Americans in Uruguay . Day 7 . October 22, 2025 . Montevideo to Colonia de Sacramento .

By the end of 7 nights at Alma Historica Hotel, every item from our suitcases was somewhere in the room. So packing up was a project–a time consuming project. After a quick breakfast (that included the daily rituals of Spelling Bee, Wordle, and Connections), we picked up our rental car and headed out of Montevideo, basically about two hours west—directly across from Buenos Aires. Most people come for the day, but we are actually staying three nights and then taking the ferry to BA. We arrived at around 3:45, after taking a detour to try to find a place for lunch that the rental car guy told us was really great. We had the name and all of our map programs plotted it, but when we got to the location there wasn’t any restaurant. Finally, we decided to head directloy to Colonia and grab a bite once we arrived.

Before going into any first impressions of Colonia, a few points about the social/political history of Uruguay. I’m prompted to think about this given that our hotel has CNN and I’m watching images of the bulldozing of the East Wing and descriptions of the $300M (probably will be about $500M before it’s done) construction of a ballroom, which is beyond belief. The images made me think about what I’ve heard about José “Pepe” Mujica, president of Uruguay from 2010 to 2015. He was a guerrilla fighter who spent 14 years in prison during Uruguay’s military dictatorship in the 1970s and ’80s—ten of them in solitary confinement. After democracy was restored, he co-founded the Popular Movement (MPP), served as Minister of Agriculture and then a senator, and ultimately ran for president under the Broad Front (Frente Amplio) coalition.

After winning the election, Mujica ushered in sweeping progressive reforms—legalizing abortion, same-sex marriage, and marijuana; strengthening trade unions; expanded and raised the minimum wage—while presiding over steady economic and social gains, implemented an eight-hour workday for rural workers and required farm owners to provide medical coverage. Beyond this he managed to institute more progressive taxation, support technical education provide all students in public schools with laptops; and invested heavily in public schools,

Pepe, as he was called continued to live on his farm with his wife just outside Montevideo. He never lived in the president’s palace. He donated 90% of his salary to organizations that helped the poor. He drove himself to work each day, in his 22-year-old VW bug. His only security was a local cop and his three-legged dog. Humble, witty, and unwavering in his ideals, Mujica governed and spoke like a neighbor or someone you’d chat with at a bar… not like a politician. According to Uruguayans, he never courted wealth or power, kept his promises, and gracefully stepped aside to make room for younger leaders. In Uruguay you cannot run for consecutive terms, but you can run again after waiting through a five-year term. He seems to be a rare example of integrity, simplicity, and conviction in modern politics. He was proudly known as “the poorest president in the world.” When reporters asked him about this and suggested that it was odd that he was so different from other world leaders, he responded: “Really, I don’t think I’m odd, I think they are odd.”

Mmmmmm does this make you think how a particular American leader would respond to hearing this approach, especially while building his ballroom?

Anyway, quick observations of Colonia, which we will explore in depth tomorrow. HIstorically, it was settled by the Portuguese and is a delightful cobble-stoned town that sits on Rio de La Plata—directly across from Buenos Aires (an hour by ferry). There are a lot of tourists, most of whom come for the day by ferry from Buenos Aires. It has a population of about 32,000.

We are staying in a delightful small hotel called Charco and have a truly lovely room with a private deck in the oldest section of the building.

We had a late dinner at the hotel’s restaurant—a grilled shrimp starter with mango and salsa, followed by a nice salad, and then a fettuccini with fresh pesto and little tomatoes….and then dessert. It was all quite wonderful, and now we are ready to call it a day. It is after midnight.