Uruguay? Guay not?

  Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay
Thursday, November 29, 2007

uruguay flag

Uruguay is only a 1 hour hydrofoil boat ride from Buenos Aires, so it was a great chance to see another country, if only for half a day (For those counting, thats 4 plane rides, 1 bus ride, 3 boat rides and one week of car rental). At the ferry port, we had to go through customs and then through a maze of construction and weirdness, winding in and out of buildings, down dark halls. Very strange.

yes, we are still on our way to the ferry

The boat goes 30 knots and the sea was calm so it was a quick and easy ride over.

check out the old lights

The town we visited is called Colonia, a town with a big history as the Spanish and Portugese fought over this important port town for over a century. The town was founded in 1680 and is unique in that it's the only town in this region founded by the Portuguese. Visiting Colonia was like was like stepping back in time with

lisa in colonia

early cobblestone roads (more like rocks and boulders), winding streets with old gas lamps. It felt a lot like Pirates of the Carribean (and back then, it probably was). One section in particular, Barrio Historico, was named a UNESCO heritage site in 1995.

video tour of city walls

Its in this area that we spent most of our time on a walking tour of area which included Puerta de Campo, the city gate and wooden drawbridge built in 1745 to safegard the city

colonia's old main gate

and El Faro (the lighthouse) which was built in 1857 from stones from the ruins of Convento de San Francisco, located right next to it.

el faro

lots of tiles

After the walking tour, we ate lunch and had delicious sangria at a place called La Drugstore.

el drugstore. where we had lunch

Once again, incredible huge green trees were everywhere.

lisa on another pretty street

We had just enough time to get an ice cream before heading back for the last hydrofoil of the night, which was at 10pm. Uruguay is actually an hour ahead so we got back in time to have dinner at another great restaurant called Providencia.

We found this place thanks to two tips, one from our new tipster Disco Shawn and Sharon C's friend. It was located in Palermo Soho, but the only sign on the front says "Gulpe Fuerte " (knock hard).

the front door just says knock loudly

It's a converted warehouse and the vegetarian menu changes daily, with 3-5 items, depending on what was fresh that day. It was a full house when we arrived at about 11pm, well lit, paint coming off the walls and The Rapture playing over the speakers. It would have fit right in in Silver Lake.

amazing organic restaurant

providencia. so great

We felt like we found another secret spot and were well fed and happy and all for only $25. Lisa was tired, but I wanted one last nightcap, so we went to Olsen, another new hip restaurant and bar. This place was featured in the Wallpaper guide. It's Scandinavian and has a huge selection of vodka. I had a completely overpriced shot of vodka, complete with snotty waiter. The design was great though. I finished off my drink and we headed home.

enjoying my overpriced vodka @ Olsen shot