A trip to Uruguay, Colonia, and the Temple in Montevideo

NASA photo of the Río de la Plata looking from north to south.
Buenos Aires is visible on the right side near the Paraná River delta.
River sediments turn the water brown to the
vicinity of Montevideo, visible on the left coast.

Mon 8-10 July: We are still waiting for the last bit of paperwork from the US to apply for our “work” visa (although this calling does come with a lot of work), so we are here on tourist stamps in our passports.  They have to be renewed every three months and we have 2.5 weeks before they fine us.  The office was going to be closed for a holiday so we chose this week to head to Uruguay to exit and reenter to start our 3 months over.  

We crossed from Buenos Aires to Colonia on a ferry called a BuQueBus (actually quite fancy for a ferry).  You can choose the fast 1hr or the regular 3 hr trip across the Rio de la Plata (River of Silver) which is up to 140 mi across at its mouth.  We chose the 1 hr.  It is considered the widest river in the world. See the picture above. You can see BA in lower right and Montevideo upper left. I explain later that we go straight across from BA, then a bus ride up to Montevideo and another ferry ride from Montevideo all the way down to BA.

We wanted to go to see the temple in Montevideo and we were told we should spend some time walking around the Old Town of Colonia del Sacramento founded in 1680 by Portugal.  We took an early crossing to Colonia and spent the day walking up and down the streets.

the kitchen and refrigerators
see more below
they liked poke-a-dots table cloths

Joan's favorite restaurant from outside

We found a most delightful restaurant for dinner.  It was decorated so uniquely that we knew that our daughters and daughter-in-laws would just love it so I have included a lot of pictures from it.  They had a guitarist and actually some excellent, reasonable-priced food.

The cashier's table, -the statue
is not the cashier.

a close up of the kitchen

The double Refrigerator

a couple of the table decorations

another  place setting

We came back later and had a wonderful dinner.

they had lots of old cars

fort wall and cannons

Bridge and entry into the fort

Another old car with a table setting from
another restaurant with a
neighborhood dog asleep on the seat

 

It is a picturesque place with some of the old fortifications as it was involved in many early battles, a lighthouse, and many quaint little restaurants and shops.




We spoke to 4 missionaries having all you can eat pizza for lunch;

We also met this enchanting young waitress that helped us choose the best lunch. 

Shopping

Joan was captivated by the shops and found 4 bufandas (muffler/scarfs).  They are all the rage in BA and up to now she had never found one she liked.

typical door They open
on to the sidewalk/street

one of many windows with
lace curtains, bars on adobe

I became enthralled with the windows of all the little old buildings and took lots of pictures and ended up with two bufandas myself. 

Chilly but romantic sunset on the Rio de la Plata from the Colonia dock

After a very nice day in Colonia, Tuesday morning we took a 2 hr bus ride to Montevideo and stayed in the Hotel “Cottage” facing the Atlantic Ocean and close to the temple. Wed we took another BuQueBus fast ferry directly from Montevideo to Buenos Aires on a 3 hr return trip. (it would be a big triangle on the satellite picture.)

Here to meet us Sister Edna
(Chita) Wilcox - a friend to
Patsy Huber & secretary to
her father

Montevideo Temple July 9 2013

I always like the inscription:
Holiness to the Lord
House of the Lord

from the back side by the stake building

It rained on us Tuesday as we traveled to Montevideo but we managed to get there and attend one session at the temple.  We met this wonderful little lady that turns out to have grown up with Patsy Huber and worked for Father, and another Mesa Couple missionaries that knew all the same people we did. 

The next day we went to another session and there was a couple (David Fontes) that I was able to talk with who it turns out is best friends with the Nuttalls and the Boohers.  Church membership makes such a small world and a very large wonderful family. 

Tues Steak dinner at the hotel

Walk on the beach of
the Atlantic Ocean in
Montevideo

We returned to the hotel to pack up. and we walked along the beach and I took my shoes off, as is my custom to get my toes wet in the ocean from a new location.

Here are the flags of the countries
that were meeting in the hotel

The hotel in the background is a
very famous hotel not far from
where we were and it was hosting
the presidents of the South American
Countries

We returned to BA late Wed night.  Fast, glorious and a little broke.  We felt fortunate that our visas hadn't come and there was a holiday so that we had the opportunity to visit Uruguay and attend the temple.

Our ride to the wharf to catch our
3 hr BuQueBus ferry ride home