I’ve been back in Buenos Aires since last Friday. Here is the long overdue update (which was written last night):
It (this blog entry) was going to happen last night, however my doorman struck up a conversation upon my return home from dinner just past midnight, and I received a three-hour Spanish lesson while drinking orange juice out of the carton on the front stoop of my building and observing the ridiculous state of affairs that is Corrientes Avenue in the early AM.
As I wrote on Tuesday of last week, the decision to take the Buquebus to Uruguay before the weekend was spur of the moment and fueled by strawberry ice cream. While a short trip to Uruguay had been in the cards all along, it was originally thought that it would take place post-weekend (this week). The plan was to take advantage of the perfect beach weather and get back to Buenos Aires for the weekend- which was exactly what we did.
After finishing our ice cream on the street in front of my apartment (which is a faux pas here, for the record), we ran inside to check the Buquebus schedule online, only to find out that the last rapid ferry to Colonia left from Puerto Madero in two hours. Quickly, we through together a plan (which is the first time I’ve really had more than the next day of my life planned out since I left Chicago) which involved spending the night at a cheap bed and breakfast in Colonia, catching an early bus to Montevideo (where we would either hang out for a bit or immediately board another bus to PDE), catch another bus to Punta del Este, spend a night or two on the beach, and then figure out how to get back for invsn Friday night in the city. The planning went quick and the packing even quicker- swimsuits, a change of clothes, notebook, camera, passports, and pesos- in a discreet little AA book bag that by no means says steal me (this bag did a wonderful job of allowing me to walk around with valuables in Brazil as well).
After a quick and cheap cab ride, we began a surprisingly non-furiating bureaucratic tour of the Buquebus terminal, in which tickets are booked at one counter, purchased at another, and checked in at yet another. Had there been lines, I may have suffered an aneurysm. After going through an airport style security check, we were stamped out of Argentina and into Uruguay, and proceeded to wait in the ridiculously comfortable gate area for the boarding of our boat. Upon boarding, we were surprised to see that the cabin of the ferry shared more in common with a Las Vegas casino (red carpet, bar, tacky duty free shopping) than that of a marine vessel. Nonetheless, the ride was smooth and just over an hour from port to port. We arrived in Colonia and walked through the eerily quite evening darkness (around 9 pm) to the main bus station where we exchanged Argentine Pesos for Uruguayan Pesos (which are currently 23 to 1 with the dollar, for the record) and asked for directions to our lodging (which was four blocks down the quiet and dark riverfront street). Two cab drivers and the guy at the currency exchange, as well as the the girl at our hostel all insisted that Colonia is the safest town on Earth, however having spent the month or so in some of the most densely populated cities in the world, the silence and stillness of the streets was extremely creepy. Nonetheless, after walking two blocks up the hill, we found the main street with cafes and restaurants and people, where we shared a parrilla for two and some drinks. After strolling through the old part of town (which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site), we decided that we’d wake up super early to see the town during the day before catching our bus out.
Colonia is quite beautiful and incredibly tranquil. It reminds me of a small town in the upper midwest of the United States with a flourishing downtown (if that exists anymore), only it’s subtropical and full of beautiful old buildings from the time of Portuguese colonialism. Beyond this, everyone either rides a bike or a moped, and there is a little harbor full of sailboats. As far as great places to retire are concerned, Colonia is outstanding (however there is little to do for more than a day).
The port of Buenos Aires from the ferry.
The absurd tourist class cabin of the ferry.
The entrance to the port.
Our hostel was on this block.
The view of the Rio de la Plata and a barn from our balcony.
The river.
Old Colonia.
I bet this place is delicious.
So many mopeds.
The site of our delicious parrilla the night before.
After momentarily playing with the idea of renting a car and driving ourselves to PDE (about 5 hours each way), we decide that it makes more sense to take a bus. We bought tickets with COT, a major bus liner in Uruguay. 3 hours to Montevideo, an hour layover, and another 2.5 hours to PDE, for a total of about 15 US dollars. Bus travel in this part of the world is incredibly comfortable and really cheap. We were able to get seats on the 11:00 bus out of Colonia at 9:30 in the morning, which allowed us another hour or so to wander the city before falling asleep on the way to MVD.
I’d have liked to have spent time in Montevideo, but this trip was a bit rushed and it was not in the cards. Driving through, it seemed like quite a nice city. This comes despite the fact that I’ve talked first hand with three people who have been robbed there, and heard talk of a minor crack epidemic amongst the bored middle class youth. The bus terminal was the cleanest and most efficient that I’ve seen in a large Latin American city (which is relative, because at just over a million people, it’s the largest city in Uruguay, however it’s tiny compared to most of the other capitals).
