less than $1 to walk up to the top). It actually took a while because I had to wait for people to come up and down, but it gave me the opportunity to meet a brazillian guy at the top. We exchanged some pictures and started talking about books we like. Then we exchanged contact information and he's going to find me on facebook and suggest some brazillian authors for me to read. I love doing little things by myself because i feel like i meet really cool people and get to practice spanish in the process. After the lighthouse it was time to head back to the bus and back to Argentina. I finished off the day watching the stars on the deck of the boat and it was a pretty picture perfect day. not to mention the sunset was amazing. I can't wait to return to Uruguay and hang out by the beach though. Chau!

---