Day 80

Colonia, Uruguay

Yesterday we officially dragged ourselves out of Buenos Aires. We spent our last night there at a fun and very "IN" restaurant called, Osaka, with Chris and then I went home at 1am. Rich did not arrive back to the hotel until nearly 5am.....but he managed to make it up at 7:45 for our cab to the dock. Chris had given us the "inside info" that there is no need to fly or bus it to Uruguay from BA....there is a Ferry! So, at 10am yesterday morning we and about 500 well-dressed Argentinians cleared customs and loaded the "ferry". Turns out its a huge ship with a casino, shopping mall, restaurant, top deck bar........needless to say we did not take it all in because we slept the entire three hour ride.

I knew nothing of Colonia, had never heard of it in fact, but thats where the boat went....and you know me....if I can cross a border without flying or terrifying roads......that is how I am going to do it. Hence, our last hotel in BA had booked us a cheap hotel ($50 per night) in Colonia for one night and I figured we would figure it out from there.

Here we are.....two days later. Colonia is beautiful! Its like going into the past. It has that Spanish Colony feeling I have discovered only a former port town in a country that has never fully reached the economic status needed to explode can have. Everything here is so perfectly charming. The cobblestone streets, the two story haciendas, the majestic government buildings mixed with English cottage style churches. Cafes line the avenues and all roads lead to the water.

Where the Uruguayans seem to sit for hours watching the boats come in and out of the Harbor.

Even the cars here seem to have been forgotten in time. Not that you really need them. The town can be walked top to bottom in 20 minutes. And it appears some residents have figured that out and left their cars parked for....well.. can we say "A little too long".

As for our cheap hotel, I mentioned, Don Antonio Pousada......well........its incredible!
Not to mention my lunch today was $3.25 with drinks! OK...so what did we do today....Ummmm....NOTHING! What are we up to tomorrow?? Ummmmm.....I think the same!