Franny and I awoke early to meet our guide, Jose. He shuttled us off to the ferry terminal where we went through customs and waited to board the boat. I knew nothing about Colonia or really Uruguay in general, but I was very excited for the opportunity to spend a day there. The ferry ride was about an hour and a half. The ship itself was similar to ferries I had been on in the Pacific Northwest. There was a cafe to order coffee, some premade sandwiches, and other snacks. Something I wasn't expecting was the large two-story duty-free shop in the middle of the ship. This made for some good perusing during the ferry ride.
The ferry station in Buenos Aires. (Molly Stanko)
Once we arrived in Colonia we went through customs and came out in Uruguay! Our guide was waiting for us and whisked us away. We stopped at a small church where our guide shared his matte with us. I found the Portuguese influence fascinating. We stopped at an old bullfighting ring, and a Jai alai sports arena. We went to old town Colonia where we could see the juxtaposition between the Spanish and Portuguese roads and buildings.
Historic quarter of Colonia, Uruguay. (Molly Stanko)
After the hectic nature of travel and hustle and bustle of Buenos Aires, it was so nice to experience Colonia. The pace was slow and the sun was shining. We were on our own for lunch and had a delicious meal at an open courtyard restaurant. Afterward, we wandered the streets and did some shopping. We felt like we got our bearings pretty quickly and were totally comfortable finding our way around on our own. Late in the afternoon, we met up with our guide and he took us back to the ferry terminal to catch our ride back across the water. We got back to our hotel exhausted, but a day in Uruguay was completely worth it!
Excellent travel advice and service
This is my second experience working with Adventure Life. I’m sold. Jess Heuermann is an experienced traveler and provides a lot of useful information when planning a trip. These are the questions I like to ask at the outset - What’s it like to go here, there, what would you suggest, what do people report, can we add any additional side trips? Jess took the time to answer my questions and seek additional information to share with me. Petchie Colina is outstanding in helping with travel logistics and final preparations. Adventure Life has excellent guides and offers private guides and small group adventures. We enjoyed the opportunity to talk with the guides and drivers to learn more about their countries, cultures and histories. A highlight was having the guides pick local restaurants where we could share meals together. Highly recommend.
Claire Cordon
5 days ago
Our six-day tour in Iceland went smoothly with one exception. We had asked for two rooms each night. Somehow we were booked with one room with three beds. It could not be fixed at the first hotel in Reykjavik because the hotel was fully booked. Once informed of the problem, however, Adventure Life rebooked for two rooms for the remainder of the trip. As an 85-year-old traveler, I appreciated that one could participate at different physical levels at many of the stops. Iceland is a great place to visit but on the expensive side.
Mary Warren
6 days ago
Jess was very easy going and answered all our questions. It’s not easy dealing with 6 people at once but she did an outstanding job!
Diane Foster
1 week ago
Kassandra and the Adventure Life team have been incredible! Kassandra was very knowledgeable and attentive to our asks while making sure we kept within our budget. This was our first experience with a travel agent and we were blown away by the booking/initial exploration service. We will use Adventure Life again.