Blogs from West, Uruguay, South America - page 14

Nicky: In true travelling style we decided that while we were this close to Uruguay it would be criminal not to hop across the Rio Grande and see what it was like. We took the boat from Buenos Aires last Friday to Colonia, on the south coast. It is a beautiful seaside town full of cobbled streets, stunning squares and views out to sea and back across the river to Argentina. On Saturday the sun was blazing so we wandered from our hostel (which was actually a beautiful private room and bathroom in the back of someones garden with its own terrace!!) down into the old town. We visited really quaint churches with beautiful statues and paintings, a lighthouse that you could climb to the top of and see across the town and the ruins of ... read more

A nice little UNESCO world heritage site, Colonia del Sacremento is just a ferry ride away from BA. A perfect place to kill a couple of days by the sea. The weather was grey and overcast - just like being at the English seaside. img= http://photos-f.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-sf2p/v300/145/67/223401787/n223401787_6940077_5265.jpg center Thankfully the weather cheered up. Rather childlessly (and we freely admit that it was), we rented a little motor-buggy and set off along the coast. Just out of town was a beach resort that had been set up for the wealthy from BA, but had never really been used. Bit strange (as it was almost a ghost town), but the beaches were a really nice place to sit and read. img= http://photos-a.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-sf2p/v300/145/67/223401787/n223401787_6940080_6257.jpg center So what if they're very dangerous?... read more

We took a two hour bus ride from Montevideo, the capital, to Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay. This town is the opposite of Montevideo. It is a small colonial town across the bay from Buenos Aires, Argentina. In fact it is a common location for those staying and/or working in Argentina to visit as a method of renewing their 90 day tourist limit. Many will take a ferry across to Uruguay for lunch then head back to Buenos Aires for another 3 months. It reminded me of a small New England town with different shades of leaves. Alot of antique cars, bicycles and mini-motorcycles. It is another colonial town, but with a mix of Spanish and Portuguese influence.... read more

Hi Everyone, We made it to Uruguay yesterday afternoon. We took a ferry across the river from Buenos Aires to Colonia. It took one hour on a hydro boat, which is the fast ferry. If we would have taken the slow ferry, it would take 3 hours to cross it! So, you can imagine how wide the river is! One thing Gerard and I noticed here in South America is that the transportation is pretty efficient. Uruguay is different than Argentina even though they are neighboring countries. We do sense that the people here are not as well off as the Argentines but are very friendly. Our taxi driver last night, Sebastian, was very anxious to please Gerard and I with his American music! He was so excited to share Guns n Roses and Lenny Kravitz ... read more

Colonia Del Sacramento is as the name suggests an old colonial style town, in the West of Uruguay. Once used as a smuggling port thanks to its proximaty to Buenos Aires, it is now a beautiful quaint little town, full of fancy fish restaurants, spanish style villas and cobbled streets. The hostel we settle in is very picturesque, the views from the windows are attractive and the people very friendly. In fact we kind of figured before arriving that this would be the quietest of all the places we'd visit in Uruguay, how wrong we were! On the first night we pretty much just chill in the hostel with some wine and meet our fellow hostel mates, nothing to get too excited about, but then we know thats because tomorrow is gonna be a right laugh. ... read more