3 other girls and I took Buquebus (a fast boat) over to Colonia, Uruguay via Rio de la Plata for a 2-day trip. I really learned about rolling with the punches while traveling. We originally planned to stay at a Sheridan (courtesy of Amy), but they rejected us because it wasn't "completely" booked online. We then were tricked by a taxi driver to take a round-about way to get to a different hotel in the middle of the countryside. 50 dollars/person later, we arrived at a cute bed-and-breakfast, and after being robbed of so much money, we vowed not to spend much more for the rest of the trip.
Being frugal is not easy, and certainly not as fun. I avoided alcohol and ordered the cheapest thing on the menu the whole time, which was still expensive. Since we were in a tourist town, the prices were jacked up for everything. We also had to convert to Uruguayan pesos from Argentinean pesos or from dollars in our heads. Naturally, I've been forced to get better at math.
On the upside of the trip, Colonia was quite the opposite of the big city we've been living in. It's essentially an abandoned colonial town with cobblestone streets, surrounded by water on three sides. It is quaint and beautiful - FABULOUS sunset.... I haven't seen the sun set in Buenos Aires. I felt like a kid again when we all climbed a big shady tree on the beach near a lighthouse and listened to music. We "splurged" on renting 3 Vespas, and this was the highlight of South America thus far. It was my first time riding one, and it was pretty easy. The sun was shining, and we cruised single-file down the empty streets, sight-seeing. I was grinning ear-to-ear for most of the day. In the countryside, life is pretty primitive compared to Buenos Aires. They have these great old-fashioned cars, horse and buggy, stray dogs, and dirt roads.
We made a stop at a winery and got a private tour along with an elaborate wine tasting. We met a fun young couple from New York at our bed-and-breakfast . They had twins, and were experienced travelers. They proved it was important to travel when your kids are young, but they had been kicked out of 2 hotels in B.A. due to their crying babies! The mom had been pickpocketed and got her foot caught in between subway doors in Argentina, but she told the stories with a smile, and said "you just have to roll with it and learn from your mistakes!" Meeting them inspired me to travel more, and they were CRAZY about Asia and Indonesia. I'm so glad I went on this trip.
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Hi Shannon! Nice chatting with you last night. Sorry I blabbered for so long about economics.
ReplyDeleteAbout the family with twins: pickpockets are everywhere in Buenos Aires! Be careful. Was her foot injured by the doors?
When you don't have hot water, is it because your calefón pilot light has gone out? That happens to us sometimes when the wind is wrong (and we have some windows open).
I'm pretty sure you can get laundry done cheaper than $2 a load (is that US$2 or AR$2?) but your clothes also look nicer than mine.
About soccer's importance: at the grocery store near where we live, there are CABJ and CARP band-aids instead of Superman and Spiderman.
I love visiting Colonia. It's so peaceful and meditative.
Frugal traveling for me involves not eating at restaurants or, usually, traveling by taxi. It's hard to do if you're staying at a cute B&B, but if you stay at a youth hostel you can cook --- but even without a kitchen, you can make peanut butter sandwiches, cheese sandwiches, eat fruit from the fruterias (wash it first!), tahini on pita bread, salads, stuff like that. Even milk and orange juice are a lot cheaper in stores than in restaurants (be careful it's real orange juice and not orange-juice-flavored sugar water though!). We used to bring a knife with us to hostels so we'd have at least one sharp knife to cook with.