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So for the first weekend of October, the IES group (about 50 of us) went to Colonia, Uruguay.

Tourism

At the turn of the century, naturalized Argentine entrepreneur Nikolas Mihanovic (a Dalmatian immigrant) spent $1.5million to build an tourist complex, 5km west of Colonia, in Real de San Carlos. Among the attractions built were a 10,000 seat bullring (made useless when Uruguay outlawed bullfights in 1912) a hotel-casino (which failed in 1917 when the Argentine governmetn started taxing all boats to cross the river) and a racetrack (which now serves as stables and grounds for horses).

These pictures are from the old bull ring and horse race track.

The center of town: the historical area. Puerta de Campo, the restored entrance to the historical area of Colonia, was originally built in 1745. Plaza Mayor 25 de Mayo includes the ruins of the 17th Century Convento de San Fransico. The 19th century faro (lighthouse), which we climbed up, provided a great view of the center and a very distant (and barely visible) view of Buenos Aires. The church (Iglesia Matriz) is the oldest in Uruguay (started in 1680), although it has been rebuilt twice.


Puerta de Campo	Plaza 25 de Mayo	Reenactments for the toursits	The ruins of the Convento

The lighthouse		Views from the top of the lighthouse		Look carefully and you can see the B.A. skyline


Iglesia Matriz...	...inside	More street performers	This dog didn't stop barking