Uruguay

                Flag day (Feriado) in Buenos Aires left our group with a 4 day weekend, so our professor suggested we take a trip to Uruguay! The students who went on the trip previous years had gone and suggested it if we had the time. We took their advice, but we learned a lot!

Booking Transportation

        We booked through a company called Buquebus, which I highly recommend! The transportation consisted of a combined ferry/barge ride and a bus ride at a very economical cost - about $765 pesos (roughly $102 - 153 USD depending on your exchange rate) round trip! The agent that assisted us was very patient with our Spanish skills - or lack thereof - and also spoke good English. Both the bus and the barge were very comfortable! The barge seating resembled an airplane set up with a lot more leg room, a duty-free store, spacious bathrooms, a bar and a place to buy food. The bus was comparable to a charter bus in the states with a bathroom and climate control. Some of the buses have wifi, but ours did not. On the way there we opted for a slow barge (3 hours) and then for a fast barge (1 hour) that was slightly more expensive. You are able to take the boat into Colonia or Montevideo at various times during the day. We opted to leave at 12pm on a Thursday night so that we would arrive at 5:30 AM (seemed like a good idea at the time, but I will discuss that  little later). On the way home we took an afternoon bus leaving at 4:30, arriving off the barge in Buenos Aires around 10:30. I have to say that of all the planning that went into our trip, the transportation was the most reliable and user friendly! Here's the link if you want to book http://www.buquebus.com/cache/BQBPreHome.html!

Lodging

      Because the trip to Uruguay was not part of the budget for our program, and therefore the money came out of our own pocket, our goal was to spend as little money as possible. We waited until the last minute to book a place to stay (3 days before we needed a room) so our options were limited. We ended up choosing to stay in a hostel called Montevideo Up, instead of a hotel. The hostel is a decent walk from the city center, but a short bus trip costing $20 Uruguayan pesos ($1.00 USD) will get you to the center of the tourist attractions. Overall, I was very pleased with the hostel. The beds were considerably more comfortable than the ones at my residencia in Buenos Aires and the staff was very nice. With that being said, I do not recommend it for any stay longer than a few nights. Our room consisted of 3 sets of bunk beds and an un-bunked  twin. There wasn't much space in the room and there was one community bathroom (towels not included). It was very warm and cozy, and the price "included breakfast" - consisting of some toast, coffee, tea and a few choices of spread. Here's the link to the Hostel's website although I booked it through hostelworld.com -  http://www.montevideoup.com.uy/

Tourist Attractions

      We did not plan out our trip other than our transportation and lodging at all before we actually got to Uruguay, which was a terrible decision! We ended up walking around the main street for hours enjoying the street vendors. We stopped by an information office on the first day we were there and the agent gave us plenty of information of things we could see. There was an option for a bus tour over 24 or 48 hours. This option did not include an actual tour, just the transportation. You purchase a pass and thee bus would take you to different numbered stops throughout the city. If I remember correctly, audio tours were an option (possibly free of charge) at each stop. The only reason we did not opt for this was because of the amount of time we were there. When we got the information we had about 24 hours before we returned home. Instead we opted for walking to the different attraction on our own. 

     The architecture of the city is beautiful, especially in the old part of town where the main road turns into a pedestrian only road. Here you will find many stores and restaurants, along with numerous street vendors. I'm not sure if the vendors are there everyday, but they are definitely there every Friday and Saturday. 

      The other thing I would suggest would be to watch the sunrise. The unique thing about the location of Montevideo is that you can see both the sunset and the sunrise on the water.  There are piers that you can walk out on to get a panoramic view that is absolutely breathtaking! 

Money, Money, Money

     When we first arrived in Uruguay we did not exchange money because we thought the peso was the same or that Argentine pesos would be accepted. We were extremely wrong! The Uruguayans HATE the Argentine peso! The Argentine peso is also very weak in the exchange market for Uruguayan pesos so we lost a nice chunk of change exchanging. The US Dollar however is extremely strong, and virtually accepted everywhere. It is actually popular for Argentinians to travel to Uruguay to withdraw American dollars and exchange them in the Argentine blue market. The best advice I can give for money in Uruguay is to keep your american dollars and exchange as little as possible! One last note: if you use the ATM to withdraw money you must withdraw at least $100USD for the transaction to take place!