Colonia de Sacramento, Uruguay

From Buenos Aires, one of the easiest and most popular excursions is to cross the Rio de la Plata by ferry over to Uruguay to access Montevideo or another adorable little touristy town, Colonia de Sacramento. When one imagines crossing a river, you probably don't imagine a river that is up to about 200 km wide. If you want to get technical, it's an estuary formed by the Uruguay Parana rivers that creates the border between Argentina and Uruguay and connects all the way to the Atlantic Ocean. Because of sediments entering from the other rivers, the water is a nice murky brown color.
There is the option for the super fast 1 hour ferry to Colonia or the more affordable 3 hour trip which has you there in time to walk around, grab some lunch, snap photos of the historical area of the city, and with the 1 hour time change be back in Buenos Aires by 10pm.

Leaving Buenos Aires behind

Big river, right?

Brown water noted

Approaching Colonia

This is what the ferry looks like

Don't worry, this guy is going to catch a boat that big and tie us up

Here's to visiting another country in one day

Colonia de Sacramento was founded originally by Portugal in 1680 and over the years had also been under Spanish and Brazilian control. It's now a part of Uruguay and it's best known for its historic district, a World Heritage Site, that was built by the Portuguese.

It also had a tropical island feel

I loved all of the different colored hibiscus everywhere

You know it's a small world when you run into two of your good friends from Santiago in Uruguay. We forgot to snap a picture as proof of our coincidental meeting, but they were really there, I swear.

Back to Buenos Aires!

Buenos Aires

I'm almost to the end of the travel posts, I promise. It was a fun 6 weeks and I feel very fortunate to have done and seen everything that I did. My travel around Chile has definitely changed the way I plan to travel in the future and the things I still want to see. Gone are the days of all-inclusive resorts in Mexico, hello Cartagena de Indias, Colombia!
If you're one of those outdoorsy types who likes Alaska or the Western USA, you HAVE to add Patagonia to your list of place to visit. I hope to return someday to see the other side and make my way up the places that I missed like Ushuaia, El Calafate, and Bariloche.
Now...on to my photos of Buenos Aires. Although it's a beautiful cosmopolitan city, I knew right away that I made the right choice in coming to Santiago. For me it's more manageable and the only way I can describe it would be like moving from Chicago to New York City. At any rate, since I'm a Chicago girl, it was nice to get out of this desert for a few days and into a little heat and humidity and see the beautiful people, architecture, and fashion.

Retiro and Plaza San Martin:

La Casa Rosada and Plaza de Mayo:

Puerto Madero:

Recoleta area and the cemetary:

Everyone comes to see Evita

I didn't get it in the photo, but there was even a butterfly flying around right here next to this quote that says to focus on the life that is beginning and not ending. Pretty cool.

Crossing Over, part II

After Mendoza, I returned to Santiago for a few days and still had a little time remaining before classes started so I decided to dip into my travel savings fund to take one last trip, to Buenos Aires. I mention this tiny detail to any readers who might be considering teaching English here just to remind them that although the summer is great for travel opportunities, (and also high season fares) it's also a long time to be without any kind of steady pay. Save during the good months, come with some money that you saved at home, or plan to stock up on private students to stash away some cash for travels, otherwise you could find yourself unemployed, hot, and bored in Santiago for a month or longer if you don't plan ahead.
If you remember a few posts back, I crossed over into Argentina by bus. Santiago to Buenos Aires is usually a reasonable plane fare and I opted for that since the 20+ hour bus ride just wasn't for me. I thought the sights on the bus over the Andes were spectacular, but these shots I got out of the plane window were even better.

Stay tuned for pictures of Buenos Aires and my day trip over to Colonia de Sacramento, Uruguay.