Monday, 6 October 2014
Next was the main square or plaza de armas. That leaves Argentina the odd one out, without a plaza de armas. This place was used to store weapons and carry out military exercises. Then i saw a very small part, in ruins, of what was left of the San Francisco convent that was built in 1694 and destroyed by a fire in 1704. In front of the convent was a cemetery, during the excavation organised by UNESCO in 1993, many bones were found, and they have now been buried in another cemetery. But unfortunately they don't know who these people were. Just behind the convent was a lighthouse, built in 1845 but only finished in 1857 as there were wars in between. There are 118 steps, and of course I just had to climb up the lighthouse! The view from above is beautiful, you can see Buenos Aires across the river, and almost the entire old city.
Next was a ruin of what experts believe was the Viceroy's house. Although in ruins, the original material used to build this house can still be seen. Then the Basilica of the Holy Sacrament, with 2 bell towers. Although parts of the church have been rebuilt, some parts of the church maintains its original designs and materials; but not the bell towers because Portuguese churches usually only have a single tower. There is an interesting design to the walls around the church, you can see Portuguese designs with small doors, rectangular windows and built of stones, and then, within the same wall, the Spanish design with brick walls. This is because when the Spanish attacked and seized the city the church was destroyed, and the Spanish then rebuilt it in their style, and likewise when the Portuguese attacked and seized the city. It is really amazing to see.
The last thing to see were the ruins of what must have been a palace, belonging to the first governor of the city. These ruins were also discovered during the excavations in 1993. and then the tour ended and I said goodbye to Vanesa. She told me that there was a dock, the first dock built and used but the Portuguese, some distance away if I wanted to see it. Of course I did. However, I couldn't go into the compound, I could only see it from a distance, a building in ruins, what was left of some sort of gate, and a really old looking lighthouse.
And then I was done with Colonia! I walked back to the hotel, buying some water and food on the way, and arrived with sore legs again. With the amount of walking I've been doing, it's no wonder that Pudding is gone. Pudding is what I named my protruding tummy, she became a permanent fixture for the past 2 years or so, despite me dieting and exercising, that I decided to become friends with her. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em. But now finally! She is gone, good riddance! But I have to do something about the sore legs. I keep forgetting that I am on holiday, at some point I need to stop exploring and exerting myself and start holidaying! Maybe in Brazil.
And would you believe, the person I was supposed to stay with in Buenos Aires sent me an email apologising for not being able to meet up. How convenient, to wait for me to be out of Buenos Aires before discovering how to send an email to me. I had half a mind to tell him that I would be back in Buenos Aires again the day after tomorrow and ask him whether he was free to meet up, because I was sure that if I did that he would disappear again until I leave Argentina for good. Instead, I deleted the email and decided never to contact him again. No love lost there, not for me!
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