Colonia

Uruguay

February 2007

Colonia
22nd to 23rd February

Next we found ourselves aboard the Busqebus bouncing on the waves bound for Uruguay. It only takes an hour across the water from Buenos Aires on this high speed boat and before you know it you're in yet another country. Our first destination was the quaint little town of Colonia. Yes, doesn't it sound great, and the name did not disappoint for it was just as it sounded, the perfect pint sized town, full of cobbled tree lined streets, old cars, a harbour and lighthouse to boot.

We had yet another very cosy room in the back garden of a guest house owned by a very sweet lady called Teresa. Her venue was called Casa De La Teresa, The House of Teresa. In this garden were the strangest insects I'd ever heard and even now am still to lay eyes on. They make such a racked, way over and above that lovely evening chorus of grasshoppers and crickets. Instead this is more akin to the loud noise emitted from a Black and Decker circular saw, no word of a lie. I was caught out thinking everyone in Colinia was a DIY addict until I realised the noises were coming from the bushes. Bizarre.

We had booked in for just two nights so secured our bags and went walking in search of the coastline. A few minutes later we had a great view of a very nice sandy beach and the sun was shining hot, but coupled with the shore breeze it all made for a very pleasant experience. We avoided the temptation to plonk ourselves on the sand and read as we only had one more full day to see what this place had to offer. Soon we had marched quite a way along the hill tops towards what the map indicated as the main thoroughfare, in search of a much needed afternoon beer as we were half parched. At last we found the main street, which was built using handsome cobblestones and had a rather defined camber to it which I guess was to keep the rain to the sides in the event of a downpour. The pavements were cloaked in pretty trees that had that lovely patterned bark that is made up of light coloured oval shapes, and I know if you walk from Charing Cross to Leicester square in London you will see some very similar.

Very thirsty we were, so sat down under a red parasol and ordered a litre of local beer and two cold glasses. We drank and watched the people of Colonia go about their day and soon realised this was a very nice and relaxed little town, with its only annoyance being the high pitched screech of the mopeds buzzing around like mosquitoes, with engines more suitable to a deluxe hairdryer. Rather liking the first beer another was swiftly ordered along with a very large vegetarian pizza. Life is so great when you don't have to be anywhere in particular!

That evening some kind of mini fiesta had taken to the streets, like a very modest Rio Carnival, with dancers of all shapes and sizes performing their well rehearsed act. People of all ages dressed in some amazing costumes, the pavements lined with curious bystanders clapping and snapping pictures. We watched it pass, proceeded up the street and found yet more open air entertainment. A small band had set up on stage outside a solid looking building with large columns, lit up very nicely and now the backdrop to these guitarists. A group of over one hundred people had gathered, consisting of couples and families with children. We stood and listened and I soon realised how well behaved everyone was. Teenage kids in small groups some with families and some not, but all the same towing the line. The strongest thing I saw anyone drinking was their beloved Mate (Which is a herbal tea, they all suck on through a metal straw burried in a flask!). I also thought how this had been much the case in South America and that you rarely see pubs in town like you do back home. If this concert had been in a town in South East London you would have a totally different and much troubled experience with kids up to no good and drinking from beer cans in search of mischief. Other countries simply don't have pubs on every corner, which suck us in to a bad habit of doing nothing but going out for a beer each weekend. Kids abroad are taught to drink with their families, maybe a wine with dinner, so don't see it as such a taboo, so know how to control it once they reach that tricky teenage period. Such a refreshing change to London!

The following day we explored more of the town, admired old battlement ruins complete with canons. A beautiful little cobbled square, with a lawn, palm trees and small cottages round the edges. A few well maintained vintage cars could be hired to drive you around the small lanes, but instead we opted to pay a small price and climb the large white lighthouse! This was rather tricky as the spiral staircase was indeed narrow, so passing those on their way down required much agility. Or at least to not be a fat bloater! The top provided us with magnificent views over the tiled roofs and out to the peninsula beyond. It was like having temporary birds eye view and we could trace our past two hour movements, pointing out, 'we were there', and 'there is that wall where you stopped to tie up your shoelace'. All very innocent fun!

Succeeding the spiralled descent we next skulked around the harbour and found a nice bench in the afternoon sun to sit and boat watch. The harbour was home to about forty vessels at this time, some very small sailing boats and a few million pound beauties complete with jet skies and pompous ass on board. As we sat on this glorious Friday evening people would be coming back from town with bags of shopping, and from peeking we could see crusty loafs of bread, vegetables and of course many bottles of wine. They would walk along the harbour and down a small flight of steps to a collection of small rowing boats or dingies with a small outboard engine, that would be their transport to get them back from shore to their bigger boat. We started to play a game each time a couple would come along and tried to guess which boat was their final destination just by looking at how rich they looked.

I was very envious of one family. The guy looked like the sort from an expensive watch advertisement, and his wife didn't look too bad either. Two charming children and an outstanding Great Dane that bounded along but was obviously very well trained. Which was good as he was not only on the boat with them, but the neighbouring boat had a cat! Can you believe that, cats hate water and they were hosing their poor wretched creature down until he resmbled a drowned rat.. I wondered what they did and how they ever came in to such money to allow them a life so extravagant. As we left the harbour I'd already grown to hate this family and hoped they nicked the underside of their beloved vessel on some rather sharp rocks as they left the harbour and found themselves in a very treacherous piece of ocean soon after. LOL

To take my mind of my relative poverty we drank some great wine of our own whilst watching the sunset over the horizon. Guess we don't have too much to grumble about do we. After dinner we found a quaint little corner shop that allowed to to dress up in old fashioned attire and have your photo taken for a very reasonable price. We did exactly that and you may laugh as you see our photo in the galley at my handsome top hat and weasle like moustache. (Alistair, bigger than yours matey!)

A great way to finish our stay in the lovely town of Colonia and now we were once again wrapped in a metal bus, speeding our way along the coast North to the capital Montevideo. See you there!