On the Beaches of Colonia, Urugay (from left to right, Amy, Morgan, Dallas, Me, and Delaney)
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Every year, our study abroad program plans a trip to Colonia, Uruguay, where the director of our program, Mario, owns a house/bed and breakfast. Since our program is so big, we were split into two groups to partake in the trip on different weekends, and as it happened to turn out almost all of my girl friends were on my trip and all of my guy friends were on the other trip, so this was a nice girls weekend for my friends and I. Colonia is such a gorgeous city and we had so much fun! Definitely one of the most fun things I have done so far.
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This trip is included in the price of being a part of the program, so we didn't have to worry about paying anything and simply met the leaders of our program at the boat station at 8:30am on Friday morning. We got our tickets and went through customs (for my first time other than Argentina, yay! Another stamp in my passport!) and proceeded to board the boat. I have never been on a cruise so I don't really have a good comparison, but this boat was absolutely amazing and huge! Not like any "boat" I have ever seen. There were 3 floors; the first floor had cafes and a duty-free shop (that sold very strange things, lots of perfume and alcohol but at good prices because there is no tax!), and the second floor had more cafes a
nd a huge seating area for anyone that wanted to sleep or relax for the trip. My friends and I propped ourselves at a cute little table on the upper deck and got to enjoy the sights and the sun as we started our 3 hour boat ride across the bay to Uruguay.
nd a huge seating area for anyone that wanted to sleep or relax for the trip. My friends and I propped ourselves at a cute little table on the upper deck and got to enjoy the sights and the sun as we started our 3 hour boat ride across the bay to Uruguay. -
It was a georgeous day for a boat ride, and although it only takes an hour to cross the sea, or program chose the "slow" boat so we could enjoy the trip a little more. We bought mimosas and chatted as we left Buenos Aires behind us and headed into open water towards Uruguay. We snapped a few pictures of the shoreline (see right, me and my good friend Emily) and relaxed. At one point, an older man came over to our table and asked if he could sit with us in an empty seat. We got to talking with him and his wife who came to join us shortly after and learned that they were from Sweden and owned a sailboat that they had docked in Uruguay. They were so nice and had a teddy bear named Charlie (just like Matthew's) who wore a sailor outfit and a captains hat that "looked over their journeys". They were so much fun and we chatted the whole trip. The husband told us he wrote the song "Dancing Queen" by Abba, but who knows if that is true or not, still makes for a funny story!
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When we docked in Colonia, we were met by the director of our program, Mario, wearing a University of Wisconsin tshirt, wooo! I snapped a picture with him on my friends camera, so hopefully I ca
n put it up later. We hopped into a few big buses and started the journey to Marios house. We were dropped on a little dirt road that looked like it was in the middle of nowhere and hiked a little ways until we came up to Marios beautiful house (see picture, left). He has a beautiful house with lemon tree orchards surrounding it. There was a pool, a lake, and lots of beautiful scenery. We all changed into swimsuits and layed out by his pool as he prepared lunch for us all. We wandered around the lemon trees and swam in the pool until lunch, which was served to us by professional servers as we sat a big tables with white tableclothes in his backyard. We had a traditional Argentine asado, or barbecue, with chicken, beef, pork, sausages, you name it. Just when we thought we were getting full, another server would come around with a different kind of meat or side dish. We sipped on wine and chatted and after lunch none of us could hardly move from eating so much!
n put it up later. We hopped into a few big buses and started the journey to Marios house. We were dropped on a little dirt road that looked like it was in the middle of nowhere and hiked a little ways until we came up to Marios beautiful house (see picture, left). He has a beautiful house with lemon tree orchards surrounding it. There was a pool, a lake, and lots of beautiful scenery. We all changed into swimsuits and layed out by his pool as he prepared lunch for us all. We wandered around the lemon trees and swam in the pool until lunch, which was served to us by professional servers as we sat a big tables with white tableclothes in his backyard. We had a traditional Argentine asado, or barbecue, with chicken, beef, pork, sausages, you name it. Just when we thought we were getting full, another server would come around with a different kind of meat or side dish. We sipped on wine and chatted and after lunch none of us could hardly move from eating so much!-
Afterwards, Mario took us on a walk down to the beach (see picture above of my friends and I). The beach was gorgeous but the water was really cold, and we took in the views and layed out until it was time to go. We all got back on the buses and were dropped off in smaller groups at various hotels. About 15 girls and I stayed at a hotel called "Las Angeles", or angels. My friends Amy, Dallas and I took showers and took a nap, opting out of the free city tour (it was night time so we were sure you couldn't see much and we were tired and had the entire next day to get to explore the city). We woke up from our nap and went to a delicious dinner at "The Drugstore".