Coming into Montevideo from the west.
Uruguay is the land of the ham and cheese sandwich. This works well for me, as I am a great consumer of said comida. These ones were from the bus station and they were excellent.
The ride to PDE was shorter than the one to MVD, and quite a bit more scenic as the countryside became a bit more rolling, allowing for some views of the Atlantic. Our hotel (which was actually cheaper than most hostels in the area, and even pretty nice) was only a block from the bus terminal.
The town of Punta del Este is situated on a peninsula that (at the point in which the downtown sits) is only three blocks wide from the river beach to the ocean beach. During the Summer season (Dec through late Feb) the place is packed with rich people from throughout South America- and it shows. On some blocks you’d think you were in Newport Beach (with the Valentino and all the sushi), however just around the corner there’s always a little bakery or market and a kid on an old moped to remind you of the fact that you are in no such place. As we were there in the middle of March (the weather is still perfect, but all the kids are back in school and parents back at work), everything was half the price of the high season and the beaches were relatively empty. I couldn’t ask for any more. We decided to stay until Friday, at which point we’d make our way back to Buenos Aires.
The Uruguayan flag at the tip of the peninsula.
The main surfing beach.
Everyone in PDE gets around on two wheels- some with engines, some without. We took it upon ourselves to acquire a 125cc scooter, which was actually too easy. It was actually large and fast enough that I would not be allowed to drive it at home without a motorcycle license. Needless to say, this was the highlight of my time in PDE, and I had it on the highway at speeds in excess of 100 kph. This great increase in mobility allowed us to explore some private beaches and unpopulated parts of the peninsula.
Pretty much the best thing ever.
Being mobile is nice.
We found this place about 20 km outside of town.
The scooter parked up on the sidewalk at the Disco Supermarket, feeling a bit intimidated by the Mini behind it.
Dinner at Lo de Charlie (a highly recommend spot in PDE) was outstanding, and included whitefish ceviche with mango and avocado, grilled swordfish, and Valencian paella. Our snack at the golden arches the following day was the opposite of outstanding.
Damn.
The dogs in Uruguay like to hang out.
And sometimes they come inside to do so.
Playtime and empanadas.
We were able to book a direct bus from PDE back to the ferry terminal in Colonia through Buquebus, which also included first class ferry fare back to BA. The bus ride was about 5 hours with a stop for snacks in some really sweet small but kind of big Uruguayan town in the middle of nowhere. We were stamped out of Uruguay and into Argentina and then waited for about an hour at the terminal before boarding the ferry, at which point the sun was going down over the Rio de la Plata. The ferry was quick and came with complementary champaign and terribly obnoxious closed-circuit television consisting of circuses and fashion shows.
The bus ride back to Colonia.
The Uruguayan Pampa.
This is the outskirts of the town where we stopped for snacks.
Sunset over the Rio de la Plata from the Colonia ferry terminal.
A fifteen minute walk from the terminal brought us back to my apartment, at which point the past week of my life in Buenos Aires begins. I was still tour guiding through Wednesday night, which meant sightseeing, window (and actual I suppose) shopping, copious eating, and of course going out at night.
This morning I walked across microcenter to acquire a delicious chicken and mango pico de gallo burrito at CBC before wandering up to the bus station to purchase a ticket out of this city for Sunday night. I was still undecided between stopping in Cordoba or going straight to Mendoza or Santiago, but decided at the ticket counters based on the fact that the line for Sierras de Cordoba (a reliable service to the center of the country) was much shorter than that of Andesmar. So now it is in stone (well, 95 pesos worth of stone) that I leave Buenos Aires for Cordoba at 11:10 pm on Sunday.
On the way from Retiro terminal to Ave Tucuman and Ave Montevideo to pick up my laundry I witnessed first hand a broad daylight bag snatching- and quite the audacious one at that. The offender simply cut the strap and ran while the owner of said laptop bag was hailing a cab. The precession of screaming old men running down Ave Santa Fe through Barrio Norte (one of the richest parts of town) failed to catch the offender.
Here are some photos from the past week in BA:
My hood.
That’s the Carrefour next to my apartment. I buy all their orange juice and pasta.
You can’t find guacamole here (outside of a few Mexican spots), so we made our own.
The park at the Tribunales Subte stop.
Tribunales.
We stumbled upon a protest on Ave de Mayo the other day.
Homero is watching.
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