Uruguay

 

My alarm went off at the crack of dawn Wednesday morning…a.k.a. 7:30am because I was rushing to make a 9:30 ferry to Uruguay. After a 30 peso cab ride, Shoni, Lena, Lauren, and I made the ferry and once again prepped ourselves for another few days solely dedicated to transportation (story of our lives).

The ferry was a replicate of the Norwegian Cruise I took with my friend’s a few years back, (but somewhat nicer…rule= never go on a Norwegian Cruise)…also, seriously, what’s with foreigners and Duty Free? Do they not sell bulk size M&M’s or COCO Channel perfume wherever you’re from? I just don’t get it…

So after three hours of boat time, we arrived in Colonia de Sacramento, Uruguay. Colonia is a small cobblestone, picturesque town and every street is so unique and beautiful from the next. If you’re on a time limit and trying to make a bus (like us) you honestly only need 2-3 hours there because the actual town is very small. I have never been to a place like Colonia…every spot, every street, every corner that I glanced at, I kept on snapping shots with my camera because the beauty this town exhibits is unreal. I felt like I was in a live National Geographic magazine shoot for the top 5 scenic towns to visit in South America (Colonia would definitely be #1).  Aside from its’ beauty, I think I fell in love with Colonia because very few people crowded the streets, so I was able to admire the quaintness of the town. Ahhhh Anna you would LOVE Colonia de Sacramento; all you would need is your journal and a cup of tea and you would be set…you would just love it!

We caught a bus from Colonia to Montevideo then onto Punta del Este. (side note= we had an hour layover in the Montevideo bus station. Earlier in the day I bought something and the cashier gave me a fake 100 peso note back. Obviously, I didn’t realize this till I was trying to buy water from a store and the cashier denied my money…clearly I was annoyed and I just wanted to get rid of it pronto. Literally, I went from kiosko to kiosko trying to buy things but no one would accept my fake 100. I spotted a Candy store, and I thought come on, it’s worth a try…how could they say no? It’s a candy store after all, they have to be nice there. So, Lena and I decided to be kids again and filled up a delicious bag of chocolate covered almonds and peanuts, roasted peanuts, and Mexican peanuts…and WOW! YUM! I walked up to the cashier with bright red cheeks and when she asked me to pay I handed her the 100 peso note and she took it! I was finally free and clear from that 100 peso note!.......another side note= Argentina (and I guess Uruguay too) both have a thing for fake pesos...they get circulated around town so you have to be careful when handling and recieving notes because it's realling annoying getting fake money.)

Alright, back to Punta---Let me just say Punta del Este is one of the biggest beach/resort towns in all of South America, and it’s only hopping in the summer time…right now it’s the spring merging into summer, so Punta definitely wasn’t the happening place last week. In fact, it was quite the ghost town--- a significant amount of the restaurants, bars, and stores were closed. (Even the owner’s of the million dollar houses in Punta, which resemble Hampton and Californian-style houses, evacuated their homes due to the off-season.) Similar to Colonia the streets were vacated; however, if you want the ultimate Punta experience, then you want the beaches and streets to be jam-packed with people. It was crazy seeing a place, which is only open in the summer and primarily closed the remaining of the year, deserted. Punta really reminded me of Miami because of it mainly being a beach town but Miami is open year round where as Punta isn’t. I guess I’ll eventually have to go back to Punta when it’s their summer!

In Punta, we went to the famous statue that represents a hand nestled in sand; went on a city tour; saw the most beautiful sunset of my life; and fell in love (legit) with some Brazilian musicians who stayed at the same hostel (but that’s for a different blog ahhhhh). Punta is definitely a vacation hub in all of South America (but mainly for Uruguayans, Argentineans, and Brazilians). When we were taking pictures at the “Hand,” a Brazilian woman asked me to take a picture of her. Seriously, her accent was so strong it was similar to a Russian person speaking English. THICK. It was the first (and probably only time) I thought my “Spanish” accent was better because her accent was fatal.

After a few relaxing days in Punta, we traveled back to Montevideo and spent the day there. Montevideo is the capital of Uruguay and is very similar to Buenos Aires. Montevideo has a greater South American/Latin feel to it and it’s not as big as Bs As. Personally, I, loved Montevideo…I loved the Latin touch; I loved feeling like I was in a South American city; yet, I still loved the European emphasis on it. After lugging our backpacks around the entire city, we got a great feel of the downtown and the old city of Montevideo. When people go to Uruguay they usually skip Montevideo because it’s similar to Bs As, but there is so much character and uniqueness to this city that makes it really appealing to visit.

We eventually trekked back to the bus station where we took a bus to Colonia and then a ferry back to Bs As. Overall, my trip to Uruguay was amazing. I’m happy that I was able to get a feel of a different South American country. Even though, for some odd reason, we struggled with the currency, it was really cool seeing how Uruguay can be so close to Argentina but yet so different. There was great country land, loads of poverty, yet still a an exuberating city life…the locals who I integrated with these past few days were the sweetest people I’ve met thus far. As I traveled along the Uruguayan coast from the East to West, I saw the various cities and towns and each place truly enhanced the South American essence.    

Uruguay is a great country and should definitely be one of your next vacation hubs (…come on Punta del Este should definitely be screaming your attention…)