When we were planning our South American journey we'd intended to spend a few days in Uruguay. However, with us running out of time having to get to Ushuaia by early December, we were having to take decisions about the places we'd unfortunately have to miss. A few days in Uruguay weren't therefore possible but as the country and one of its main sights - Colonia del Sacremento - is just a day trip by catamaran from Buenos Aires, we eventually decided that this would make a good day out. It was essentially like taking a day trip from the south of England to France. Luckily we'd checked out in advance where the catamaran sets sail from because it was not where we thought it was - it was at the other end of the refurbished harbour and a few kilometres from the main passenger port. The trip across the muddy brown River Plate took about 90 minutes and we were then in our 22nd country. Our ticket included a walking tour of the old original colonial town of Colonia del Sacramento which was the first town established under colonial rule in Uruguay, and which is now a World Heritage Site. Not much of the old wall remains apart from about 100 metres and the main gate with its drawbridge, but its original old buildings, streets, squares and trees have been well preserved. All in all it's a very attractive, pleasant and interesting place to wander around and a climb to the top of the lighthouse not only gave us a bird's eye view of the old town but a clear sight of the skyscrapers of BA about 45 kms across the river. Afterwards we had some time to ourselves to explore further, while away some time having a relaxing lunch and even sit on a beach for a while. It had been a scorching hot day and after a cool beer in the warm sunshine of early evening, it was back on the catamaran and back to BA. But unlike a day trip to France we had no bottles of wine and smelly French cheese in our luggage! Lots of love

Eric & Margaret xxx

More later.