Argentina Argentina/Uruguay/Paraguay trip 2025 Uruguay

From Buenos Aires to Montevideo

From Buenos Aires, Argentina, I was heading to Montevideo, Uruguay. Flying was an option, but I decided to go by ferry. The two capital cities are separated by a large estuary called the Río de la Plata. Flights are only about 50 minutes but factoring in the hassle of going to and from airports against the relative pleasure of riding a boat, it was an easy decision.

There are lots of ferry options between the two cities, many of them were slow ferries, stopping along the way, taking up to 7 hours. The express ferry takes 2.5 hours and is direct. That was the one that I decided to take, operated by Buquebus. I booked in advance, which based on the crowds on the ferry, I think was a good idea.

I booked the earliest ferry I could find online (departing at 7:15am and arriving 9:45am), and on the morning of my departure I walked from my hostel in Buenos Aires to the ferry terminal. Part of the reason I had picked the hostel I did was because it was walking distance to the ferry terminal. I arrived early and there was a large crowd waiting to pick up their tickets. Even though I had booked online and had no luggage to check, I still had to pick up a paper ticket. The ferry terminal is new and modern and has a cafe and Wi-Fi, so it wasn’t a bad place to pass the time.

I picked up my ticket and boarded the ferry.

There are four classes of ticket for walk on passengers and they range from about $80 to $150 US. Normally I would get the cheapest, but in this case, I decided to get the first-class ticket. In hindsight that was a good decision. I think at the time it was the only class that offered free Wi-Fi, which was part of the reason that I selected it. It allows priority check in and boarding, but it also meant that I got to exit the boat first which was a huge time saver or given how busy the ship was and how slow it appeared people were disembarking. I had access to a lounge with free drinks and snacks prior to departure.

On board, there the first-class seating was comfortable and on the top of the ship. It had kind of a weird 60s décor, but the seats were very comfortable and there was free Wi-Fi and charging ports and some complimentary beverages. Most importantly it was very calm. The other cabins when I walked through them as I was leaving were absolutely packed and full of lots of noisy families and they just didn’t seem as appealing. I found the journey incredibly tranquil.

The business class seating looked pretty nice too, but they didn’t offer the free Wi-Fi.

As they had checked my passport when I was boarding the ship, when I exited, I just walked into Montevideo and was steps away from the city centre. There was none of the hassle of airports and taxis. It was maybe 1 of the easiest non-European border crossings I’ve ever had.

And just like that, I was in a new country and ready to explore Montevideo, Uruguay.

Argentina/Uruguay/Paraguay trip 2025 Paraguay

Asunción: Second Time’s the Charm

This was my second time to try to visit Paraguay. The first time was a failure. I wrote about it in a previous post. I was trying to fly from Brazil, and they would not let me board because I didn’t have the paper copy of my yellow fever certificate. Lesson learned. This time, flying from Uruguay, I made sure I had my yellow fever card in hand. Of course, no one asked me to see it. Anyway, I felt quite a sense of satisfaction to actually be on the plane headed to this country that had previously eluded me.

There is not a lot said about Paraguay as a tourist destination. It is a little under the radar and a little less appealing than its neighbours. Decades of war, corruption, and instability haven’t helped. And there are not a lot of big-ticket sites to see in Paraguay. Sure, you can cross the border from Iguazu Falls and technically enter the country, but beyond that, there are not a lot of very famous or appealing sites to visit. No problem, I wasn’t going for famous; I was just going to check out the capital: Asunción.

I landed and took a taxi from the airport to the city. No visas at all required and no hassles presented themselves. I arrived very early in the morning, but my hotel let me check in. I was staying at the Asunción Palace Hotel. A nice and moderately priced hotel in the city centre that I picked for its location and the fact that each room seemed to have its own balcony. It was nice but not fancy. My favourite thing was that when I left the key with the front desk every time I went out and came to pick it back up, they wouldn’t give it to me until I correctly said my room number in Spanish. I appreciated the push as I was being quite lazy with my language efforts.

