ajmatt blog

We woke up to a foggy day on Monday, seasick patches in place, and walked two blocks over to the Fluvial Terminal to catch our Buquebus ferry to Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay (known affectionately as Colonia).

The trip over was smooth, and we landed in Uruguay around lunchtime. We immediately noticed how quiet and pollution-free the town was—the extreme opposite to BA. We even heard a real “cock-a-doodle-do” floating out of the fog from someone’s rooster. We were impressed by the bridge into town, and had a nearby lunch at artsy El Drugstore. (West Coast and/or art people, any idea why this picture refers to the LA County Museum of Art as in Lichtenstein?)

After lunch we walked around town, visiting the ruins of a convent near a lighthouse. After climbing the lighthouse, we visited three museums, none of which allowed pictures. We saw a 18th century Portuguese house, the Portuguese museum, an archive of own documents dating back to the early 18th century, and the town church. Lots of pictures are in the august 13th gallery.

The ride back into BA was a little chaotic with a late boat and mobs of people in place of lines, but we made it back in time for me (Allegra) to have my third nap of the day (the other two were on the ferry—this is a great vacation) and head out to a leisurely Italian dinner at Broccoloni.

At dinner, Matt and I had a great meal with stellar entertainment. We had four American flight attendants sitting nearby, and had the privilege of hearing their drunken philosophies. Subjects ranged from the compelling “well I haven’t eaten in 36 hours” to the definitive “there is lots of child prostitution in Thailand.” This was all after two bottles of wine, with a pitcher—yes, a pitcher—of shots on its way. Upon receipt of the pitcher, friendship deteriorated among our flight attendant (FA) neighbors as the drunkest FA threw her shot on the floor (I’m not joking, she really dumped it out in the middle of the restaurant) and ran off to the bathroom. Loudest FA immediately started talking trash about her in her absence, declared her unfit to go out, and predicted she would end up in the bed of some strange man. Youngest FA said it was time to put on her “boobs and skirt” (her words) and go dancing. Oldest FA was silent. As they left the restaurant, every single patron turned their head to watch them go, and the noise level dropped to almost silent. Matt and I hope said FAs are with United, and will be on our Friday flight. We only hope to introduce ourselves someday: “Oh, I recognize you! You were at Broccoloni last week. Don’t you remember me?”

Day 6 was a leisure day. We slept late, drug ourselves out to lunch at Il Gran Cafe, which overlooks the crowds on Calle Florida. We made a quick trip across town to the Museo Evita afterward. We had a great time, and that evening went to El Querandi for dinner and a traditional tango show.

It was a nice, relaxing couple of days in preparation for a trip to northern Argentina and Iguazu Falls.