Patty and I decided that we were going to take a 2 day trip across the Rio de la Plata for a visit to neighboring Uruguay. The nice thing was that Michaela and Lewis kept our luggage and we packed very light for our trek across the river. Unfortunately, we missed the early ferry and had to wait for the later one. We had a couple of hours to kill so we walked the Puerto Madero area of the city. Puerto Madero reminds me of the SOMA neighborhood in San Francisco. Yachts, coffee shops restaurants and cafes were abundant. We did some cafe dwelling and saw the famed Buenos Aires dog walkers. These dog walkers walk with about 10 dogs on a leash. We saw one group of big dogs and another with little dogs...enough to put a smile our faces.
We caught the 11:30 a.m. ferry, complete with a large duty free shop and arrived in Uruguay at 12:30 p.m., just in time for lunch! When we first arrived, I was having a real issue with the cost of a bus ride from Colonia to Montevideo. I just couldn't grasp that it would be so expensive...well duh, we are in a different county! There is different money here, thus a different exchange rate! Once it dawned on me, I could relax! We had one of the better meals so far at a place called the Drugstore. There was live music and it was a great escape from the hot, muggy weather outside.
Colonia was founded in 1680 by the Portuguese and was a main city for smuggling goods across Rio de la Plata to Buenos Aires. The Spanish captured and held the city until 1777. We toured several small museums including the Museo Municipal and Museo de los Azulejos (tiles). Colonia is definitely a 1/2 day trip, especially in the heat! We hopped on the bus to Montevideo, the capital city, where we arrived 2 hours later.
After trudging around, we found a passable hotel with a cost that was within my budget. Patty has been great about helping me stay in my budget (real meaning - she is tolerating less than fancy places while hanging out with me!). We decided to go out for a real steak dinner and chose to dine at Los Lenas restaurant, where Patty befriended the waiter, Oscar. We were having a few glasses of wine (I tried Pinet wine for the first time -- not bad!), enjoying our meal and then asked ourselves..."what are we doing tomorrow"? and then wait..."why are we here"? It was a funny revelation that we didn't really have an answer. We did come up with things to do, but sometimes you just go with the flow!
After dinner, Oscar the waiter, gave us a night tour of the main plaza with some interesting facts about the city. He was quite a character, not a fan of Buenos Aires. He has 6 children and 5 baby mamas - yowza! Fun and entertaining day!
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