Trip report: Uruguay
Visited in November 2021
Uruguay, I am sorry. You certainly deserved more than what I gave you. I spent a whole six hours in you. That’s about the same amount of time I spent in Monaco or San Marino.
I visited Uruguay as a day-trip from Buenos Aires. Argentina and Uruguay are separated only by the Rio de la Plata, which then flows into the Atlantic Ocean between the two capitals. So it’s not surprising that many people take a day trip between the two countries. The only question is which one?
From Buenos Aires, two ferry companies (Buquebus and Colonia Express) depart daily for Uruguay, heading for several destinations. However, the two common day-trips from Buenos Aires are Colonia del Sacramento and Uruguay’s capital Montevideo. The trip to Colonia takes one hour, the one to Montevideo two. When I had to choose between these two places, my choice fell on Colonia. This had two reasons.
First, I thought that one day in Montevideo would probably be a little too short. Sure, somehow it would have worked out, but I thought it would have been rushed. Conversely, I thought one day for Colonia was too long. However, you could also do this trip as a half-day excursion.
Second, we have a pandemic. This means that many border crossings involve additional effort and hassle. By that I don’t mean that I had to fill out a whole three forms for this day-trip (one to leave Argentina, one to enter Uruguay, and one to re-enter Argentina) and bring a PCR test. In addition, the ferry companies state on their website that you have to be at the terminal two hours before departure. For Montevideo, that would have meant leaving the hotel at 4:00am to be at the ferry terminal at 4:30am. And I really didn’t feel like doing that.
You might be wondering now why I didn’t just stay overnight in Montevideo if a day trip wasn’t enough. The reason was that the prices for the ferry were kind of insane. For a normal round trip, you would have paid around USD 200 with Buquebus, and “only” USD 150 with Colonia Express. Even though that would still be affordable, I felt the prices were insane because a return ticket had cost between USD 30-60 before the pandemic according to my internet research.
However, this did not answer the question why I did not stay overnight in Montevideo. The reason was that you can book day-tours with Colonia Express for 9,000 Argentine pesos. This is equivalent to about USD 90, so for whatever reason it is much cheaper than buying a normal return ticket. If you then change US dollars to Argentine pesos on the black market (read my Argentina trip report to find out how to experience Argentina for half the price), the price is only USD 45. If I had stayed overnight in Montevideo, this day tour package would not have been possible.
Therefore, we left Buenos Aires at 12:30 on the Colonia Express ferry towards Colonia. The ferry was gigantic, it even carried vehicles and had its own duty free store, which was bigger than those at some smaller airports. It also had an exchange office where I changed 30 dollars into Uruguayan pesos.
Although the ferry could have carried an estimated 1,000 people, there were perhaps just 30 to 40 passengers on the ship. Understandable somehow. A PCR test for $65 to cross the border seems unattractive to most locals. Would it be for me also for a day-trip from Switzerland to France.
After a good hour, the ferry arrived in Colonia. The good thing is that you do the immigration for Uruguay in Argentina before you board the ferry. So we could leave the ferry terminal right after arriving in Uruguay instead of standing in line waiting for the stamp. Uruguay, by the way, is the first country I have entered by sea. Probably not the last, but at least this was a premiere.
From the ferry terminal it takes ten minutes to get to the old town of Colonia. Colonia is one of the oldest towns in Uruguay and the old town is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Coming from Buenos Aires, it is like entering another world.
A bit shocking was that Colonia was a ghost town. There were hardly any people in the old town and life seemed to stand completely still. It was a miracle that we didn’t see any hay bales rolling by, as you know it from western movies. Before the pandemic, the streets of the old town were always crowded. On this Tuesday, November 9, 2021, the town seemed to be deserted.
Consequently, we walked up and down the empty streets of the old town, drank coffee and ate cake. It was not very eventful to be honest and after 1-2 hours we had the feeling that we had seen all the attractions of Colonia’s old town.
On the other hand, after ten days of traveling in South America, it was actually good to slow down a bit and spend a leisurely afternoon. Especially when you come from bustling Buenos Aires, Colonia seems like an oasis of calm. It probably would have been the same if there had been more people there.
At 19.15 we checked in again at the ferry terminal and drove back to Argentina later. Was the trip worth it? Honestly, if you don’t collect passport stamps, I would say…. probably not. Sure, Colonia has its charm and is picturesque, but maybe it’s just me who has seen too many older villages in Latin America to be super-excited about Colonia.
Montevideo would probably have been the more exciting option. Quite certainly in fact. But then again, maybe it was better that I saved the Uruguayan capital for another time, when I have more time and can do it better justice.
Uruguay certainly deserves better than this trip report. For example, I could have written about how this small country is one of the most developed in South America. Or that until 2015 Uruguay had a president who lived on a farm and donated 90% of his income, which earned him the title of poorest president in the world. Or that Uruguay, despite having a population of only 3.5 million, is a two-time World Cup winner and can still compete with the big football (soccer) nations.
But while we’re talking about football, my trip to every country in the world is sometimes also like a game. And some of these games are won rather dirty. Therefore, Uruguay will definitely see me again someday, and then I’ll make up for my brief appearance in November 2021.