I immediately set out to explore. Asunción Is not a particularly beautiful city. It has some beautiful things in it, and it has some pockets that are interesting, but the city centre itself is not the best. I enjoyed visiting it, but it had certain shortcomings. The main problem was that it was blisteringly hot when I was there. It was at least 40°C and most of the streets seemed to lack any tree cover. It was so hot that at one point I felt like I was going blind. Aside from that though, there are a lot of once beautiful buildings that have fallen into ruin. My favourite, but it meant that there were a lot of empty streets and not a lot going on in certain areas. Also, in a majority of the areas downtown the streets were quite broken and in poor repair with lots of garbage. It just didn’t feel like a super functional city. But then out of nowhere, I would be confronted with an incredibly well maintained and stunningly beautiful building. Surprising. There was beauty to be found but you had to look for it. There weren’t rows of interesting or cute little shops or cafes, and the market, when I went, was mostly empty, but there with some decent street art and the all the people I encountered seemed very friendly.

And this is where it should be said again that Paraguay has had a bit of a rough go. It got its independence from Spain in 1811 but following that it had a series of dictatorships and military rule, followed by a war in the 1800s that left more than half of its population dead. In the 20th century, the instability continued. The first 54 years of the 20^th century saw Paraguay have more than 30 presidents, most of whom were removed through coups or violence. In 1954 they got a new leader, Alfredo Stroessner, who lasted until 1989, however he was a dictator, apparently good for the economy, but bad for human rights. Violent oppression, torture, et cetera. After he was overthrown in 1989, things moved in a more democratic, though conservative direction. So, Paraguay had a lot going on for a long time and tourism wasn’t really the focus.

Notwithstanding that I was kind of underwhelmed by the centre of Asunción, there were some delightful things. I found at least one good cafe that was pleasant and had vegetarian things for me to eat.

At night, there were lots of little bars and restaurants that appeared seemingly out of nowhere on more quiet side streets and I found them all quite appealing. Of course, the question arose: was it even safe to be walking around Asunción at night? All the information that I had suggested that it wasn’t really that safe to be walking around late at night, but I wasn’t going to stay in my hotel. So on that first night, which just so happened to be Valentine’s Day, I went for a walk and tried to stick to the slightly busier streets, but on an otherwise desolate side street I came across a cute little bar and restaurant that was all decorated for Valentine’s Day and had good music and I decided to have a cigar and a bite to eat there. They were not happy about giving me a table given that I was there by myself, but I was not to be deterred. My sense is that it’s not really that dangerous to walk around the centre at night if you stick to the streets where businesses are open, but I would probably avoid the streets where it’s dark and everything is closed. I guess this is a situation is of ‘do as I say, not as I do.’

Another thing I liked about downtown Paraguay was an area called Loma San Geronimo. It was a little neighbourhood just a short walk from the centre of the city and is notable for its colourful buildings and public art. It seemed to be primarily residential, but tucked in here and there was the odd little restaurant, perhaps operating out of someone’s house, a church, and possibly a few other little small businesses, though none of them were open when I was there. It was delightful. The buildings were all painted bright colours and there were narrow walkways with tiled stairs and plenty of murals. Cobblestone streets and flowering bushes made it even prettier. Aside from one police officer and one guy on a motorcycle, I didn’t see anyone as I was walking through the neighbourhood, which was a little bit strange but all the better for taking selfies. The walk there was a bit odd as it led me down many streets with derelict buildings and dilapidated storefronts, but it was well worth it.

I didn’t stay only in the centre of Asunción; there were a few things that I wanted to see that were in different areas. One of those things was a chair museum. I don’t know why there’s a chair museum or why it would be interesting, but I wanted to go to it. Unfortunately, when I got there it was closed.

