Buenos Aires to Colonia to Montevideo to Buenos Aires

So this will be our final blog in South America. It's crazy that three months have already passed, but we're both kind of glad to be leaving the continent, as we are getting a little tired of the language barrier, different customs and food, and are keen for the comforts of something closer to home.

Our Uruguayan adventure started with a rushed taxi to the ferry terminal, sprinting through customs and jumping on board the boat with minutes to spare. It was a very large ferry with cafe tables, so we parked ourselves on one of them for the three hour trip to Colonia del Sacramento, eating, drinking and reading.

Colonia is a beautiful little town about two hours northwest of Montevideo on the river. It's been certified as a Unesco World Heritage site and for good reason. The old town shares a rich Spanish and Portuguese heritage that is reflected in the buildings, street design and thefortifications around it. Walking around the town is easy as it is quite small, and theres always so much to look at.

Ilona was in her element as she loves autumn, and the trees were shedding their leaves creating a very idyllic setting for her to frolic around in. After checking into our hostel (which was spacious, sparse and comfortable) we had lunch and strolled around town, taking photos and ended up having ice cream at an heladeria, which was nothing short of amazing.

Back at the hostel we met a Kiwi guy called Jesse from a town in the Hawkes Bay called Te Awanga, where some cousins of mine are from. I asked if he knew them, but he didn't. We ended up going out to dinner with him and I ordered myself an Angus steak, which was fantastic, and Ilona downed a whole mini bottle of wine, which she really enjoyed.

The next day we headed off with Jesse to see an abandoned bullring just up the river, which we had planned on doing the previous night, but all of the hire shops for bicycles were closed and it was too far to walk. We rented cruiser bikes for a couple of hours and set off down the waterfront towards the bullring.

When we got there we found an impressive stadium that was crumbling away behind a wire fence, riddles with large holes and torn down sections. We chained our bikes up and climbed over the fence to check out the 100 year old stonework inside and take some pictures. There were a couple of people around doing the same, so we thought nothing of it. Most of the building was still structurally sound enough for one person to walk on it, and we just had to avoid a couple of big holes in the concrete, but large chunks of the exterior walls had fallen away, leaving it looking much like a Coliseum style ruin.

We were only in there for a couple of minutes and takes one or two photos when a guy came in and started yelling at us. It seemed that we were being very naughty for being in there! We reluctantly left, but hung around as the security guard drove away, cycling around the outside and scoping out a few more entry points. They could have done a better job of keeping people out, as the fence was doing absolutely nothing, considering the amount of holes in it.

After about 15 minutes of hanging around the outside and taking more pictures, Jesse and I dumped out bikes in a nearby bush and snuck back in, because rules just don't apply to us like that. After getting a few more shots of what I wanted, and my obligatory artsy black and white pics, we headed back into town.

Ilona decided that she really liked her bike, and pondered the possibility of getting a cruiser for shopping runs when we are in the UK. We said goodbye to Jesse when we got back and headed down to the bus station, immediately jumping on a bus to Montevideo.

Two hours later we were in a taxi on our way to another big, comfy hostel in the middle of town. It was late-afternoon when we had checked in and settled, so we went for a bit of a stroll around our surroundings, checking out a big mausoleum for a revered Uruguayan General that was build underneath the main plaza (I was very impressed by it, Ilona not at all) and then for a drink in a cafe by the city theatre. We couldn't be bothered with a nice restaurant dinner, so we settled with California Burrito Company, a Mexican food chain that was recommended by our guidebook. It wasn't all that great to be honest.

The next day bought rain and a very dreary atmosphere, so we took it slow and headed down to the ports for a coffee and nosey around at about 11. We visited a carnaval museum where they celebrate Uruguay's rich ethnic backgrounds that emerge during their carnaval celebrations, displaying masks, costumes, drums and miniature flotillas. Next door there was a large indoor meat market there which we had been told by another traveller that we had to eat at, as she was a vegetarian and even she was tempted to eat some of their incredible steaks. I am glad I went, because I had found exactly what I had been hoping to find.

I had previously said to Ilona that I would be disappointed if I left Argentina and hadn't eaten the best steak of my life. Funnily enough it was Uruguay that gave it to me. We sat at the bar of one of the many restaurants right in front of their grill and watched as dozens of kilos of steak, chorizo, chicken, pork rolls, peppers, cheese and fish was all flame grilled right in front of us. The warmth and smell of it enveloping us and the frantic pace of the open kitchen all combined with the taste of the best steak of my life was enough to get me all giddy and spewing out superlative after superlative, mouth full of juicy beef and a glazed expression in my eyes. It was truly the best culinary experience I had ever had.

The rest of the day just paled in comparison, my meal that night was positively bland and even my ice cream afterwards was sub-standard. Though we did head to a bookstore with a cafe inside to shelter from the rain and cold and had overly-rich hot chocolates while reading books that we had bought from home, which was quite cosy.

That evening I watched Real Madrid win the Copa Del Rey which was a bit of fun and talked to a nice American guy from New York, who reminded Ilona and I of Rowan and Cam mixed together. The next day we packed up and headed to the ferry terminal (on time!), jumped on and headed back to Buenos Aires to finish our last three and a half days.

Yesterday was spent visiting Buenos Aires' famous La Recoleta Cemetery, where many important figures of the past two centuries are buried, like many past presidents and most notably, Eva Peron (Evita). Some of the crypts were very grand and ornate, while some were very run down. There were large central pathways between the plots and lots of smaller, darker ones between the back plots, where a lot of mausoleums had been vandalised, in one case to the point where a coffin had been broken so badly you could see the contents inside.

Ilona was so creeped out at this she hurriedly scuttle back to a main pathway, with me following behind and chuckling at the sight of a Goth couple passionately making out on the steps of someone's tomb. Lunch was eaten at an Irish pub and restaurant and then we wandered around a bit more, finding ourselves in a large homewares shopping center, where I had to drag Ilona away from the kitchen stores to vociferous complaints. “We'll do it as much as you want when we actually have a kitchen to buy things for” I told her.We headed back to the hostel where I put off writing this blog for another day and we just blobbed for the rest of the night.

Today we headed into the La Boca district of Buenos Aires, an area famous for it's bohemian art, tango and passionately supported football team. We walked around, taking in the sights and Ilona had awful iced coffee at a cafe (my orange juice wasn't bad though). Afterwards we headed back into town and walked up Calle Florida, the main shopping street where Ilona finally picked up a new pair of jeans that fitted her well as her current pair are falling apart.

Tonight we will have a final meal and celebrate the end of an amazing and life changing experience for us both. Our Spanish has improved to no end, we have both met some amazing people and made some really great friends that I hope we will stay in touch with for years to come. Three months is really not enough to explore this amazing continent completely. One could spend a solid six to nine months here and still have lots to see, but like us, everybody is limited by their budget. We have an extensive bucket list for 'next time' where we will actually do the Inka Trail, complete a Salar de Uyuni tour and see the Galapagos Islands. We really want to see Patagonia and I want ride the World's Most Dangerous Road again (and again, and again, ad infinitum!) There is just too much of the Earth to see and not enough money for us to see it with!

So, on to South Africa we go then!

Mike.