Robert had a coffee waiting for us when we descended the stairs. He kindly had arranged we could leave our bags & take the room key so we could return to the same room for our last day in Buenos Aires on Tuesday. It was nice to pack lightly. This proved to be useful later as events unfolded ...
Pity about the early start: despite a late night, I slept soundly to 4:30 a.m. - best night's sleep on the trip so far - & I reckon if I'd had the chance to return to bed I would have enjoyed a good sleep-in! Oh well.
At 6:00 a.m. our taxi arrives to collect us to go to the port for our ferry to Montevideo. The weather is still cold. The ground wet. The wind strong in the trees. We are not sure what is in store given that yesterday, when we went past the port, the waves looked big & the boats weren't running apparently.
Our driver was very chatty (in Spanish) & Regis gave us translations as we went. Apparently in our casa, there stays also a famous Costa Rican actress. The streets are full of people - even at this hour; they are still partying. Apparently it was Halloween yesterday.
We passed through ticket control & immigration without difficulty - all very efficient & friendly. Then, whilst in the queue for boarding, came the announcement we suspected we would hear: the ferry was cerrado (cancelled due to the metereolögico/weather). But all the other detail of the announcement I could not comprehend it being in Spanish so thank goodness we had Regis to translate! It appears that we will be taken to Colonia.
It was a very bumpy crossing indeed. The Rio de la Plato is simply the biggest river I have EVER seen. It is the estuary formed by the confluence of the Uruguay & Paraná Rivers. At this point it is over 200 kms wide. It forms part of the border between Uruguay & Argentina. The Paraná River is joined by the Iguazu River back up at Niagara Falls on the border of Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay (and is the location of the Itaipu Dam that we visited just a few days ago) and then travels an incredible 2570 kms, collecting other rivers along the way to pour into the Rio de la Plata.
The waves washed over the ferry - & it is a very big ferry I can tell you. As things turned out, we considered the cancellation to be a favour: the one-hour trip to Colonia was as much any of us could stand & the sound & smell of a passenger nearby vomiting made us grit our teeth & wish for the journey to be over; the thought of a 3-hour trip to Montevideo didn't bear thinking about.
There was some confusion about what the plans would be on reaching Colonia; we had already examined the bus timetables (which I had fortuitously stored in Dropbox) whilst waiting to board, but Buquebus came good & had buses ready for us on disembarkation &, frankly, the journey by bus from Colonia to Montevideo was a blessing compared to the alternative by ferry. Being lightly packed was an advantage as this made all these transfers very straightforward.
We have lost an hour in respect of time zone; also an 8:30 a.m. rather than a 7:30 a.m. departure from Buenos Aires plus transfers from boat to bus meant that our arrival into Montevideo would be now 12:45 rather than 9:45 as planned. But we are happy with how things have worked out, all things considered.
The bus trip was uneventful through Uruguayan countryside - mostly open farming lands. We took a taxi from the bus terminal after changing money into Uruguayan pesos (an exchange rate of 1 to 25 that makes for awkward calculations when trying to work out the value of things in our money).
The taxi was cheap - & had a strange meter system that you used a card chart to calculate the fare!? We passed a large food market into the old city (ciudad vieja) which looked forlorn in the rain & some lovely 18th century buildings but also lots of ugly concrete monstrosities - & lots of garbage! Probably it would look better on a good day (which is unlikely as rain is predicted for the next 2 days) but nevertheless, it all looks somewhat neglected.
Our B&B is right in the centre of the ciudad vieja with the Palacio Salvo (Montevideo's largest plaza with the statue of Uruguayan independence hero Jose Artigas) literally only 100 m away. After checking in with the very helpful Karen (who happens to be British), we head off with maps for a short but windy walk to the nearby port area to a food market (Mercado del Puerto). This lively, atmospheric area by the docks is jammed with parrillas (barbecue restaurants) serving high-quality Uruguyan beef and bife de chorizos (sirloin steaks); also the parrillada - a jumble of ribs, spicy sausages and offal cuts.
We grabbed ourselves 4 stools at the bench of one of these parrillas after being offered a tasting of the local wine: a Tannat which is a grape that came from France to Uruguay in the mid to late 1800s & is regarded as "the next big thing".
It actually is so good that we ordered a bottle (which worked out at about only $US12) & then proceeded to select a variety of meats: lamb, blood sausages (morcillas), chorizo, grilled sweet potato & pumpkin & red capsicum. Everything is cooked on a grill over hot wood coals. You can have grilled kidney (riñon), intestines (chinchulin) and sweetbread (molleja) too. But we didn't.
Gosh it was good. We had such a fun time. And it was the perfect thing to do on a cold, rainy day.
Afterwards, we walked towards the Independence Square & the Solis Theatre (Uruguay's oldest teatro) & despite the weather, walked down to La Rambla, Montevideo's 22-kilometre waterfront esplanade. This is where the locals come to walk, jog & cycle & would normally be a highlight of any visit to this city. However, not today. It was windswept, wet & cold. Instead, we took a taxi, driving along it to the other end where there was a very attractive suburb - & a huge shopping mall. We found a very pleasant cafe where we warmed ourselves with Irish coffees & the like.
Fortified, we then took another taxi to find the milonga place Karen had told us about. Fortunately for us, the tango event at this milonga started at the relatively (for Uruguay) early time of 8 p.m. - and it was the real deal: very authentic. The locals were very welcoming, taking us to a good table; it was just before 8 p.m. so we had the pick of tables & again, we had the advantage of Regis' superior Spanish skills as he befriended the locals & explained the program for the evening, bought drinks, etc.; mind you, we didn't need dinner after such a large (& late) lunch.
It was an amazing concert: superb singing; the most wonderful piano accordian played by an absolute master (who I think was well into his 80s); a great pianist; & two wonderful tango dancers.
The locals got up & filled the tiny room in between sets & the place was like Pitt Street with dancers gliding their way through the space - mostly old & very old with a few younger ones. Women "dressed to the nines" but some old fellas with shirts hanging out!; all shapes & sizes but transformed into elegant artists once on the floor. Wow! We had such fun & the MC threatened to bar us from leaving if we didn't get up & join them - bringing on a fit of mirth all round.
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