Long drive in a short country.

Packing up our stuff, checking out of the hotel, and picking up the rental car felt like such a chore today. Maybe it was the gray sky and drizzle, but I didn’t feel excited about going anywhere… I just wanted to stay inside. But our plan was to drive to Colonia, and we left Montevideo just past noon.

To get out of the city we had to drive along the entire Montevideo waterfront. It was ugly and run down for a good portion of the drive, with many 1970s apartment buildings blighting the landscape. The outskirts of the city were one big slum, with ramshackle buildings and trash EVERYWHERE. Yuck. I am really not a fan of Montevideo. It’s just not nice.  

But as we continued on, the weather improved, the landscape changed from garbage to green, and it was a pretty nice drive after all. We stopped for a gas station lunch -- terrible sandwiches and junk food. Bad idea. But we were so hungry and the options were few.

After about three hours on the road, we finally pulled into Colonia with high expectations. Fodor’s calls the town “one of the prettiest towns in South America...”  and it is pretty cute! There appear to be lots of shops and restaurants on the main drag. The streets are lined with trees and all the foliage is gold and dark green, like autumn, although it is actually spring here. It's pretty.

Our hotel, another Radisson, is on the edge of Old Town. It’s on the water and has a great outdoor patio/pool area. Our room smells like insect spray, but is otherwise very comfortable.

We walked along the small beach near the hotel where two tireless dogs we fetching sticks in the water for a young boy. Near the beach we found a little “artisan’s fair” where vendors were selling jewelry, t-shirts, and leather goods in permanent wooden structures. It had a real Small Town America / county fair vibe to it. We could have been in Wisconsin.

We found more bad food for dinner (we are having a string of bad luck), and walked around the Old Town. We purposely didn’t see everything though because we didn’t want to spoil things…  we have a big sightseeing day here tomorrow!