Last week I was lucky enough to have my favorite person south of the Equator with me! Brian was here for his first week-long visit after having to return to the states without me in mid August. We had such a great time together, most of which was just spent living...you know: walking to work, sitting in cafes, picnics in the park, wandering around the neighborhood, enjoying great steak and sharing stories over local malbecs. All of this alone would have been perfect, but we decided to mix it up a bit with some adventures outside of the city as well. One of those was a short ferry ride across the Río de la Plata.
Colonia del Sacramento is a colonial town in southwestern Uruguay, across the Río de la Plata from Buenos Aires. It was founded in 1680 by the Portuguese and is the oldest town in Uruguay. Over the years, claimed ownership of the land bounced back and forth between Portugal, Spain and later Brazil. Now it is part of the independent country of Uruguay. It is most well known for its historic quarter, a Unesco World Heritage Site. And, it is only a one hour ferry ride away from Buenos Aires! With a population of only 22,000, it was a welcome respite from the hustle and bustle of Buenos Aires.
When you're in Colonia, the thing to eat is a Chivito, which is the national sandwich. Chivito actually means little goat in Spanish, but the Chivito sandwich consists of beef, ham, cheese, tomato, egg, mayo-like spread and olives. Another one of those heart attack on a plate meals. We ordered ours al plato (literally, "on the plate" - no bread). Of course, it came with french fries. The Chivito tasted good, but there was a bit too much going on for me.
I highly recommend experiencing the historic section on foot. It's a nice way to see everything, wandering at a relaxed pace. The winding, cobblestoned streets are best appreciated this way. Plus, you can then at least try to convince yourself that you've burned off the calories from the Chivito (maybe if you swim back to BsAs!). But, once you've taken it all in, go and rent a carrito de golf for $20 or $30 USD and venture a little further into Colonia. We rented one for a couple of hours at the end of the day and it was tons of fun! We drove the cart up la rambla along the river which provided a beautiful view. The beaches along here are quite nice and we stopped off a couple of times to take in the beauty. We followed la rambla out to the Plaza de Toros, an old bullring, and also saw the Hipodromo (horse racing track). Brian left his driver's license back at the apartment, so I had to do all of the driving. I think he was a little jealous of my sweet wheels.
We had such a nice time in Uruguay. The people were so friendly, the pace of things very relaxed. It started to rain in the evening, so we headed into a quirky bar for a Mastra, a delicious Uruguayan beer, to finish the day. Then it was time to head back to the station to catch the ferry back to Buenos Aires. The tranquil beauty of Colonia is hard to describe, so I'll let a few photos do the talking for me:
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