October 25, 2025 . Feet and Cars and Taxis and Ferries . From Colonia to Buenos Aires .

What with constant rain and about 50+ mile per hour winds, we took our time packing and tried to figure out a plan for the day until we had to return the rental car (which we really hadn’t used after getting to Colonia, because the rain was so strong yesterday it would have been crazy to drive to Carmelo. At around noon the rain stopped except for some drizzles every so often, so we decided to take a walk into the newer part of Colonia (and to assess the situation ahead of us—returning the rental car, getting gas, finding the boarding area for the ferry, etc. But it started to rain again and the wind was whipping the trees, so we walked about halfway and then headed back to the hotel for a quick salad… and to the ferry building.

One thing I left out from previous days notes: In several situations, staff and others thought I was a Spanish speaker! I guess my limited Spanish might sound better than I thought and I can manage some stuff in Spanish. Anyway, at the restaurant last night, after I asked for our table and said something else… I asked for a menu in English and they brought one out for Mike, but gave me a Spanish menu. I laughed and said it would be better for me in English and the waiter said (all in Spanish between the two of us) that he assumed I would want the Spanish menu! Actually, I can manage menus pretty well, but when they start getting fancy describing the preparation, I’m lost.

As we were headed back to the hotel, I got a message from the restaurant we were headed to once we arrived in Buenos Aires (tonight). They wanted to alert us to the fact that there would not be any alcohol (not even wine) served at dinner tonight. No alcohol from 9 pm tonight until 9 pm tomorrow night, because tomorrow is the election here in Argentina. First it’s interesting that in both Argentina and Uruguay, voting is mandatory! You can get official excuses from a doctor if you are sick and if you are out of the country, but voting is required for citizens between the ages of 18 and 70. !6 and 17-year-olds also vote, but their participation is optional. Similarly those over 70 years old can decide not to vote, but everyone else must vote. There are stiff penalties for not voting and you could be excluded from government jobs.

Tomorrow, Sunday, (elections are always held on Sundays) Argentines will vote for half of the seats in their Chamber of Deputies and a third of the seats in the Senate will also be decided. While the president is not actually on the ballot, his colleagues are. President Milei’s approval rating is very low so this election is important for him and for the future of Argentina. Our friends are convinced that Milei will lose seats and of course Trump has weighed in with great support for the current leader. I suppose there will be a lot of hoopla in the streets tomorrow and tomorrow night the bars will reopen. Should be interesting to see what happens as the ballots get counted.

We sad “adios/hasta luego” to Charco Hotel and filled the tank with gas. Actually, they still have attendants at the gas station, so we really didn’t do anything except wait for the attendant to fill the car with gas. Then we returned the car and headed for the ferry which was literally next door to the car rental.

Although it is a very short crossing, we had opted for the business class seats to ensure we had space for our luggage, and because we remembered the ferry from Tanzania to Zanzibar where only first class passengers can take on luggage and even that was collected if it was too large, but in a somewhat organized fashion and then distributed from a locked area for business passengers as opposed to those in open seating whose bags were tossed and scattered and it was a free-for-all in Zanzibar to retrieve your luggage. Anyway, we didn’t totally understand the Argentinian system, but eventually found our way to the business section (which was only about 25% filled) and had a comfortable journey on the Bouquebus Ferry that left promptly at 5:01 as scheduled and dropped us in Buenos Aires at 6:15. When we exited the ferry we understood the advantage and also the mild humiliation of being in business class. We were all ushered out of our special section of the ferry, walking through the “open seating section” and they all had to wait until we were completely off the ferry. There were ferry personnel holding back all of the open seating folks so that no one could break into the line of business class people. So there you have it. They also serve a welcome glass of wine or champagne but we didn’t partake.

By the time we docked in Buenos Aires, the sun was shining and it was a crisp 62 degrees. We are staying at the Casa Lucia, which seems like a very nice hotel, although we cannot get any news in English–so we’ll have to rely on streaming for information about what’s happening back home. So the big snag of the day—As we got out of the taxi, got our bags from the trunk, and walked into the hotel, Mike suddenly realized that he left his jacket in the back seat of the taxi. The hotel is on a very narrow street and the taxi driver was antsy to move on since stopping in front of the hotel sort of blocked the street. Anyway, Mike ran out, but the taxi was already a block away. Inside the pocket of his jacket is his international drivers license (which we hope we do not need to present when we rent a car for the final two days of our journey; we didn’t need to show it in Uruguay for the car rental). And I guess tomorrow we will be on the lookout for a new jacket. While MIke has very little interest in clothes, he did like that jacket which he bought somewhere in Italy (I think in Orvieto) last year.

We had made a few dinner reservations for our time here in Buenos Aires and tonight we had selected a place that seemed very casual from the write-up and just a 7-minute walk from the hotel. “Nuestro Secreto” turned out to be quite casual as described, but located inside the Four Seasons Hotel. However it was like a small parilla despite being inside the hotel. Food was great if you are a meat eater. We started with sweetbreads that were either cooked in or marinated in lemon/lime or maybe they jjust put the lemons and cooked lemons on the dish after it was cooked. Whatever! It was really good. Then we shared a steak cooked on the grill–what they called “Holando-argentino Baby Beef… that just melted in your mouth. We ordered a side of roasted vegetables which was like getting another full meal–all sorts of potatoes, squash, asparagus, cauliflower, broccoli, and more, They also served complementary tiny starters–mnini empanadas stuffed with pumpkin. The meal was great, except for one thing—-you really needed a glass of red wine to go with it.

We strolled back to Casa Luciano which is located in what appears to be an upscale neighborhood and is close to the train station, where we need to go tomorrow to purchase our subway passes. So, English is not common in Buenos Aires either, and unlike Uruguay credit cards are not universally accepted (especially in taxis), so we need to locate an ATM quickly. We’ve mapped out a pretty ambitious day for tomorrow, which might now need to include jacket shopping. We’ll know at lot more tomorrow.