Because we had changed our plans to avoid spending over our budget on accommodation, we decided to kill some time and get the boat from Buenos Aires over to Colonia in Uruguay instead of going straight to Montevideo. We went through a very relaxed customs and the boat only took an hour. Online accommodation had completely been booked out due to it being the weekend so we had to do our walk around search and hope for the best. We did find a hostel where we shared a 6 person dorm with 2 others, but it was more than we wanted to pay. When you’re walking around with a big bag in the heat, you tend to reach a point where you give in to whatever. Colonia is a pretty little town with tree lined cobbled streets and pastel colored buildings surrounded by the entrance of the brown watered Rio de la Plata (river). We attempted to hire a scooter but we didn’t have the right license. There were loads of people zipping around on golf buggies. Colonia was originally made by the Brazilians to sneak goods into Buenos Aires and it still has the stone wall standing that was once the entrance to the town from the port.
We got offered the opportunity to rent a car and go camping up the coast of Uruguay with a friend and we got so excited about it that we booked an early bus to the Montevideo and rushed our viewing around Colonia (although there wasn’t much to see) only to do the math later and discover that it was going to cost more than we could afford. The price was reasonable if it was a standalone trip, but because we’re coming to the end of our finances, we have to be picky. Our original plan was to stay up the coast in a hostel for 4 nights and the reason we changed our itinerary was because the hostels were too expensive, so it would make no sense to change our plans again and still be spending the same as our first plan… so unfortunately we had to cancel.
I got told by a friend that I had said each place we had visited throughout the entire trip was expensive…. Our expectations of South America had been incorrect, we were going by what people had said and what our guide book said (albeit it was 5 years old) so we were shocked when we got to Colombia and things cost more. Compared to back home, a lot of the places we’ve been too are A LOT cheaper, but they just cost more than we were prepared for. However, ever since we hit Chile, Argentina, Uruguay and soon to be Brazil – the prices aren’t far off prices from back home, and it’s made me realize that I should have appreciated just how cheap the other countries were in comparison. Bolivia and Ecuador are definitely the cheapest, and then next would be Mexico, Colombia, & Peru which aren’t far off each other in price. I guess when you’re unemployed and travelling for 6 months, which is a long time, you start penny pinching!
We got on the bus the next morning and watched all the farm land, horses and cows go past for 2.5 hours to Montevideo. We got a taxi to the suburb of Pocitos away from the city but near the beach. Our driver took us to the wrong street and gave us a major ticky tour which doubled our fare. I preferred haggling for price before getting into the taxi in countries like Bolivia, but here it’s all metered. We refused to pay the whole fare because of his own error – he had seen the address I had written on paper, it’s not like he could blame my bad Spanish. We had an awful argument (me in very broken Spanish) but eventually he let us go.
Got to the hostel we had chosen and it was full… I had checked online that morning and it said that there were still 11 beds left. I was not impressed and in an awful mood after the argument. We try to avoid pre booking to avoid international purchasing fees on the credit card but it seems that we are being forced to do so. Not just because it’s the busy season (as you can always find somewhere to go but you have to settle with any price or place you can find which isn’t always a good thing) but because all the hostels here seem to put a much cheaper price online than if you just turn up.
Got directed to another hostel where we settled for a 6 person dorm at a price higher than our budget of $15 each. We immediately booked our next weeks accommodation online. For the following day in the city, we secured a dorm room for $12 US each where if you just turn up its $18! That night though, we were moved from our dorm to a private room for the same price as they didn’t have a reservation for it. That was very kind of them as usually they rent out the room for $40 US each! It was a tiny cupboard of a room with one bunk bed, so we didn’t even get to share a bed, but at least we didn’t have to share with anyone for a night.
We spent a few hours at Pocitos beach the next day. The beach had lovely golden sand which is nice as a lot of the beaches we’ve seen in South America haven’t had that, but the water was a horrible brown color. In the afternoon we picked up our bags from the hostel and took a local bus into the city to our new hostel where we stayed for 3 nights in a 6 person dorm. One day we wondered around the old town and the main city streets. Once again, nothing special, just another city (same population as Auckland), but I liked the pedestrian only streets, very charming. The main plaza also has a neat 26 story building which was once the tallest in South America. Another day we rented bikes and rode around the water’s edge past beaches alongside loads of people out exercising. The water was less brown this time and actually looked inviting. It was very hot, which made it very uncomfortably hot in our dorm room as well and at night it was difficult to sleep. The hostel also had extremely loud music and drunken shouting until 2.30am. Fun Fun!!
Since we managed to get such a good deal on accommodation in Montevideo we decided to treat ourselves to one night in Punta Del Este up the coast at a place just over our budget in a 6 person dorm (yet still the cheapest hostel in the town!). The bus took 2.5 hours until we arrived at the little peninsula lined with white sand beaches. We were warned it was very touristy and it was – complete with cruise ship moored in the harbor. It’s a small town with nothing particularly pretty but the huge draw card is the abundance of beaches. One of the beaches had a huge concrete hand sticking out of the ground which was quite cool. The only problem with such a popular place is the people… almost every inch of sand was occupied, we had no personal space. No matter what age or body shape and size, the women were in bikinis, most of them of which were G-String bikinis…. Yikes!
We spent a whole afternoon at the beach and in the morning walked around the peninsula and through the little town along with loads of other people decked out in their fitness attire yet not even walking at a brisk pace. It just seems like the place to be seen! We got the bus back to Montevideo for one final night and caught up with John (that we met in Buenos Aires). Got up bright and early in the morning to spend a day in transit – 2 buses to the airport, half an hour flight to Buenos Aires, lay over time of 3.5 hours, another 1.5 hour flight and then a bus to the centre of Puerto Iguaçu, Argentina. Unfortunately when entering Argentina by air, Australians (Americans and Canadians) have to pay a reciprocal fee to enter the country. Poor Andrew got hit with a $100US fee despite the fact we had already been in Argentina for weeks and were only coming back for a mere 3 days… ouch.
Info: Uruguay is known as the Switzerland of South America, it earnt its reputation from its super secret banking laws and its sense of peace. It’s dubbed the safest country in SA yet it’s the only place we’ve been where the taxi drivers have a safety window between them and the passengers. In 2007 abortion was legalized and in 2008 same sex marriage was legalized. Unfortunately in 2009 there was a drought forcing the government to announce emergency water saving measures and beef exports fell 33%. The Charrua were the first in Uruguay and they had a habit of killing European explorers so the Spanish left them alone. Eventually they started trading horses and cattle and moved to the Brazilian border. The Portuguese set up Colonia as a smuggling town and the Spanish set up Montevideo. For almost 200 years, the British, Portuguese and Spanish tried to control the area. In 1811 Brazil took control of the region until 1828 when Argentine troops liberated the area. After more chaos, in the 70s, the military took over. They controlled who got public employment, subjected political offenses to court, censored libraries and even required prior approval for large family gatherings. Eventually the people of Uruguay rejected this and elected a president. The spread of foot and mouth disease led to the banning of Uruguayan beef exports which collapsed the economy. The United States ended up loaning the country $1.5 billion. The Uruguayan population is predominantly white (88%). Indigenous people are practically non-existent. The population growth rate is 0.5%, one of the lowest in the world.
