Colonia, Uruaguay, a quiet little town on the river.

It’s a rainy afternoon back at our apartment in Montevideo.  Doesn’t seem like summer, doesn’t seem like Christmas.  We have just returned from the small but historic town of Colonia del Sacramento.  After living in the Sacromonte for so long it is a little hard to say so I’ll just refer to the place as Colonia.

The first thing we noticed about Colonia was the quiet.  We hiked the seven short blocks uphill from the bus station to our hotel in the old section of town.  Shady tree lined neighborhood streets almost all the way.

Finally we hit a busy road; the main street Gran Flores.  While there is two-way traffic, there are no stop lights or signs.  There is really not all that much traffic.  Drivers simply wait for pedestrians or other traffic to pass.  The main street has right-of-way from the cross streets; simple.

Our hotel was the quaint three-star rated HOTEL BELTRAN.  The public areas are nice although we were disappointed to find that the restaurant and bar were closed except for the continental breakfast offered in the morning.  While our room was a bit dingy, a coat of paint would have brightened it up nicely.  The cable TV and internet worked just fine and as advertised.  The en-suite bathroom functioned nicely and all fixtures and tile work was fairly modern.  Our two night stay cost $136, inexpensive for the rating in the area.

We had arranged to be in Colonia for three days and were eager to go exploring and apartment hunting after checking-in to the hotel.  As is normal for us, we started walking toward the water

.  Colonia, like Punta del Este and Montevideo, sits on a peninsula jutting into the Rio Plata.  The river runs brown here like in Montevideo but to the north of the town there are numerous light sand beaches (not white sand but light sand).

We had heard, and found it to be true that the sidewalk pavement in Colonia is not well maintained.  Broken sections and tree roots are everywhere but unless you have difficulties lifting your feet off the ground or with the occasional need to step carefully, it is fairly easy to walk around this town. 

The very oldest and most historically preserved streets like the Calle de los Suspiros or “Street of Sighs” are an exception to this and one must be very careful not to turn an ankle when walking these few streets but the atmosphere is well worth the small risk.

As is our custom, after an hour of two walking, we started looking for a place to sit and have a frosty beverage and perhaps a snack.  Each café or restaurant offered a bit of cheese or small taste of wine in order to convince potential customers to stop. 

Finally, we stopped at a restaurant right down by the Yachting and Fishing Club.  The parilla (pronounced pah-ree-ja and meaning “barbeque”) simply smelled too good to pass.  We enjoyed a wonderfully seasoned steak with potatoes; a light Uruguayan lunch.

Due to its location, this place was a little on the expensive side and having depleted our budget for the day we decided to acquire some snacks and return to our room to do a little work and to watch a futbol game and movies.  We later discovered, as expected, that if you wander off the beaten path a little when looking for a place to eat, or even move away from the historical part of town (or the yacht club) that the prices do decrease significantly.  The quality does not decrease accordingly and we are convinced that all Uruguayans know how to grill various kinds of meat perfectly.

In general coffee is great in Uruguay.  It is not cheap but it is good.  The next morning we found a little breakfast café with tables on the sidewalk that served the most amazing croissant with slices of real (not processed) ham and melted cheese inside.  This is a rather large croissant, large enough to fill a normal size plate; delicious!

Our first afternoon we had dropped in on a couple of “immobliarios” (rental agents) to inquire about apartments or small houses to rent and we had an appointment after breakfast.  Being December and the beginning of high season in Uruguay, there was very little available.  We did look at a very small (300 sq. ft.) one bedroom but it was simply too small, old and ugly.  The landlord was asking $1,100 per month for January, February and March, the height of the season.  I guess the good news was that all the utilities, cable TV and internet were included.

We were also shown another run down, but more spacious (600 sq. ft.) apartment that was renting for $1,500 per month.  There was no internet in this apartment which is a deal breaker for us because we require it for communications and work.  Back to walking!  This second day we walked the north side of the town covering most of the remaining areas.  Colonia really is a small town with approximately 30,000 inhabitants.

Later, we wandered over to a restaurant with outdoor tables on the main street for dinner.  Because we were not in the historic district (or by the Yacht Club), the prices here were fairly reasonable.  I had a hamburguesa and Marilyn had a chivito and we both enjoyed our meal immensely.  In Uruguay, perhaps more so than in other places, we have found that it is important to order carefully or you might end up with far more food than you can comfortably eat.  It pays to watch food being delivered to other tables or to ask your waiter about serving size.  This is also a good way to practice your restaurant Spanish!

I must deviate and make a quick note about hamburguesas and chivitos.  A hamburguesa is rarely, if ever, the same things we Americans know as hamburgers.  They can be made of carne (unspecified type of meat, unless you ask of course), pork, chicken, etc.  On the other hand, as was the case for my hamburguesa, it was made of vaca (beef) and quite a good cut of beef as well (not simply ground chuck) probably sirloin.

A chivito on the other hand, is also a hot sandwich and is considered a national cuisine of Uruguay.  Uruguayans are proud of their chivitos and make them a variety of ways and generally serve them on hamburger buns.  A normal, top of the list chivito will consist of beef or lomo (pork loin), ham, cheese, lettuce, tomato and a fried egg.  Hungry yet?

While we were eating, under a large umbrella thankfully, the skies opened up and poured on the town of Colonia.  We have been in Uruguay less than two weeks, it is the beginning of summer here in December and we have witnessed at least 5 significant storms.  I’m beginning to wonder just how much it does rain here.  After dinner we strolled, through a break in the rain, back to our hotel.  Almost immediately after we arrived it began raining very hard again so we decided to make another early night of it.  It rained all night and we listened to several hours of some very impressive, roof rattling thunder.

Having seen what we came to see and being disappointed in the rental market we had a leisurely breakfast the next morning and made the ten minute stroll down to the bus station.  Arriving at 10:45 we bought tickets for the 11:00 bus to Montevideo which was less than half full and left on time.

The bus to Colonia from Montevideo costs about $12 and takes approximately two hours and forty five minutes.  There are 7 scheduled stops but there can be more if people are waiting at some of the rural stops.  The return bus costs $.60 more, takes the same amount of time and has a similar number of stops.  There are several companies on this route the two largest are TURIL and COT.  Between these companies there is a bus nearly every half hour beginning very early in the morning until late evening.  We rode COT buses in both directions and they were reasonably clean and comfortable with good leg room.  The overhead space was certainly an improvement on the buses we had ridden in Spain and our full backpacks fit nicely.

Colonia is the closest port in Uruguay to Buenos Aires so there is a thriving ferry business.  The buses are part of the ferry service to Montevideo and the combination of ferry and bus takes only slightly more travel time than a direct ferry from Buenos Aires to Montevideo and is significantly less expensive.  American expats can also get new 90 day visas by traveling to Argentina for a day.  For these reasons, Colonia is a very international little town and US dollars, Brazilian reales, Argentinian and Uruguayan pesos are accepted everywhere.  Every restaurant bill we saw was priced in all of these currencies.  I am not sure how favorable the exchange rates are; probably expensive but it is a convenience for travelers.  The bus station is near the ferry port.

Overall, we enjoyed our little trip to Colonia.  Getting there was easy.  The town is quiet and the people are friendly.  Longer term rentals are available at reasonable rates when you include the off season.  There are numerous restaurants and shops and Buenos Aires is only an hour away.  There is “rural tourism” west, north and east of the town including such things as horse riding and wine tasting.  A wonderful place to rest, relax and live slowly.