I also wanted to visit the Museo del Barrio. It is a museum with Paraguayan and South American artifacts as well as contemporary art. From the outside, it looks like it is going to be very small, but inside it had a multi-layered almost catacomb feel and I was surprised by how much it contained. It is a really good museum. The items they had were so unique and interesting and a lot of the art was legitimately creepy, which I really enjoyed. There was no admission fee (or I accidentally walked in without paying anything) and very few other visitors when I was there. It was a bit of an Uber or bus ride from the centre, but once in that neighbourhood there were more modern malls, hotels, and restaurants and I ended up on a rooftop of a hotel having lunch and a cigar.

Of course, I was very curious to check out the local cigar scene in Asunción. As best as I could tell, there was only one cigar lounge, which was a La Casa Del Habano in the fanciest neighbourhood of town, called Villa Morra. I decided to walk there but got halfway and realized it was much farther than I thought and so I called an Uber. Yes, there were lots of buses, but I didn’t feel like at that point like waiting around in the heat for one. I just wanted air conditioning and speedy transportation.

It’s hard to believe the Villa Mora is even in the same city as central Asunción. It feels like South Florida or Los Angeles. It’s very fancy and everything is new and well-manicured and there is a lot of security. It’s not particularly appealing, especially as a pedestrian, but if you want to sit down and have a fancy meal or a cigar this is the place to go. Upon arriving, I was surprised because there is no La Casa Del Habano anymore; it is now simply called “Cigar Shop.” I went there on both of my days in Asunción. They had a decent selection of cigars, mostly non-Cuban and reasonable prices and then they had a couple of lounge areas; one for regular people like me and then one for VIPs in the back. It was busy both times I went in. It had excellent air conditioning cold water and strong coffee. I was quite content. The first time I went everybody in there was speaking Spanish and I sat there trying to understand their conversations with my limited knowledge of the language. The next time I went in I ended up chatting with an American guy who lives there. He was astonished that I had come there voluntarily. He told me his story, which was that he was from Los Angeles but met a girl from Paraguay and fell in love, so he came down to spend time with her and then the pandemic hit and he couldn’t leave. And then she got pregnant and they got married and now he lives there. He hates it. I mean he loves his family, but he really hates living there and leaves as much as he can. His disdain for the city was amusing to me. There was also a group of American guys that were there going on a fishing expedition, and I talked with them a bit as well. So, I wasn’t the only tourist in the city. As usual, cigar lounges saving the day and giving me a bit of respite and camaraderie.

I left Asunción after two and a half days and was satisfied with the time that I spent there. I have no doubt that if I spent more time I would have explored deeper and found more interesting and hidden places, but I was happy to carry on. It was time to return home via a long flight through Sao Paulo and Montreal to Vancouver. Every time I go to South America I am astonished by how far away it is.

And so ended my trip to Buenos Aires, Montevideo, and Asunción. My next trip would keep me a little closer to home. 10 days in Belize.

Argentina/Uruguay/Paraguay trip 2025 Uruguay

The Quiet Charm of Montevideo

I had arrived in Montevideo by boat from Buenos Aires. I covered that journey in the previous post. From the boat I walked just a few minutes and found myself in the heart of the city. Montevideo was a place that I was visiting because it was there, not so much because I had a particular interest in visiting it. Montevideo is one of those places that one probably doesn’t know very much about and isn’t likely to end up unless you’re either collecting countries or just fancy a boat ride from Buenos Aires. I’ve always had good luck with trips to places that I didn’t have a burning desire to visit. Maybe it’s because I entered those places with low expectations. How can I possibly be disappointed when there is nothing in particular that I want to accomplish? Montevideo was one of those places. I really enjoyed it and I enjoyed two perfectly pleasant days there.

Like its capital, Uruguay is a place that I didn’t know a whole lot about, aside from the fact that it was the first country in the world to legalize cannabis. (I’m not a cannabis user but I did spend years working on cannabis legalization files as lawyer in Canada and so this is just one of the facts that seeped into my consciousness.) Aside from that, Uruguay is pretty progressive. It was one of the first countries in the world to legalize homosexuality, it has one of the most stable democratic governments in South America, it relies completely on renewable energy and has institutionalized secularism, which in South America is kind of a big deal. It is also the second smallest country in South America so it’s easily overlooked.

