My tenure in Buenos Aires finally came to an end today. After exactly three weeks, I checked out of my hostel and hopped onto a ferry for Uruguay. Buenos Aires was a terrific place to start my travels as so many people speak english there, and the city itself is extremely modern. That said, it was still a big, mostly anonymous, city. The ferry across the river cost me US$14, and took about 3:00 hours. The ferry itself wasn´t exactly a barge with a tugboat, either. Walking onto the boat from the docks, I thought I´d entered an upscale coffee bar. There were tons of little tables scattered about with extremely comfortable leather(esque) chairs. Until I actually saw the water through a window on the other side of the vessel, I was convinced I was in some sort of waiting area. It was a really pleasant ride the whole way, which was good as I was sufferring some intenstinal distress in the early morning. Five days of steak and fried steak followed by one salad as a catalyst does not make for the best traveling condition.

Upon arriving in Uruguay, I hustled through customs (apparently my look of sheer terror and confusion was enough to convince them I wasn´t much of a threat) and out into my second country of the trip. Colonia del Sacremento, Uruguay isn´t a small town, with over 20,000 people, but coming from Buenos Aires, it feels like little more than a crossroads. Its a very nice town, and has an interesting historic district with some of the original foundations from the fort located here in the 17th century. A lot of the history regarding the struggle between Spain and Portugal over the section of land now known as Uruguay is discussed in some of the museums here as well. Very nifty and relaxing. I don´t have much of a chance to look around tomorrow, as I´m off to the beach. Ah, who needs history anyway. I need a tan.