We got a bit of another break today and went on a day trip across the Silver River to Colonia, Uruguay for the day. After a bit of a rocky boat trip across, we began our walking tour around Colonia, looking at the historic district that once belonged to the Spanish and Portuguese prior to Uruguay’s independence. On the tour, we learned a bit about Uruguay’s related history with Argentina and Brazil. During Argentina’s and Brazil’s separate fights for independence, Uruguay was also fighting for their independence from Spain and when each now-country got independence, they made Uruguay a buffer state between Brazil and Argentina so that they didn’t dispute the territory further.

The war-torn history of Uruguay, between being traded between the Spanish and Portuguese over and over and the buffer state status, made Colonia a very militarized port, with their church being designed by a military architect, therefore resembling a fortress rather than your standard cathedral. So not only was it cool so see a whole new country for me today, but I also got to learn a bit about its unique history that is less well-known.