So what does the capital city if such am unusually progressive country look like? It is pleasant and chill. It doesn’t feel like a rich city, but it’s quite pretty. Lots of well-maintained colonial buildings and some newer buildings as well. Big squares with statues and palm trees, small pedestrian streets, and parks with cafés and markets. The whole place has kind of a relaxed vibe that I enjoyed.

It is also fairly touristy, as cruise ships dock there as they are making their way down the East Coast of South America. There were certain streets that during the day were simply flooded with cruise ship visitors, but they all seemed to disappear at night.

As far as attractions, Montevideo didn’t have much that I was interested in, so I simply wandered the city. There were lots of pleasant murals and I visited the National Museum of Visual Arts. I made the decision to walk to the art gallery from the centre of the city, which turned out to be a little bit far, but it was nice to walk through both the commercial districts and residential ones before arriving in a park. And if I hadn’t walked, I wouldn’t have seen this spectacular mural of four film directors: Federico Fellini, Alfred Hitchcock, Luis Buñuel, and Lucrecia Martel.

The art gallery itself was pretty nice, but they were doing work on the floors so I could was only able to visit a very small part of it. Fortunately, there was a nice café outside where I took refuge from the heat. I wanted to avoid the walk back I took the bus which turned out to be relatively simple provided you have the cash to pay for it.

I was staying at the Hotel Palacio, which wasn’t anything special except that the price was right and it was centrally located. It was a nice hotel with friendly staff but it didn’t have any particular charm.

As a lover of hanging out in charming cafés, I was delighted to find that Montevideo has (at least) two wonderful historical ones. Café Brasilero is the oldest café in Montevideo, having been open since 1877 and has a history of being popular with artists and intellectuals, like all the best cafés. There is also La Farmacia Café was a former pharmacy from 1980 in a historical art nouveau building. It is so charming, maintaining a lot of its historic features and pharmacological items. Also, they take their coffee seriously and it is excellent.

Probably the one thing that I was most excited to visit in Montevideo was the museum dedicated to the crash of Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571. Probably well known to most, this plane crashed in the Andes in 1972. On board were 45 people including twelve members of the Uruguay and rugby team and their friends and families. Many people died on impact but not all. Some survived the crash but succumbed to their injuries not long after. The rest of the survivors remained in the snowy Andes waiting for help or trying to find it for over two months. Famously, they succumbed to cannibalism of the dead bodies of some of the passengers before being rescued – They were not found per se, rather, they went looking for help and found help. The museum is a small one that tells the story of the crash the aftermath and their survival and includes artifacts from the event. Nothing is said of the cannibalism in the museum. It’s not meant to be sensationalistic. I, being a bit of a ghoul, wanted to hear about the cannibalism, but I didn’t really care that it wasn’t included because the museum was so inspiring. One of the stories they told in the museum was that the survivors had a radio that worked for a while and at some point, they heard on the radio that efforts to rescue them had been called off. At that point, one of the survivors said to his son that it was great news because now they got to rescue themselves. That’s a kind of positivity that I aspire to. And they did rescue themselves. That’s too long talking about a museum, but it is really worth going into.

Apart from the museum and the gallery and cafés and generally walking around the city. I didn’t do much in my two days in Montevideo. I enjoyed a few cigars. (there were no cigar stores or lounges in Montevideo. Previously there had been a La Casa del Habano and I found it but it was boarded up and closed.) I drank coffee and chatted with anyone who would talk to me.

