Blogs from Colonia del Sacramento, West, Uruguay, South America - page 13

We are at the half way point with our time in South America and thus the trip to Uruguay to renew the visas. We were reluctant at first, most of our students warned us that the country is very boring and dull. The trip started off on a bad note, when we were fined $100 pesos for staying 4 days past our visas allowed. But, we had no choice to go and arrived in Colonia de Sacremento after a 3 hour boat ride. By the way, I spent most of the time on the bus waiting around in the duty free shop to buy chocolate chip cookies, planters dry roasted peanuts and other comforts North America (clinque.) Dain became very competitive with the arcade game Dinosaurs and Cadillacs. After about 2 blocks, Dain and I noticed ... read more

On Tuesday, April 22nd my family and I escaped the grassfire smoke choking Buenos Aires and headed to the historic old smugglers' port of Colonia del Sacramento. A designated World Heritage Site by UNESCO, the historic quarter of this town truly is worth a visit. From the cobblestone streets which were constructed in the 17th Century, to Iglesia Matriz, the oldest church in Uruguay (dating from 1695-99), a day in Colonia is like stepping back in time. The locals live their lives at a leisurely pace, and the general atmosphere is laidback and peaceful. No matter what kind of a mood you are in it is impossible not to be sucked into the tranquility of your surroundings. Arriving on the Buquebus ferry around 12, our first excitement of the day was learning that we could rent ... read more

We decided to head over to Uruguay for the day to a small colonial town, quite inspirationally named Colonia. We both realised that we knew pretty much nothing about Uruguay (and i admit probably know no more now!) but it was nice to get to another country even if just for the day. Colonia is just 50 mins by boat from Buenos Aires and is quite cute - cobbled stones and little houses but unfortunately a little touristy but I suppose that is to be expected! A highlight was the Indigenouse People Museum of Colonia which actually consisted of 4 rooms full of rocks that were supposedly used by Indigenous people in the area all those years ago. So that was an insightful 5 minutes spent. The rest of the town can easily be covered in ... read more

As a diversion, we also spent a day across the border in Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay, a short ferry ride across the river from Buenos Aires. The town was founded in the 1600s by the Portuguese, and the historic district is now a UNESCO heritage site. The transport there was a tourist attraction in itself, the Buquebus ferry. It had a huge duty-free shop, a cafe, hundreds of tourist-class seats and an enormous but empty first-class section. We arrived quite early at about 7.30am, long before the town awoke. We wandered around the old historic district for the most part of the morning, taking far too many photos of the gorgeous Portuguese architecture. The shopping was also excellent, although expensive and touristy. I bought a few things for myself and a scarf for Mum... strange seeing ... read more

I went to Uruguay to visit a little historical town called Colonia del Sacramento. It lies just 1 hour by ferry from BsAs across the widest river in the world- Rio de la Plata (huuuge river, looks more like a sea). Colonia was founed in 1680 and is full of remains after colonial times. This lovely place is a weekend destination of Portenos (inhabitants of BsAs). Fortunatly during the week days is a bit less busy. Off coure I met a huge group of Poles. It didn´t suprise me anymore and I didn´t even try to speak to them. Obviously Argentina became favourite place for holidays among Polish people. ... read more