Uruguay in less than 10 hours.

Tourist visas are like a transportation phoenix.  They live for three months then through the wonders of the internal combustion engine, they propel you into another country so that you can return with a fresh tourist visa.

Our first tourist visa was about to expire and we used this opportunity to do some border hopping and visit Colonia Del Sacramento in Uruguay.  This did entail a night in Buenos Aires before hand as the ferry leaves at 8:15 in the morning.  We purchased a supply of facturas the night before to help us make it to the ferry terminal.  We didn’t take into account that Indy’s teenage appetite was also travelling with us and a few facturas weren’t going to carry her to another country.  Luckily there was duty free shopping on board.  It’s 50 km from Buenos Aires to Colonia and you can see each city from the other port.  The hour fifteen journey passed quickly without any sightings of pirates, mermaids or facturas vendors.

Colonia’s written history dates back to the late 1600s and is one of the oldest settlements in Uruguay.  We walked the cobblestone streets marvelling at the structure that have seen generations of people walk past.  Roofs that were tiled long before aeroplanes could fly over them and walls that were originally illuminated by candlelight now have electricity bounce off them.

You have to be older than eight to be able to climb the faro (lighthouse) built in 1850s so Depp waited patiently with Talluah while the girls and I spiralled upwards for a better view of the city.

We rested at the old wharf before finding some lunch on Avenida Flores which offers a variety of typical food from Uruguay.

We arrived back in Buenos Aires around 9:40 pm and were ushered to the front of the taxi line due to Talluah having a half asleep Depp on her shoulder.  The first taxi wouldn’t take us because there were five of us.  After two months in 9 de Julio where we frequently see five people on one motor bike and seven people in sedans, we found this a little perplexing.  The next taxi said we had to pay an extra 30 pesos because of the added risk that if we were in an accident his insurance may not pay for the five of us.  I’m not sure how 30 pesos would help cover anything but we paid him the extra and dragged our tired little legs back to the hotel for much needed sleep.