The Blaus - South America and Europe

January 9th - Colonia Del Sacramento, Uruguay

So, we left the heat of BsAs for Colonia yesterday morning. Colonia is a 3 hour ferry ride from Buenos Aires (on the slower and less expensive ferry), and is a small and quaint old colonial town on a peninsula. It is nice to get away from the hussle and bustle of the big city. The town of Colonia is really small, and a lot of Porteños come here for weekends in summer because it is a bit cooler and quieter than their homes, so there is some tourism that makes Saturday nights more lively. We arrived in the afternoon, and met an Aussie couple on the ferry. They are on a trip around the world and got engaged in Hoi An, Vietnam a few weeks ago. We went to dinner with them at an outdoor restaurant right around the town square where there was some live music and tango dancing going on while we ate. It was a really nice place, and it was fun to see how the people here spend a relaxing weekend outside of the city.

Today we went to arrange bus tickets to Punta Del Este and then rented a little car that is more like a golf cart to drive around town and out to the beach. On the way we picked up two Uruguayan hitchhikers, who were either drummers or firemen, we were not sure. They were very nice, and we stumbled through some Spanish with them, and they were very appreciative for the lift. We are both getting better at Castellano, which is Latin American Spanish, but it is still difficult. The Argentines use a lot of Italian words, and they say things very differently than Spaniards or Mexicans (they have more of a Brazilian accent), so sometimes it takes a few repeats to understand what they are saying. We are enjoying getting better though, it feels like a real accomplishment when we can have a conversation and both parties understand each other the whole time.

We are heading east down the coast a bit more towards Punta del Este, we will spend a few nights there, and then head back to BsAs.

posted by The Blaus @ 4:18 PM