Montevideo to Buenos Aires by Boat

After getting caught in the tail end of a hurricane and crossing Uruguay by bus from Salto to get in to Montevideo past midnight, the next morning it was time to go. The city was bouncing back to normal, but we had no time left. After breakfast at the After Hotel, we squeezed into the supremely undersized Uruguayan taxi cabs and headed for the Buquebus terminal.

Our hotel looked great and was really comfortable, for the 9 hours that we spent there total. The front desk staff was exceedingly helpful and friendly as well, and best of all? It was pretty inexpensive. We had planned to stay an extra night here before Pluna went bankrupt and we had to change our itinerary, but we would have been pretty happy here.

 The most that we saw of Montevideo was from the taxi ride to the ferry terminal. It looked like an interesting city. I would have liked to spend more time there, but it wasn't in the cards for this trip. Instead, we were on to the boat to Buenos Aires. At the terminal here, you check in and then go through pass control. I can confirm for those looking for a way around the reciprocal fee for the Argentine visa that entering the country by ferry lets you skip the $160 fee.

Once on the boat and away from the dock (we needed a tug because of strong winds), it was smooth if uninteresting sailing from there. After a few hours, Buenos Aires appeared on the horizon with the skyline set against the gray skies. As we drew closer, my thoughts turned elsewhere, back to Stockholm. Part of the reason that I wanted to come to Buenos Aires was because nearly 90 years ago my grandmother also arrived in the port of Buenos Aires by sea. She was a child at the time and doesn't remember much from the time that she and her family spent there, but in some way this was an echo back to that event and the photo of this exact harbor that she shared with me in Stockholm. The tall ships are gone and the skyline today strikes upward, but this is where she was so long ago.

And tomorrow, I would start my own exploration of the city.