At the port we found the check in counter where we were
informed that the ferry was leaving an hour early (at 12:15). We grabbed our
boarding passes and got our passports stamped and just managed to catch the
ferry in time.
Due to buying the tickets so late we had to buy first class
tickets there which was the best thing to happen to us. Chelsea, Damien and I
made our way to the first class section and were greeted with a glass of
champagne while Olivier and Christina were stuck in the cattle class.
Damien managed to catch a few ZZZ’s while i enjoyed the
champagne. After an hour we were in Colonia and ready to walk the city (which
was really small). We made our way into the city centre to find somewhere to
eat and a bank where we could draw US Dollars (to cash in on the cambio in BA).
After a little walking we managed to find both as most paces
were closed for new year’s day. The food wasn’t that great but it kept us
going. We then went back into the old centre where Damien and I grabbed a beer
to assist in our exploration of the city. After a little more walking we found
a grassy patch in the sun where we decided to sit for a little while while the
others continue to walk the city. I managed to catch a few ZZZ’s on the grass
and then we met up with the others and went to a pub for a beer.
We then made our way to the ferry where we stood waiting for
passport control and boarding for almost an hour. Once onboard we searched for
seats but none were free so we found a spot on the floor. After a few minutes
on the floor there was a rush of people going into first class so we followed
and managed to get some comfy seats.
On the boat we bought a bottle of Jura to celebrate Damien’s
birthday (its not easy to find a good whisky here but Amarula is everywhere).
When
the ferry landed we raced into Florida street to find somewhere to get some
cambio only to find the streets dead. Eventually we found the only guy still
out and managed to change some Dollars.
We then made our way back to the hostel were we agreed to go
back to Del Plata for dinner. We had to wait for a table and were only seated
at about 11:30pm at which stage we ordered some wine and more steak. Between
the 5 of us we agreed that we would get 3 steaks as they are so big. We settled
on rib eye, lomo (fillet) and charizo (sirloin) and to be healthy we asked for
a salad but unfortunately they were out of stock and only had tomato. As
always, the meal was awesome and we saw in Damien’s birthday with some
champagne and tiramisu (with a candle).
We then made our way back to the hostel where we found a few
people still up so Damien and I grabbed a beer and started chatting to them
while everyone else decided to call it a night. At about 3am we decided we
should get some sleep as we needed to be up at 7 to go skydiving...