I marveled it the ubiquity of yerba mate in Montevideo. It’s like the national drink or something. It is a tea that I had never had before going to Montevideo and having already gone there I can tell you it’s still a tea that I haven’t tried. I couldn’t find it for sale in any of the cafés that I went to. It seems that it’s something that people largely make it home for themselves and then drink throughout the day. And they don’t just drink it throughout the day; they transport it with them in specially designed bags. Everywhere I saw men and women walking around with these leather bags specifically designed to hold both a thermos of the tea and a specific little gourd with a metal straw that they drink it out of. I saw people in the city selling these bags and devices, but nowhere did I find anyone selling the drink itself. I probably could have tried harder. I have a feeling that it is not something that I would have enjoyed but I am still curious to try it.

Just as I had met up with someone from Vancouver when I was in Buenos Aires, I also met up with someone from Vancouver while I was in Montevideo. A casual friend from a travel group that I belong to in Vancouver happened to be in the city at the same time as I. He was doing a driving trip down the length of Argentina to the bottom to scatter the ashes of a friend who had died. We met up for dinner and drinks. It was a terrific evening of swapping travel stories and also a bit of a moving one, hearing about his deceased friend, and their history together, and the tale of a trip that they never completed. It was a good reminder of the importance of friendship and the fact that all of this will end, which for me means it better make the most of it. Between that and the visit to the plan crash museum, Montevideo left me inspired and full of self-reflection. Not bad for a country I didn’t know much about.

In the spirit of making the most of things, the next morning, after my two days in Montevideo, which was exactly the right amount of time, I caught a flight to a new city in a new-to me country: Asunción, Paraguay.

Argentina Argentina/Uruguay/Paraguay trip 2025

What’s New, Buenos Aires?

The first international trip of 2025 (not counting my trip to Miami the month prior). Buenos Aires, Argentina. I had decided it was time to return to South America, or rather world events decided it was time for me to return to South America. I had another trip booked entirely but due to some political violence and flight cancellations I decided to change my plans and fly to Buenos Aires. More specifically I decided to fly to Buenos Aires and then also visit Montevideo and Asuncion at the same time. But my trip would start in Argentina.

Buenos Aires is a city that I’ve heard nothing but good things about and yet, somehow, I managed to not feel particularly excited about going. I had no doubt that it would be nice, but I just wasn’t enthusiastic. And maybe that reflected itself on my experience of the trip, because while I had a very good time in Buenos Aires I didn’t love it.

And here is where I am going to describe all the great things in Buenos Aires that I enjoyed, while still not loving it.

Arrival and Blunders

I spent three days in Buenos Aires, which for me was enough time in the city. I booked myself a little hostel (V&S Hostel Boutique), which was more like a shared Airbnb and was walking distance to many things that I wanted to see. It was nice and welcoming after such a long flight.

The trip got off to a bit of a weird start when on my first morning I walked out of my room barefoot in my pyjamas to make a cup of coffee in the shared kitchen and didn’t realize that my door was self-locking. I locked myself out of my room. There is no reception and I didn’t see any other guests. I didn’t even have my cell phone with me, so while I had coffee, I had no other way to contact anyone. Fortunately, I knew that the woman was coming to collect my money in about two hours, so I just had to bide my time and wait for her to come rescue me, though I hoped that someone would notice me on the security cameras doing weird things like dancing or doing bicep curls with the end table and send someone more immediately. Lesson learned, never leave your room without your key and cell phone in hand.

Setting Out

Dressed and organized, I set out exploring the city. Buenos Aires is beautiful. It has beautiful buildings and lovely tree-lined streets. There are oodles of bookstores and cute little vintage shops and wonderful cafes. If you like meat and wine, which I don’t really, there is an endless array of restaurants to seduce you. It feels like a city that I could happily live in, but as I visited it, while I was enjoying myself, I wasn’t falling in love with it. And, yet, I enjoyed many things.

There is an extraordinary bookstore in an old theatre: El Ateneo Grand Splendid, which was opened in about 1919 as a theatre and turned into a bookstore (with a café) in the 2000s. It was dubbed the most beautiful bookstore in the world by National Geographic. In my mind it was doing battle with the incredible bookstore that I had just seen a couple months earlier in Bucharest. They’re both equally grand and I have not decided who the victor is, but it’s certainly worth visiting both of them.

