06 OCT - 08 OCT 2010
This post follows on from - Buenos Aires - The Quickening
I can't recall another time in my life when I've specifically wanted to go to a country just because I wanted experience a particular food item of that nation, usually the potential culinary delights of a country are cloaked within its mystique and ethereal beauty. Not so the case for Uruguay however. My sole aim was the pursuit of the fabled chivito, the mother of all sandwiches that I've heard has been able to give the novice a heart attack just on plain viewing. If you don't believe in the truth of that statement then just check out the details of the basic chivito al plato recipe as outlined below;
Add to that as much 'additional' bacon, steak, egg, ham or cheese as you please and then close your eyes and enjoy the ride. Let me just say right now and for the record that I did not acquire the mighty chivito in any of Colonia de Sacramentos' wonderous establishments, so for those waiting to see me downing one in some gluttonous induced fervor, I apologise, this post is chivitoless.
On the way to Uruguay
'Ummm H - Colonia is on this map, isn't it?'
Needless to say, the sojourn to Colonia commenced innocently enough. Somehow D and I agreed that a few days to Colonia and then Montevideo would fit nicely into our 'lets experience South America journey', oh and yeah, not that I made it well known to D but the driving force behind my desire was to acquire that damn sandwich in its homeland. So one early evening down by the docks near La Boca we boarded a ferry and set off for the one hour journey east to Colonia. It has to be said, the brutes at the immigration counter left us both with quite an impression as our passports were possessed for a few moments while the appropriate Argentinian exit and Uruguayan arrivals stamps were provided in one foul swoop. These Chinese weightlifter sized behemoth's with their coarse stubble, tree trunk legs and sweaty shirts just gave us a guttural grunt as we passed on by and made out way to the gangway - and these were the attractive female Uruguayan specimens that we had encountered (I kid...sort of).
Love the colours in this photo - Colonia del Sacramento - Uruguay
The plates give you away every time
Colonia del Sacramento - Uruguay
Colonia del Sacramento - Uruguay
Colonia del Sacramento - Uruguay
One hour into our watching the Best of Phil Collins via the 'in flight entertainment' and singing one too many versus of 'su-su-sussudio' we arrived on the shores of a new land. Making our way through the dark and desolate streets of Colonia I wondered whether this old colonial town, and more importantly the barrio historico, was going to live up to its UNESCO heritage listing. Cutting through the quite streets of the town all you could hear were the lone and errant barks of Colonia dogs and crickets, lots and lots of crickets. Somehow we didn't get the sense that this place was a tourist mecca for anyone other than beaten Argentines from Buenos Aires that had somehow in their foolhardy or bold reckoning decided that peace could somehow be found on 'the other side of the river'. I convinced myself that daylight was going to bring about a serene and tranquil little town and until that point I was going to have to wait ...and I was going to have to also deal with the fact that my guerrilla Spanish was not of a sufficient standard to bring about even the slightest smile to this Uruguayan posada owner who most have been wondering what the hell a random Australian and New Zealander was doing in his humble little abode.
Colonia del Sacramento - Uruguay
Colonia del Sacramento - Uruguay
Colonia del Sacramento - Uruguay
Colonia del Sacramento - Uruguay
That evening D and I cruised the main street of Colonia and dropped in at a little place named El Porton on Avenida Gral Flores. It looked to be a meat haven! Great for me, not so great for a vegetarian like Dina. Sometimes you need to take one for the team, the team on this particular evening was nominated as being the 'Elisher meatlover's appreciation union of Colonia'. If that's the team that you end up being on then what the hell else are you suppose to do? Now, I'm not sure how Dina found it in herself to make a 'meat suggestion' on my behalf but she swore that the veal sweetbread had to be the go in a place such as this. Throwing caution to the wind and accepting the reasoning that this would of in fact been her fathers' recommendation (who incidentally is a meat lover), I took on the Uruguayan mystery meat challenge with reckless abandon...and I have to say that it was freakin' sensational! Nearly the best meal that I had on tour, just being pipped by the glorious rib fillet of Chezcharry taste of the meat pulled from the coals, with a healthy serving of chimichurri and several glasses of Argentinian malbec had moulded a sweet symphony of satisfaction in my heart and mind. Colonia through the haze of a blissful food coma was already looking on the up and up.
El Porton - Avenida Gral Flores -Colonia del Sacramento - Uruguay
El Porton - Avenida Gral Flores -Colonia del Sacramento - Uruguay
Not El Porton - but this serves as proof that you can get an awesome blue margarita in Uruguay!
The sunrise of the following day brought about a morning of cloud, light drizzle and cool air. Dina was crashed our from her morning of skyping and I decided to head on out in order to see what Colonia could offer the tourist who had turned up on a whim...and yeah, I've got to say, it was alright. As many a guidebook has put it, Colonia was initially founded by, and existed under Portuguese control for some time since it was settled in 1680 on a small little peninsula jutting out into the Rio de la Plata. In that sense therefore the town is known to be reminiscent of old Lisbon, with its winding cobblestone streets, colourful houses and unique layout that is significantly different to that of typical Spanish colonial towns. As I wondered around in the drizzle of the morning which thankfully cleared up quite quickly, I found the place to be remarkably pretty. In fact I've got to say that for me it was one of the easiest places to take photos. None of them really needed to be thought out at all, it was simply a 'point and shoot' job for the most part and it just seemed that time after time something magnificent manifested. Obviously on my journeys there had been more dramatic places to take photos but Colonia was quaint and charming in that 'old world' sense.
Colonia del Sacramento - Uruguay
Colonia del Sacramento - Uruguay
Colonia del Sacramento - Uruguay
Colonia del Sacramento - Uruguay
Later on that day D managed to join me from her slumber and we cruised around the three main streets of the town, taking photos, (drinking of course) and generally enjoying our first day of being in Uruguay. It was an auspicious introduction to Uruguay, or so I thought, but it's big cousin Montevideo had a few tricks waiting for us when we decided to make our way south to the capital the next day.
Colonia del Sacramento - Uruguay
Looking out onto the Rio de la plata - Colonia del Sacramento - Uruguay
Colonia del Sacramento - Uruguay
PS - My quest for the chivito made me push onto Montevideo in unbridled anticipation and what I thought was going to transpire...by some strange design of fate the chivito eluded me in Colonia.
