So a quick and pleasant 1 hour zip over to Uruguay (other than 60 seconds of panic when Anders thought their passports were gone. Luckily, Karin found them.) Then we were there. Now to figure out what the hell to do. What we originally thought was a 7 ½ hours in Colonia was shortened by a.) 1 hour time difference between BA and Uruguay and b.) the ½ to 1 hour we needed to be at the boat before departure. So we went to the tourism office – huge line of course - no maps sitting out…weird! Meanwhile, Dad and Anders decided that it would be fun to rent scooters. Karin wasn’t too jazzed as she was in a skirt. Just then the line in the tourist office went down so we went in, talked to the very nice lady and got the scoop on Colonia and surrounding areas. I had a read a bit in the book, and Anita (a woman from The Marathon Tours staff) suggested that we rent a cab to see outlying areas. So we had our map and our marching order and went out to meet the guys in the car (or so we thought) and around they came in a golf cart! It had to be one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen. Us driving around cobbled streets in a golf cart.
We saw maybe 3-4 other golf carts, but it was great to have and hilariously memorable. When Karin wasn’t jazzed about the scooters, Anders gave her a hard time saying “how will you remember your trip to Uruguay if you rent something as boring as a car?” well Anders, I certainly won’t forget bumping down the cobble streets and humming as we went over the rumble strips. Really funny and you want to talk about looking like a tourist? That was us. We had our map, our golf cart, and a plan so off we went.
We headed into the Old Town part of Colonia. It’s a cute, quaint little town on the sea with trees all over the place, and cobbled streets (in the old section) and very friendly people.
We drove a bit then parked and walked up to the lighthouse. The street signs are all tiles built into the buildings. Very beautiful.
After a billion steps up and up and up very narrow, very steep steps, we arrived at the top to a little narrow walkway at the top light part of the tower. Which provided us with a beautiful view of the sea and town.
We took pictures, enjoyed the breeze, then headed down. Drove a bit more then parked to take in some shops. The crazy thing was that the touristy shops we found actually had different things in them! Amazing. So going into every shop didn’t result in seeing the same stupid shit over and over. Dad got some postcards (He’s been very good about that) and a few gifts. Anders got a sheepskin hat to keep his head warm in Antarctica. (Later at lunch, as Anders was modeling it, dad thought that hat looked like a pretty good idea.) We wandered a bit more, then headed towards the sea for a relaxing lunch.
Anders had to take a few laps by the deck on the golf cart so Karin could get pictures and video of him driving by beeping. It was hilarious. We settled down for a very nice lunch. Dad and I shared the festival de Mariscos (whole batch of shell fish) with some interesting dishes on it, but a very civilized size. We sat and commented on what a lovely day it was, how relaxing this was, what a good idea it was and how mom would really enjoy it. We were so relaxed that dad left his credit card there, but we wouldn’t discover that until 4pm. (5pm boat leaves for BA!) He had already forgotten his camera on the boat and some lovely lady grabbed it for us (and actually gave it back!) so we finally got out check and hopped on our chariot.
We drove a bit and ended up at the beach. Fine sand, not many people at all, very shallow with a few sand bars, one that was doubling as a soccer field.
Anders stripped down to his briefs and went for a swim. He had to wade out at least 200 yards to get to water above his knees. I waded for a bit, then sat on the beach. It was gorgeous. Due to our tour operator's inability to provide any useful information about this trip, or our extreme focus on the Antarctica portion of our journey, both dad and I came woefully unprepared (clothing wise) for the weather, 4 days in 80 degree and humid…..aaaaaa shorts would have been nice. So I rolled up my pants and put on my flops and made the best of it. Dad walked and took artsy pictures of grasses, sand and palm trees while I got a farmer tan on my arms.
After an hour, we headed back to the limo for ice cream, not before noticing a weird deer/bike on the beach road, and a chess set ingeniously made out of soda bottles.
All outside a little café with about the scariest bathroom I’ve been in in a long time.
So back on the cart to get ice cream.
I’ve read that this area of the world has excellent helado…well, I read right. Yum and hit the spot after a hot and sweaty day. We decided to head back to the hat shop for dad.
We found the original archway to the city and more lovely little shops. (ok, the souveniers were all starting to look the same now.) Then it was time to go back to the puerta.
Anders turned in our phat ride while dad fires up the satellite phone to call mom, which took a while and resulted in a horrible connection but we made contact, sent greetings from Uruguay then went to check in at which point dad realized that he was not in possession of his credit card. Crisis #3. So we checked in, and ran to a cab hoping we would find it at the last place he used it, El Torrea, the seaside café. The cabbie immediately realized the weight of the situation and zoomed through the city, on the wrong side of the road, jumping speed bumps and only nearly missing unsuspecting cyclists and pedestrians. He came to a screeching halt outside the café. While dad went to find the card, I explained (with a lot of pointing with fingers and toes) what he forgot. Thankfully it was there and was quickly retrieved, and we were off again, narrowly escaping death, but making it back very quickly from the far end of town. (maybe 1 mile away!) The MVP award goes to our cabbie for getting us there and back in less than 5 minutes!
Much relieved, we met back up with Karin and Anders of course recounting the adventure and the possibilities (fell out on the beach, didn’t notice until back in BA, etc.) We got on the boat to head home, hot and tired but very satisfied with the day. I think everyone snoozed on the boat ride home. I fell asleep for 20-30 minutes and before I knew it, we were back in bustling BA. So now, back in the room with cervesa (my first drink since my alcoholic disaster at the banquet) Showered, refreshed, pictures downloaded and weeded. Dad’s down sending an e-mail to mom, and we'll meet K&A for our last dinner in BA in a half hour. I’m very pleased that we’re keeping up with pictures organization and journals. It will make the return much easier. I’m hoping to transfer this to the computer during some down time on the boat. K&A are fabulous traveling companions and I think are keeping me and dad happy together. It’s really been a very pleasant trip so far. I’m very excited for phase 2. Tomorrow morning at 3*gulp*30, we will leave here to head to the airport for a 6:20 flight to Ushuaia. At 4pm tomorrow, we’ll be on the boat. YAHOOOO!
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