Colonia - February 7th

We probably saw all the main sights in Colonia in our little walk around town yesterday, because it isn’t all that big.  The historic quarter on the peninsula is only about 5 blocks by 5 blocks.  Still we begin today by taking a walking tour of the town with a local guide.  Here we learn a lot about the history of the town.  It is unique in South America because it was founded by the Portuguese, and then it changed hands in battles between them and the Spanish 5 times, before ending up in Uruguay, so it has a mixture of both Portuguese and Spanish architectures.  This, and the fact that it is the oldest town in Uruguay, means it is a UNESCO world heritage site (the only one in Uruguay in fact).

During the tour we learn the difference between the two architectural styles, how to tell roads and buildings built by both countries apart, and lots of other trivia about the country.  It is a fairly good tour, and the guide is quite pleasant.  We finish at the main church in town, which is the oldest in the country (and seems to be a basilica, they hand that award out a lot easier here in South America than in Europe).

After the tour it is time for lunch, where Dorota finally finds a restaurant which allows foreigners to experience the Mate culture (I’m sure she will explain in her blog), and then we head back to the hotel for an air conditioned siesta, and another amazingly good ice cream (we are getting slightly addicted), because it is boiling hot. 

Later we go back towards the coast and in expectation of another great sunset, we plan to climb the lighthouse to get an even better view of it.  But during our siesta it has clouded over and we won’t get a good sunset this time (and in fact it was so good yesterday that our tour guide even raved about it, and he lives here).  So instead we climb it anyway to take pictures of the town, then we look around the shops, have dinner in a nice open air restaurant in the main plaza, and head back to the hotel.  Not long after we get there the wind picks up, and the heavens open, and the clouds that blocked our sunset unleash their fury in another massive thunderstorm.