My Weekend in Uruguay

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I spent Saturday morning through Sunday evening in Colonia, Uruguay, an old town on an island off the coast of Uruguay in the Rio de la Plata. I very much enjoyed my time on this island who's stuck between the tides of colonial history and modern tourism. It is the summer home of many a Porteno and many of the stores and restaurants are even owned by Argentines, not Uruguyans. One of my proffessors, from Uruguay, came with us and his family and in the hotel he was known as "The Uruguayan," in his own country!!

Saturday was rather gloomy, lots of clouds, lots of rain. We took a little tour of the island that made me realize just how fabulous our tours in Buenos Aires with a history professor at the University of Buenos Aires have been. Regardless, I saw the island, and I saw some of the beach... I knew where I wanted to come back the next day!!! After the tour I took a dip in the little bitty pool the hotel had. It was nice and heated somewhere between the temperature of a normal pool and a hot tub. Relaxing to say the least. Saturday evening I went to a restraunt called "The Drugstore" with Sohmer, Nicole, and Lynn where we shared cheese fondue, sangria, and borsch soup (a beautiful pink beet soup). We went in search of a jazz club, but apparently they weren't playing that night, so we retired early (1:30 a.m.) and got some sleep.

Sunday was relaxing. We woke up and the weather was just beautiful. It was perfect for lounging around on the beach... I spent the morning walking around with John Winn and exploring the non-beach shoreline of the Rio and talking about south Georgia (turns out his high school was sports rivals with Deerfield, John B's high school). He was a very nice guy and fun to talk to, and the coastline was fun to explore. You could walk out on these odd rock formations into the water if you were careful, and then when you were walking along the grass, because below all of the grass were rocks, you would occasionally come to HUGE puddles... well, gigantic holes filled with river water.

Sunday afternoon I wandered around a market for a little while, not buying anything (too touristy for my tastes). I then retired to a beach where I was joined by Sohmer, Jennifer, Lynn and a sweet little she-dog we named Yerb. We sat on the beach, burned some incense, sipped some Mate, and listened to the gypsy kings. It was relaxing to the extreme. I think I could be a beach bumb... I think I could do it...

Coming back to Buenos Aires left me with mixed emotions. As soon as I stepped into the city, I realized how much I like it, but at the same time, what a toll it takes on my body. For as many regrets I will have leaving BsAs, I think my health will thank me greatly. I can only imagine that Florianopolis will be beautiful.

All in all, the weekend was wonderful, filled with good female bonding and chit chat and enjoyment.

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Photos

Uruguay in the Rain
I walked out on a little rock pier to take this picture during the tour on Saturday. Very zen.