Monday, 6 October 2014
I woke up at 6 am, packed all my stuff, had an early breakfast and then took a cab to the Buquebus Terminal to take the 8.30 am ferry to Colonia, Uruguay. The ferry to Colonia only takes 1 hour. However, Uruguay is 10 hours behind Malaysia, and 1 hour ahead of Argentina. This meant that I arrived in Colonia at approximately 10.30 am. The ferry is really big and comfortable, with outlets selling food, water and other drinks, restaurants, and it even has a place to shop! For the most part I just took a nap on the ferry.
The first thing I did when I reached Colonia was to walk to the bus station, which was just beside the ferry terminal, and buy a bus ticket to Montevideo tomorrow. The bus ride takes about 3 hours, so I bought the ticket at 6.45 am. I am crazy like that, as I want to spend as much time as possible in a new place. I figured I could sleep on the bus. Then I walked to my hotel, which was also thankfully walking distance to the bus / ferry terminal. After checking in, I went out again for the city tour.
The city tour that I signed up for was on a touristic bus with a hop on / hop off system, it stops at 10 places and you can get down to explore a particular place in more detail, and then you catch the next bus to the next destination, and so on. I was told when I booked the tour that there would be a guide on board the bus explaining about the part of the city that the bus was passing by, and that the guide would speak in English and Spanish. I went to the stop nearest to my hotel, and when the bus came I got on it but was told that the guide on the bus only spoke Spanish. When I asked when the bus with the English guide would arrive, I was told by the bus driver who spoke limited English to go to the ferry terminal and sort it out there.
So I walked to the terminal, and went to the management office of Buquebus Colonia and explained my predicament. I was then told that there would be an English guide named Vanesa, but she would only be available at 2 pm. It was about 12.30 pm then. Since there was nothing I could do, I walked to the nearest tourist information centre and obtained a map and some information about Colonia. Then I walked to the handicraft market and bought some souvenirs. From here there was a nice view of the Rio de la Plata, the main river that divides Uruguay and Argentina.
Since I still had some time, I decided to have lunch at a small restaurant that looked more like a coffee shop. Here they had the ubiquitous pastas and pizzas (again!!) but they also had rice (finally!!) which I of course ordered, with chicken, and I had a beer. Then I rushed back to the ferry terminal, only to find that the man who informed me of the 2 pm tour in English was no longer there, there was a new person in charge, who did not speak English at all. There was a lady at the tour information counter who could speak English, and Vanesa the tour guide was also there, and after some discussion they told me that there would be a walking tour in the historic centre of Colonia at 4 pm, and I could use the touristic bus to go to the other places, but the tour guides on the buses only spoke Spanish.
I didn't see a point in that. More importantly, this was not what I signed up for, and when I told them I will not use their service but I wanted a refund, they said I have to sort it out with Buquebus Buenos Aires and not in Colonia. When I asked them how will Buenos Aires know whether I used their service or not, they said they didn't know. I lost the plot. This is yet another reason why I don't like human beings. Nobody wants to take responsibility. I do realize I booked the tour in Buenos Aires and this was Colonia but it's the same bloody company! I mean, don't these people communicate with each other from across the river??
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