Easter Island Adventure - Uruguay and Argentina

12 Nov 2017 . category: Travel . Comments
#EasterIsland

Day 8: Day Trip to Uruguay

The Uruguayan city of Colonia del Sacramento is located just across the Rio de la Plata from Buenos Aires, and accessible via ~2hr ferry ride. I of course couldn’t resist this opportunity for a day trip that picked up another country, so off we went. We booked our tickets via Seacat in advance online, though be warned that they definitely overcharge for this privilege. The peace of mind seemed worth it though, as I’d chanced it for Macau with bad results. We were up bright and early for the ferry ride, which was pretty uneventful, though note that you clear both country’s immigrations before getting onto the ferry, so leave enough time before departure (probably at least 30 minutes).

Colonia itself is this small little town that seems pretty heavily touristed. Most of its downtown shows the obvious Portuguese colonial legacy, another similarity with Macau. The main things that one can reach without a car include several old town sights, including the town gate and lighthouse:

There are also a couple of museums, some of which I heard would be free. But the couple that we ducked our heads in had entrance fees in Uruguayan pesos, which we didn’t have. We must’ve seemed like the poorest backpackers ever, unable to pay 50 cent entrance fees! The city is talked about online as a wonderful day trip from Buenos Aires, a getaway from the hustle and bustle to explore a cute little town and sit on the water. It should first be noted that the water is pretty brown and gross, especially sad after the perfectly blue ocean off of Easter Island. After visiting, I think if you’re a traveler like me, you can probably spend at most half a day here without a car before getting bored. We even walked back to the ferry terminal two hours early hoping to get on an earlier departure, but there sadly wasn’t one. Perhaps I would’ve felt different had I been able to make it to some further our places, like the Granja Colonia museum. It boasts one of the world’s largest collections of pencils(!), amongst many other things. It’s alternately described in its Tripadvisor reviews as an off-the-beaten-path gem or a mundane hoarder’s cache. Regardless, I think if I were to do it again, I’d have just planned for a half a day in Colonia, or a full day in Montevideo (about two more hours on the ferry).

Steak!

After getting back to Buenos Aires, we headed right for Parilla Pena a no-nonsense steakhouse frequented by locals and tourists alike. Steak’s a big deal in Argentina, and we were understandably very excited. As this article describes it: “To put it simply, steak is life, and the parrilla, a holy temple of worship.” I’d chosen this particluar parilla based on the glowing recommendation of a Youtuber I follow and it really didn’t disappoint. They included as a free starter here these amazing empanadas, that were honestly one of the best things I ate this whole trip (though I was also starving). Then came a huge portion of proscuitto as well as some blood sausage that Lucy bravely ordered. And finally the main event, a wonderfully cooked steak for the two of us. And despite massively over-ordering, it was still less $30 / person. I would heartily recommend this place to anyone visiting Argentina. As we were snapping pictures on our way out, they even let me pose with the grill!

Day 9: Argentina

This was our last day, as we flew out on Sunday evening red-eyes (so I could be at work Monday morning, yay!). Between our general exhaustion and my awful sunburn, we took this day pretty easy.

Our first stop was the El Ateneo Grand Splendid Bookstore, rated by The Guardian as the second best bookstore in the world (yes, I was surprised that this list existed too). The building was originally built as a theater in the early 20th century, and converted into a ookstore in 2000 while keeping all the beautiful old details intact:

We also happened to run into a huge Chinese tour group while here, evidently Buenos Aires is more popular than Santiago!

Next up, we tried to take part in the local tradition of drinking mate, a caffeinated bitter beverage consumed out of a distinctive hollowed gourd. See here for how it recently became a political flashpoint. Luckily for tourists like us, one can frequent a “mate bar” to consume the beverage, instead of buying all the necessary supplies. Unfortunately, the few that we went to seemed to only serve mate from 4 to 7PM, which was a bit late given our flight, so no mate for us. Oh well, hopefully I’ll get some the next time I’m in South America.

Our final stop was La Boca, a working class neighborhood in Buenos Aires that has a distinctive but small area of brightly painted buildilngs (Caminito). Apparently, this multi-colored painting was originally because the area’s inhabitants built their houses from castaway sheetmetal painted with castaway paint. In the 50s, an artist had the idea to do this with bright colors in order to revive the area, and so the this beautiful tourist trap was born:

As for the ridiculous get up, I’d been very badly sunburnt while on Easter Island, and so I was shielding my neck/ears/etc. See here for a good article with more historical and contemporary details. Of all the places we went this whole trip, I think this was by far the most touristy. Which is not to say it wasn’t beautiful, just crowded with tour groups and souvenir shops and… Finally, a pro-tip: don’t just Uber to “La Boca.” It’ll take you to the center of this working class neighborhood, not the brightly colored Caminito. Thankfully it was during the day so this wasn’t a bit problem, but our driver’s confusion made sense in hindsight.

From here, it was back to the hostel and then the airport, for a direct flight to NYC. My flight luck continued, as I again had a free seat next to me, and they even bumped me up to economy premium! Sadly, the flight landed one hour early, which when it’s 5:30 instead of 6:30, is not a good thing. Anyway, that wraps up this trip. I had a wonderful time in South America, and hope to back soon for the continent’s other beautiful places like the Salar de Uyuni.

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