Boats go from Buenos Aires to Montevideo and as we were already in Tigre we hunted out a boat that left from there for Carmelo in Uruguay so we could take our time to get to Montevideo, Uruguay. We had to be at the boat pier an hour before it left and Tom was kind enough to drop us there before he headed to work. As foreigners we are expected to pay for the ticket in American dollars which is always a pain. We carry some US cash as it is the favoured foreign currency here and it can get you out of jams if the ATM machines run out of money or are not working. We know they run out as we have seen queues go around the corner as people try to get their money out after the machines have been loaded. Someone can always change your greenbacks. The Argentine pesos has been devalued and inflation is high so if people can get dollars they are a good investment.
The Cacciola boat was a smooth ride through the deltas and along the Parana River and after 2 and a half hours we were in Carmelo, Uruguay. We were greeted by a man with a fistful of money and a calculator. Uruguay use a currency called Uruguayo (pronounced oo roo gwai show) but many shops also take Argentine pesos or US dollars. We had checked the official rate before we left so had an idea as to what our left over pesos were worth. John the accountant likes to work out these things. We did get more than he had reckoned so that was a good feeling. A bus to Montevideo met the boat but were assured that we could go to Colonia del Sacramento ( referred to by the locals as Colonia ) on it as well so hurriedly tossed our new currency at the desk clerk and jumped into the bus.
The bus was pretty comfortable and everyone lay back their low reclining seats and got out their phones and caught up with phone calls and the latest Facebook updates as there was free WiFi on the bus. The seats recline better than any aeroplane seat I have ever sat in. The bus took us along a smooth road past several estancias (farms), small wineries, lemon orchards, mate plantations and sorghum fields.
The farm houses were surprisingly small that we saw from the bus window but may well have been the farm workers' houses. The fields were quite dry and flat and other than the concrete houses it could have been a rural scene in NZ somewhere. There were clusters of gum trees copsed for firewood, and boundary trees that looked like small macrocarpa.
After an hour and a half we were dropped at a major intersection on the outskirts of Colonia del Sacramento as the bus headed for Montevideo and with our small guide book map and John's good nose for directions we lumbered our way into the centre of Colonia. We headed into a telecommunications shop where the young assistant was able to interpret my Spanish and loaded our phone with a local SIM card. We had to produce a passport for that as well. She pointed us up the footpath to 'El senor con una mesa' -the man with a rickety old table who would be able to load credit onto the card for us. It seemed strange that she could not do it from her tidy slick bright white office.
A couple of blocks further on we were able to find our posada (b and b) even though the street name had been changed from what was on the street sign. The posada was clean, with a heat pump, an ensuite, cable TV, supplied breakfast and free WiFi. In the wardrobe was a security safe and John found a couple of credit cards it it from a previous guest. The posada overlooked the ferry terminal where the day trippers and others arrived from Buenos Aires and was very quiet.
Dogs roam the streets and follow anyone they become attached to everywhere. They sit in doorways waiting for their new best friends to escort them around the town. Like Argentinians, the Uruguayans love their dogs. The rubbish has to go in high baskets to keep the dogs from spreading it around.
The school uniform the children were wearing looked like flowing white lab coats with a huge dark
coloured ribbon hanging from the collar.
We found a craft brewery/bar/restaurant near the posada and enjoyed a crafted beer and pizza. There are more than 50 restaurants in the town so there were lots of places to eat at. As well as the usual tourist restaurants there are food caravans on the side of the road where you can sit and have hotdogs hamburgers or milenesas- like crumbed chicken or beef schnitzels. There are also places that have a 3 or 4 course dish of the day menu that changes daily. These are good value and interesting for us as we never know what the food is by its description and my phone translator often cannot identify it. I always like to know if the organs are internal or external!
We walked around the UNESCO World Heritage site of the Colonia old town. There were not many people about as it is the low season and that suits us fine. Part of the old city wall has been reconstructed with the original materials and in the original fashion. The port town was founded in 1680 by the Portuguese to smuggle goods through and to avoid having to pay the Spanish taxes on imported goods through the Buenos Aires port. Battles over the town were fought, not only by the Spanish but also the British. It is easy to identify the Portuguese houses that stand today with their terracotta tiled roofs while the Spanish ones were built with flat roofs. The Portuguese roads were concave with footpaths so the water drained along the sides of the road while in other parts the streets built by the Spanish have convex roads and water rushed down the centre and there are no footpaths. Of course we aren't smart enough to pick that information up but we joined a guide who pointed these things out.
The guide told us unemployment is only 3% and that being a small town everyone knows everyone and there is very little crime and it is safe for tourists. We saw a few people smoking marijuana on the streets and a couple of shops selling it as it is legal in Uruguay.
