December 25, 2024 (and 26-27)
We woke up the next morning still tired from the long travel day the day before, but filled with excitement! We were going to make a quick day trip to Uruguay – a new country for us – by high-speed ferry.
I had assumed it would be pretty similar to trains in Europe, where you can show up 20-30 minutes before the train departs and be fine. But before I fell asleep, I had translated our e-tickets and saw a note that we needed to be there two hours before our departure time. Our departure time was at 12:15 – so we needed to get there around 10AM. We realized that it was Christmas in Argentina, and that most businesses were completely shut down.
So we had a beautiful walk in Buenos Aires over to the port to catch our ferry. We quickly realized that the ferry there was more similar to an airport experience. You had to check in – go through security – go through both Argentina’s customs AND Uruguay’s in the same area. Because I’m paranoid, we had plenty of time to get through all of these hoops and hurdles.
Not to mention, I had booked “business” class because it wasn’t that much more than the normal seats. We had no idea what it all included, but we stumbled into the VIP lounge and finally found food and much needed coffee.
Unfortunately for us, our Spanish has become rusty over the years. All of the announcements were in Spanish, so we were relying on the other passengers to understand what was going on. It turns out, our ferry was running over an hour late… and this ferry also could bring cars over. We heard (but can’t confirm this) that there were over 200 hundred cars loaded onto our ferry as well!
What was supposed to be a 2.5-3 hour event in Uruguay – ended up getting more and more delayed. By the time we got to Colonia del Sacramento, we had 20 minutes before we had to check back in with security again. We had planned on having lunch and strolling through the historic district (which is a UNESCO world heritage site), but ended up power walking through the district instead.
The ferry terminal in Colonia del Sacramento was much smaller, and less organized than the one in Buenos Aires. But we made it through the same security/customs we had cleared in BA – and then sat down in a cafeteria area. We had met our first fellow Americans while in line, they were at the end of their trip – we enjoyed sharing different travel stories with one another.
We quickly realized that we were on the same ferry as we traveled over on – and had a good laugh that the crew would see us and wonder what we were doing back so soon. (Only one woman noticed us – and we had shared a knowing smile).
This time the ferry was on time – there were far fewer cars that needed to be loaded on this leg of the trip. If you’re in the area, I’d highly recommend traveling with BuqueBus – it’s allegedly the fastest ferry in the area, but I’m sure other providers are good too.
Once we made it back to BA – we started our search for restaurants that were starting to open up. I had read that most things were closed on Christmas, but if they were going to open it would be around 6 or 7 and only for the dinner service. We found a burger joint – we resisted the temptation of the Hard Rock Cafe and found a local spot instead.
After dinner, we made our way back to the hotel to relax. The next two days would be pretty low-key as Andy was working remotely. I’m going to provide a quick highlight of our time in BA below!
Buenos Aires highlights:
– Puerto Madero: a vibrant and upscale neighborhood, known for its stunning waterfront views and fun dining and entertainment options. It was originally an old port district, it has undergone a dramatic transformation into a trendy hub, featuring luxurious hotels, stylish restaurants, and high-end office buildings.
– Puente de la Mujer (Bridge of the Woman) is another famous landmark, a pedestrian bridge that is shaped like a sailboat.
-Lots of shopping and restaurants near the hotel. We ate dinner at a few – interestingly enough there were a ton of Italian restaurants (of course in addition to all of the Argentinean steakhouses).
– Tango shows: we didn’t have enough time to do one of these, but I did a lot of research and wish we could have made it work!
Hotel:
-Hotel Emperador Buenos Aires
Up Next:
– Flight to Ushuaia
– Board cruise ship
Scribbles and Snapshots 