Colonia de Sniggermento

Having already been on a short trip to Uruguay I was well prepared for the biting wind as we stepped off the ferry. Despite days of planning, discussing, negotiating times Emma could reasonably be expected to get up with a hangover (for some reason she seemed unprepared to make the hangover a variable of the trip), and despite all of us finally getting up at 7ish we still only managed to get out of the hostel at 9am, with hopes of catching the 9.45 ferry across to the picturesque Colonia de Sacremento. And to be fair if the directions to the ferry given by the hostel's 'Im SO not bothered' receptionist had been clearer, or I'd been able to focus on the further directions the gorgeous Argentinan policeman gave us in rapid Spanish instead of admiring his looks we would have made it to the ferry terminal for the 9.45 boarding. We in fact made it to the terminal for 9.38 which would have been tight but possible for the quarter-to boat, that is, if the information on the website had been correct and the boat hadn't actually left at half nine. This is basically an unbelievable occurance as everything else scheduled to leave at a set time in South America actually happens at least half an hour after its supposed to, if at all. However, not ones to be so easily defeated we booked onto the express ferry at 12.30 and actually only ended up losing an hour in Colonia (which considering the weather actually turned out to be a blessing). I was travelling to Colonia for the day with Emma, a radio broadcaster/fellow traveller with a mere 2 weeks left of her year long world tour, and Jenny, a primary teacher taking a career break. Having only gone to bed at 4am the morning before all three of us were sleep deprived and feeling a little crazy, which went a long way to set the tone for the day. After spending the wait for our new ferry ride in an expensive riverside cafe nursing one orange juice between three, comparing ex- boyfriend horror stories and talking about the English food we were going to eat in huge quantites upon our homecoming, we were in something of a silly mood. And by the time we got to Uruguay we were in near hysterics running away from dogs (the Lonely Planet does say to do this to avoid rabies... but perhaps not with flailing arms), taking photos of old men waving (in Colonia anybody incidently in a photograph, of the landscape for example, waves enthusiastically) and spending several hours in a resturant eating VERY slowly so we didn't have to go back out in the cold.
The town itself was actually beautiful; ancient but well maintained buildings against the tableau of the tempestuous sea, but there was a little voice at the back of my head that kept pointing out that it was probably even prettier when it was sunny and all the tourist stuff was open or could be comfortably participated in outside. However I'm glad that we made a day of it; partly because it was a beautiful little town it would have been a shame to miss, partly because I love getting more stamps in my passport, partly because otherwise I would have never tried egg casserole with fresh tomatoes (which sounds vile but was actually DELICIOUS), but mainly because I haven't laughed that hard since the night Mum, Imke and I got pissed and went to see Shrek 4 covered in Barburrito
.