Colonia del Sacramento and Arrival in Buenos Aires

Today we drove from Montevideo to Colonia del Sacramento.  The rain began pouring down as we traveled, and we were worried about whether we were in for a bad weather day.  Happily, the rain abated as we continued westward, leaving  some spectacular skies to contemplate.

We had a outdoor lunch in Colonia del Sacramento, an early-settled town on the Rio de la Plata where the old colonial torn has been preserved .  We wandered through the cobble-stoned streets and ate an outdoors meal while listening to a quartet of folk musicians, then looked around the town.  It cost only 50 Uruguayan pesos, roughly $2.50 apiece, to get into eight local museums -- the charge seemed low but then there was not much to the museums.



One of two original gates to the old walled city



A lovely sycamore-lined street

18th Century Portuguese fountain



A street in Colonia del Sacramento



The lighthouse, built among the ruins of Convento de San Francisco

Our touring was cut short to head to the boat acorss the Rio de la Plata, Mike and Jean wented to get there early because they anticipated trouble getting the special document they needed to get back itno Uruguay (which they need until they get their permanent resident cards, for which they applied two years ago). And, in fact, they had to walk to a separate building to get that, so it is a good thing we were early.

The boat ride was smooth, but there were again "interesting" skies to be seen from the window.

We were expecting to be hit with a stiff $140 entry fee to get nito Argentina, but were surprised to learn that this is charged only when one arrives by air.  We hopped into a cab to our hotel, the Bohemia Buenos Aires.  And we arrived not a moment too soon -- the skies burst a few minutes after our arrival and the show was spectacular, wuith high winds, lightning and heavy heavy rain.  We heard the next morning that there had been extensive flooding (we will be walking today instead of taking the subway becasue some stations are flooded).

Because it was raining so hard we decided to duck right across the street to an open restaurant, the Nacional.  It was good, particularly of interest were the pumpkin soup and the caramelized pork with roast pears and an apple mash.  I had the bife de chorizo which was fine but the especially interesting part of this dish was the papas crocantes, fried quicly so have a crisp crust but very soft inside.

After dinner, we walked up to the Plaza Dorrego where we had dessert in a small restaurant while watching a couple dancing the tango for tips.  Home to bed at 11:30, but intending to do more tomorrow.