An Evening in the City

After leaving the beaches, we left to explore the rest of the city center and the surrounding area. Although the consistent tone of grey was soothing, the occasional display of color was truly vibrant and beautiful, as with the trees lining the street below.



An amusing oddity we found while walking the streets. Indeed, the city had a quality of timelessness.



We walked northward out of the historical center and into the city proper. We found another beach (a sandy one) and explored it for a while, enjoying the trees and vegetation of the area that was lacking at the previous rocky beaches. After exploring some mostly bland government buildings, we stopped to relax at a park we found that had a crafts fair and nearby playground. We explored the various souvenirs and trinkets offered at the crafts fair, but had much more fun releasing our inner children and playing on the playground equipment that was much more fun than playground equipment found in the United States (probably due to looser safety regulations).
Finally, the sun began to set, and we headed back towards the Buquebus. But first, we stopped again at the rocky beaches we so enjoyed earlier in the day. The wind was even stronger and the cold more frigid, but the grey had been penetrated by a slight pink that darkened to red along the horizon, the departing light of the setting sun. We again sat and reflected on our very peaceful and relaxing day in Colonia, Uruguay. Whatever personal revelations we extracted from the solitude of the rocks and waves were unknown, but it was unspoken and agreed that the day had been well spent.



The charming cobblestone streets at dusk.

We explored the now darkened and completely empty historic center before heading back towards the Buquebus. The walls of the city were dark and ominous and the sky and ocean now melded into black. We explored the actual city streets on the way back to the ferry and found them populated with many people, brimming with a strange vitality that had been missing during the day. After buying some good ice cream (although not as good as Argentine ice cream), we boarded the Buquebus, just in time before heavy storms began to pound our ship, and headed back towards the lights and noises of Buenos Aires.

This blog post was written by Martin Huynh, Thomas Krenik, and Brian Van Eimeren. Fellow UTD and Collegium V Honors students Lisa Keylon and Angie Johnston graciously donated some of the photos.