Taxi to Nowhere

A heat wave has hit and ick! Fortunately, our hotels have had great A/C, but our time wandering around is limited before some level of misery sets in.

The bus ride to Colonia del Sacramento was uneventful and comfortable. It did take a little longer than scheduled as we picked up some passengers along the way. Fortunately, none had any livestock.

Montevideo bus station, as organized as any European train station

Colonia is a quaint old town, first settled by the Portuguese, changed hands a few times, before finally being Spanish. The Portuguese section is a maze of narrow streets, whereas the Spanish sections are laid out in an organized grid. If you plan to go, it is well worth it, but you really only need a full day.

Part of the original walled city

Built on a peninsula on the Rio de la Plata

Throughout our trip, we have contended with irregular, tiled sidewalks. One guide explained that the owner of each property is responsible for the maintenance of their piece of the sidewalk.

Definitely not a sidewalk to run on

We've had very little "cliché" South American experiences. Then, we took the ferry from Colonia back to Buenos Aires.

The terminal is new and modern. It was very clear where to check in for the 16:01 ferry. Immigration went smoothly, until it came time to start stamping stuff. The boarding passes had four sections, each got stamped. Our passports each got two stamps. I truly believe officials get a sense of accomplishment with the sound of stamping, and they do it with gusto.

We headed to the waiting room. Just like an airport boarding area, there was an electronic board with arrivals and departures. None of the departures listed matched anything on any of our papers. So we sat. And waited and wondered. Suddenly, everyone jumped up and amassed at the end of the room. No announcement. Nothing. Since they all had boarding passes that looked like ours, we joined them, hoping the boat took us back to Argentina.

It was the right boat. We never did figure out how people knew when to start boarding.

After we got underway, the Tax Free shopped opened and passengers ran like the day after Thanksgiving. I wandered in, with the thought of getting some chocolate. Holy moly, it was like Costco the week before Christmas. Literally.

The shelves were actually stocked with Costco branded items! Someone is making a killing smuggling vitamins, steak sauce, and canned salmon. If I only we'd known.

That's $33 USD per bottle!

Next South American experience.....

We hailed a taxi to head across town. And then got caught in either the traffic jam from Hell, a bus drivers' protest, or some type of strike. At one point our driver created his own variable-direction lane because the double-striped yellow line appeared to be merely a suggestion.

It is still a mystery, but after 30 minutes and our kindly driver having done is best to get out of it, he had managed to get to a point that was just 5 blocks from our hotel and still 5 miles from our original destination. We smiled, gave him double the fair on the meter (150 pesos -> $11), and got out. It just wasn't worth trying any longer.

(Update: A protest at the Labor Ministry after an announcement by the new president that some fear will trigger layoffs was the cause. )

Lastly, I gave our destination to the taxi driver in French. It's either time to go home or time to go to France.

Obligatory food photos from dinner at Charco Bistro in Colonia:

I never serve salmon so elegantly presented

Amazing lime flan - wanted to lick the plate