Disembarking in Colonia

I disembarked in Colonia del Sacramento (Colonia is more commonly used as the name) and my immediate priority was to find the tourist office to get a map and figure out where I would be sleeping that night. Oh yeah, because someone (else) would have figured that out prior to arrival. But not me.

I arrived at the very modern tourist office in Colonia and was greeted by a friendly woman. She gave me a map, pointed out some highlights and confirmed that there was free wi-fi in the building. Score! Let’s get myself a room for the night!

First I emailed my family to let them know that I had arrived.

I also emailed Laura, a fellow CouchSurfer, with whom I had exchanged several emails prior to my trip. We had made plans for her to meet me as I disembarked at the ferry terminal at 8.30pm.

Because I had made the earlier ferry I wanted to let her know I would be in the arrivals area sans backpack. I was certain there would be other solo female travelers disembarking and I wanted to make this as easy as possible.

Since I didn’t have a phone or know my internet situation for the afternoon, I let her know that we would keep our 8.30pm meeting time at the ferry terminal.

Eagle-eyed readers: Uruguay is an hour ahead of Buenos Aires, so even though the ferry is an hour, you arrive two hours later than you departed.

Now that I had let my family know I was alive and I confirmed my whereabouts with Laura, I had to get down to business. Where to sleep?

In retrospect: accommodations for my first night should have been planned earlier. But, you should know that I arrived in most places without planned accommodations so this experience served as preparation for the next 50+ nights as well.