Weekend in Colonia
Several days later, I have yet to post in any detail about my trip to Uruguay. Here I go, fixing it!
We went to Colonia, the whole program; it's a UNESCO World Heritage site and the program director has a country estate there. So we all got on the ferry and went there for three days. The minute we got off the ferry, we went onto a bus that took us right to the country estate, where Mario (the director) had a feast waiting for us. I do mean a feast. Bread, hummus, vegetables, potatoes, yams, baba ganoush, fruit, parrillada, and clericot. I must explain clericot. It is, basically, white wine sangría. But don't try telling anyone that clericot is just like sangría with white wine instead of red. They will get offended. I do not know why. But yes: white wine, sugar, and lots of fruit. And the parrillada was unbelievable as well. Mario's estate (it was literally described as a plantation) has gorgeous lemon orchards, a pool, several ponds, lots of big fields, at least four dogs, and is a fifteen-minute walk from the beach. We spent the afternoon there, and afterwards went into Colonia proper to check into the hotels and take a walking tour of the historical city. I don't know why they scheduled our tour at night, but oh well.
Colonia was founded as a Portuguese town in Spanish-held territory, in violation of the Treaty of Tordesillas, which divided the continent between the Portuguese and the Spanish. So the Portuguese apparently decided, "Screw you! We'll build our city wherever we want!" and so they built Colonia del Sacramento, and they thought it was unassailable because it was on the coast of seriously rocky beaches and you couldn't land nearby without somebody seeing and killing you. But the Spanish were clever and landed several miles up the Río de la Plata and just attacked by land. And the city went back and forth between the Spanish and the Portuguese for a good long while. It ended up in Spanish hands, after which Uruguay declared independence. So we got to explore this beautiful walled city (they restored parts of the old walls, and parts are original), and see the historic lighthouse, and walk around. The buildings are beautifully preserved, for all that they now house modern touristy businesses. The streets are all cobbled and the church in the town dates from the original Portuguese settlement in the 1690s, and it's the oldest church in Uruguay (which makes sense, seeing as Colonia is the oldest city in Uruguay).
We spent the next day and a half exploring the old city, which is pretty small, but I climbed halfway up the lighthouse-- I had no Charlotte to help me down, so obviously I couldn't get all the way to the top!-- and went into the church, which has gorgeous religious art inside, dating back centuries. We hung out at the rocky beach, which is beautiful if somewhat precarious, and the wharf as well, which is less precarious. I ate chivito-- the Uruguayan national dish, an egg on top of a slice of ham on top of tenderloin on top of french fries-- and had an arroz con mariscos which included octopus legs. Whole baby octopus legs. With the little suction cups on them and everything. And I ate them. I like gastronomical adventures. And, of course, we went shopping for souvenirs.
It was a lovely weekend, but I don't really think there's three days' worth of things to do there. So we relaxed, and took a lot of photos-- although my camera ran out of battery on the first day, which was a shame-- and climbed the wall to sit on a cannon, and walked all around the cobblestone streets and found a murga, which is like a street parade with traditional candombe music. It's for Carnaval, which is over, but the murga was still happening. They had a corps of about ten drummers, using a stick in one hand and the palm of the other, following dancers. I joined in, for a little while, with another girl from my program; she was really good, I probably just looked silly, but it was a lot of fun, and I'm glad I can say I danced candombe in the street!
So that's Uruguay, in a nutshell. Ever since, I've been doing schoolwork. Much less exciting. It's a lot of reading, which would be tiresome in English and is worse in Spanish, but I'm managing. Slowly.
We went to Colonia, the whole program; it's a UNESCO World Heritage site and the program director has a country estate there. So we all got on the ferry and went there for three days. The minute we got off the ferry, we went onto a bus that took us right to the country estate, where Mario (the director) had a feast waiting for us. I do mean a feast. Bread, hummus, vegetables, potatoes, yams, baba ganoush, fruit, parrillada, and clericot. I must explain clericot. It is, basically, white wine sangría. But don't try telling anyone that clericot is just like sangría with white wine instead of red. They will get offended. I do not know why. But yes: white wine, sugar, and lots of fruit. And the parrillada was unbelievable as well. Mario's estate (it was literally described as a plantation) has gorgeous lemon orchards, a pool, several ponds, lots of big fields, at least four dogs, and is a fifteen-minute walk from the beach. We spent the afternoon there, and afterwards went into Colonia proper to check into the hotels and take a walking tour of the historical city. I don't know why they scheduled our tour at night, but oh well.
Colonia was founded as a Portuguese town in Spanish-held territory, in violation of the Treaty of Tordesillas, which divided the continent between the Portuguese and the Spanish. So the Portuguese apparently decided, "Screw you! We'll build our city wherever we want!" and so they built Colonia del Sacramento, and they thought it was unassailable because it was on the coast of seriously rocky beaches and you couldn't land nearby without somebody seeing and killing you. But the Spanish were clever and landed several miles up the Río de la Plata and just attacked by land. And the city went back and forth between the Spanish and the Portuguese for a good long while. It ended up in Spanish hands, after which Uruguay declared independence. So we got to explore this beautiful walled city (they restored parts of the old walls, and parts are original), and see the historic lighthouse, and walk around. The buildings are beautifully preserved, for all that they now house modern touristy businesses. The streets are all cobbled and the church in the town dates from the original Portuguese settlement in the 1690s, and it's the oldest church in Uruguay (which makes sense, seeing as Colonia is the oldest city in Uruguay).
We spent the next day and a half exploring the old city, which is pretty small, but I climbed halfway up the lighthouse-- I had no Charlotte to help me down, so obviously I couldn't get all the way to the top!-- and went into the church, which has gorgeous religious art inside, dating back centuries. We hung out at the rocky beach, which is beautiful if somewhat precarious, and the wharf as well, which is less precarious. I ate chivito-- the Uruguayan national dish, an egg on top of a slice of ham on top of tenderloin on top of french fries-- and had an arroz con mariscos which included octopus legs. Whole baby octopus legs. With the little suction cups on them and everything. And I ate them. I like gastronomical adventures. And, of course, we went shopping for souvenirs.
It was a lovely weekend, but I don't really think there's three days' worth of things to do there. So we relaxed, and took a lot of photos-- although my camera ran out of battery on the first day, which was a shame-- and climbed the wall to sit on a cannon, and walked all around the cobblestone streets and found a murga, which is like a street parade with traditional candombe music. It's for Carnaval, which is over, but the murga was still happening. They had a corps of about ten drummers, using a stick in one hand and the palm of the other, following dancers. I joined in, for a little while, with another girl from my program; she was really good, I probably just looked silly, but it was a lot of fun, and I'm glad I can say I danced candombe in the street!
So that's Uruguay, in a nutshell. Ever since, I've been doing schoolwork. Much less exciting. It's a lot of reading, which would be tiresome in English and is worse in Spanish, but I'm managing. Slowly.