Blogs from West, Uruguay, South America

Yes, Argentina won the Soccer World Cup a few weeks ago but today they also earned the prestigious title of winner for the lesser known competition World Cup of Inefficiency. It was a hard fought contest with some east Africa nations, but their commitment to endless lines and meaningless bureaucracy helped them over the line. And we got to enjoy the celebrations on our day trip to Colonia. We thought we’d have a few hours to enjoy the quaint Uruguayan village just across the Rio de la Plata but thanks to the Argentinian commitment to their craft, we had just over an hour. While it was a beautiful place to visit, and the best (only) icecream in town lived up to its name, none of us are sure it was worth the endless lining up, waiting, ... read more

Et nous y voici a ce 77ème pays... Une vraie surprise car jamais je ne l'imaginais ainsi... Les gens y sont plus que charmants... Les paysages très variés nous font faire de ah et de oh.... Je ne prends le temps que d'écrire ce blog à notre quatrième journée car le soir les yeux demandent vite un bon repos tellement nous avalons une nouvelle culture, une nouvelle découverte, un vrai plaisir d'être venus ici... Fabian a donc eu la gentillesse de nous reconduire à Buenos Aires pour que nous prenions le BUQUEBUS qui est en fait un ferry qui nous fait traverser le Rio de la Plata pour arriver en Uruguay... Nous vivons les deux dernières semaines de grandes vacancies ici.. Le bateau est donc bien plein, non seulement d'argentins qui aiment venir en Uruguay pour ... read more

GÜN 29 02 MART CUMA: Bugün, planımıza göre, Uruguay’ın Colonia şehri ziyaret edilecek. Dün dersimize çalışmıştık …sabah yürüyerek limana vardım . Sistem çok güzel çalışıyor. Arjantinden çıkıp ,Uruguay işlemlerine giriyorsunuz ve iki masa yan yana.. "Buquebus" Uruguay'a gemi kaldıran şirketlerden biri. Elbette başka şirketlerde var ama galiba en etkin olanı, bu şirket. Gemi tam olarak doldu…zamanında kalktı ve bir saat sonra Colonia’ya yanaştık. Rio de la Plata nehri, Atlantik okyanusuna çok geniş bir delta ile dökülür. Bu nedenle, Buenos Aires deltanın güney yanında kalırken, kuzey yanında Colonia, ya da yerel adıyla “Colonia del Sacramento” adlı Uruguay kenti yer almaktadır.. Hiç yapmam ama bilet olanaklarını incelerken ,hayretle yemekli tur fiyatının tursuz gitmekten daha pahalı olduğ... read more

David here... True to form, within 20 minutes of setting out from Montevideo by bus, we were both nodding off. The scenery in Uruguay is pretty flat so we weren't missing much really. The journey was 3.5 hours and was very comfortable, although it was also a local bus with people jumping on and off at random points. Oliver, our host in Carmelo, met us at the bus station and drove us to our lodgings - La Pratica. Along the way he told us about the town, landmarks, where to get supplies, the best places to eat, etc. All very useful and it was nice to be able to chat to someone in English for a change. We were staying in an old shipping container converted into a room, with a sofa bed, bathroom, and a ... read more

C: After our time in BA we decided to head across the water into Uruguay, not just for another passport stamp, but to visit the pretty coastal town of Colonia del Sacramento. It's only takes a couple of hours on the ferry from BA across the interestingly named River Plate which apparently, according to the history lesson my dad gave us via Skype, was the site of a major naval battle during WWII. Despite Argentinian and Uruguayan customs nearly causing us to want to start another battle, we made it across. (R: The popcorn lives on!). The town itself lives up to the hype. Set on a pretty peninsula and full of cobbled streets and attractive little buildings it was a nice place just to wander and soak up the atmosphere. It is smarter than BA, ... read more