First of I must mention that, despite popular belief on both sides of it, there is nothing riverish about the Río de la Plata. This is evident
enough at a glance from the shore on either side. Looking out over the sea of Wonka-esque brown waves and the endless horizon, it feels exactly like an ocean, which it isn´t really either. The most enlightning way to experience whatever this massive body of water is is via the 3 hour ferry between Buenos Aires and the small Uruguayan coastal town of Colonia, famous for the colonial Portuguese ruins there and the gorgeous trees (every time I asked what type they were, I got another response...appologies again to any botanists who might be reading this) lining the streets. I took the ferry, enjoyed the charm of Colonia and then headed on by bus to Montevideo, the southernmost capital city in the Western Hemisphere (your daily dose of geography trivia) which was wonderfully tranquilo in comparison to BA. A couple of friends of mine from my exchange progam and I stayed with an American studying there for a year that I found on couchsurfers. He showed us an amazing time, from the Spanish fort atop the only hill as far as the eye can see, to the downtown nightlife, to the outskirts of town where we joined him for an afternoon of volunteer work with some kids from the slums outside the city.
