Had cereal and bread with Dulce de lecheh (which is a kind of very sweet jam) breakfast at the hostel this morning. Since today is options expiration week, I gotta log in to my IB account to adjust some positions so I won´t get stuck with some stocks next week. The stock market went up again, what an incredible rally since March. IMHO I still think there will be a leg down for the stock market but who knows..hmm.

Uruguayans really like music from the 80s such as Madonna and MJ. Everywhere I heard songs from the 80s but not many people speak english though.

Walked to Mercado De Puerto with Emily and Jamila. The market is famous for Parilla (BBQ and steak).

Walked around the old city

which is just a few blocks from the Atlantic Ocean.

Visited Theater Solis and joined a short tour in Spanish.

Emily and Jamila who are quite fluent in Spanish helped explaining to me what the tour guide says.

Walked around and have lunch (chicken with fries) at a small deli. Again, I helped Emily finished her food but I am no Kobayashi.

With the crew

Deciding whether to take the overnight bus to Tigre then to BA to save money (save $10 for the bus and $10 for hostel) or just take the Colonia Express back to BA. Finally decided to pick the later option and managed to catch the 5.10 bus/ferry back to Buenos Aires. I was just in time 10 mins before the bus leaves. The funny thing is after I sat down, Michelle and Heather (from Berkeley) which I met at the free BA tour few days ago got on the bus too. What a small world..

Arrived at Porto Mendoza at around 10pm. Since the theme of my trip is budget travel, so I was pretty proud of myself in finding a local bus no. 130 to Calle Corientes then walked 6 blocks to my hostel without taking a cab. Even though I only save a few dollars but the journey was more exciting.

Took a public bus this morning to Plaza De Toros (a bull fighting ring)

Bumped into William who I met at the Hostel Florida. Then took the 1pm bus from Colonia to Montevideo. It’s 2.5 hours ride and cost (185 Uruguayan pesos, around $8.5)

[mappress]

Took a bus to to El Viajero-Ciudad Vieja Hostel which is the same one I stayed in Colonia. Since there’re only a few hours before the sky gets dark (sky gets dark at 6pm since it’s still winter), spent some time walking around the city with 2 Americans (Emily and Jamila) I just met at the hostel.

Statue of Artigas At Plaza Independenzia (Artigas is a national hero of Uruguay, sometimes called “the father of Uruguayan independence)

Ate at the hostel for dinner, 2 hamburgers for 60 pesos
At the hostel

Tangoing

After spending a week in Buenos Aires, next stop will be Uruguay. There is a ferry to Colonia from Buenos Aires. It’s an hour ride and the fast ferry cost 129 pesos (around $35).

Decided to save money and took a public bus (1.20peso) to the port but went the wrong way and then ended up taking a taxi instead which cost 20 pesos which is around $5 because I was late.

The ferry is super fast and felt like the boat was jumping on the wave all the way to Colonia.

Colonia is consider a UNESCO world heritage site because of the many old colonial building in the town.

An intro copied from wikitravel..

Colonia del Sacramento (Nova Colonia do Santissimo Sacramento) was founded in 1680 by the Portuguese (Manuel Lobo), sandwiched in between the Portuguese colony of Brazil and the Spanish Vice Royalty of the River Plate (later Argentina, Uruguay and Southern Brazil). Its strategic position and use as a smuggling port meant that its sovereignty was hotly contested and the city changed hands several times between Spain and Portugal.

Met a Belgian at the hostel and went to a restaurant close by. I have Cazuela again but it’s slightly from the Cazuela in Santiago. This has pig stomache in it. (90 pesos, around $4.5)