Colonia del Sacramento is a lovely, small Unesco World Heritage town located across the Rio Plata from Buenos Aires. Several years ago when I first visited B.A. I had hoped to see Colonia but either the ferries were booked up or not running that day, or some such thing so I made sure to book a seat well in advance (i.e. back in October) so I wouldn’t be stumped this time. Annie, Gail, and Sheila had a family-friend-of-a-friend graciously offer to show them the highlights of B.A. so we all had plans for the day. A humongous catamaran ferry zipped me across the 30-mile wide muddy-colored river in just an hour, and with a quick fingerprinting and a stamp in the passport I was in a new country! Another magnet to collect!
What a delight Colonia was! Despite the 100’s of passengers crowding the ferry, I saw relatively few tourists roaming the quaint cobble-stoned streets, so I was perfectly happy poking my way along each little lane of the old town, checking out the charming shops and cafes, and trying to peek into the private tranquil courtyards hidden behind old stone walls. It was early summer so the hydrangea bushes were in full bloom, blue and white allium were waving tall in the light breeze off the river, and the mature plane trees offered welcome shade as their reaching branches stretched over the small streets. It was a wonderful juxtaposition to the cold white barrenness of Antarctica. I found a cheap, friendly trattoria right on the water so I settled in for a long lunch of pizza and white wine and watched the world go by. On my return to the ferry I found the “new” Colonia with modern shops and noisier bars that’s a bit inland from the historic area on the point but found that a bit jarring after such a peaceful interlude so I veered back to the old quarter and meandered back to the boat for my 5:15pm ferry back to Argentina.
Unfortunately B.A. was undergoing a bit of a transportation crisis when I emerged from the ferry terminal. Today was the last work day before a 4-day weekend and the subway was shut down due to strikes (because of or in sympathy to the death of a subway worker from a falling air conditioner) so traffic was at a standstill and no taxis were to be found. I had to pay a taxi driver off-meter at a rate almost 3x what it cost that morning to get to the ferry but I had no other option for getting back to the hotel. I wasn’t really upset as it was only about $20 and it took at least 3x the time to make the journey so it was probably fair in the end. I quite happily people-watched for the 45 minutes, checking out the local fashions, amazed myself at the indigenous driving habits (6 lanes of traffic squeezed into space for 4), and the incredible lines for the buses – some bus stops had people lined up for 3-4 blocks waiting for a bus! I felt very fortunate to have found a ride at all.
It was 7:30pm before I found my friends at the hotel and as none of us were very hungry we just popped out to a local supermarket for some snacks but as they had a full hot food section we each got a takeout dish and a beverage and dined back on our room’s balcony, watching the sun set over the Recoleta cemetery just across the street. A perfect end to a great day.
No comments:
Post a Comment