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Monday, February 09, 2004

Uruguay indeed

We took a bus from Posadas to Montevideo, Uruguay, via Buenos Aires - which doesn't make much sense geographically, but there's no other way to do it. We arrived in Buenos Aires Retiro terminal yesterday morning - after our last overnight bus journey! yay! - and took a day bus into Uruguay. Border crossing was trivial - we gave our passports to the driver and about five minutes later he gave them back all stamped with our tourist cards already filled in. Easy.

We arrived in Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay, at about 7.30pm, took a taxi to the centre and checked in to a hotel. Uruguay's capital city is just as small as - but much more attractive than - Paraguay's. Everything is considerably, well, shinier. The bus terminal into which we arrived is smarter than any Greyhound station in America, the streets are clean and there are a few international brand-name stores (mostly McDonalds, actually, but still...). We spent a quiet day exploring the city, out along the banks of the River Plate.

The next morning we took a bus to Colonia, a few hours west of Montevideo, and a popular spot for day-tripping tourists from Buenos Aires. It's a very attractive little town, an old smuggling port, originally founded by the Portuguese. The streets are cobbled and shaded by sycamore trees. We stopped for lunch in a restaurant, where I got to try one of Uruguay's national dishes: chivito al plato. This consists of a slab of beef, with some slices of ham on top, with some melted cheese on top, with a fried egg on top of that (plus chips and salad :). Horribly unhealthy, but also delicious - the beef in Uruguay is fantastic, just as good as Argentina's.

This morning we caught the ferry from Colonia to Buenos Aires. We had to choose between the high-speed catamaran that leaves at 9am, or the slightly slower ferry that leaves at - wait for it - 4.30am. The crucial deciding factor was price - $11 for the ferry, $25 for the catamaran. And so up we got, at 3.30am! The ferry was very plush and comfortable, so we were able to doze off the early start.

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