Saturday, December 7, 2013

Uruguay In Four Parts - Cuz I Said That's How Many It Needed - Parte Tres - Colonia

So I'm doing a review/my thoughts on Uruguay in four equal installments (we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all installments were created equal):

  1. Uruguay - an overall review and my thoughts on what they're doing right or wrong as a country
  2. Montevideo - thoughts on the capital city
  3. Colonia - one word: chivitos
  4. Punta del Este - best beaches in South America (so far)
You are now experiencing Part Three. Enjoy.

Colonia, Colonia, everywhere, nor any drop to drink. Not sure why I put that. Apparently The Rime Of The Ancient Mariner is on the brain. Deal with it.

As I write this I'm sitting in a "VIP" lounge in the Santiago airport, at a nice computer with a nice keyboard so I thought I'd bang out a post. Ya dig?

Colonia. It's a little town in Uruguay. Why do people go there? First, it's to get there from Buenos Aires. When you want to go from Buenos Aires to Uruguay by ferry, you have two choices (there may be more but I don't know of them if so): Colonia or Montevideo. Colonia takes about an hour by ferry, I think Montevideo maybe 2. So Colonia is closer. If you're a non-Argentinian and want to make a run into Uruguay to pull some American currency (yes, Uruguayan ATMs rock and dispense USD) so you can convert it/change it back over in Argentina and get the sweet blue rate, Colonia is a great/easy option. I think round trip with taxes will run you $40-$50*, depending on when you buy your ticket (day of, day before, etc) and what day of the week you guy. I could also totally be misremembering the price.

Why else do people go there? Well, it's a cute little town. There's a lighthouse or two. I think when I was there for a day I saw two but I feel like people talked up the lighthouses a bit more. I think there are more than two lighthouses in Colonia is what I'm saying. And there's an old church, maybe, I don't know. It really is a cute town. It's not huge. It's got some old streets. I feel like we saw most of it when we were there. Not a whole lot to do.

One super fun thing to do is rent scooters there. They "red-line", which is a total crock, they don't, at 45 KM/H. Which is a joke! The ones we rented in Thailand had no trouble breaking 90! And they would still go faster! But Spencer and I took them around a lot of the town. As much as we could see, really. We saw a park and a lighthouse and whatever and then we just found the roads that take you out of town. I'm not saying we saw every square inch, but I'm not saying we didn't. The scooters were fun, regardless. It was great taking them to and from the hotel.

We also rented a golf cart and this was only fun when you had someone riding in the back and could terrify them with sharp turns. It was terrifying for them because (I know from personal experience) the backseat doesn't feel as stable. It feels like you're gonna lean to one side and tip the seat over or fall of something. But it was fun. It didn't go very fast, though. Bleh.

Colonia, as I'm sure you read in my post On Why Spencer Burness Is The Greatest Human Being Ever, has terrific chivitos. Get them from the chivito stand on the street. They'll rock your face off.

And Colonia is great cuz there's a Sheraton with a golf course and it's not super expensive to play (though we didn't play) and cool cab drivers and other things I'm not at liberty to mention. Although the bars did close awful early on a Wednesday compared to how Montevideo and Buenos Aires rock their nightlife.

It's a cute place to go and spend 1, maybe 2 days. 2 days max. If you're going from Buenos Aires to Montevideo, I recommend you take the ferry to Colonia, stay the night, and continue to Montevideo by bus the next day. Or reverse if you've already go to Montevideo and are going to return to Buenos Aires. It's worth a stop. A short stop.

That's all. Love you, Colonia. Peace out cub scout.

*Blue rate paid in dollaaahhhsss, not por tarjeta. Also, Colonia Express (not sure about Buquebus) has online specials. But you gotta pay by card to get it. So it's not really any cheaper. If Argentina ever fixes it's hilarious currency sitch, it will be worth it to book and pay online. But not yet!

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