Smoking Cigars in Buenos Aires

I was also delighted by the cigar culture in Buenos Aires. There are so many cigar lounges, including two La Casa del Habano stores/lounges where I enjoyed talking with the staff. I visited the Oak Bar at the Palacio Duhau – Park Hyatt. It struck the right balance between fancy and cozy, and I sat there with a cigar, a cocktail, and a book and it was perfect. Right by the Oak Bar was a little cigar store/lounge called Prado y Neptuno that was full of local guys and had a friendly vibe. The prices were OK and the lounges were great, but even better than the lounges was the fact that every patio that I sat at had no issue with me smoking, and most of them brought me a proper a cigar ashtray. No one gave me a dirty look and there were other people smoking cigars, so I felt like I was in good company. How civilized.

Art

I also visited some art galleries and museums: the MACBA – Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Buenos Aires, the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, and the Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires (MALBA), each of which was excellent.

Death and Showtunes

I went to La Recoleta Cemetery, which was high on my list of places to visit because that is where Eva Peron is buried, but also it is just a beautiful cemetery with very ornate and imposing markers and mausoleums. Tourists pay a fee to get in but it is worth it. I opted not to take a tour and just wander on my own. I always love walking cemeteries. It was interesting seeing Eva Peron’s family crypt. It’s not that I am a scholar in Argentinian history, but I am a musical theatre fan and I have seen the musical Evita more than 25 times. I don’t even really like the musical Evita all that much but I had a special friend in the cast so saw it see it repeatedly, so I have this sort of superficial interest in Eva Peron. And so not only did I go to see her grave site, but I walked the streets of Buenos Aires listening to the cast recording Evita on repeat and I found that to be exhilarating. Even at times on desolate streets singing along to “High Flying Adored” or, obviously, “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina”.

I also really enjoyed the public transportation, which when the distances were too long to walk, the subway was convenient, as was Uber. Generally, though, it was a good city for walking, the one downside being that it was just blisteringly hot when I was there. On the day that I went to the cemetery it was 38°C and without any tree cover it was rather unpleasant.

La Boca

I took the bus down to La Boca; the area of Buenos Aires where there are all of the colourful buildings. You’ll see them a lot in social media posts about the city. La Boca is filled with colourful buildings and street art and cute restaurants and it is very photogenic, however it is also extremely touristy and has some kind of soccer/football connection so there are lots of stores selling football memorabilia and people taking pictures with these very tacky mannequins dressed in sports jerseys. I really hated that part of it, but overall, I liked exploring the neighbourhood. I wandered around and I sat and I had an incredibly expensive and bland vegetarian burger and watch the people mill about. It’s definitely worth it to go to the neighbourhood to look around, but it is touristy and tacky, and I wish it wasn’t.

A Friend from Home

Maybe the best thing that happened to me in Buenos Aires was that coincidentally a friend and actress from Vancouver was there filming a commercial. Our days overlapped by one and so we met up and went out for dinner and drinks. She had been there for a couple of weeks at that point and really knew her way around and found a restaurant with delicious vegan pasta dishes. That was really fun. I enjoyed having someone to chat with for an evening and it was neat seeing someone from home in a completely different environment. I think I especially appreciated it given that the entire time that I was staying my accommodations I didn’t see another living soul except when they collected my money, so I was maybe desiring a bit of human contact. But it was great.

Final Thoughts

I know it sounds a bit contradictory to say that I had a great time in Buenos Aires but also that I was underwhelmed, but that’s kind of how I felt. I have nothing bad to say about Buenos Aires and I enjoyed everything that I did but nothing about it excited me. It would be weird, I think, if I loved everywhere I visited. Perhaps not every trip has to be exciting; maybe some can just be interesting or pleasant.

I am very glad to have finally visited Buenos Aires. Clearly, I need to visit somewhere in southern Argentina or even outside of the city, but this was not the trip for that. The morning after my final day in Buenos Aires I was taking a ferry to Uruguay.