Hotel Sol Colonia Colonia del Sacramento

... parking area by the sports stadium, or on the beach itself. Since we want to go around the town we have settled down for the night by the stadium (S34.28.04.58 W57.50.46.41).

7th - Time for a stroll around the old town this morning. We only had to walk a few blocks to get to the restored entrance gate. The town wall was built across a small peninsular with the town on one side protected either by the wall or the water. There were originally two ...

... colorful wool sweater that was far too warm for the day. We spent a couple of hours walking around on what was a beautiful sunny day in the middle of Winter. The clouds in the sky were gorgeous and lent themselves to gorgeous shots of the coastline. We saw the historical district with churches, forts and other buildings that dated back to the 18th century. In one fort here was even a mime performing as we entered - but alas, mimes are like clowns and most of us ...

... being the second smallest country in Latin America, Uruguay is also one of the richest countries, and it enjoys joint position of the least corrupt government, along with Chile.
Its capital, Montevideo, is regularly voted as the city with the best quality of life in Latin America, (Buenos Aires coming in a close second).

And of course Uruguay can also claim hosting the first ever FIFA World Cup, and is one of only 5 ...

... houses and cool areas. Made a fire on the beach there by for a while, eat some awesome churros. rode the scooters more, all over. Then at 8 pm we took a bus to montevideo, the capital of uruguay. Didnt do too much there, walked around the center, and went to a beach with some people we met, oneof them a girl from northville michigan. (that jeffs wants to marry now). thats about it for those places.

... and i was like EEUU then he was says in spanish you need to pay attention the street is clearly marked a one way. We agree get the license back and drive off unsacved. Wheeewww The rest of the day we spent driving the golf cart around town trying to take pictures of families of three on mopeds. This was quite entertaining. Stacy was having a good old time with the families of three and we were all balling laughing.

... the swish Colonia Express boat and fell a sleep within minutes in the big comfortable seat at the front of the boat. Woke up just before we docked on Uruguayan soil. We arrived in Colonia just after 10am after crossing the mouth of muddy Rio de la Plata as it enters the Atlantic ocean. What a beautiful and picturesque town Colonia is! The town was an important strategical and trade outpost for the Portuguese and the architecture and atmosphere ...

... They're a very outgoing people; most of them just met each other, but you'd think they were the best of friends by the way they interact. It was a bit daunting trying to converse with so many Spanish speakers at once, as there was too much going on. Chatting one-on-one in Spanish isn't too bad for me, but I gave up on trying to follow all the other conversations happening. I was able to chat a bit with the guy next to me ...

... through the middle. We stood there for several minutes, trying to figure out when we could cross the road - there were simply too many cars and too many directions to check before crossing! I almost passed out a few times on the walk back - I really shouldn't have even tried, especially given that I was feeling ill today, but that stupid backpacker mentality always takes over, and I end up walking a couple of kilometres when I ...

... them and hired a scooter the next day to explore the town and drive out along the coast. The beaches have beautiful fine golden sand and the water is shallow and very warm. The beaches are on the Rio de la Plata (Silver River), which has a slight brown colour due to the iron content. Other than that, you wouldn´t know it was a river though - it looks like the sea, as it is so wide with small waves and nothing on the horizon.

... because we'd love to hear from any of you.

With "only" 5 weeks left until we land back in London we're starting to think about home again, so it would be really good to hear what you're up to!


lots of love,


Al & Katie xx