Uruguay by hook or by crook

After leaving Buenos Aires the plan was to drive the truck into Uruguay and visit the towns of Colonia, Salto and the Capital Montevideo. This however was impossible to do. All the borders between Argentina and Uruguay are currently closed to traffic. The Argentinians are not at all happy with the Uruguayans and it is all because of a paper mill (hope you are following this Paul!) The Uruguay people want to build a paper factory on their side of the river. The Argentians don't want this because of all the pollution it will create. The local Argentians have taken matters into their own hands and protested by closing their sides of the borders. The Uruguay government has even taken the Argentian government to court demanding they act against the local Argentian people. Uruguay lost the court case and the Argentian government are leaving the local people alone to protest any way they like. And all this has been going on for 18 months now. Uruguay is believed to have lost over $400million in lost tourism. In a nutshell it meant the truck was not going anywhere near the Uruguay borders. But becuase we were foot passengers, we were allowed to board a ferry to Colonia. So the group abandoned the truck and went on foot to Uruguay by ourselves.
Colonia is a beautiful little town, cobbled streets, old city walls and I spent an enjoyable day wondering around. Unfortunately Damian the walls were only ruins and you couldn't walk around them - I know you will be dissapointed!
We then took a bus and made our way to Montevideo, the capital. This is not the most attractive city in the world - in fact the locals don't live there - they live out in the vast suberbs and commute in. It also has a large naval base and harbour but most importantly they had a very nice stretch of beach. I spent a very relaxing day on the beach - building sandcastles, having sand fights, messing about in the sea - generally acting like children and it was great. For the first time in many many months, I felt as if I was on a normal relaxing holiday. It won't last long - I'll be back on a very hot truck before I can say "Its not a holoday - its an adventure" Glad I have seen Uruguay - well as much as you can fit in in 3 days and very glad I got to taste the Urugauyan wine - Don Pascual. Tip for all wine lovers - Uruguayan wine is the way forward!