Colonia

A small town not far from Buenos Aires, back in the colonial days this was used as a port for smuggling goods into Argentina, before many of these goods were legalized.

Despite being one of the three most touristy places in Uruguay, there's little to see here.  There's the lighthouse, and if you trek out of the centro a bit there's an abandoned bullfighting arena (which you can't even enter :[).  The town itself is pretty cute, and if you look hard enough you'll find locally made cheeses (my second night's dinner was in a wine and cheese place, though I skipped the wine for mate).

I met a girl here who came to Uruguay specifically to see an abandoned pie factory in a small town with very little else three hours from here.  No intention of seeing Montevideo or the beaches.  I hope it goes well for her.  I mean, I've been known to seek oddly specific things in obscure locations (izakaya in Utsunomiya with a monkey waiter), so I get it.

In general, the sentiment I've been hearing in the hostel here is people came here simply because of the ferry to Buenos Aires.  I'm no exception.

Tomorrow, I'm taking a bus to Montevideo, my final destination in South America.