We had a relaxing time and did a long walk around the coast to view the Sheraton complex and golf course that looks like it never got off the ground as it had intended to. We were joined by a young Austrian traveler and it was nice to chat to her. There was also a deserted Basque ball court and the remnants of a bullring on the outskirts of the town.
Spotted some loquat trees in flower just like
ours were when we left home.
Also spotted this truck advertising a strong drink called Haka and a tattoo that looks strangely Maori in design.
All in all it was a great stay in a very nice posada setting us up for the hectic busyness of Montevideo.
The Cacciola boat was a smooth ride through the deltas and along the Parana River and after 2 and a half hours we were in Carmelo, Uruguay. We were greeted by a man with a fistful of money and a calculator. Uruguay use a currency called Uruguayo (pronounced oo roo gwai show) but many shops also take Argentine pesos or US dollars. We had checked the official rate before we left so had an idea as to what our left over pesos were worth. John the accountant likes to work out these things. We did get more than he had reckoned so that was a good feeling. A bus to Montevideo met the boat but were assured that we could go to Colonia del Sacramento ( referred to by the locals as Colonia ) on it as well so hurriedly tossed our new currency at the desk clerk and jumped into the bus.
The bus was pretty comfortable and everyone lay back their low reclining seats and got out their phones and caught up with phone calls and the latest Facebook updates as there was free WiFi on the bus. The seats recline better than any aeroplane seat I have ever sat in. The bus took us along a smooth road past several estancias (farms), small wineries, lemon orchards, mate plantations and sorghum fields.
The farm houses were surprisingly small that we saw from the bus window but may well have been the farm workers' houses. The fields were quite dry and flat and other than the concrete houses it could have been a rural scene in NZ somewhere. There were clusters of gum trees copsed for firewood, and boundary trees that looked like small macrocarpa.
After an hour and a half we were dropped at a major intersection on the outskirts of Colonia del Sacramento as the bus headed for Montevideo and with our small guide book map and John's good nose for directions we lumbered our way into the centre of Colonia. We headed into a telecommunications shop where the young assistant was able to interpret my Spanish and loaded our phone with a local SIM card. We had to produce a passport for that as well. She pointed us up the footpath to 'El senor con una mesa' -the man with a rickety old table who would be able to load credit onto the card for us. It seemed strange that she could not do it from her tidy slick bright white office.
A couple of blocks further on we were able to find our posada (b and b) even though the street name had been changed from what was on the street sign. The posada was clean, with a heat pump, an ensuite, cable TV, supplied breakfast and free WiFi. In the wardrobe was a security safe and John found a couple of credit cards it it from a previous guest. The posada overlooked the ferry terminal where the day trippers and others arrived from Buenos Aires and was very quiet.
Dogs roam the streets and follow anyone they become attached to everywhere. They sit in doorways waiting for their new best friends to escort them around the town. Like Argentinians, the Uruguayans love their dogs. The rubbish has to go in high baskets to keep the dogs from spreading it around.
The school uniform the children were wearing looked like flowing white lab coats with a huge dark
coloured ribbon hanging from the collar. 
We found a craft brewery/bar/restaurant near the posada and enjoyed a crafted beer and pizza. There are more than 50 restaurants in the town so there were lots of places to eat at. As well as the usual tourist restaurants there are food caravans on the side of the road where you can sit and have hotdogs hamburgers or milenesas- like crumbed chicken or beef schnitzels. There are also places that have a 3 or 4 course dish of the day menu that changes daily. These are good value and interesting for us as we never know what the food is by its description and my phone translator often cannot identify it. I always like to know if the organs are internal or external!
We walked around the UNESCO World Heritage site of the Colonia old town. There were not many people about as it is the low season and that suits us fine. Part of the old city wall has been reconstructed with the original materials and in the original fashion. The port town was founded in 1680 by the Portuguese to smuggle goods through and to avoid having to pay the Spanish taxes on imported goods through the Buenos Aires port. Battles over the town were fought, not only by the Spanish but also the British. It is easy to identify the Portuguese houses that stand today with their terracotta tiled roofs while the Spanish ones were built with flat roofs. The Portuguese roads were concave with footpaths so the water drained along the sides of the road while in other parts the streets built by the Spanish have convex roads and water rushed down the centre and there are no footpaths. Of course we aren't smart enough to pick that information up but we joined a guide who pointed these things out.
The guide told us unemployment is only 3% and that being a small town everyone knows everyone and there is very little crime and it is safe for tourists. We saw a few people smoking marijuana on the streets and a couple of shops selling it as it is legal in Uruguay.
We had a relaxing time and did a long walk around the coast to view the Sheraton complex and golf course that looks like it never got off the ground as it had intended to. We were joined by a young Austrian traveler and it was nice to chat to her. There was also a deserted Basque ball court and the remnants of a bullring on the outskirts of the town.
Spotted some loquat trees in flower just like
ours were when we left home.
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