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Another thing that the program provided for free, "The Drugstore" had an adapted menu for us (since we were such a big group) and was so much fun. Britney Spears music videos played on a big screen at the back of the resaurant and we ate chicken, beef or spaghetti and drank a sangria-like drink with fruit floating in it. Desert was absolutely delicious, I got a piece of chocolate cake with dulce de leche filling (dulce de leche is extremely popular here, and from what I can tell its pretty close to caramel). After dinner, some of us went to a cute karaoke bar nearby for a little bit and decided to go home and get some sleep so we could 
enjoy the next day.
enjoy the next day.-
That morning, we decided to sight-see the tiny town of Colonia, so we rented a moped and a golf cart for us 6 girls (2 on the moped, 4 in the golf cart). The city is so small and old that mopeds are really popular, and you can rent them almost anywhere for $35(US) a day. Since my friend Dallas and I both own mopeds in Madison, we were the designated drivers and let the girls switch off riding on the back with one of us (in the picture at the right is Dallas driving with Emily on the back). We drove around and got to see the "old" part of the city, which was beautiful with cobblestone streets, cute cafes and botiques. We also got to drive along the shoreline and observe the beautiful scenery. We had lunch at a cute pizza place that specialized in an Uruguay traditional dish, chivito, which is bascially a steak sandwich with egg, lettuce, tomato, cheese, ham and mayo. Delicous!
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After lunch, we headed down to the end of the shoreline where a woman that works at our hotel told us we could find a man who rents out horses. We drove along until we saw 7 horses tethered in this little forrest with a man and his 6 year old son. Wondering if this was the right place, we talked to the man who told us we could rent the horses for 10 pesos every half hour ($2.50/half hour, ridiculously cheap!). We all agreed right away and we got situated on horses (that didn't have names, weird) an
d got ready for our adventure. My friend Amy had never ridden a horse before so the guide put her on a little black pony, she looked so funny (she is all the way on the right in the picture)! The guide came with us and showed us all sorts of sites around the city. We rode past an old bull fighting ring, got to see the poorer area where locals greeted us enthusiastically, and the very rich part of the city with amazing houses. We also rode along the beach and into the water so our horses could have a drink. The guide took a picture of all of us (see left, notice the small pony on the left, which was the guide's horse and was the "girlfriend" of my horse, so they always walked together, so sweet!) and we rode back into town to end our ride. It was so much fun, the guide was such a sweetheart and we tipped him heavily and got back on our moped/golf cart to return them and get back on the boat to come back home.
d got ready for our adventure. My friend Amy had never ridden a horse before so the guide put her on a little black pony, she looked so funny (she is all the way on the right in the picture)! The guide came with us and showed us all sorts of sites around the city. We rode past an old bull fighting ring, got to see the poorer area where locals greeted us enthusiastically, and the very rich part of the city with amazing houses. We also rode along the beach and into the water so our horses could have a drink. The guide took a picture of all of us (see left, notice the small pony on the left, which was the guide's horse and was the "girlfriend" of my horse, so they always walked together, so sweet!) and we rode back into town to end our ride. It was so much fun, the guide was such a sweetheart and we tipped him heavily and got back on our moped/golf cart to return them and get back on the boat to come back home.-
After checking out of our hotel and thanking the adorable women that work there, we boarded the boat again around 8pm. Since it was night and a little chilly on the water, we opted to sit downstairs. We grabbed a quick dinner of sandwiches from the cafe and took naps. When we got home Amy, Emily, Kasia and I got changed and ready to go out to meet up with a few Argentine friends, Fernando and Ariel. We met the boys at a club that the boys wanted to go to and were shocked to see how swanky and cool it was! It was a place called Roxy and there were huge lines of Argentines waiting to get in. We were getting ourselves prepared for a night of waiting in line when the boys told us they got us on the list, so we got to use the VIP enterance and walk right in! It was such a cool club and we had lots of fun.
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All in all, I had a fabulous weekend and got ready for another week of classes. I am so thankful that we got to go to Colonia, Uruguay and that we didn't have to worry about paying! We were blessed with really nice weather and I had a blast hanging out with the girls all weekend. I will add another blog soon about everything else that is goin on down here! Love you all! Besos
