Uruguay

I woke up early as wanted to get to the ferry to Uruguay as early as possible and make the most of the day, however when I got there to buy the ticket they told me it was full and put me on a waiting list and told me to come back in 30 min. I couldn’t believe it. After half an hour they started calling names from the waiting list and I was growing a little bit impatient as they were not calling my name and I knew it will be over soon, when finally they called me, and also said that that was it, so I was the last one to get in. So so lucky!!! It took only 1 hr to cross La Plata River to Colonia de Sacramento. As soon as I arrived I booked my bus to Montevideo for the afternoon, so that I had some time to visit this little charming colonial town, with its winding, cobbled streets, overlooking La Plata River. This town was a Portuguese colony founded in 1680, to smuggle good across La Plata River into Buenos Aires. For lunch I stopped in a little restaurant where I had a “Chivito”, a steak sandwich with lettuce, tomato (that I took out), ham, melted cheese, bacon and egg served with French fries. It was so delicious.
It was a very nice and charming town, but it was time to get to the bus to Montevideo. Two and a half hours later I arrived at Montevideo and made my way to the hostel I had already booked. I had dinner there with the guys running the hostel as they had cooked a typical Uruguayan asado (they said that their asado was better than the Argentinean, and I have to say it was really good, but nothing like the meat in Argentina!). As I was really tired I wanted to go to bed early but end up staying up late talking to the guys at reception and dancing tango and salsa.
I’d put my clock alarm at 8am for the following morning as wanted to visit the city before my bus to Brazil at 4pm, but when I was about to leave the hostel the girl at the reception told me that in fact it was an hour earlier as the clocks had changed that night, so I had to make some time as the streets were completely empty, specially as it was Sunday morning. When I finally went out the streets were still quite empty except for some tourist and the police. I walked along Av 18 of July til I reached la Feria de Tristan Narvaja, a street market selling from adorable puppies (which I wanted to buy of course), to food, souvenirs, clothes, mate, 2nd hand everything, etc. It was very curious to see lots of people waling with their mates in their hands and carrying a little bag with a hot water container to keep filing up their mates. After that I went around the old city area which reminded me a mix of Barcelona’s gothic quarter and La Havana in Cuba, with some buildings in ruins and falling apart. After lunch at el Mercado del Puerto (full of restaurants with parrillas and seafood dishes) it was time to get to the bus for around 20hrs to Florianopolis in Brazil.


Me levante temprano ya que queria cojer el ferry a Uruguay lo antes possible y asi aprovechar el dia lo maximo posible, pero cuando llegue alli a comprar el ticket me informaron que estaba ya todo lleno y que me pondrian en una lista de espera y que volviera en 30 min. No me lo podia creer!!! Despues de media hora me acerque al motrador de Nuevo y alli habian mas de 40 personas hacienda cola, todos en la lista de espera a ver si tenian suerte…como yo. Empezaron a llamar nombres de la lista de espera pero el mio no salia, pero al final me llamaron, y con tanta suerte que fui la ultima que llamaron. Tarde solo una hora en cruzar el Rio de la Plata hasta Colonia de Sacramento en Uruguay. Nada mas llegar me compre el billete de autobus para Montevideo por la tarde, para que asi me diera tiempo a visitar este pequeno pueblecito colonial, con sus callecitas de piedra, con vistas al Rio de la Plata. Este pueblo fue una colonia Portuguesa fundada en 1680, para el contrabando a traves del Rio de la Plata a Buenos Aires. Para comer me pare en un pequeno restaurante donde me comi un “Chivito”, un bocadillo de ternera con lechuga, tomate, jamon dulce, queso, bacon y huevo frito servido con patatas. Que rico estaba!!
El pueblo era encantardor, pero era hora de cojer el autobus a Montevideo. Dos horas y media llegue a Montevideo y me fui directamente al hostel que habia reservado. Cene un asado Uruguayo (que los Uruguayos dicen es mejor que el Argentino! Estaba bien rico, pero mejor que el Argentino…no!) con los chicos que llevan el hostel, y de ahi me queria ir a la cama ya que estaba cansada de tanto andar ese dia, pero al final me quede hablando con ellos y bailando salsa y tango en la recepcion.
Me puse la alarme a las 8 de la manana para que asi me diera tiempo a visitar la ciudad antes de cojer el autobus para Florianopolis en Brasil a las 4 de la tarde, pero cuando estaba a punto de salir por la puerta del hostel la chica me dijo que era una hora antes ya que esa noche habian cambiado la hora, asi que me lo tome con calma ya que era demasiado pronto y no habia nadie por las calles, y menos siendo domingo por la manana. Cuando finalmente sali las calles todavia estaban bastante tranquilas excepto por algunos turistas y la policia (controlando que no nos pasara nada a los turistas). Camine toda la Av 18 de Julio hasta llegar a la Feria de Tristan Narvaja, un mercadillo donde vendian desde cachorritos de perro (los cuales queria comprar), hasta comida, souvenirs, ropa, mate, cosas de segunda mano, etc. Fue curioso ver tanta gente por la calle caminando con sus mates en las manos y con su bolsito cargando con un termo para el agua caliente para el mate. De ahi me fui a visitar la parte antigua de la ciudad que me recordo a una mezcla entre el barrio gotico de Barcelona y la Havana en Cuba, con algunos de los edificios medio en ruinas. Despues de comer en el Mercado del Puerto (lleno de restaurants con parrillas, pescados y mariscos) era hora de irme a cojer el autobus a Floripa, que me llevaria 20 hrs.

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