http://www.saltshaker.net/20050824/the-town-that-time-forgot Casting a little flavor (and a few aspersions) on the world of food, drink, and life Wed, 08 Oct 2008 03:54:24 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.2 http://www.saltshaker.net/20050824/the-town-that-time-forgot#comment-1538 SaltShaker » Blog Archive » Dos Chivitos Wed, 06 Sep 2006 13:15:41 +0000 http://www.saltshaker.net/20050824/the-town-that-time-forgot#comment-1538 [...] Colonia del Sacramento - It was time for that quarterly visa dance that so many of us living here on our tourist visas have to do. We have options - we can travel lots, in and out of the country; once or twice a year we can go stand in lines at the migraciones office and pay a fee for a renewal, but not every time, and only if we meet certain conditions; or we can “do Colonia“… probably the most common. It’s a quick, hour or so long trip across the river by “high speed” boat (sorry, but 55 kilometers in 70 minutes is only roughly 30 miles per hour… not exactly zooming… and I’m still mystified as to how the early morning ferry takes 3 hours to do the same trip), to the docks. There’s a daily 11:15 in the morning ferry, and the return is around 5:30. The visa process is simple and painless, right in the Buquebus terminals at each end, there are double-windowed counters - when leaving, you hand your passport to the Argentine official, who checks to make sure you haven’t overstayed your 90-days, then stamps an exit visa, and hands it to the Uruguayan official siitting next to him or her, who barely glances at it, other than perhaps to see if your picture matches you, and then stamps a 90-day entry visa to Uruguay. The process is reversed on the way back. [...] [...] Colonia del Sacramento - It was time for that quarterly visa dance that so many of us living here on our tourist visas have to do. We have options - we can travel lots, in and out of the country; once or twice a year we can go stand in lines at the migraciones office and pay a fee for a renewal, but not every time, and only if we meet certain conditions; or we can “do Colonia“… probably the most common. It’s a quick, hour or so long trip across the river by “high speed” boat (sorry, but 55 kilometers in 70 minutes is only roughly 30 miles per hour… not exactly zooming… and I’m still mystified as to how the early morning ferry takes 3 hours to do the same trip), to the docks. There’s a daily 11:15 in the morning ferry, and the return is around 5:30. The visa process is simple and painless, right in the Buquebus terminals at each end, there are double-windowed counters - when leaving, you hand your passport to the Argentine official, who checks to make sure you haven’t overstayed your 90-days, then stamps an exit visa, and hands it to the Uruguayan official siitting next to him or her, who barely glances at it, other than perhaps to see if your picture matches you, and then stamps a 90-day entry visa to Uruguay. The process is reversed on the way back. [...]

]]> http://www.saltshaker.net/20050824/the-town-that-time-forgot#comment-192 SaltShaker » Blog Archive » The Hills of San Juan Thu, 23 Feb 2006 20:10:16 +0000 http://www.saltshaker.net/20050824/the-town-that-time-forgot#comment-192 [...] Colonia del Sacramento - At the port yesterday I was met by my, as I put it, handler, Laura Nervi. She turns out to be a charming and delightful travelling companion, she’s an agronomist for the national institute of wine, INAVI, and handles touring around folk like me in all of her spare time. We have a van and driver and our disposal for the entire four and a half day period, life is good. We started off the day with a short tour, mostly walking, around Colonia del Sacramento. We kept it a little bit cursory, since although it was part of our assigned official itinerary, I’ve been to Colonia twice before and had one in-depth tour of the city. Laura did point out that this lovely house on a corner just inside the main wall of the historic district is for sale - conditional on complete restoration to usable condition and all the associated historic preservation rules. We stopped and had coffee at El Torreón, and then, when we’d waited the appropriate amount of time, hopped back in the van and headed out just north of town for our first appointment. [...] [...] Colonia del Sacramento - At the port yesterday I was met by my, as I put it, handler, Laura Nervi. She turns out to be a charming and delightful travelling companion, she’s an agronomist for the national institute of wine, INAVI, and handles touring around folk like me in all of her spare time. We have a van and driver and our disposal for the entire four and a half day period, life is good. We started off the day with a short tour, mostly walking, around Colonia del Sacramento. We kept it a little bit cursory, since although it was part of our assigned official itinerary, I’ve been to Colonia twice before and had one in-depth tour of the city. Laura did point out that this lovely house on a corner just inside the main wall of the historic district is for sale - conditional on complete restoration to usable condition and all the associated historic preservation rules. We stopped and had coffee at El Torreón, and then, when we’d waited the appropriate amount of time, hopped back in the van and headed out just north of town for our first appointment. [...]

]]> http://www.saltshaker.net/20050824/the-town-that-time-forgot#comment-107 SaltShaker » Blog Archive » Back to the Town Time Forgot Thu, 22 Dec 2005 13:34:49 +0000 http://www.saltshaker.net/20050824/the-town-that-time-forgot#comment-107 [...] So, yesterday morning found us off and floating across the river on the “high speed” (60 km/hour) ferry that takes the 55 km jaunt to this historic little town. There’s also a slow speed ferry for those who want to save some money (53 pesos each way versus 92 pesos each way), but it takes more than 3 hours to make the same trip! Last time when I visited with my friend Maureen we had iffy weather, it was winter time, and we got hit by a cyclone. It’s summertime, the weather was fantastic, and we had a delightful afternoon. It’s really a quite beautiful city, and we got to wander around, see the flowers and trees in bloom and leaf. The lighthouse was open, so we climbed to the top and took a few photos of the historic district. [...] [...] So, yesterday morning found us off and floating across the river on the “high speed” (60 km/hour) ferry that takes the 55 km jaunt to this historic little town. There’s also a slow speed ferry for those who want to save some money (53 pesos each way versus 92 pesos each way), but it takes more than 3 hours to make the same trip! Last time when I visited with my friend Maureen we had iffy weather, it was winter time, and we got hit by a cyclone. It’s summertime, the weather was fantastic, and we had a delightful afternoon. It’s really a quite beautiful city, and we got to wander around, see the flowers and trees in bloom and leaf. The lighthouse was open, so we climbed to the top and took a few photos of the historic district. [...]

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