An Eventful Day in Uruguay!

I woke up early on my second morning in Buenos Aires and went down to the Buquebus terminal to catch the ferry to Colonia del Sacramento in Uruguay, a hour away across Río de la Plata. My plan was to spend the day there and get the ferry back at five pm. However, this wasn't quite how things worked out!

Going through security at the terminal was kind of confusing. After getting my passport stamped, I followed some of the other passengers in what I thought was the direction I was meant to be going. I was asked to show my ticket and was then directed through a tunnel. Before I knew it, I was on an amazing boat! It honestly looked like something out of a film.

I hadn't expected to board the boat so early, but I didn't think anything of it until the boat left an hour earlier than I thought it would. When I went to the Bureau d'échange, I discovered I'd made a mistake! This boat was going to Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay, which is about an hour and a half further away than Colonia!

However, all the staff on the boat and at the port in Montevideo were really helpful and completely sorted out my situation. After I arrived at the port, I was told to come back in half an hour, so I had a little bit of time to see some of the old city.

Then I was put on a bus that went to another part of Montevideo, where there was a big shopping mall and bus terminal. There I was given a bus ticket to Colonia, but first I had an hour or two to look around the mall and the surrounding area.

I spent the following two and a half hours on a bus travelling across the Uruguayan countryside. It's a really beautiful country, with lots of green fields and rolling hills. It looks like England but with added palm trees!

We arrived in Colonia at around half-past three. Luckily, I had been given special permission to use my five o'clock ferry ticket at nine o'clock, so I had plenty of time to explore! As the name suggests, Colonia is an old colonial town. It's filled with riverside beaches and quaint little buildings. It was such a picturesque place to visit and I had an amazing time there.

As you can see, it's a very photogenic place!

The boat back to Buenos Aires was much more crowded and much less glamorous than the boat to Montevideo, and trying to get an Uber at eleven pm from the terminal car park was a chaotic experience! But I arrived back at my hostel feeling very happy after having spent a day in a beautiful country I'd never been to before. I'm really grateful to everyone who helped me after my mistake, and I'm left with many great memories of Uruguay.

Buenos Aires: Day Two

On my second day in Buenos Aires, I decided to get the bus to La Boca neighbourhood in the south of the city. This is an extremely popular area with tourists, and once you get there it's easy to see why. Everything is just so colourful.

The most famous part of La Boca is El Caminito, a street filled with buildings of all different colours.

I really enjoyed exploring the area, visiting its various shops, and seeing sights such as tango dancers and funny statues of famous people!

Next I went to see some more sights in the city centre, starting with Palacio Barolo, a very elaborate-looking building, which is now used as an office block.

My next stop was Obelisco de Buenos Aires, one of the most iconic landmarks of the city. It was built in 1936 to celebrate the 400 years since Buenos Aires was founded.

Going back towards Plaza de Mayo, I walked past Teatro Colón, Argentina's most famous theatre. It's so big that it takes up an entire block.

At the Plaza de Mayo, I visited the cathedral. It's an interesting building, as it's built in a style that looks Greek or Roman and doesn't look at all like an ordinary church. The interior is also really beautiful to see.

I had a really fun day in Buenos Aires, made better by the fact that Carnaval was taking place, so I saw lots of people walking around in their colourful costumes.

The following day, I left Argentina to visit Uruguay, a country that was new to me. That trip definitely did not go as planned, but I ended up having a great time there!

Read about Buenos Aires: Day One here and Buenos Aires: Day Three here!

Buenos Aires: Day One

When I was looking for flights to go back to Chile, I found a pretty cheap deal from London to Buenos Aires. I decided to spend a few days there before going to Santiago, as it's been on my South American bucket list for ages, but I never got round to visiting it during my Year Abroad. I also really wanted to go to Uruguay and took the chance to take a day trip there, which I'll be writing about soon.

It was my second visit to Argentina, having been to the Mendoza province previously. When that trip took place, I was going through a bad time in my personal life, so maybe I didn't enjoy it as much as I would have done under normal circumstances. I'm glad I could see Argentina again and that this second trip was a much more positive one!

Buenos Aires is an amazing city to visit. There's so much to see there, that it can't all fit into one blog post, so I'll do a post for each day I spent there.

The day I arrived, I set out on foot from my hostel to explore as much of the city centre as I could. On my way towards Plaza de Mayo, I saw this interesting-looking bar with a statue of Fidel Castro. I found many more statues like this on day two of my trip!

I enjoyed seeing Plaza de Mayo, which is the most famous square in Buenos Aires. Here you can find the presidential palace, Casa Rosada.

Next, I went down to Puerto Madero to see Puente de la Mujer. The architecture of the bridge and the whole area of the port is very modern and impressive to see. One of the things I liked about the city in general was the contrast between old and new styles of architecture.

Then I had a look round Centro Cultural Kirchner, where many modern artworks are exhibited. It's a beautiful building which is free to enter. However, modern art isn't really my thing. The only exhibit that stayed in my mind was a series of videos about a giant balloon in the desert, featuring the Korean boyband BTS. Very random!

Finally, I decided to go back to the port to see the Costanera Sur ecological reserve, a little bit of nature within the urban area.

After my first afternoon in Buenos Aires, I already really liked the city. Soon I'll be writing about my second day there, where I got the bus out to La Boca district and explored a bit more of the city centre.

Read about Buenos Aires: Day Two here and Buenos Aires: Day Three here!