|
  | |  |
Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay
Entry 6 of 16 | show all | print this entry |
Once upon a time, before the dreaded EEU spread its tentacles, you could create a wonderful collection of visas and stamps in your passport by border hopping across the countries of Europe. You could take part in the time honoured tradition of France for breakfast, Belgium for lunch, coffee and pastry in Luxemburg and a cabaret show in Amsterdam by midnight. A 21 day European holiday would leave you with enough coins from a multiple of currencies to help a child start their first coin collection. (And when a piece of paper featuring Uncle Sam could buy you anything on any back streets of eastern Europe - the good old days)
Those times have long past and nowadays any good back street Albanian spiv would spit on the American dollar in favour of the Euro.
At least you can still play the border game here in South America with some interesting weekend excursions. To date I have entered and departed this country three times, courtesy of playing tourist.
Last week I took a side excursion to the fascinating city of Colonia del Sacramento in the small neighbouring country of Uruguay. The historical relationship between Argentina and Uruguay is complex, just like everything else in this mad continent. Actually the following link can explain it to you much better than I can.
http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?historyid=ab40
Taking centre stage in this history is the town of Colonia. One way of discovering it is via Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonia_del_Sacramento .
But if you get the chance, there is a ferry service from Buenos Aires to Colonia (and the bus connection on to the capital Montevideo) which offers the choice of a three hour or a faster 50 minutes ride. Both have duty free shopping and cafe and bar facilities and first class passengers (of which I was not) have their own superior lounge. As the boat trip has nothing to offer in the way of scenery, I recommend the shorter trip.
But if the nautical side is uninspiring, the town itself is worthy of its World Heritage status. The historical quarterof the town has changed little over the centuries, Do what I did, travel during a quiet weekday, thus avoiding holidays and hot summer weekends when the Porteños invade the town in their hundreds, and you can almost have the place to yourself.
I found a bed and breakfast ($US25 a night, double with ensuite) called Posada Casa Las Pinas in a quiet street a block or so up from the port, in the historical quarter. Then, armed with a very cute and informative tourist map, I decided to explore the cobbled stone and sycamore tree lined streets whereupon I chanced upon a friendly family run parrilla restaurant called La Amistad. Soon I was sitting down to an asado of three juicy chops, a mixed salad (lettuce, onions and tomato), a basket of bread rolls, a bottle of water and the house red - I think it cost me less than $A15 for the whole meal.
If you find yourself at an South American barbecue, ask for a sample of the popular marinade and seasoning known as chimichurri http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chimichurri - it certainly adds to the flavour of the meat.
Of course I couldn´t sit at the table all afternoon and at 4pm, aftering farewelling my host Jorge, I continued on my walk around the town.
Walking past the Street of Sighs (where the name comes from, no body knows, some say it is from the times when Ladies of Ill Repute plied their trade along the footpaths while others claim it is from the sighs of the condemned who were escorted through here on their way to execution by firing squad.) On a dark windy night, I think I would prefer to walk among the ghosts of the former, wouldn´t you?
On another street I chanced upon an Argentine film crew setting up for a location shoot.
The shoot was either a film or TV series "Tres Deseos" and I can think of no better location for what is probably a historical bodice ripper than Colonia. There are hundreds of secret and tragic stories in almost every house and alleyway.
Around another conrner and a conversation with a group of friendly American, Carribean and Canadians convinced me that a guided tour was the best way of discovering those secret stories. So I began looking for the tourist office near the main square. I never found the tourist office but I did find an exotic shop selling some beautifully crafted jewellery, bags and clothes. The style was more Art Deco than Gaucho but I couldn´t resist and walked away with a set of earrings that would match my flamenco costmes perfectly.
A late dose of jet lag sent me back to my room for a quiet night, spent flicking through 50 cannels of Cable Spanish TV including the Spanish CNN which was offering blanket coverage of the US Democrat primaries and the upcoming Paraguayan election.
Oh, I did score a personal guided tour the following morning with Pablo, the husband of one of the women who ran the Casa Las Pinas. But that story will better explain itself once I have downloaded the photos.
Besides, you should explore Colonia del Sacramento yourself one day.
Where I stayed:
Posada Casa los Pinos, Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay
|
|
If you like this entry, search for other entries from Argentina or try a new search. |
| |
Back to Entry - Back to Home
|
4 votes 
