Blogs from Uruguay, South America

May 4, 2013 Start Stop and Start Again Posted on May 10, 2013 by Judy Thompson May 10, 2013 How Bizarre is this?? I planned this trip for months. Bags were all packed. My rental house was all swept. Seven boxes of storage were labeled and numbered. My friends took me to the bus and off I went. Salto, Uruguay has a modern bus terminal with a very classy shopping center. The transportation service “hurt” though. Even though it is a hub there must not be a huge demand for buses on into Argentina. I arrived on Saturday and missed the scheduled rides. Sunday there were no ferries plying the river and no local bus to take me to the customs site. Monday Argentina Struck! And I struck out. Long distance bus service paralysis set in. ... read more

Tuesday 30 April to Thursday 2 May Another beautifully sunny day...to begin with! So, Tuesday morning it was off to the ferry port to catch the Colonia Express. Another taxi ride where my heart was in my mouth, flitting between buses, cars, motorcycles and pedestrians. As is always the case, we made it in one piece. How there are not continuous traffic accidents here I don't know. Perhaps all the drivers are telepathically connected in some way so can read one another's next moves. After a nice hour long wait in the check in office we were through and boarding the ferry. We arrived into Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay's oldest town, a couple of hours later. At the hostel I tried to sort out the following days travel to Montevideo, only to discover it was a ... read more

At 4 AM it is pitch dark in Colonia Valdense, Uruguay. Walking around this small city never worried me, late or early. But my friends insisted I call a taxi. At the last minute Friday night Javier announced that the family would be at my door at 4:20. Javier, Marcela, Donald, Edith hauled my two backpacks, my sack of food to the car. I insisted I had to stop at the bank to give money to Donald for Argentina pesos. No, I'll meet you in Ecuador in a few weeks and you can pay me then. Javier drove right past the bank. As we rolled into a parking place the bus was nearly on our bumper. Had we stopped at the bank I would have missed the bus! The Agencia Central bus, Yes, the right temperature! ... read more

No Uruguay visit is complete without having seen Punta del Este – well at least, so I have been told by many people… so last weekend I finally headed this direction full of expectations. Punta del Este is known for it's beaches, yachts, beautiful people and a vibrant night scene. It is expensive, usually about 50% more expensive than other areas of Uruguay, if not more. It's been called the Monaco of South America. Tourist season varies from totally deserted in the winter to very very crowded in the summer, unusual for a city this size. So since we are in the middle of autumn over here - I did not find this exciting resort, but instead I found a laid back and mundane beach side town. I was very lucky with the weather including a ... read more

Not sure if that was the saddest or best move ever – 3 big bags and that is all I own over here… ...and I do everything possible that it stays that way! I use cardboard boxes to store things, plastic bags for an improvised bathroom bin, cardboard to put my shoes on, pegs to close open food bags…. Great fun to come up with all this ideas. Second night in my own flat, all washing is done, not so lucky on the ironing… my landlord did not want to do it, but he does everything else. Last night I did not know how to turn on the gas on the cooker so I called him - 20 minutes later he was at my place and showed me, great guy. The weekend was quiet; I went ... read more

Travelling along the coast. Music Genres: 1960s, British and American Rock Our travels in the small country of Uruguay began in Colonia del Sacramento on Easter Sunday. Colonia is a pretty little town with cobbled streets and more than its fair share of historic monuments. Unfortunately our stay there was dominated by weather best suited to indoor activities, as the rain poured down and we learned that across the water, Buenos Aires was suffering from awful flooding. Fortunately there were sufficient small museums to keep us occupied with various displays documenting the history of the region including Spanish and Portugese colonisation and various wars besides. What with these, a plentiful supply of bars and restaurants, and a lighthouse to climb during one of the drier spells, there was just about enough to keep us busy for ... read more

27-29th March Montevideo Well excuse me for being thick, but I don’t even know what day of the week it is much less what public holiday – but of course it’s Easter and unlike in the UK where things shut for a couple of days (if that) here they close for a week! The first thing we noticed about this city is it really isn’t a classic tourist destination, it’s a working city and a slightly faded, grubby one. However there are lots of lovely small parks and some fabulous architecture, even if the buildings themselves are derelict and unused. We had a good wander around the old town on our first full day and came across a post office so immediately bought a couple of stamps, we have had to search for them in other ... read more