My Birthday in Colonia, Uruguay

Since I have to leave Argentina every 90 days to keep my visa current, I figured an overnight trip to the quaint town of Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay would be a good way to celebrate my birthday since I was approaching my 90 days.

Colonia is just a one-hour high speed boat ride from Buenos Aires, crossing the Rio de la Plata, which separates Argentina from Uruguay and is one of the widest river basins in the world. In fact, 20 minutes into the boat trip, you can’t see land and feel like you’re in the middle of the sea!

I treated myself and splurged for a room at the five-star Radisson hotel and, to my delight, was given an upgrade to a suite with a balcony overlooking the river and a birthday cake (a contact of mine in the travel industry with connections to many establishments in South America pulled a few strings).

After a delicious meal of filet mignon accompanied by a bottle of Malbec, I headed to the casino next door, where I won enough in a slot machine to almost cover the cost of my trip (excluding the hotel) so I decided to cash in and retire early Sunday night for a day of sightseeing today.

The entire town (the historic district) of Colonia can be seen in its entirety in less than two hours and is quite picturesque. All of the roads are cobblestone and many of the buildings date back to the 1600’s. The architecture is a combination of Portuguese (it used to be a colony of Portugal) and Spanish, and is quite remarkable. Thankfully, the weather held up (it was quite chilly though) so I was able to get some good photos.