Uruguay - 2018

After being dropped off early at the port, we boarded a ferry and crossed the River Plate bound for Colonia del Sacramento in Uruguay. Uruguay was ruled by the Spanish until it gained it’s independence in 1828. 

The River Plate was the scene of a battle of the same name, where the German pocket battleship Graf Spee, hunted by British ships in WWII, did battle and finally scuttled itself.

During the trip to Uruguay, we had a great discussion with a local travelling with her mother, who voluntarily explained some of Uruguays' history to us.

Her mother was drinking something with a straw, whilst also holding a thermos full of hot water.  She was drinking ‘mate’ from a gourd (cup) with a silver nickel straw.

'Mum' drinking mate

The thermos of hot water is to make more ‘mate’ using the dried leaves of ground yerba mate regularly placed into the gourd and infused with hot water.  It is a caffeine rich drink and whilst consumed elsewhere in Sth America, Uruguay are the largest consumers per head of population.

After a 70 minute trip in a ferry, which was in need of plenty of maintenance, it was then onto a bus for a 2hr trip to the bus terminal of Montevideo, which was chaotic to say the least.

Trip to and within Uruguay

Finally we found a taxi rank and scored the smallest taxi we had ever taken, to go to our hotel.  It was a bit of a contortionist act to get out of it then rubric cube our bags out of the boot.

We spent the next few days walking the city and old town including the ‘beach’ with no sand and very brown water, buildings requiring lots of repair but others that were very elegant.

The beach

Bit of maintenance required

The palm lined mall was pleasant and there was a lot of history, like having the oldest church in the country, built in 1799 and then the Palace Salvo, meant to have a lighthouse on it but now a hotel and once the tallest building in Sth America.

The mall in Montevideo

The Palace Salvo seen through original gates to the city

Uruguayans like Argentineans LOVE their meat and Priscilla in Buenos told us about a location we had to visit… the Mercado del Puerto.

This essentially large hall is filled with Uruguayan grill restaurants, where you sit around a large fire that is cooking meat and vegies slowly roasted on a flat rotating grill in front of the fire.  Very delicious!

This is a still version of the 'barbeque'

This is how the barbecue works in reality - click on the link below:

Link to Uruguayan Barbeque

After a few days in Montevideo it was a re-run of the earlier transport modes taking us back to Colonia del Sacramento, founded in 1680 and one of the oldest towns in Uruguay, now with a population of ~27,000.

After an obstacle course walk down the footpath from the bus terminal to our old, comfortable but somewhat quirky hotel, we found this cobblestone rich town was one for walking.

Great old town to walk and explore

There are quite a few very old cars left around the old areas and are either ruined or with things in them as pieces of art, and the old historical section of the town is UNESCO world heritage.

Some of the old cars found around the old town

We happened on a great little coffee shop where the owner spent 2 yrs living in Port Douglas working as a sous chef, and is one of the best coffees so far in Sth America.

Nice location for a good coffee

We also learned the Uruguayan national dish is called a chivito.

One form of the national dish of 'chivito'

The rest of our time in this nice old town was spent slowly wandering along its cobblestone roads and lanes, quite often with large plane trees lining their length, before enjoying the sunset on our final night in Uruguay.

Lovely tree lined streets

Down around the port

Sunset in Colonia del Sacramento

Next morning it was simply a matter of catching the ferry back to Buenos Aires in preparation for our flight to a new country we had been waiting a long time to visit.

Until then… go well!