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Published: March 11th 2007
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View from my bed
In the hostel in Colonia. Quite a change from hectic Buenos Aires After the hustle and bustle of the big city, the one-hour ferry ride from Buenos Aires to Colonia del Sacremento in the south of Uruguay left me with a profound feeling of peace. I wasn´t worried about my bag or my passport or getting pickpocketed. The biggest concern was finding something to keep myself busy in the quiet town.
I spent two nights in Colonia, walking the stone streets, riding a bike from the hostel to the beach and drinking wine in the hostel. Colonia is tiny and touristy but cute as hell and was a welcome change from two weeks in the big city. I booked into a cheap hostel that I ended up loving for the hammocks and many friendly travelers. I have found here that I meet many more people in the small hostels as compared to the big ones, I guess because it is just easier to approach people. The first night I was there I spoke in Spanish almost the entire night with a really awesome girl from Buenos Aires. I am so glad that I can communicate, at least on a basic level, in spanish.
On the 3rd day in Uruguay I took
Street of SIghs
THis is the famous street in Colonia, built by the Portuguese. Very cute, obviously but it takes all of 60 seconds to walk down it. a quick bus ride to Montevideo where I spent just one night wandering the city and hanging out in the hostel. Montevideo seems cool but I didn´t have much time there so I walked around the scenic ´old city´which was very nice but I felt like I got to see it all in about 2 hours. Montevideo was really just the staging point for exploring the rest of the coast.
I intended to explore the south coast of Uruguay but I ended up liking Punta Del Diablo so much, and meeting some really cool people there, that I decided to spend 4 days there. I would have spent more but the awful guy from Aerolineas Argentinas told me I had to come to Montevideo by the 11th to pay for my ticket. More on that later.
I arrived in Punta Del Diablo just as the sun was setting, and I was very glad I called ahead as the hostel was full and I was lucky to get a bed. The hostel was pretty awful, but I got up the courage to approach a group of people sitting outside drinking wine and ended up making friends with the people
Wall and Courtyard
Fun colors and a lush garden in Colonia I would spend the rest of my time in Punto del Diablo with.
I don´t know how to describe Pt. Del Diablo except to say that Jimmy Buffet would love it there! It’s a tiny fishing village of hundreds and hundreds of shacks, some with thatched roofs and all with crazy colors. There isn´t much to do except lay on the beach, walk along the beach, eat in a restaurant on the beach, take a nap on the beach, drink in a bar on the beach and then return to your shack on the beach for a siesta.
I can´t think of a better place to do absolutely nothing. On my birthday Rachel and Lindsay, two gals from England, and I went for a 5 hour walk along the beach accompanied by our own stray dog. We saw parrots and sea birds and a huge horrible dead sea lion. Then we had dinner in a little shack in the ´downtown´ part of the town at which point it started pouring and the power went out. We ran in the rain back to the hostel, bought some wine and eventually everyone ended up in Rachels room drinking wine by
Nice to see some green
Lighthouse and Colonia. candlelight laughing and talking. The power didn´t come back on until 2 in the morning at which time it was time to turn in for the night.
I feel like my birthday was in reality a 4 day celebration which involved lots of sun and sand, being tossed in the huge waves of the Atlantic, eating really awesome food, including shark, and drinking plenty of wine with people from all over the world. A gift to myself!
The second two nights I split a shack with 3 other travelers…it cost $4.50 a night! And check out the pictures below to see the view! It was just a few steps away from the beautiful beach. I highly recommend Punta del Diablo if you are in the mood for a few relaxing days of fun in the sun. But make sure you bring cash because there is no ATM and credit cards are not yet in their vocabulary!
I am now stuck in Montevideo for a few days until I figure out how I am going to get south to Patagonia. Argentina Airlines is total crap and they really screwed me over by telling me they would hold the
Me and Marina
In the hostel in Colonia Marina (from BsAs) and I spoke Spanish all night long. I was so proud of myself. reservation for my flight until today, but they did not. So now I have to pay a lot more money, or get a bus. But, the next installment will definitely be from the Andes! (I think)
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Kathy
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:-)
Hey Tori Torino! I love your pictures, I hope you are having fun over there!