After about a week in Argentina, our tour has taken us back to Uruguay. Instead of Montevideo, this itinerary goes first to Colonia del Sacramento, one of the oldest towns in Uruguay. Next – and included in this post – we have an Estancia stay, so stay tuned (I should’ve said mucho mas!).
This first batch includes the ferry ride (done already in the other direction) to Colonia, our hotel, and an initial walk around the old town – touristy, but charming. Note the cars, the lighthouse, and the views from the marina…
More of walking around the old town of Colonia del Sacramento…
Some of us happened upon a drumming parade, and had to get involved.
Then, another tour group dinner at another interesting restaurant…
A clip of the drumming parade…
The next day, Sunday, was market day, so we went. After the farmers’ (etc.!) market, took a walk up the Rambla, a pedestrian route along the coast, then turned around and returned to the old town for lunch before departing Colonia del Sacramento. Note the big cheese, street art, kite surfers, old cars, antique shop displays, and mas…
It was a few hours drive to our Estancia stay, an older farm house equipped for agritourism – cooking classes and horseback riding. There were a coupla cows, a few sheep, an ant-encrusted mushroom, and semi-retired gaucho named Roberto. We spent three nights there, each one featuring a campfire before bed…
The next day Roberto taught us how to milk a cow – and her baby got in on the action. Then, we learned how to make empanadas – from rolling the dough to stuffin’ ’em. Afterwards, we had the first of three beefy lunches (the empanadas were snacks for later)…
After lunch, we went horseback riding. Coincidentally, I’d already made friends with my particular horse, Christina. (Lunch is squeezed between horse encounters and riding.)
In fact, the cow production has declined in this part of South America, replaced by paper pulp production, manifested by the eucalyptus forests we rode through. Nice, but not natural; note the lumber at the end of this batch…
This batch starts with the empanadas we made, but mostly is of a sunset walk featuring some pastoral vistas…
The next day – our second full one at the estancia – we went to the now-defunct Anglo meat factory in Fray Bentos, a company town designed exclusively for the mass production of tinned meat.
More from the old Anglo meat factory in Fray Bentos. Not great imagining the life of the cows (killed with a hammer) – or the workers (killing, carving, packing, and doing all sorts of hard manual labor in a noisy, non-union shop)!
Yet more of the defunct Anglo meat factory in Fray Bentos.
Note the picture of the guy (twice) who, during his 40+ year career at that desk wore grooves into the wooden floor exercising his legs. Can you find them? Can you imagine…?
During the excellent tour, conducted by Nicholas, shown above, we encountered a nice doggie and some pretty birds…
Here’s a last random batch of our “estancia turistica” and some bush whacking around thereabouts…
This last batch is of one more cooking class, some lunch, and I drive back into Argentina for a 14-hour bus ride. Yay?
I know, another doozy. More editing, more cutting room floor, less is more. We can talk more about it in elsewheres…!