Colonia and Montevideo

From Buenos Aires it was an early start and I got an hour boat ride over to a town called Colonia in Uruguay. Uruguay will now be the 6th country in South America I’ve visited! My passport is filling up with lots of stamps! 

Colonia is a small seaside town with really not a huge amount to offer coming from busy Buenos Aires! But it was a cute town with quiet streets filled with nice shops and cafes. Sadly although it’s a seaside town it’s not really the sea you’d want to swim in and they don’t have a beach either so after wondering around the town I spent the afternoon by the pool at my hotel attempting to nurse my hangover! 

They offer day trips from Buenos Aires to Colonia but I was staying for 1 night before travelling to Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay. 1 night was more than enough! 

For dinner I went to an amazing seafood restaurant and had some of the best seafood dishes I’ve had in a long time. 

The next day I took a 3 hour bus to Montevideo. Back to the beach! We arrived just in time for lunch and to enjoy the afternoon sun. The city is fairly flat and has a long promenade along the coast so in the afternoon a friend and I rented bikes and cycled along the coast. The city and beach reminded me of Venice beach in LA - there was loads of exercise machines on the beach and people were out running or cycling. Everyone was mad into their fitness! Having been in Uruguay for 2 days I could already tell a huge difference compared to its neighbouring counties - it didn’t feel like South America anymore! 

On my 2nd day the weather wasn’t great - very cloudy and in the afternoon it rained. Anyway in the morning I cycled down to the old part of the city and did a walking tour. I have done probably about 10+ walking tours since I’ve been in South America and while most of them are a good way to learn about the town I vowed to myself after this tour I wouldn’t do one again! The man running it wasn’t very engaging and I struggled to concentrate whoops!

The hotel I was staying in was one of the nicest I’ve stayed in for a long time - it had a spa, gym and rooftop pool so in the afternoon I made use facilities and the bad weather. Also for the next 2 days I was going to be staying on a local ranch so it was nice to have some relaxing time before the change of scenery!!